All Things Aviation

Why Pilots Are Particular When Choosing Aviator Sunglasses

2011-05-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

A lot of people will choose gold frame aviator sunglasses with a green tint as a fashion statement, but pilots will want to choose their sunglasses based on how well they perform in their work environment. By this I mean, of course, the cockpit!

The problem is that both light we can see and light we can not see have the potential to damage our eyes. Visible light is like the colors of the rainbow, while invisible light is called "ultraviolet light" (uv rays) and while it can't be seen can still wreak havoc with our eyes. Too much of the wrong kind of light can lead to cataracts, macular degeneration, or, sometimes, melanoma around the eyelids.

The More Intense The More Dangerous The Light

It's just common sense that very bright light, like harsh glaring sunlight, has the potential to cause serious injury to our eyes. We all remember our mothers telling us to not look directly at the sun, and in particular to avoid staring at a solar eclipse. The reason is simple: bright intense light is dangerous to our eyes!

Because pilots fly aircraft at very high altitudes where the atmosphere is thinner and the ultraviolet light rays stronger they require - no, they insist - on pilot aviator sunglasses with grey lenses to protect their most important asset for flying an aircraft - their eyes.

Pilots Demand Proper Eye Protection

Because pilots understand the inherent dangerous of uv rays they demand that their sunglasses not only block 98 to 100% of the harmful uv rays, but they also want "blue light" rays blocked as well. Most low cost sunglasses simply don't provide much, if any, protection. And few provide protection from blue light rays which can be among the most harmful light rays to reach your eyes.

As a pilot myself I highly recommend Randolph Engineering Aviator Sunglasses, and in particular those with the grey tint lenses. They provide incredible protection, and are very well built here in the USA by very skilled craftsmen.

Scientific Studies Confirm The Dangers Of Harmful UV Radiation

It is now well documented that with the depletion of the ozone layer more of these harmful uv rays pass further into the atmosphere at a greater strength increasing the risk of damage or disease to the eye. Basically there are four kinds of light we need to protect our eyes from:

UV-A uv rays which are commonly known as the "tanning rays";
UV-B uv rays which are called the "burning rays";
UV-C uv rays which are referred to as the "dangerous rays", and;
Blue light rays in the visible range which are considered quite dangerous

All Light Is A Form Of Energy

All light is a form of energy which is very powerful, particularly those light waves which fall in the ultraviolet range between 100 and 400 nanometers. Prolonged exposure to these strong uv rays can lead to skin cancer as well as diseases of the eye like macular degeneration.

This is why for pilots the choice of aviator sunglasses is not about how they look, but rather about how well they protect the pilot's eyes. The next time you get on board an airliner take a look at the pilots as you navigate through the doorway and before you go to your seat - you will almost certainly see a pair of aviator sunglasses hanging down on the pilot's chest!

Hummingbird Spy

2011-03-02T12:02:00.001-08:00

March 2, 2011 - AeroVironment, Inc. announced it has accomplished a technical milestone never before achieved, controlled precision hovering and fast-forward flight of a two-wing, flapping wing aircraft that carries its own energy source, and uses only the flapping wings for propulsion and control.

Pretty cool... Wonder if it needs aviator sunglasses?

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Innovation In Aviation

2010-09-21T13:30:00.001-07:00

Aviation has long been a contributor to the good things in life, and to technological advances that have benefited people far outside of aviation.

One of those innovators was Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, who ran the "Skunk Works" and developed the U-2 and SR-71 aircraft.

Here is an very interesting post regarding Kelly Johnson:

A look at the design process of aviation innovator Clarence "Kelly" Johnson

Far more than a pioneer, Kelly Johnson designed aircraft that exceeded all expectations. It was a thrill for any pilot lucky enough to fly one of his creations.

Here is an interesting video about Kelly Johnson titled "A letter to Kelly Johnson":

If you love aviation, you will love this video.

We Need More Pilots

2010-09-20T14:18:00.001-07:00

As it turns out, not many young people see the romance in becoming a pilot anymore. And, to top it off, there aren't that many military pilots coming out to fly for the airlines and corporations anymore. So, what can be done?

Well, some folks are trying to create more interest in aviation:

Leap Could Inspire Pilot Population Growth

You could also learn more at this post:

How To Make A Great Living Doing What You Love

Let's hope we can find more young people who would like to learn how to fly.

What Features Does World’s Best Brand Of Sunglasses Have? | Health and Healthcare

2010-09-12T06:40:00.001-07:00

http://health.skreviews2.com/lasik/what-features-does-worlds-best-brand-of-sunglasses-have.html

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Fully-Automatic Execution of Critical Manoeuvres in Airline Flying

2010-09-12T05:59:00.001-07:00

Fully-Automatic Execution of Critical Manoeuvres in Airline Flying

The Abnormal Distribution

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From the Flight Deck

2010-09-11T18:35:00.001-07:00

http://www.fromtheflightdeckbook.com/

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What Features Does World's Best Brand Of Sunglasses Have? | Health ...

2010-09-11T12:39:00.001-07:00

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://health.skreviews2.com/lasik/what-features-does-worlds-best-brand-of-sunglasses-have.html&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f1:v0:d2:i2:lt:e0:p0:t1284212353:&cd=EMLZRW6yf6s&usg=AFQjCNEhKvT9QteJHt4ddLef3uRJfro7Cg

What Features Does World's Best Brand Of Sunglasses Have? | Health ...

Their fame all began with a pair of aviator sunglasses, hundreds of gold-plated metal frames and tear-shaped green glass lenses, commissioned by the U.S. Air Force in the 1930 for its pilots. In the 70 years since this commission, ...
Health and Healthcare - http://health.skreviews2.com/

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Cheapest Sunglasses Store » American Optical AO Original Pilot ...

2010-09-11T12:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.saleandshopping.com/clothing-jewelry/sunglasses/american-optical-ao-original-pilot-aviator-sunglasses-57-mm-matte-chrome-bayonet-true-color-30138&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f1:v0:d2:i2:lt:e0:p0:t1284212353:&cd=EMLZRW6yf6s&usg=AFQjCNGgm5eu36xZPbjZ7QUgrvGCOwBF-Q

Cheapest Sunglasses Store » American Optical AO Original Pilot ...

Cheap price on American Optical AO Original Pilot Aviator Sunglasses 57 mm Matte Chrome Bayonet True Color 30138, Reading for customer reviews and order now! with FREE shipping.
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DAV brings message to the Wings Over Pittsburgh Air Show on the Wings of a B-25

2010-09-10T16:52:00.001-07:00

DAV brings message to the Wings Over Pittsburgh Air Show on the Wings of a B-25

Indy Transponder

Pittsburgh, PA – The Disabled American Veterans will once again take to the skies to advance its message of service to disabled veterans. Now, in its eighth season, the DAV Airshow Outreach Program featuring the B-25 Mitchell Bomber of World War II notoriety appears nationwide at over 25 airshows and reaches over 3 million airshow spectators annually in an effort to promote the DAV’s mission of building better lives for America’s disabled veterans. The DAV is proud to announce The DAV Flight Team will be making an appearance at the Wings Over Pittsburgh Air Show on September 11-12.

The DAV Airshow Outreach Program was developed to increase public awareness of disabled veterans and to serve veterans in communities across the nation. Using B-25 medium bombers, the program reminds the public of the sacrifices veterans have made and continue to make to keep our nation free.

The B-25 Bomber enjoys the reputation of achieving the impossible during one of America’s darkest hours in World War II. The medium size bomber was made famous by the daring Doolittle Raid on Tokyo which helped rally America after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The B-25 went on to become the most versatile bomber of World War II, seeing combat in every theater of operation.

“The DAV is thrilled to bring our message of volunteerism and support to our nation’s sick and disabled veterans to this air show. We believe the men, women and children who will visit this air show are the patriotic, military-friendly citizens that have helped make this nation so great,” said DAV National Commander Wally Tyson. “The DAV is proud to be among this crowd, and meet those who want to know more about our service to veterans.”

Plan now to attend the Wings Over Pittsburgh Air Show on September 11-12, 2010 to see the B-25 and the accompanying interactive display geared at providing airshow spectators an attractive, efficient experience where they can learn about the volunteer opportunities available.

The DAV invites all veterans to come enjoy the airshow and to visit the Disabled American Veterans display where veterans are encouraged to autograph a DAV Flight Team poster which will be presented to the airshow on behalf of all those veterans living in the community.

For more information on the Disabled American Veterans, visit www.dav.org.

CONTACT: Lynn May Lynn@airsupport.com 585-309-9100

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The Abnormal Distribution » Simulators and Veridicality in Airline Training and Pilot Currency Checks

2010-09-09T11:57:00.001-07:00

http://www.abnormaldistribution.org/2010/09/09/simulators-and-veridicality-in...

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What Does A Budding AF Pilot Do When They Find They Have Cancer?

2010-09-08T07:15:00.001-07:00

There seem to be a lot of articles about safety in aviation as we approach the end of the year, and a lot of talk about problems in aviation. But what if you had planned a career in the Air Force only to find you had cancer just before starting your training? Well, this young woman experienced exactly that, and then took a new path with her life. Read more ...

Maria Weybrecht soars with Kids in Flight charity

What a great story! It is wonderful to see someone turn adversity into something great.

Here is a great video about this program:

Enjoy!

Cleveland Air Show 2010 | Damego

2010-09-06T14:49:00.001-07:00

http://www.damego.com/cleveland-air-show-2010

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How To Fly Your Aircraft In An Emergency

2010-09-04T14:00:00.001-07:00

Ran across this very interesting article which describes in detail how to make the best out of a bad situation. With the aircraft engine faltering, then failing, this pilot manages to save himself and his passenger without completely wrecking his airplane:

Flying The Impossible Turn - Take Two

To add to this I found a blog post with comments that are related to the above incident:

Excessive Amount of Airplane Accidents and Incidents over the USA

The truth is aircraft accidents, in particular fatal aircraft accidents, are very rare. Aviation safety is a primary concern of all of us who fly, and staying current and getting adequate recurrent training a must.

To see a picture-perfect gear up landing, watch this:

Enjoy!

California Capital Airshow Announces Historic Gathering of P-38 Lightnings

2010-09-02T17:09:00.001-07:00

California Capital Airshow Announces Historic Gathering of P-38 Lightnings

Indy Transponder

Event to make aviation history, as there hasn’t been this many P-38s in one location in over 60 years

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – (August 31, 2010) The California Capital Airshow (CCA) (www.californiacapitalairshow.com) today announced that it will host every flying Lockheed P-38 Lightning remaining in the United States, as well as the pilots and ground crew who flew and cared for these rare aircraft on September 11 and 12, 2010. Drawing the attention and attendance of WWII veterans and their families from all over the United States and of photographers from seven countries, this is truly a historic event.

“The CCA is truly honored and humbled to be hosting such a remarkable event in partnership with Lockheed Martin (www.lockheedmartin.com), the Reno National Championship Air Races (www.airrace.org), the P-38 National Association (www.p38assn.org) and the 475th Fighter Group Historical Foundation,” said Darcy Brewer, executive director of the California Capital Airshow. “We have set out to create an outstanding occasion to showcase the airplane and pay tribute to the designers, manufacturers, maintainers, and the brave aviators who trusted their lives to the ‘Forked-Tailed Devil’.”

There has not been such a gathering of Lightnings in over 60 years, and because of the high operating costs of the aircraft, coupled with the dwindling numbers of men and women originally associated with the P-38, it is very likely that such an event will not happen again.

P-38 pilots, F-35 Lightning II pilots, the Fork-Tail Devil’s organization and up-close and personal access to the P-38s, including ‘Glacier Girl’, ‘23 Skidoo’, ‘Thoughts of Midnight’, ‘Tangerine’, ‘Ruff Stuff’, and Allied Fighters No. 981. Additionally, representatives and displays from Lockheed Martin, the company that designed and built the revolutionary P-38, will also be in attendance and available at the P-38 National Association pavilion.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the attention it will generate will help provide the means to continue to tell the story of this unique aircraft, while reinforcing its significance as one of the most innovative and important designs in the history of manned flight.

“Each one of these airplanes, and the men associated with them, has a story to tell, and our venture will provide the opportunity for those tales of valor, sacrifice, and heroism to be shared with young and old alike, to make their honor and courage tangible to this generation and those to come. As you well know, sadly, the numbers of these honorable men and women are dwindling at an alarming rate. With over 300 P-38 veterans from WWII planning on attending, this event will ensure that their memory will never be forgotten,” added Brewer.

To sponsor or provide financial support to help defray the costs associated with this opportunity, please contact CCA headquarters at (916) 876-7568.

The Airshow website will be updated regularly with news, attraction information and more. Community members and attendees can also follow the Airshow on Facebook and Twitter (#calcapairshow).
High resolution photos are available online at http://www.californiacapitalairshow.com/event-features/photo-gallery. To request press credentials for the event go to http://www.californiacapitalairshow.com/about-cca/media-access#credentials.

About California Capital Airshow
Established in 2004, the California Capital Airshow has become one of the largest and highly- respected shows in the nation. As part of its community relations, the non-profit organization has awarded over 70 scholarships to deserving students from our region with an interest in aviation, aerospace, aeronautics and related fields. For more information about the California Capital Airshow, please visit www.californiacapitalairshow.com .

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Spitfire in RAF Shawbury flypast « Shropshire Star

2010-09-01T18:19:00.001-07:00

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2010/09/01/spitfire-in-raf-shawbury-flypast/

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Air Racing History

2010-09-01T06:36:00.001-07:00

Cleveland always played a large part in the early days of racing, and this Labor Day Weekend at the Cleveland National Air Show the Society of Air Racing Historians will put on a display to preserve the complete and accurate records of air races, race pilots and race planes. You can read all about it here:

Society of Air Racing Historians

Air shows are always a big part of the summer, and the Cleveland National Air Show is no exception. Attendance at all of the air shows around the country are up, and hopefully this will result in an increased awareness and interest in aviation and flying.

One of the most interesting races in the country are the Reno Air Races. View this video of the 2008 Reno Air Races:

Thrill to hearing the sounds and seeing fire spew from starting a P-51 Mustang. Racing around pylons at hundreds of miles per hour, these aircraft are truly amazing and spectacular!

And the winner was Strega at over 483 mph!

Enjoy!

Aircraft live forever

2010-08-31T14:00:00.001-07:00

The idea of this post was born when I saw the next raffle plane of the 1940 Air Terminal in Houston. This is a vintage 1957 Cessna 172. 1957… This aircraft is now 53 years old, and it flies like a new one. It has been well taken care of, and even if its panel is not the most modern around, it has all what is needed to fly safely. The radios have been updated and a GPS has been installed, but the airframe is unchanged. The original engine was probably replaced when it reached its maximum certified time, according to the certification standards.

I don’t know if some Airworthiness Directives required changes that affected the aircraft’s structure, but if not it is simply the same good old Cessna 172 that was built back in 1957. I love the idea that a 53 years old aircraft is still flying. This makes an aircraft a great investment. Unlike a car that has lifetime somewhere between 5 and 10 years, aircraft (or at least airframe) have an unlimited lifetime.

This at least applies to good old aluminum airframes. But what about the new, composite airframes like the ones of all Diamond and Cirrus aircraft. Composites react to long exposure to the sun differently than metal. This is why these aircraft have to be mostly white, to reduce effects of the sun. Composite airframes have been around for fifteen years now and until we’ll have “real life” data, the discussion will probably remain open. If you’re interested in a deeper details check this post on Oshkosh365.org, the discussion board of the EAA. Some of these guys build aircraft themselves, I’m sure they know what this is all about.

And if you want to own a 1957 Cessna 172, you can buy tickets for the 1940 Air Terminal raffle plane for $50. Get a chance, and this is to support a great museum!

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This is so cool! It reminds me of the airplane I flew when learning to fly in San Angelo, Texas back in 1960!

Make me want to grab my aviator sunglasses and go fly!

John and Martha King in Cuffs--Second Time Police Make Same Mistake!

2010-08-31T06:15:00.001-07:00

the second time a pilot has been detained and handcuffed for flying N50545!
In January 2009, Jim Pitman, a friend of mine who was a Cessna employee at the time, posted an account on Facebook of his run in with police. While he was handcuffed, he was detained in a far less threatening manner than the Kings were. Here’s information from his posting: “So I got to spend some time handcuffed in the back of a police car on the ramp in Wichita today.

“Here's the story... I pick up my new Skyhawk (N50545) at the factory in Independence Kansas and head for Wichita for some company meetings. As soon as I land the cops are there to greet me, saying they need to ask me some questions. I first think some of my friends are playing a practical joke, but they assure me they are serious and proceed to handcuff me. By this time I knew it was not a joke, and of course, was completely cooperative.

“Apparently N50545 is a tail number that used to be assigned to another airplane that was reported stolen several years ago. The officers were very friendly and it only took about 20 minutes to clear everything up. I was smiling the entire time knowing what a great story this was going to be :-)”

The incident over the weekend with the Kings was far less cordial and is getting far more attention. AOPA President Craig Fuller was understandably outraged. “Simply put, this incident is as outrageous as it is inexplicable and raises serious questions about the coordination of information among federal and local authorities. A $2 app for an iPad and 30 seconds would have discovered sufficient information to raise serious doubt that John and Martha King, who filed an instrument flight plan in a Cessna 172, were instead flying an older stolen Cessna 150 whose N number had long ago been retired and reissued by the FAA.”

I followed up with Jim a few minutes ago by phone, broke the news to him about this second incident, and asked for his thoughts. He said that “it was shocking that this could have happened again years later. My flight was the plane’s very first flight away from the factory in Independence and I then flew it for several months around the West, including into Santa Barbara, without incident.” Asked about the difference in the way he was treated versus the Kings he said “The police in Wichita were totally cool with me and there were no guns drawn.”

So pilots beware. In the post 9/11 era, small planes continue to be regarded by the public and sometimes law enforcement as objects of terror. If confronted by law enforcement, remember to use the words “Yes sir” frequently until things get sorted out. Hopefully there won’t be a third incident in which pilots are detained for flying N50545. You can hear Martha describing the incident in a 15 minute podcast at avweb.com.

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We live in an age where general aviation is under attack. Anyone who believes that the attacks on 9/11/2001 are over and have not had the desired effect have been living on another planet.

The convenience and use of aircraft for transportation has gone from great to awful, and getting worse by the day!

Indy Transponder 30-AUG-10 1030z

2010-08-30T08:38:00.001-07:00

Only a trail remains: At least 70000 attend air show over two days; crowds pleased - Foster's Daily Democrat | "A beautiful weekend, great weather and the Blue Angels were a great combination." For most of those estimated 70000 people, bathrooms, shade and mapping ...

Mexico, MO Salute to Veterans Air Show from The Aero Experience by Carmelo Turdo:

Winds trim Offutt air show - Omaha World-Herald | One of the show's highlights was the Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team, which performs aerial stunts in tight formation. The Thunderbirds have been ...

Flypast offers a new view of show - The Northern Echo | A FLYPAST by a Second World War Dakota aircraft proved to be the star attraction at an agricultural show in the heart of the North Pennines. ...

United States - Oregon - Oregon International Air Show 2010 - Hillsboro (Portland) - 08/20/10 from FenceCheck Forums:

Nation loses another hero - Sun-Sentinel | He was a B17 navigator in World War ll. He was truly part of the Greatest Generation. Try to imagine climbing into your B17 aircraft knowing you will be ...

Review: A2A Simulations' B-17G Flying Fortress - FlightSim.com | The Boeing B-17 could be called the greatest aircraft in history. It was produced and shot down in vast quantities, housed a crew of around ...

Scrapbook: Legend of the skies. 25th Aug 1943 - RantRave | Published Opinion.| Didn't he win the Kings Cup Air Race in 1938? And now he is more than ever a legend for all the ants on the ground, who never cease to be astonished when ...

Aviation Celebration Honors Alabama's First Lady of Flight Video from Alabama Aviator - Aviation News | BIRMINGHAM AL- On National Aviation Day the Birmingham Aero Club hosted an evening event honoring Alabama's First Lady of Flight- Nancy Batson Crews (1920-2001) with a new exhibit at the Southern Museum of Flight. Award winning author and featured speaker, Sarah Byrn Rickman, highlighted Nancy's story from her recent biography as told to her by her late friend and mentor. Aero Club President, Holly Roe opened the program with Dr. Ed Stevenson from the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame introducing Sara Rickman. Dr. Jim Griffin, Director of the Southern Museum of Flight presented the new Crews exhibit…

The DC-3, A Real Man's Airplane from All Things Aviation by JetAviator7 | Every now and then you run across an article you just have to read, and so it was with an article in Flying by Martha Lunken titled "DC-3, A Real Man's Airplane." Without a doubt this is one of the best articles written about this wonderful 75 year old airplane, and which brought back memories [...]

Happy 40th Birthday To The DC-10 from Flying With Fish by flyingfish | If you're a regular reader of Flying With Fish you may have noticed I am a 'three-holer' fan. While my favorite three-holer, the Lockheed L-1011, is all but gone from the skies, the long serving three-holer workhorse of the skies is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its very first flight…

Video: Sumptuous 747 Landing In 120fps Slow Mo - Wow! by Martt | I'm a freak for great video, and for great airplanes... guess you could say that makes me a 'super freak' for great video of great airplanes! That's exactly what youtuber GatwickSpotting has here. Shot from over 4 miles away, this slow mo 747 landing is a real treat to watch…

A Fine Day's Cataloging from AcroCamp by Stephen Force (Steve Tupper) Another fine day of editing here at Airspeed Studios. I got most of Day 2 (15 May) cataloged and ready to link up with alternate camera angles and the cockpit audio. And I found several of the Easter eggs that the cast left for me. Like this shot of Jim Rodriguez and Don Weaver giving the thumbs up, er, down, er up. The tech frame evolved when Roger Bishop gave in to the ham that's in all of us and gave the camera a wave. Being a guy with a true sense of lighting and composition, I'm sure that he couldn't resist stepping out into the near-perfect lighting of one of the early flights of that day…

John And Martha King Held At Police Gunpoint (Really) from AVwebFlash Current Issue - Aviation's most prominent husband and wife team is calling on government agencies to keep their databases up to date and warning pilots and aircraft owners they could be next to be surrounded by heavily armed police, handcuffed and detained because of a bit of miscommunication. John and Martha King say there's a lesson to be learned after they spent about 30 scary minutes in the custody of Santa Barbara, Calif., police at the Santa Barbara Airport Saturday…

Guns, Handcuffs and John and Martha King from AVWeb Podcast - Podcast | Think it can't happen to you? John and Martha King (of King Schools) beg to differ. Aviation's best-known couple were the subject of a bizarre case of mistaken identity on Aug. 28 that resulted in them having guns drawn on them, being handcuffed and held for about 30 minutes. As always, there are lessons to be learned from Martha King as she goes through the bizarre event at the Santa Barbara Airport in this unedited and, at 15 minutes, longer-than-usual AVweb podcast.This podcast is brought to you by Bose Corporation…

Strange But True Aviation News from Things with Wings by fail…

How Did An IPhone Take This Picture? - Gizmodo Australia - Unless the blades of this aeroplane propellor can defy gravity and float, the iPhone's camera totally distorted ...

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ICAS FAST FACTS August, 2010

2010-08-30T08:33:00.001-07:00

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

ICAS ACADEMY AT HILLSBORO DELIVERS ABUNDANT INFORMATION, INSIGHT
A dozen representatives from military and civilian air shows throughout the United States converged on Hillsboro, Oregon last weekend for the ICAS Air Show Academy, held in conjunction with the Oregon International Air Show on August 19, 20 and 21.
The eleventh in a series dating back to 2000, the ICAS Air Show Academy in Oregon last week provided participants with an up-close and extremely detailed look at one of the most well-managed and successful air shows in North America. From finance, administrative and staffing issues to marketing, sponsorship and media relations to air operations, ground operations and logistics, representatives from the Oregon International Air Show shared virtually all of their hard-earned lessons, successful tactics and useful insights.
“The ICAS Air Show Academy continues to be both an incredible value and the most useful learning opportunity that ICAS offers each year,” said ICAS President John Cudahy. “And the folks from Hillsboro were extraordinarily helpful and incredibly hospitable. It was definitely one of our best Academy programs ever.”
The ICAS Air Boss Academy program is scheduled to be held on October 28, 29 and 30 in Fort Worth, Texas, in conjunction with the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show. Details on this program are available on the ICAS website or from ICAS headquarters.
CAF UNVEILS PLANS FOR RED, WHITE AND LOUD TOUR
Late last month, the Commemorative Air Force released details on an ambitious new program to celebrate America’s freedom using country music, air shows and one of the rarest and most extraordinary warbirds flying in the world today.
After a massive engine-rebuild, the B-29 Superfortress FIFI will return to the skies early this fall. Country music recording artist Aaron Tippin will be “checked out” in the aircraft and will fly it all over the United States. At each stop, he will hold a special Red, White and Loud concert in front of the world’s only flying B-29. FIFI will also be available for guided tours and a lucky few will have the opportunity to purchase a ride in this unique and recently restored warbird.
Click here to see a short video of the first flight of the CAF’s B-29 Superfortress after its engine rebuild. Click here for additional details on the CAF’s Red, White and Loud tour.
PETITION DEADLINE APPROACHES
The deadline for ICAS members to place their names on the ballot for election to the Board of Directors as a petition candidate is Thursday, September 9, 2010. In accordance with Section 9, Paragraph B(2) of the ICAS Bylaws, candidates making use of this process must submit a petition signed by ten (10) voting members that arrives at ICAS headquarters by 5:00 p.m. EDT on September 9.
For those interested, Section 9 of the ICAS Bylaws (which can also be found on page 16 and 17 of the 2010-2011 ICAS Industry Guide) provide specific direction on the nomination and election process. The Board of Directors selects a Nominating Committee Chairman from among those directors not eligible for re-election that year. The Chairman, in turn, identifies members for the Nominating Committee, at least two of who must be former members of the Board. The Nominating Committee then solicits potential nominees from among the membership. It considers a number of issues and criteria.
For instance, the overall ICAS membership is comprised (roughly) of 40 percent event organizers, 40 percent performers and 20 percent support service providers (air bosses, concessionaires, photographers, etc.). Typically, the Nominating Committee seeks to ensure that the make-up of the Board reflects the general make-up of the larger organization with an appropriate and proportional number of event organizer, performer and support service provider members sitting on the Board. The Nominating Committee also considers things like previous business or board experience, reputation and experience within the air show community, specific expertise or experience that might be useful to ICAS and the air show community, and the ability of prospective Board members to put aside their own personal or organizational concerns to work for the greater good of the entire air show industry.
This presents the Nominating Committee with both a difficult assignment and a great deal of responsibility. Juggling dozens of considerations to come up with a qualified slate of candidates that will be elected to help lead the organization is a considerable challenge. In 2009, the committee included four past chairmen of the ICAS Board of Directors and one past Board member. The 2010 Nominating Committee is chaired by current ICAS Board member Judy Willey from the Oregon International Air Show. Serving with her are past Board Chairmen Harry Wardwell and Charles Hutchins and former Board members Mike Berriochoa and Sean Tucker.
When it concludes its review of potential candidates and in accordance with specific direction in the Bylaws that obligate it to, “…evaluate and recommend a slate of qualified director candidates to the voting membership for the annual election of Directors,” the Nominating Committee makes recommendations on whose names should be included on the ballot to be voted on by the general membership. Typically, the committee recommends three candidates to appear on the election ballot to fill three vacancies. There will be four vacancies to fill in December of this year.
Importantly, the Bylaws also provide direction on how a member who is not recommended by the Nominating Committee may have his or her name added to the Board of Directors election ballot. This process requires the prospective nominee to submit a petition with signatures from ten (10) dues-paying members to endorse the nomination. Introduced into the ICAS Bylaws in December of 1993 as a mechanism to ensure that every member had an opportunity to stand for election to the ICAS Board if he/she was interested, this process has subsequently worked as intended. Without exception, on every occasion that a member has made use of the petition process, his name has been included on the election ballot to run against those nominees recommended by the Nominating Committee.
Each year, at the ICAS Convention and in accordance with the ICAS Bylaws, an election is held to determine which members will fill vacancies on the Board. The names on the ballot include the slate recommended by the Nominating Committee and any candidates who are nominated using the petition process.
The ICAS Board periodically reviews the Bylaws and election process to affirm that it remains current and accurate. Recognizing this, the ICAS Board has authorized the creation of an ad hoc committee of ICAS members and has asked that group to review both the election-related verbiage in the ICAS Bylaws and the manner in which this direction has been executed by the organization during the last several years. Importantly, the new committee will be asked to recommend changes to the Bylaws that allow for electronic voting by e-mail and/or the internet. Generally, the group will be tasked with making any and all recommendations on changes it may have for improving the process.
MACLEAN KILLED IN TRAINING ACCIDENT
Red Bull Air Race pilot Alex Maclean died on Tuesday, August 17 near his home in Spain while practicing aerobatics for an upcoming air show. The former captain of the Spanish national aerobatic team, Maclean had been competing in the Red Bull Air Race series since 2003. Spanish regulatory authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.
ROY DAVIS: NEW ICAS MEMBER
Gyrocopter pilot Roy Davis of Roy Davis Gyrocopter Demonstrations is one of our newest ICAS members. Davis flies a high energy gyrocopter agility demonstration that demonstrates the unique capabilities of the gyrocopter while entertaining the audience and providing a new and different flying act for air show spectators. You can reach Roy at 9975 SW Green Ridge Lane, Palm City, Florida 34990, office phone 772-486-1005, e-mail: gyronautical@bellsouth.net.
CONVENTION REGISTRATIONS COMING IN AT NEAR ALL-TIME HIGH RATE
With three and a half months to go before the 2010 ICAS Convention, registrations are at a near record level for this time of year, exceeded at this point only by the pace of registrations for the 2004 ICAS Convention.
“Segments of the air show community continue to suffer from the economic downturn,” says ICAS President John Cudahy. “But convention registrations so far this summer suggest that the air show industry is already preparing for a very successful 2011 air show season.”
To use the quick and easy ICAS on-line convention registration process, click here.
MAKE YOUR HOTEL RESERVATION NOW TO GET LOWEST RATE
The 2010 ICAS Convention will once again be held at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and, if this is your first convention or your twenty-first, staying at the headquarter hotel enhances your convention experience. As it did last year, the hotel is once again offering an early bird discount rate, but this rate won’t be good for long. To learn more about the host hotel for the 2010 ICAS Convention, click here.. To make your hotel room reservation at this discounted rate, click here.
GOOD BOOTHS STILL AVAILABLE
Fifteen weeks out from the air show industry’s big event, there are still nearly 50 booths on the ICAS Convention exhibit hall floor still available. This year’s exhibit hall will include a total of 323 booths.
“We are a bit ahead of last year and on pace to sell out by early or mid-October,” said Exhibit Hall Manager Karen Connors.
To reserve your booth or to learn more about the ICAS Convention exhibit hall as a marketing tool for your air show organization, contact Karen Connors at 703-779-8510 or by e-mail at connors@airshows.aero.
ICAS RELEASES MARKETING COMPETITION INFO
Detailed information on the 2010 ICAS Marketing Competition is now available through ICAS headquarters or by clicking here.
This year’s ICAS Marketing Competition will include a number of changes, including the addition of a new category for “Best Overall Air Show Marketing Plan.” Judging for this award will be based on a number of criteria, including the type and effectiveness of marketing tools and tactics used by the show, cross promotions, trading/bartering to increase marketing reach/visibility, the impact of media and retail partnerships, and data/statistics that indicate effectiveness of marketing programs and improvement from one year to the next.
Other changes: The dividing line between small shows and large shows has been moved to 50,000 spectators to better balance out the categories. The following competition categories have been eliminated: event brochure, performer press kit, souvenir programs, and sponsor solicitation package.
RED BULL AIR RACES ANNOUNCE ONE-YEAR HIATUS
Organizers of the Red Bull Air Races announced earlier this month that the race series will not be held in 2011. Two of the last three races in the 2010 series were cancelled abruptly earlier this summer. And the race suffered its first accident (non-fatal involving Brazilian pilot Adilson Kindlemann during a race in Perth, Australia) and a near accident (Australian pilot Matt Hall in Windsor, Ontario). Race organizers were also known to be concerned about a number of planning and venue issues.
"Following 10 years of rapid growth, the organization had decided that it needed to make the tough decision to take a break for 2011 in order to implement the changes required with regard to the restructuring of the organization and, importantly, to develop the various commercial areas of the business," said Red Bull spokeswoman Barbara Proske.
THANK YOU SPONSORS
Air show organizations that have already signed on as sponsors of the 2010 ICAS Convention include: Air Boss & Consulting International; ASB.tv; Mike Goulian Airshows; Julie Clark's Chevron Mentor T-34; John Klatt Airshows; Team Chaos Extreme Airshows; FedEx Express; AirSupport, LLC; Jim Peitz Aerosports; Insurance Technologies and Programs; Mach 1 Productions; Commemorative Air Force/Tora, Tora, Tora; Air Boss, Inc. – George Cline; Shannon & Luchs Insurance Agency; Jacquie 'B' Airshows; Team Rocket; Nalls Aviation; Mohr Barnstorming; Geico Skytypers; Gordon Bowman-Jones; Aerostars Aerobatic Team; Tim Weber Airshows, Inc.; Greg Poe Airshows; Rob Reider, Air Show Announcer; and OnBoard Images.
If your organization would like more information on the many benefits of sponsoring the ICAS Convention, please contact ICAS headquarters.
© International Council of Air Shows, Inc.
750 Miller Drive, Suite F-3
Leesburg, Virginia 20175
Phone: 703-779-8510
Website: www.airshows.aero

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Human error in aviation: An introduction - AviationKnowledge

2010-08-27T12:16:00.001-07:00

Fold Unfold

Table of Contents

Human Error

What is human error?

Reason’s ideas on human error

Human error or human reliability?

Human Error

To this day the majority of aviation accidents are attributed in some way to some form of human error. Surprising when you consider all the effort and expense put into management, research, training and the development of new technologies such as automation. Yes, safety has vastly improved over the last 50 years, making flying one of the safest methods of getting around our planet. But still human error related accidents occur. For those interested in safety in aviation, from pilots and trainers to managers and human factors researchers, a good understanding of what human error is and how it can manifest itself as an aviation accident is fundamental.

What is human error?

Errare Humanum Est- To Err is Human

Early psychological researcher Sigmund Freud saw error as being a behavioural artefact of unconscious drives within a persons mind (Strauch, 2004). He regarded people who erred as being less effective, a theory that tainted early research on human error. Certain people were seen as being ‘accident prone’ simply because of particular traits they displayed. But later research showed these ideas to be flawed.

Researchers such as Donald Norman and Jens Rasmussen based their research on the cognitive and motor aspects of error and also reflect on the setting in which errors occur (Strauch, 2004). Indeed Norman differentiated errors into slips and mistakes, with slips being errors of execution generated by schemas, experiences, knowledge and memories, whilst he classified mistakes as errors relating to actions or decisions.

Rather than using the terms slip and mistake, Kern (1998) prefers the idea that there are errors of omission or commission. Errors of omission occur when crew members fail to carryout a required task. For example the NTSB investigation into American Airlines flight 1420, which overshot the end of the runway at Little Rock, Arkansas, in June1999, showed that a major contributor to the accident was the crew’s failure to arm the MD-80’s ground spoilers, which are designed to dissipate lift and improve braking (Dismukes, Berman & Loukopoulos, 2007). An error of commission occurs when a crew member carries out some task incorrectly or perhaps does something that is not required. The crash of Southwest Airlines flight 1455 was attributed to the crew’s execution of the approach, their excessive airspeed and an incorrect flightpath angle being primary causes of the accident.

Reason’s ideas on human error

James Reason further developed ideas on error, defining slips as minor errors of execution and introducing the idea of lapses, which can occur when a pilot becomes distracted and doesn’t complete a task or omits a step whilst performing it (Strauch, 2004). Reason is now often cited as providing the classic definition of human error;

“Planned actions that fail to achieve their desired consequences without the intervention of some chance or unforeseeable agency” (1990, p.17).

As well as slips and lapses, where actions deviate from a plan, Reason (1990) argues that mistakes; where actions conform to an inadequate plan, and violations; where actions deviate from safe procedures standards or rules, be they deliberate or erroneous, can also be the underlining elements of a human error.

For instance if a checklist item is missed or not performed, as occurred in 1996, when Continental Airlines flight 1943 landed ‘gear up’, a lapse has occurred (Dismukes et al, 2007). A mistake on the other hand is the result of a judgment failure, as happened in 1990 when Avianca flight 052 ran out of fuel because of the pilot’s decision to persevere with a landing at JFK (Helmreich & Merritt, 1998). A violation however occurs when a pilot contravenes a rule or SOP as occurred when the captain of Gulf Air Flight 072 did not adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs) when executing a non-standard and unplanned orbit to try and avoid a go-around (Wikipedia, 2010a).

Reason (1990) also affirmed the idea that the operators, those who commit errors, do not do so in a vacuum. We can rightly assume that the vast majority of operators don’t want to have an error, especially if they are sitting at the ‘pointy end’ high above the ground. But as we mentioned earlier, errors still occur, this is because other factors or antecedents influence the operator’s performance (Strauch, 2004). These can include, but are not limited to the equipment being used, other operators in the system and even any cultural influences which may exist.

When a false stall warning occurred as TWA flight 843 lifted of from JFK in 1992, the equipment, an L-1011, became the antecedent to the pilot’s error to abort the takeoff and unsuccessfully stop the aircraft on the runway (Dismukes, et al, 2007). When American Airlines flight 1572 struck trees on approach to Bradley International Airport the antecedent was another operator in the system. The pilot’s error to proceed below the minimum decent altitude was exasperated by the approach controller’s failure to report a current altimeter setting at a time of rapidly falling barometric pressure. A cultural antecedent was present when Korean Air flight 801 flew into a Guam hillside (Stanley, 2006). The first officer’s failure to monitor and check the captain’s execution of the approach was put down to the high power distance culture within the airline.

Human error or human reliability?

Not surprisingly the occurrences of human error incidents like those noted above are often seen in a rather negative light. Traditional approaches to human error rectification and management tended to centre on blame, training and quite possibly punishment (McDonald, 2003). But as our understanding of human error and human factors in general has improved the term human error has being replaced by ‘human reliability’ (Wikipedia, 2010b). This is because the reliability of human performers is seen as a major factor in the ‘resilience of systems’ especially in large socio-technical systems such as aviation, and it is better to manage and train for improved reliability than just finding out why errors occur. So research now tends to focus on more proactive and positive ways of understanding human error.

References

1. DISMUKES, K., BERMAN, B., & LOUKOPOULOS, L. (2007). The limits of expertise: Rethinking pilot error and the causes of airline accidents. Burlington, USA: Ashgate Publishing Co.

2. HELMREICH, R., & MERRITT, A. (1998). Culture at work in aviation and medicine: National, organizational and professional influences. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

3. KERN, T. (1998). Flight discipline. New York: McGraw-Hill.

4. McDONALD, N. (2003). Culture, systems and change in aircraft maintenance organisation. In G. EDKINS & P. PFISTER (Eds.), Aviation: Selected contributions to the Australian Aviation Psychology Symposium 2000. (pp. 39-57). Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

5. REASON, J. (1990). Human error. New York: Cambridge University Press.

6. STANLEY, B. (2006, January 9). Korean Air bucks tradition to fix problem (Electronic version). The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 26, 2010 from the World Wide Web: [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113676875085241209.html]

7. STRAUCH, B. (2004). Investigating human error: Incidents, accidents and complex systems. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

8. WIKIPEDIA (2010a). Gulf Air Flight 072. Retrieved August 26, 2010 from the World Wide Web: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Air_Flight_072]

9. WIKIPEDIA (2010b). Human reliability. Retrieved August 26, 2010 from the World Wide Web: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_reliability]

Want to know more?

Pilot Error

More examples of aircraft accidents attributable to pilot errors

Human Reliability

A Wikipedia page which introduces the concept

Crew Resource Management (CRM)

A good overview of CRM from AviationKnowledge

Contributors to this page

Authors / Editors

--
global gypsy

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Of Airplanes and Such

2010-08-27T12:13:00.001-07:00

As a DC3 pilot I am always interested in the Douglas DC3, and recently an article in Flying had a nice article about flying the DC3.

The author, Martha Lunken, takes a look back at how the airplane has survived for 75 years. You can read more here:

DC-3, A Real Man's Airplane

Makes me feel warm all over!

So, let's take a flight in a DC-3:

Enjoy!

JetAviator7

Green Aviation Summit

2010-08-20T07:21:00.001-07:00

NASA is planning a "Green Aviation" summit for this coming September as more pressure is brought upon aviation to "go green".

How realistic is green aviation anyway?

Read more about the summit at NASA's Green Aviation Summit.

Meanwhile, solar powered aircraft continue to make progress as the Swiss prepare for round the world flight:

Despite my misgivings and thoughts that this will never work, solar powered aircraft continue to improve in performance and capabilities.

I guess I need to write more posts about flying solar powered aircraft!

Planes of Fame: LIVING HISTORY FLYING DAY

2010-08-19T10:07:00.001-07:00

This is really cool with historical aircraft from Russia:

Planes of Fame: LIVING HISTORY FLYING DAY

On the first Saturday of every month Planes of Fame Air Museum, a 501(c)(3), hosts a Living History Flying Day featuring an aircraft from our extensive historical collection. Museum members are free.

The FAA And American Airlines Honor Tulsa Mechanics For 50 Years ...

2010-08-10T05:09:00.001-07:00

August 10, 2010 - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and American Airlines has honored two mechanics into an elite group of FAA "Master Mechanics" for their five decades of service in the airline industry. The special awards ceremony took place at American's Maintenance and Engineering base in Tulsa.

On Friday the FAA present retired Quality Assurance Supervisor C. W. "Bill" Denton and Leonard Hoosier, retired Outside Services Tech Representative, with the prestigious Charles E. Taylor Award.

The Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award is an honor presented by the United States Federal Aviation Administration in honor of Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight. The award recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of senior aviation mechanics. Taylor served as the Wright brothers' mechanic and is credited with designing and building the engine for their first successful aircraft.

To be eligible for the award, a recipient must have served 50 years as an accredited aviation mechanic and have been an FAA-certified mechanic for a minimum of 30 years.

"To receive this award, it not only tells the world that its recipient is dedicated to the craft of aviation mechanics, but it also demonstrates that the ever-evolving aviation industry requires this type of commitment to continue its success," said Mark Easton, American's Managing Director � Aircraft Overhaul Maintenance.

"Bill Denton's and Leonard Hoosier's service over the past 50 years serve as wonderful examples of Charles Taylor's enthusiasm for aviation. We are grateful for their service to the industry and hope others will follow in their footsteps."

A distinctive certificate and lapel pin is issued after application review and eligibility requirements have been met. The certificate is signed by the FAA Administrator. Upon request, a stickpin similar in design to the lapel pin is also provided to the award recipient�s spouse in recognition of his or her support to the recipient�s aviation maintenance career. Once the award has been issued, the recipient�s name, city and state will be added to a published �Roll of Honor.

via avstop.com

One of the best careers in aviation is that of aviation maintenance mechanic. It is a great way for young people to earn a great living while doing something they love. There are many communities with very active programs to train aircraft mechanics or you could study and learn on your own.

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Exhibiting Aviation’s State of the Industry

2010-08-05T07:21:00.001-07:00

An EAA AirVenture Oshkosh participant every year since 1978, I started spending the week there in 1989, when I began a decade-long tenure as Flight Training magazine’s booth boy. I spent roughly half that time in the old exhibit buildings, now the Federal Pavilion and GE Aviation Learning Center, and the remainder in one of the current exhibit hangars.

To pass the time when not talking to readers, and when roaming the aisles on my breaks, I began to take note of the changes from year to year. In the early years, when aviation was growing and stuffing another exhibitor into the old sheds seemed impossible, EAA built the new exhibit hangars and redesigned the outside spaces. And they quickly filled up.

Over the past three years the signs of an eroding aviation industry have been slight, but this year they were shockingly apparent, especially when I walked into Hangar C. Vast pools of open floor spilled from each of the large doorways. The aisles between exhibitors were maybe a third wider than last year, and for the first time in my memory some aisles were formed by the backside of the other aisle’s booths.

The migration of exhibitors with tenuous ties to aviation from the Flymart to the exhibit hangars has been gradual—and constant. Given the economy and the decline of the pilot population, this trend will surely continue. Some of the products displayed, demonstrated, and for sale were pretty cool, however. My favorite was this electric powered RC model that reminded me of the flying machines in Avatar.

Perhaps the loneliest exhibitors at AirVenture 2010 were the flight schools and companies that sell flight training courses and supplies. Apparently, learning to fly for recreation or a career seemed to interest few at AirVenture. During the week I spent upwards of an hour or more circulating past them to see if traffic had picked up. Nope. Two schools did attract some interest however. Kansas State at Salina, with its Citation parked beside its tent, did some traffic by giving away a $2,000 scholarship every day. And inside, people lined up at the University of Dubuque’s booth to fly its Redbird flight simulator. The booth boys, however, spent most of their time talking to each other.

While people didn’t seem interested in flying lessons, they were interested in the idea of flight because they mobbed many of the exhibit aircraft. Light-sport aircraft were the primary draws, and one and two on the list of people magnets were the Icon A5, who had people waiting for its exhibit to open every day, and the Cessna Skycatcher, which attracted the curious after hours, with only the info board to answer their questions. Other aircraft, especially prototypes like the futuristic Cobalt, were, for the most part, as lonely as the flight schools.

Without a doubt the attendance this year was down, thanks to the weather, but those who showed up were interested in all that AirVenture had to offer. After talking to a number of exhibitors whom I’ve known for years and are not apt to BS me, it was a good year for business, and they all hoped the trend would continue. –Scott Spangler

Related Posts:

LSA Sales Down, but Fleet Still Growing
LSA Surpasses Expectations at Oshkosh FBO
Training & Technology’s Transitions
Icon Aircraft Preaches to the Congregation (Finally!)
When an Aviation Expert is Needed, Mr. Know-It-All Responds

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Airports, Aviation Marketing, Blogging, Flight Training, General, Light sport aircraft, sport aviation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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EAA AirVenture Videos - Day #3 New Products

2010-08-04T05:27:00.001-07:00

Today I started flying back from Oshkosh to home in California. Flying low and slow, I enjoyed seeing hundreds of farms and ranches as i flew over Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Many of these farms are growing a new crop: windmills. I saw dozens of these and most were much taller than the now decades old ones we see in California. Most weren't turning, but I still experienced about 10 knots of headwind for the first half of the trip.

I made three major deviations around thunderstorms using the Mark 1 eyeball. Just look out the window and if you don't like what you see turn and fly in another direction. Tonight I'm overnighting in Valentine, NE. Shortly after I chained the plane down, a moster thunderstorm I'd outrun swept through with gusts to 70 mph. Hail blew nearly sideways and visibility was at times nil. Downtown streets flooded with 1-2 feet of water.

Storms like these are almost non-existant in California, so it was fun witnessing the power of mother nature from the safety of the ground. The sunset that followed was spectacular.

Here's a link to the videos we shot on Day #3. If you’re on Facebook and the “Like” button appears below the video, click on those videos you enjoy. More videos coming your way tomorrow.

SkyRadar, a moving map application for the iPad, provides free in-cockpit weather in combination with a separate ADS-B receiver.

ACR SARLink View, a new 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacon that includes a display that gives the user information about its current location and the status of the device when it is activated to seek help.

SpiderTracks is a new device that continuously tracks your aircraft position, updates a web site with position information, makes notifications if a crash occurs, and offers a social networking capability for sharing photos of your trips.
Dynon’s SkyView glass cockpit solution offers large displays, new features including synthetic vision, and a new autopilot that integrates seemlessly with SkyView.

New Avidyne DFC90 is a pin compatible replacement for the STEC 55X autopilot in Cirrus aircraft. It offers new modes including IAS mode for constant airspeed climbs

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NASA makes big commitment to greener skies

2010-08-02T17:16:00.001-07:00

NASA makes big commitment to greener skies

By KATHERINE BUTLER
Mother Nature Network (mnn.com)

Related:

http://www.mnn.com

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More News

Air pollution is a major problem plaguing this planet. But now the agency most concerned with outer space is taking up the cause for clean air. Scientific American reports that NASA is commissioning eco-friendly airplanes, investing millions into the effort.
NASA's cleaner plan initiative is called N+3, and it hopes to develop cleaner planes by 2035. Under this project, NASA will fund designs for planes that use 70 percent less fuel than current aircrafts. The planes would also emit 75 percent less nitrous oxide, produce much less noise pollution and would require less space for takeoff and landing.
In 2008, NASA awarded $12.4 million to six teams to develop cleaner sonic and subsonic transport vehicles. These teams include representatives from Lockheed Martin, Boeing, GE Aviation, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). NASA is expected to hand out more money in April 2011. These groups will be encouraged to reduce fuel consumption and rethink the general design of commercial airplanes.
Currently, airlines are attempting to retro-fit aircrafts to make them more efficient. Building one from the "rivets up" is a $10 billion proposition, according to Mark Drela, professor of fluid dynamics at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a leader of the university's N+3 team. As he told Scientific American, "You literally bet the company on almost every new plane."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced in June that it would pour $125 million into modifying existing aircrafts to be more energy efficient. This is called the Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise program. Fuel typically consumes a third of an airlines' budget, so this is primarily a monetary decision. As Scientific American writes, "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that by 2030, the U.S. fleet of commercial aircraft will consume more than 110 billion liters of fuel ... and nearly 160 million people will be flying on U.S. planes."
Great strides are also being made in biofuel and hybrid technology for aircrafts. Boeing has proposed a hybrid airplane that would run on efficient fuels and electricity. Boeing claims that its model could reduce current fuel use by 70 to 90 percent.
Finally, plans are also underway for the most efficient aircraft possible - a solar powered airplane with zero emissions. The Solare Impulse project has already successful tested a prototype, which at present has a non-pressurized cockpit and cannot fly above 8,500 miles. Still, experts are optimistic about its eventual success - and the success of all clean, green flying.

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2010-08-01T18:56:00.001-07:00

'Black box' recovered from plane crash site near Islamabad http://ping.fm/omADA

What every pilot needs to have in their flight bag

2010-07-31T16:51:00.001-07:00

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Jason Schappert of MZeroA.com has put together a great 5 minute video in response to a question asked about what a pilot should have in their flight bag. The items mentioned by Jason included:

Kneeboards. A kneeboard is a simple piece of metal and elastic that has a hook for a pin. Jason uses a ASA-VFR kneeboard which costs around US$10 to keep everything he needs on there including different frequencies that you may need to use, the FAA flight plan, VFR cloud clearance requirements and other important information.

Headset. Jason uses a Zulus headset but he also mentioned a Bose headset. Both are higher end and very expensive headsets. However, Jason noted that you should not be afraid to spend extra money on a good quality headset – especially a noise canceling model.

Handheld Radios with an Adapter. Jason noted that not only should you have a handheld radio but you should also have one with an adapter so that you can plug your headset in and hear into it. This is especially useful if the cockpit is loud and you can’t hear the speaker. Jason also noted that there is a new Sporty’s model, the SP-200, which lets you do nav and tune through a VOR

At the end of the video, Jason asked viewers to leave a comment about any important item left out and he will then select the best item for part 2 of his video with the commenter receiving a free Sporty’s flight bag. Already, Jason has received nearly 70 thoughtful comments in response to his contest.

Share and enjoy:

Related posts:
What’s in your pilot flight bag?

Top 10 things every pilot needs

How to ask for and receive VFR Flight following

How do I know if my flight training is on track?

A great new flight bag from BrightLine Bags

Tagged as: Pilot Accessories

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Congress ready to pass aviation safety measures | The Daily Caller ...

2010-07-28T12:28:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is getting ready to pass tough new aviation safety measures that were developed in response to a deadly commuter plane crash in western New York in early 2009, a key lawmaker said Wednesday.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said in an interview that he was introducing a bill with the safety improvements on Wednesday. He said he expects House passage on Thursday and Senate passage soon afterward.

Besides the safety measures, the bill extends authority for Federal Aviation Administration programs through Sept. 30, the end of the current budget year. Without that extension, the FAA would have to shutdown on Sunday when current program authority expires.

There is strong support in Congress for the safety measures, which were added to a broader aviation bill that lawmakers have been struggling for nearly four years to pass. With that bill stalled over disagreements involving other issues, House and Senate lawmakers have reached a consensus that the safety provisions should be passed separately from the broader measure, Oberstar said.

The impetus for the safety measures was the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. All 49 people aboard and one man in a house were killed. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation faulted errors by the flight’s two pilots and deficiencies in pilot hiring and training by Colgan Air Inc., the regional carrier that operated the flight for Continental Airlines.

The investigation also revealed the accident was the byproduct of a financially strapped industry seeking to cut costs by farming out short-haul flights to regional carriers. Those carriers often hire inexperienced pilots at low wages, assign them exhausting schedules and look the other way when they commute long distances to work because they can’t afford to live in the cities where they are based.

The last six airline accidents in the United States all involved regional air carriers.

Friends and family members of the victims of the Colgan crash have been lobbying Congress relentlessly for passage of the safety provisions. As a group, they have made more than 30 lobbying trips to Washington at their own expense over the past 17 months. They’ve met with dozens of senators and House members or their staffs, and attended every congressional hearing with any connection to aviation safety. They’ve also pressed their case in private meetings with President Barack Obama, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt.

The aviation safety measures Congress is preparing to pass are “everything we asked for,” said Kevin Kuwik, a spokesman for the families who lost his girlfriend, Lorin Maurer, in the accident. “The bill cuts right to the core of what caused Flight 3407 to crash.” The changes are opposed by some groups, notably the aviation lawyers groups who see no reason for this change and argue it does not add to safety.

The bill would require that the minimum flight experience for first officers be raised from 250 hours to 1,500 hours — the same level as captains. That could force regional airlines to hire more experienced pilots and indirectly raise salaries. FAA would also be required to update rules governing how many hours airlines may require a pilot to fly before the pilot is permitted rest, and airlines would have to put in place fatigue risk management plans — programs that use scientific research on fatigue to assess pilot hours and alert airlines to schedules that are likely to induce fatigue.

Other provisions address pre-employment screening of pilots, create mentoring programs between experienced pilots and newly hired pilots and provide remedial training for pilots who have performed poorly on skills tests.

___

Online:

Flight 3407 Memorial: http://www.3407memorial.com/

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"Out of the box" for another eight months

2010-07-27T17:46:00.001-07:00

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Los Angeles Lawyers plane crash - to ensure justice for victims

2010-07-27T17:40:00.001-07:00

Travel has become very common and customary for different types of people - on any designed for business, leisure and personal reasons. It was reported that a large number of people traveling to Los Angeles in the air, as it is considered the quickest and most cost effective ways to move from place to place.
As air travel will be disseminated among the travelers, it's really practical, and should be familiar with its safety standards andPrecautionary measures. This was a must-know information on purpose for the passengers, passengers and other personnel designated flight.
But despite the warnings, notices, signs and actions, there were several cases of injuries and deaths associated with aviation disasters. How, in fact, reports of air crashes are very disturbing. This knowledge is of great concern to the public.
Together with this, relatives of victims sufferfinancial reward and emotional trauma - has meant a lot of difficulties and worries. Especially in Los Angeles, many families have lost a loved one or had a member who has suffered serious injuries from the air dilemmas.
These setbacks unspeakable following reasons:

Pilot error

Mechanical failure

Bad weather

Stale aircraft

Sabotage or terrorism
So to solve this problem is to approach the governmenttreated with various laws that will help at least to minimize the number of air accidents.
As a result, the Federal Government, the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 established security standards necessary for flight operations. This covers various aspects of aviation such as aircraft, flight operations and pilot behaviors. Consequently, the airline industry took strict measures to ensure safe travel of passengers.
BeyondState institutions have been created to help the various victims. These include:

National Transportation Safety Board - responsible for the investigation of aircraft accidents

Federal Aviation Administration - the agency responsible for civil aviation to ensure

Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated - the possibility of sabotage or criminal actions in air accidents

Red Cross - Answers to relief for victims
However, this was not sufficient to prevent air disasters. Accounts of unpleasant air accidents still occur. However, the victim may trust the lawyers on the expertise of the crash in Los Angeles to obtain justice and to buy what they make available legal remedies.
A competent legal advocate with considerable experience in the management of aviation accidents, you can impact on their poor victims on what steps to. To evaluate the merits of thegather evidence and present their case to them in the hearings, a lawyer can that their rights are respected.
As the Federal Aviation Act provides every victim can be responsible for damages to ask up to $ 75,000 from the party. But with the help of a plane crash in Los Angeles lawyer who can sacrifice much further depending on the factors surrounding her.
Therefore, to reduce their burden of proving the guilt of the parties negligent, youWe recommend that a qualified aviation lawyer. In this way it is also freedom from the cares, the flexibility to faster recovery from their negative experiences.
Come and learn more about air accidents with the help of experts from the Aviation Accident Lawyers in Los Angeles.

via baltimoreaccidentattorneysblog.blogspot.com

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What you should expect on your first training flight

2010-07-27T13:35:00.001-07:00

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Chris Findley, a flight instructor in the Nashville area and the founder of myFlightCoach.com, has written a great post for AOPA’s Let’s Go Flying blog about what you should expect on your first training flight. Chris began his post by saying that you should arrive a little early to take in the sights and sounds of the airport plus chat with your instructor who will also hopefully take a little bit of time to get to know you.

Once you head out to the airplane, Chris noted that if you are accustomed to airliners, a training aircraft will probably feel like a compact car with a pair of wings. The instructor will then do a “preflight” and depending upon how much discussion you have, this should take a bout 10 or 15 minutes.

Then you and your instructor will get into the aircraft and taxi to the runway and do one final check of the plane. After this, you will take-off and more than likely experience a little bit of turbulence. However and if you want to avoid this on your first couple of flights, it may be a good idea to schedule your training for early in the morning or early in the evening before it gets dark as the air will usually be smoother during these times.

Once you reach a safe altitude and are out of the airport vicinity, your instructor will probably let you fly to get a feel for the aircraft. And after about 20 minutes, you will head back to the airport. After you get into the traffic pattern, you will come in and make a landing. Chris noted that this is probably the most exciting and challenging part of the flight – even for long time pilots as landings are both an art and a science.

Once back on the ground, your instructor will then find out if you are really interested in flight training to earn a pilot’s license. And at this point, your flying career will have already begun.

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Related posts:
How do I choose the right flight instructor?

Flight training pitfalls

How do I know if my flight training is on track?

Controlling your flight training costs

Spin training

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Airspeed Video Episode - Spins with Barry

2010-07-27T09:16:00.001-07:00

via airspeedonline.blogspot.com

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Who was David Warren, inventor of the aircraft Cockpit Voice ...

2010-07-27T04:33:00.001-07:00

Discussions
11:56 am - Tuesday

Who was David Warren, inventor of the aircraft Cockpit Voice Recorder, benefactor of the flight safety

Rome, Italy - A tribute by Italian commander Renzo Dentesano

(WAPA) - Reports of death of doctor in science David Ronald de Mey Warren (20 March 1925-19 July 2010), which occurred July 19 in Melbourne (Australia), inventor of the commercial aircraft's "Sound recording in the cockpit". He was “Known to the world of aviation as the Australian scientist who invented (in 1956) and later developed the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) in the wake of disasters of the first commercial airplane with jet engines, the British De Havilland Comet”.
We recall that between 1953 (May 2nd) and 1954 (January 10th and April 8th) there were, in quick succession, three (then) mysterious air disasters such as a four-engine in Calcutta (India) and in the Tyrrhenian Sea, respectively off Elba island and in Gulf of Policastro. Following these disasters, Dr. Warren, having participated, as an expert, the investigation on Calcutta "Crash" inquiries, conceived the idea of trying to create a tape recorder who could hold the audible sounds and verbal communications in cockpit of commercial aircraft as a valuable assistance to investigators of aircraft accidents, in order to better understand what were the real causes and possible contributing factors of aircraft accidents.
At the time, for these purposes, there was only a primitive recording electro-mechanical flight data, the "Flight Data Recorder - FDR", which could write on special strips of foil through staple connected to five sensors installed on the aircraft, only five flight parameters, as well as marking the time of the event recorded.
Only two years later (in 1956) Warren had already made the first CVR, which was based on a recording apparatus which used magnetic tape and had the ability to record communications and audible sounds in the cockpit and to keep duration of 30 minutes before auto-delete the sounds of first minutes to make the tape usable for the next 30 minutes and so on.
This invention was, in the scientist's intentions, to add a new dimension to diagnosis, to complete the picture which could be formed in the minds of investigators following the reconnaissance of the wreck and of the place where it laid.
Soon after, he devoted himself to join his invention with the new "Flight Data Recorder - FDR”, which in turn also become magnet-operated, and after to operate in digital.
They had many other disasters happened to commercial aircraft before the aeronautical authorities of member countries in ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) would recognize and understand - in their technical meetings on the subject of investigation - how important this new and modern "Recorder board" could be and then decide to require the mandatory installation aboard all commercial aircraft weighing over 5700 kilograms.
So many aircraft disasters occurred, in which were also used recordings by the CVR, could be solved not only relying on the data and the voices of pilots and controllers involved, FDR recorded, but also by other sounds recorded by CVR, such as the engines sound or characteristic noises generated from the cockpit, hit in mid-air by violent hailstorms.
David Warren, eldest son of an European native, was born in a small island next to the shores of the Northern Territory and was orphaned at the age of nine, when his father was killed in a plane crash in 1934 occurred in Bass Strait.
From 1952 (just 27 years old) and up to 1983, Warren was the principal scientist involved in the research laboratories of the organization Aeronautics Defence Australian Government, located in Melbourne and in 2002 was honored with the title of officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
Warren is so worthily remembered in history as a benefactor of the International Civil Aviation air accident investigation capability, and thus also as a benefactor of in pro-safety prevention in flight.
This paper, in my capacity as investigator certified by US NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and as a former member of ISASI (International Society of Air Safety Investigators), wants to be a moving tribute of gratitude to the memory of David Warren, benefactor of flight safety and accident prevention to the commercial aviation world.
See also the news on the subject published by AVIONEWS.
(Avionews)
(00500)

100727115640-1119481
(World Aeronautical Press Agency - 2010-07-27 11:56 am)

via avionews.com

What a great contribution to improving safety in aircraft and helping to understand the causes of aircraft accidents. His invention of the cockpit voice recorder has advanced aviation safety and helped protect the lives of pilots around the world.

JetAviator7

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Top Ten Reasons to Work For A Regional Airline

2010-07-26T15:10:00.001-07:00

Top Ten Reasons to Work For A Regional Airline

Jul 26th, 2010
by Patrick Flannigan.

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Flying for a regional airline has been bastardized by pilots, the media and passengers alike. Sure, there are a lot of outstanding issues that need to be resolved, but working for a commuter isn’t all that bad compared to other entry-level flying jobs. These are my top ten reasons to work for a regional airline.

Safety – Regional airlines are airlines and as such, they are watched very carefully by the FAA for compliance with established rules and regulations. They simply can’t get away with the sort of questionable procedures you might find at any number of night freight and charter companies. Pilots generally experience less pressure from the company to fly when it is unsafe and have plenty of resources to draw upon when that line is crossed.
A portion of American Eagle's ERJ fleet.

Support and Teamwork – Airline pilots have a large support network comprised of flight attendants, captains, first officers, check airmen, dispatchers, maintenance controllers and members of management that they can draw upon when things get difficult.

Maintenance – All airplanes run into issues, and it’s good to know that a mechanic is only a radio call away. In many cases airline maintenance will be able to fix the problem on the spot. When it doesn’t work out, items can be deferred and operated under approved MEL procedures. Even when the list of deferrals grows long, it’s rare to find a more impeccably maintained commercial aircraft than an airliner.

Solid Training – Airlines operate their own in-house training programs designed to keep all pilots on the same page. Pilots are trained and re-trained both in class and in the simulator to cope with any number of emergencies and to ensure a safe and standardized flight deck environment.

Steady Pay – Flight instructors, charter, and corporate pilots often live from paycheck to paycheck. Though they may be compensated quite well per flight, there are periods of time where business is poor and budgets are tight. Although regional pay is far from what it should be, it is good to be able to count on a guaranteed paycheck from month to month.
One of Pinnacle Airlines' CRJ-200s in flight.

Benefits – Airline work offers affordable medical and dental insurance in addition to company matching 401(k) retirement plans. Benefits like this are hard to find at Ma’ and Pa’ charters and flight schools and can save a fortune on overpriced hospital bills.

Free Travel – By flying for the airlines, you are privy to the greatest perk in any industry – free travel! Depending upon the airline, travel benefits could extend to your immediate family and even to your friends with discounted buddy-passes. Want to see Paris on your day off, just hop on the next flight, no problem!

Having a Set Schedule – After flying for an airline for a while and accruing a bit of seniority, pilots are no longer on call and are awarded set schedules known as lines. After working your life around student and client demands, it is simply fantastic to know your days off a full month in advance.
The CRJ-1000, Bombardier's next generation regional airliner.

Commutability – When most people take on a big job, they have to relocate to a new city. Airline pilots can live anywhere so long as they can commute into their base. So long as you live within driving distance of a large airport, and don’t mind losing time riding around in jets, there is simply no need to move into domicile.

Protection – Flying the ‘line offers a level of personal protection for pilots. On the one hand, if the FAA comes after you while operating “by the book” under company guidance, the airline will absorb all or most of the blow. If, on the other hand, you mess up, you do have the benefit of a union representative who will fight to protect your interests. It’s rare that these issues come up, but it’s nice to know that somebody is watching your back.

Related posts:
Two Easy Ways to Prevent Pilot Error
Should I Get My Instrument Rating?
Four Tips to Protect Your Pilot Logbook

Posted in: Flying.
Tagged: regional airline · Top Ten

via aviationchatter.com

A great article on flying for the regional airlines. This is a great place for pilots to start their commercial career.

John

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Attitude Does Not Equal Authority

2010-07-25T17:31:00.001-07:00

Attitude Does Not Equal Authority

The next day there is no delay. I wake, eat breakfast and go. Today I add two litres to the left engine and one to the right. You can tell we're getting close to maintenance when the oil consumption increases, but I haven't burned that much since yesterday. I'm putting more in than what is required just to replace what was there yesterday. A greater amount of oil will, I hope, amortize the cooling job across more oil so I won't need to use the cowl flaps so much. I text my fellow pilot to ask him if he can buy some more oil today. We're almost out. I clean the windows, give a straightforward briefing to a person who my instincts say would not appreciate the silly one, and we go fly.

We're just five hundred feet below the clouds, working fairly near the airport. A little Cessna takes off and joins us up here too. I later looked it up by its registration and learned that it's a privately owned C150 registered to two owners, one in Dawson Creek and one in nearby Pouce Coupé. I wonder who they are, not living together, different last names, but sharing an airplane. Every time the pilot position reports, she is much lower than us, and having recently been in a C150 I think that's because she doesn't want to take the time and trouble to climb this high. They land after perhaps an hour. Probably she was just up for a joyride.

We fly over Pouce Coupé and kill a few minutes trying to decide how to pronounce it. I think it retains close to the French pronunciation (it means "cut thumb") and rhymes with Moose Toupée, but for all we know it rhymes with Mouse Poop. After six or seven hours of equally inane conversation we are overhead the airport ready to land. "Down in six minutes," I tell the FSS guy, and my touchdown is six minutes and six seconds later. My sense of victory is brief, because I flub the flare glancing inside to check my time accuracy. Dork. Smooth landings require follow through.

After I exit the runway I stop on the apron and set the parking brake. As I wait for all the equipment to be shut down properly in the back, I text my flight follower and discover that I am to fly to another destination right away. Then I get a call from the other pilot saying that he will do the flight, to avoid giving me an overlong duty day in case there's a long hold. He's probably been awake for almost as long as I have, but I don't argue because he didn't fly yesterday at all. And his duty day has probably only just started, He may have been napping all morning. I taxi to the fuel pumps.

There are a couple of people standing in the "secure area" square outside the terminal, and some small pieces of furniture possibly symbolically blockading it. I pull around the outer boundary of the square and park at the pumps. There's a guy there in ear defenders, reflective vest, etcetera and as the mission specialist disembarks ear-defender guy asks him how much fuel we are taking. I hear "You'll have to ask the pilot" so I come out and tell him 700-800 litres, but I want to check with the pilot of the next flight first. He's on his way, so I'll start fuelling while I wait for him to arrive. The guy asks me if I want 100LL or jet and I tell him 100LL and then get out my credit card to activate the pump while he unfurls the hose. He tells me that a Hawkair plane is coming in for fuel too.

"Do you work for Hawkair?" I ask.

He gives an answer that I don't remember verbatim but that was roughly equivalent to "I work for you too." It's not uncommon for the operator of a self-serve pump to provide fuel service when he's around, especially when the pump is busy, so this isn't incredibly irregular. I turn on the pump once the credit card has been verified, and he pumps fuel. He momentarily knocks the nozzle out of the tank and sprays fuel all over the wing. Some pilots freak out about this sort of thing, but it's probably about 30 cents worth of fuel. "It happens," I say, to let him know I'm not fuming at him. He puts the nozzle back in the tank and I open the other tanks I want filled. I tell him that I will be right back. After seven hours in a plane, the sound of rushing fuel is not conducive to continued bladder control. I can also see the other pilot approaching from about 30 metres away, so he'll be here to say what fuel he wants before this tank, which I know he wants, is full. I wave to the approaching pilot and head towards the terminal.

I can see the Hawkair on its landing rollout, as I recall it was a small Dash-8. At this point there's a number of people on the ramp in high visibility clothing and ear defenders, plus a woman in a skirt. She's the only one who isn't visibly doing something, so I ask her, over the roar of the turboprop taxiing in, if she knows if it's okay if I cross the yellow square to the terminal without a badge. She says yes, but I won't be able to get out, and I say yes I know. I have the code. I bolt for the toilet. That done, I go out the groundside door, around the building to the codelocked side gate, dial in the code and jog back to my airplane. The person who was fuelling is now gone, the pump turned off and the fuel nozzle left propped in an open tank, and a number of people, including skirt woman, are glaring at me. "There was someone here fuelling me when I left!" I say by way of apology, and take the nozzle out of the tank so I can restart the fuel pump without risking it ricocheting out.

"It's self-serve fuel!" she says. True, and I have no idea why the guy was helping me, but he was. And my coworker should have arrived to take over before he had to flee. Then I realize that he is at the pumps, but skirt woman has him cornered, as she is chewing him out for walking in between the Hawkair and the terminal. "It's a SECURED airplane," she tells him. "It's going to VANCOUVER!" In fact she's so busy chewing him out that I think she failed to see me do exactly the same thing moments ago. I thought she meant I wouldn't be able to get out again because I wouldn't be able to get back through the CATSA people to exit the terminal, not that I wouldn't be allowed back in the yellow square.

The Hawkair turboprop is now parked behind our airplane and although the Jet A hoses reach it in that position, they can't start fuelling until I'm done, because the keypad that controls both tanks is shared. If she would stop hassling my co-worker we could get out of the way faster. My coworker rekeys the fuel pump and we finish fuelling while everyone glares at us. I mean WHAT? Sure the Dash-8 is bigger than me, but there's no reservation system for the pumps. I was here, pumping fuel before it even landed, and so there's no way I can be accused of having cut in front. If there is some reason why it should have priority, the young man with the reflective vest could have told me to push off and wait. Yes, it does take a while to fuel my airplane. But it probably takes a while to fuel a Dash-8 too, and we're departing immediately to Edmonton, with the pilot's duty day ticking. We have every right to be here. We ignore the glares and chat about how he didn't have a chance to buy more oil yet, but it's available at the airport, and how we should get badged so we don't get hassled for doing our jobs. Skirt woman (who wears absolutely no symbolic or official badge of authority, not even a reflective vest or a clipboard) says it wouldn't make any difference. No one is allowed to go between the airplane and the terminal. It's SECURED! Because it's going to VANCOUVER. We remain unimpressed. We've both been to Vancouver.

When I get to the last tank, I give my coworker the nozzle to finish fuelling so that I can remove my gear from the airplane and let him get on his way. I leave the key on the floor inside the rear boarding door and tell him that. Everything done, I wish him a good flight, pick up my bags and the in-flight garbage and very carefully go around the Dash-8, outside the magic yellow square, not between it and the terminal. At no point during my transit am I any closer to the Dash-8 than I was while I was at the fuel pumps. When I re-emerge to her view on the other side, skirt woman comes over to yell at me.

"You're not supposed to be there! If Transport Canada were here ... This airplane is SECURED to go to VANCOUVER!"

I gesture at where my feet are. "I'm not inside the yellow square." I resist the temptation to touch it with my toes.

She says it doesn't matter, that the nearest I'm allowed to be, "is .. is .. there!" while gesturing vaguely westward. She may be pointing at a distant maintenance hangar. It is not clear. She says I need to be escorted if I go anywhere. I literally throw up my hands. "Escort me" I say in exasperation.

"Where do you want to go?"

"A FOD bin."

She doesn't know what that is, but one of the rampees does and gestures for her. She escorts me to a big yellow drum and I throw out my in-flight garbage, and then continue past to the exit gate.

I am in general a law-abiding, cooperative person. I have read all the NOTAM and posted signs for this airport and I have worked at airports large and small all over North America. I was actively trying to comply with the security protocol. Moreover skirt woman had ample opportunity to explain her particular security rules. I initially approached her for instructions. Then she stood around and glared at me for five minutes or so while I pumped gas. She could have spent that time explaining her rules. The aren't the same at every airport. I have had many cordial conversations with security people as I stood just outside the magic yellow square. I was willing to grant her the authority to dictate limitations. Just tell me lady, please, what I may not do; tell me what I need to do. I'm not cowed by the mere presence of an airplane bigger than mine, so without further instructions it's business as usual. She did nothing to indicate what procedure I must to follow in order to respect the "secured airplane," until the third time I crossed the ramp.

Sigh. She probably hates that aspect of her job, and doesn't really like confronting people, so that by the time she does she becomes bitchy and ranting. And now I'm bitchy and ranting, too. My customer also ran afoul of her, but because he didn't have to be on the ramp he just fled to his truck until I was done. We go to Canadian Tire on the way back and rant to each other about the difference between authoritative and bitchy. I buy a flashlight to replace the broken one in the airplane. As we leave we notice the "secure" Hawkair taking off. My customer notes snidely that no one is clinging to the tail, and that's enough to snap me out of my rant.

I finally have a chance to get those groceries I've been needing, at a chain supermarket across the street from the hotel. The appearance of the produce section is a bit of a shock. There is hardly any green, and what there is, is rotten. There are paved roads coming in here, but I guess I'm further north, culturally speaking, than I thought. Despite the paucity of produce, I'm so hungry that most other things look good, and I buy a bunch of stuff I shouldn't. The produce truck pulls in just as I'm crossing the street back to the hotel. I hope they are bringing something fresh and green. Also I was so eager to escape from skirt woman that I completely forgot to hunt down that oil.

The customer calls to say that I have a 05:30 report tomorrow, so I eat some of my groceries and go straight to bed.

His Casket Was Almost Orange!

And here's an update too interesting to leave to the people who follow old comments. A few days ago I posted "His Casket is Actually Orange," a short blog entry on the passing of David Warren, inventor of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. His son, Peter Warren, stopped by the comments, and fortunately father and son share a great sense of humour because Peter answered the blog's flippant questions with both a link to a picture of the coffin (apparently they did consider painting it orange, but went with plain wood), adorned with messages from family, the words "Flight Recorder Inventor: Do not Open," plus his actual last words. "I was a lucky bastard."

I love it. I've never seen anything like it in Canada. Everyone is going to die eventually and I think there's a lot to gain in admitting humour and personality to the last rites.
Labels: airlines, authority, communication, death, food, fuel, private flying, security

posted by Aviatrix at 00:00

via airplanepilot.blogspot.com

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2010-07-24T06:24:00.001-07:00

aviation How to secure your aircraft from theft http://bit.ly/cK3LOu http://ping.fm/HARXh

Airshow Sees Aviation Industry Pulling Out of Long Dive - The ...

2010-07-23T15:02:00.001-07:00

Jane Wardell & Andrew Khouri

A Dassault Aviation SA Falcon 7X private jet sits on the tarmac on the fourth day of the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, U.K. on Thursday. The Farnborough International Airshow is being held from July 19-25. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Airshow Sees Aviation Industry Pulling Out of Long Dive

Farnborough, England. There was an even louder sound than the roar of jet engines during the daily flying display at the Farnborough International Airshow this week — a collective sigh of relief from the civil aviation industry.
New plane orders of almost $29 billion suggest the skies ahead are clearing after a deep two-year downturn, although the defense sector is still scarred by savage government budget cuts.
The airshow “confirms the recovery trend we have been observing for a couple of months as air traffic globally has endured,” Tom Enders, chief executive of European plane maker Airbus, said on Thursday, adding that his company planned to set a new sales target for this year.
New orders at the aviation industry’s premier event didn’t come close to the record-breaking $88.7 billion worth of deals announced at Farnborough in 2008 before the global recession hit.
But they easily surpassed orders of just $7 billion at Farnborough’s sister show at Le Bourget, near Paris — the pair alternate years — last year.
“I’m encouraged by the fact that the economies around the world are moving in a positive direction now,” Gary Scott, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said on Thursday, the last major business day of the show.
“I think we all know that Europe is struggling maybe a bit more than the US and both are struggling relative to the rest of the world but it’s all moving in the right direction,” Scott said.
The International Air Transport Association recently forecast that the global industry would make a small profit of $2.5 billion this year, after a huge loss of $9.4 billion in 2009 — a marked improvement from its predictions late last year of more losses this year.
Reports from US airlines for the second quarter this week have shown their strongest quarterly results in three years. After huge losses during the recession, Delta, United and US Airways combined to post profits of $1 billion.
But the rebound came with brutal cost-cutting that included the elimination of hundreds of flights each day by the major carriers. That reduced the supply of seats and drove up fares.
Analysts suggest that the aviation industry rebound will be to a “new normal,” where demand will remain weak, prompting likely mergers and acquisitions and a greater focus on streamlining supply and engineering costs.
At Farnborough, the potential changing face of the aviation industry was reflected in the fact that two plane leasing companies — both created just months ago — were among the biggest buyers.
Air Lease bought 54 Boeing 737-8s worth $4.1 billion according to list prices, 51 A-320 family jets worth $4.4 billion and 10 ATR 72-600 turboprops at $221 million. GE Capital Aviation Services bought 60 A-320s worth $4.9 billion and 40 Boeing 737-8s worth $3 billion. Aircraft makers often give discounts to list prices.
Max Sukkhasantikul, Frost & Sullivan’s commercial aviation consulting analyst, said that the deals indicated that many airlines still don’t have the cash flow or credit available to finance their purchases.
“It certainly shows that airlines are moving increasingly toward the leasing model as they try to defer their assets and focus on their core business, which is transferring passengers from A to B,” Sukkhasantikul said.
Among airline buyers at the show were Qatar, Emirates, Qantas, Aeroflot, PT Garuda Indonesia and Flybe.
EADS-based Airbus narrowly beat Chicago-based Boeing in the traditional race for orders between the two companies at major air shows.
Airbus’s deals totaled $13.2 billion, while Boeing’s commitments came in at $12.8 billion.
Both companies are facing challenges to redesign existing aircraft to meet competition from smaller manufacturers from Russia, China, Canada and Brazil.
Brazil’s Embraer and Russia’s Sukhoi won the race for small regional jet orders, leaving Canada’s Bombardier trailing and without any new orders for its much-touted C-series single-aisle jetliner.
The short-haul planes offered by the smaller manufacturers are being snapped up to meet soaring demand for air travel across emerging markets — feeding a rise in low-cost airline start-ups across Asia and Latin America — before an anticipated later upturn in the United States and Europe.
The renewed cautious optimism in commercial aviation, however, could not dispel the bad news from the defense industry, where governments are cutting budgets after spending billions bailing the global economy. Cuts to Western military budgets have been the talk of Farnborough.
In the United States, the world’s biggest defense market, the Pentagon is looking to trim some $100 billion from personnel and procurement costs over the next five years. Britain, Europe’s biggest defense market, is considering cuts of up to 20 percent.

Associated Press

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It's about time we see some progress towards recovery of the aviation business with a flood of new airline aircraft being purchased.

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

Aviation industry's drive for fuel economy spurs progress in ...

2010-07-23T06:34:00.001-07:00

Nation

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Aviation industry's drive for fuel economy spurs progress in cockpit technology

By: JANE WARDELL
Associated Press
07/22/10 5:55 AM PDT

ABOVE THE ENGLISH CHANNEL — Flying over the white cliffs of Dover, the two pilots of a Gulfstream 450 jet keep their eyes glued to a flight-deck display, ignoring the almost cloudless sky over the southern coast of England on their descent to a nearby runway.
Honeywell International Inc. pilot John Tuten and his co-pilot Paul Mrocka are testing what the U.S. aviation company calls the "cockpit of the future" — designed not just to improve safety but to boost fuel efficiency as well.
The new cockpit does that by aiding pilot vision, enabling a straighter, shorter path and less time burning fuel.
Instead of conventional screens filled with technical data that pilots have to interpret, the company's Synthetic Vision System converts the data into a three-dimensional "virtual" view of what's outside. The graphical representation of the surrounding terrain, nearby aircraft and runway approaches means that even in zero visibility — in thick cloud, complete darkness or fog — the pilot should be able to see where he's going just as easily as if flying conditions were perfect.
Combined with Honeywell's smart landing technology, which alerts crew if an approach is unstable or at a risky angle, that means faster landings and take-offs — getting planes in and out of the air quicker.
The goal is simple, says Carl Esposito, Honeywell vice president for marketing and product development.
"If you want to reduce emissions, what you need to do is fly less — so the faster you get to where you're going, the more direct you fly, the less emissions," Esposito says as the jet heads back to Farnborough airport, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of central London.
Both the rising cost of fuel and demand for more environmentally-friendly flying are putting pressure on the aviation industry to come up with advances.
Aircraft makers and technology companies are battling each other to bring ever more efficiency to the market after pledging last year to cut emissions to 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
The issue has become so urgent that organizers at this week's Farnborough International Airshow — the industry's premier event — devoted one of its five days to environmental issues.
And the star of the biennial show outside London was Boeing Co.'s 787 jetliner, a plane that the Chicago-based company says will use 20 percent less fuel when it enters service later this year, thanks to the lightweight composite materials that make up its frame instead of the traditional aluminium and titanium.
"Airlines are saying to us, we want less noise, we want the same speed, we want the range, but we want the environmental performance," Boeing's chief technology officer John J. Tracy said when he updated the industry on the long-delayed 787's progress this week.
In the next few years, both Boeing and arch rival Airbus expect to roll out new turbofan engines which promise 10-15 percent better performance, while Canadian plane maker Bombardier is marketing its C-Series single-aisle jet as a fuel-efficient alternative to the current duopoly's offerings.
The spotlight is now turning to additions to the plane's frame — the technology that goes aboard the lightweight aircraft to streamline efficiency gain even further.
Honeywell expects to roll out its cockpit technology, currently only available on business and executive jets, to commercial airlines over the next year.
"It's just one of a number of products offered by technology providers in the aviation industry, and with all the implications that cockpit technology has for safety and cost efficiency, it's no surprise that providers are fighting for a share of the marketplace," says Aviation Week analyst Ed Hazelwood.
"I think the new technology in all of the new aircraft helps the pilots a lot in terms of the amount of workload that they have to do when they're flying the aircraft," he adds. "So when the airplanes can give them the data and the information, and convert that data into information so that they can action on it, that's going to make it a lot easier for the pilot to fly the aircraft safely and efficiently."
The Honeywell technology also aids attempts to integrate air traffic control systems in Europe and end the current criss-crossing — and fuel burning — routes that planes must currently fly over the Continent. It could also reduce the amount of time they spend in so-called "stacking," or holding patterns as they wait to land. Analysts say those two measures could improve efficiency on some routes by 10-20 percent.

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EU Britain Cockpit Technology

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In the pursuit of better fuel efficiency for business aircraft Honeywell is developing better cockpit displays for bizjets. Beyond biofuels aviation companies are seeking better immediate solutions.

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Why Aviation Companies Should Be Competing On Value Rather Than ...

2010-07-23T06:24:00.001-07:00

I was talking with a fellow passenger on a commercial flight recently about all the cost-cutting on the airlines. He remarked that it's unfortunate that Travelocity and other websites have "trained" consumers to look for the lowest fare from point A to point B. Most consumers don't realize that costs add up when you actually calculate the charge for extra time, extra connections, extra baggage fees, extra lodging to get the "best fare" days, and extra bad airport food during layovers.

The casual customer may end up spending a lot more on a trip than he or she expects to spend.

Hence, the public has acquired the perception that travel is not for the budget-minded. (And who isn't budget-minded these days?) We can’t help but wonder if it’s contributed to the popularity of online meetings, and the newly coined term for family “staycations” for families who vacation without traveling.

In Jeffrey J. Fox's classic book "How to Become a Rainmaker," Fox emphasizes the need to "show them the money" for each deal for each prospective client.

To do this, you have to understand what the customer is actually buying.

What the customer really values

To use the example from the book, let's say you are in a paint store evaluating two brands of house paint. Brand A is $10 a gallon and Brand B is $18 a gallon. Brand A has the lowest price, but Brand B has more pigment, thereby requiring one less coat of paint than Brand A. Which paint is the better value?

If you want a gallon of paint, Brand A is the better value. If you want a painted house, Brand B is the better value, assuming you would use half as much paint – even before you calculate time spent painting!

A key activity of anyone in business is to figure out what the customer is really after, then offer him the best value for his dollar. This doesn't necessarily equate to the cheapest product or the lowest fare.

Most people don’t buy a product or service, they buy the means to meet their agenda.

Very smart people in aviation companies (some of whom also happen to be ABCI clients) have done the hard work of figuring out what their customers really value. It’s more than a difference of semantics –it’s a difference of mindset, and it seems that for the airlines, it’s gotten lost in the recent fray over price.

Examples of value propositions from the aviation field

Taylor Greenwood understands that his clients aren't necessarily just buying pretty photographs. What they really want is to improve their odds of selling an aircraft that is listed in a sales publication with many others of its type. His client's aircraft has to be noticed first and has to command a better price. This impacts the way Greenwood approaches the job. He's keenly aware that he has to inspire the viewer to buy the aircraft, and focuses on the features most likely to add to the desirability and selling price.

Aerographs’ clients don’t necessarily just want a fine art print of a vintage aircraft. These clients want to enhance their office with an elegant feeling and a touch of class and nostalgia. These aviation attorneys, tax specialists, real estate agents and insurance folks know that an appropriate piece of art makes a connection with clients and other visitors to the office.

Summit Aviation’s clients don’t necessarily just want DVDs of aviation regulations. What they really want is the ability to make critical decisions faster, the ability to get more done without hiring more people to do research, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing they're in compliance with the latest in a formidable body of aviation rules and regs.

The Value of Air Travel

In the case of commercial air travel, what customers want is the means to get a job done in a distant city or a nice vacation with the family. If commercial air travel becomes so inconvenient that it gets in the way of the real value of air travel, they lose customers, no matter how cheap a ticket might become.

I used to fly commercial from Salt Lake City to San Francisco to teach business writing seminars. I’d fly out in the morning and be back in time to pick up my son from school. If I couldn’t be on time getting to San Francisco, a roomful of grouchy people would be waiting for me, or more likely demanding their money back and vowing never to have anything to do with my company again. If I was late getting back to Salt Lake, it was even worse - I’d have a grouchy 9-year-old. Precarious as it might sound by today's standards, (with about an hour and a half of margin planned on either end) I was able to keep this schedule up, month in and month out, for several years.

When the on-time statistics started to slip, I started delivering my seminars on the web. I missed being in the classroom with students. I didn’t make as much money – a classroom seat in a seminar commands a higher price than a "virtual" seat in a webinar. But I couldn’t afford the risk.

An airline ticket, at ANY price, was worthless to me if it didn’t get me there and back on time.

Actually, it was worse than worthless if it ruined my reputation with my customers or with my kid.

Now that I know of some cost-effective business aviation alternatives, I would probably do that. Spend less money, enjoy it more, and get full value for my money.

--- --- ---

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This is a great example of what we need to do to promote aviation to combat the attacks on general aviation and the use of corporate aircraft.

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

More Evidence Pilots Can't Count to Three

2010-07-22T15:01:00.001-07:00

More Evidence Pilots Can't Count to Three

Exactly eight hours after I put my head down on the pillow, the alarm tells me to wake up and go back to work. I get out of bed, switch on the computer, and put on my clothes while it reloads windows. And I see that the weather gods have rewarded me for my scrupulous adherence to duty time laws, as the fog at Regina has not materialized. Why should weather gods care about duty time? I don't know, but I feel virtuous so I accept the reward.

Breakfast will be a meal replacement bar out of my flight bag. A "company note" (flight itinerary) will stand in lieu of a flight plan. I call down to the front desk to let them know I am looking for an airport shuttle. It's on another mission and won't be back for over half an hour. Aargh. I come down to the desk and check out, asking about taxis. It turns out there's one sitting outside. That will do.

I ask the driver to take me to the airport, but not the passenger terminal, the Kelly FBO, "It used to be the Shell," I explain. He asks me which airport. "The big one, the international, Winnipeg International ..." Damnit, it has another name. Which dead politician or war hero is this one named after? "The one Air Canada flies into." Good thing he asked. I'd have hated to end up at a cropdusting strip or one of the flying school fields around here. I put my head down and start texting my flight follower. Then I look up. We're approaching the passenger terminal. "This is the wrong side," I explain. "I need to be on the other side of the runways, where the Esso is." The Esso hasn't changed names lately, I hope.

"You said the big airport," he counters.

And my realization dawns. To non-pilots the airport is not the place with the runways. It's the terminal. To him this is two separate airports, the one with the big airplanes and the one with the charter planes and scruffy pilots like me. He drives back around the runways and I'm at the FBO only a little later than I had planned. I've yet to find the perfect words to explain to cab drivers where I need to go.

I paid for my fuel last night, so I just go through and preflight the airplane. No water in the fuel, lots of oil in the engines (or maybe not and I added some). All the airplaney bits are still attached in the right order. I load my flight bag and overnight bag into the airplane and secure them in place, then open the CFS to get the clearance delivery frequency and check on any special departure procedures. And there is one I hadn't planned on. Aircraft not on a VFR flight plan must call flight services at least 30 minutes prior to departure, in order to obtain a transponder code. Sigh. I shut down. They're doing this everywhere now. I call clearance delivery and see if I can get away without one, but he is unbending. I call flight services on the radio and ask if I really have to wait half an hour. "Try in five minutes," he recommends. I start up again and then a guy comes by in an Esso truck and signals for me to shut down. I do so and he tells me there's something on the ground by the plane. I open the door and look and it's the little bag in which I keep my wallet, licence and passport. It fell out of my flight bag while I was loading. I thank him profusely and check to make sure my head is screwed on.

Restart the engines. Clearance delivery has my transponder code, ground gives me a prompt and easy taxi clearance, and tower clears me for takeoff. Vroom into the sky I go, approved for a left turnout. There's a little bit of mist over the ground, in low spots, but other than that it's a lovely day. I climb out to some bush pilot like low altitude and level off. I hear a call from a flight number "911." I think it may be that company's standard medevac flight number, but they do have a 9-1-1 of sort. They also have just taken off and are requesting a return for landing because of fuel leaking visibly out of the tank caps. Someone else is having one of those mornings. They decline all emergency services, fire trucks and other offers of assistance. I think I would have left off the reason for my return in my request, and just let ATC be curious.

About 50 miles outside of Regina I make a call to traffic on 126.7. It's not strictly necessary, as I'm going to call tower in a few minutes and they will provide traffic information in the vicinity of their control zone, but it's what I'd do in the bush approaching an airport, so I do it here. A voice answers with my real name, recognizing my voice even though it's been a long time. It's a mentor, my very first aviation mentor. The guy who gave me a postcard with an A319 on it on my first cockpit visit. He is so awesome. He gives me his phone number and I promise to call tontight.

I copy the Regina ATIS and call tower. They sequence me and ask me if my destination is apron II. I look at the airport diagram in the CFS and see apron I opposite the terminal, apron IV way down taxiway Charlie, and II and III down that way too. I'm not sure which of II, III or IV is right, but it's down that way, so I answer in the affirmative. I'm cleared to land, do so and then call ground.

Ground gives me taxi instructions that don't gyve with my destination. I look at the CFS diagram now that I'm not flying an airplane, and realize that the area I'm looking at isn't marked II and III, but is marked III in two different places. Apron II is off on the opposite side of the terminal. I call back and admit that I can't count past two and need to taxi the other direction, which he approves. It's twenty to eight as I pull up, but there is no one waiting impatiently for me. I've made it. I shut down and fill out the journey log.
Labels: ATC, communication, emergencies, publications, sleep, terminals, weather

posted by Aviatrix at 00:00

via airplanepilot.blogspot.com

This is what makes flying general aviation airplanes so much fun, particularly up North of the border.

This is the "real" world of aviation!

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

Dawson Something

2010-07-22T14:52:00.001-07:00

Dawson Something

After picking up a part in Regina, and stuffing it in the nose locker so it will be available wherever we are for the next maintenance, I'm going to Dawson Creek. That's Dawson Creek in Northern British Columbia, not to be confused with Dawson City in the Yukon, Dawson's Creek on the WB network, or just plain Dawson all over the place, including a crater on the moon. Yeah, not going to the moon this trip. The O2 bottle only holds about ten hours of supplemental oxygen. The CFS tells me that there are two aerodromes in town, but I am not going to accept dispatch to the one that has a 2000' sloped turf strip and is operated by the Flying L Ranch, so there's no need to call the client to confirm the landing site. The Flying L Ranch sounds like a cool place, but so does the main Dawson Creek airport. It has two separate prepared landing surfaces: one for landing on wheels and one for landing on floats. That is, there's a runway-shaped water-filled trench to the left of the main runway. There's no tower, but the mandatory frequency there is remoted to Peace River radio from 1330Z to 0530Z, which means that when I call, a guy in Alberta will answer.

Weather looks agreeable between hither and yon, despite a steep pressure gradient so I depart, with the addition of another crew member who happens to have been working in the area on his other job, making it an easy pick up. I'm not quite sure what happened to his vehicle. I know a pilot who can tell you off the top of her head how much it costs to ship a car by train from one part of the country to another. Others just own semi-abandoned cars in various places. There ought to be a special pilot car insurance rate for people who only get to use their cars when they aren't flying in another province.

The fuel number is listed in the CFS under "Military" for some reason. Maybe I misread it. They agreed to sell us fuel even though we carry no firearms or bombs, and came fairly quickly.

Dawson Creek is north and west of here. I flew and he manned the charts and radios. We passed fairly close to Saskatoon, so gave them a call to position report and update the weather. I initially just tuned the YXE ATIS for a local altimeter setting, but it was almost an hour out of date and it's always good to talk to someone en route; the FSS will volunteer SIGMETs and other hazards. We check the charts carefully looking for the new boundary between Edmonton and Winnipeg Radio before we call. We identify ourselves and position report, saying we are VFR between Regina and Dawson Creek. Our request is very standard "an altimeter setting and current weather at destination." We at first assume we have a Winnipegger on the line, as he had to ask for the ident of the reasonably large airport that is our destination, but then the conversation got weirder.

Us: It's Yankee Delta Quebec.
Him: Dawson Creek altimeter two nine nine three.
Us: [Silence]
Him: Did you want the rest of the weather?
Us: Yes please
Him: [reads entire METAR for YDQ]
Us: Thank you
Him: [Silence]
Us: [to each other] He's not going to give us a local altimeter setting?

We call back and ask for a local altimeter setting and he provides one. That probably doesn't sound weird to most people, but usually you can't talk to an FSS without being given at least one, and often a whole string of altimeter settings for the route ahead. An altimeter setting is the FSS version of "hello." It was especially relevant that day because of the rapid change in setting along our route. Newbie, I guess.

We could see we would clip the edge of Edmonton's control area. I gritted my teeth as I reached for the CFS, hoping that they weren't one of the zones that have started demanding advance codes for transit. I'm going to have to start making that a part of my VFR flight planning now. I look at where I'm going and where I'm coming from, but I am too often guilty of assuming that the old rules apply for VFR transit. Calgary, I learned the hard way, insists on an advance telephone call for a transponder code. Edmonton, fortunately, doesn't yet, but I promise to check each new edition of the CFS before each planned transit through their airspace. We looked up the appropriate frequency for Edmonton Terminal and let them know where we were and where we were going. No problem. They gave us a squawk code (and an altimeter setting) and cleared us through their airspace. We saw three different airports we've worked out of in the last year or so and then we passed out of their airspace to the north and they cleared us en route to squawk VFR. And updated our altimeter setting.

I was flying at 6500', a VFR altitude appropriate for going west, high enough to be out of the daytime turbulence but not so high as to require oxygen or turning on the heater. As I continued east a layer of daytime cumulus cloud was starting to form, building to just about my level. I dodged a few, and then as the layer thickened, mused about my choice, "Up or down? the eternal question." Down would put me into more turbulence, closer to control zones and terrain. Up requires me to increase the power for the climb and then readjust everything again, and the cumulus tops will build another couple of thousand feet before destination, requiring me to do it all over again. Pilots, if you haven't gathered already, can be really lazy. You want me to move levers? It's not a really difficult choice, just a topic of conversation. Pilots can be hard up for those, too. I got a new altimeter setting form flight services. It is higher, good news weatherwise, but putting in a higher altimeter setting shows me at a higher indicated altitude. If I descend again to an indicated 6500' feet I'll really be in the cloud tops. So I take the head start and climb to 8500'.

This works fine for a while, and then the clouds, as predicted, build back to my level. By this time I'm in the vicinity of Grande Prairie. We won't be in their zone, but call them for traffic advisories anyway. Their new altimeter setting puts me back in the tops again, so I descend back to 6500', which is now cloud-free, thanks to the fact that cloud bases tend to gradually rise during the day, and that my new 6500' is a few hundred feet below my old 6500', thanks to the rising pressure. People who have blindly memorized "from high to low, look out below" without close regard for the underlying physics may need to stop and ponder that for a moment. We report the altitude change and call clear as we continue to the west. They thank us for checking in. It's good when towers do that. Sometimes pilots are ambivalent about calling an air traffic agency we don't have to, and when the controlling agency's response sounds like we've bothered them or that they couldn't care less, it results in subtle pilot behaviour modification. But every one who acknowledges the utility of just knowing there's an airplane out there beyond their sphere of control reinforces our motivation to call.

Now we're almost at Dawson Creek. We call the FSS and the guy in Peace River answers us, as advertised. He can't see the traffic out here in BC, but he keeps track of it. There's someone in a single departing, something else small and slow arriving, shouldn't be any conflicts. Then a medevac faster than us checks in behind us. We're almost overhead and hear a five miles out call. Is this going to work out? Oh phew that five mile call was the slow, departing traffic, not the incoming medevac. We land, after jokingly lining up on the water runway for a photo op, then call clear and taxi for fuel.

It's a more civilized-looking airport than we expected. It has a classy new passenger terminal with a big yellow "secure area" square painted on the apron outside of it, a little tower building (probably vacant, seeing as the radio service is remoted to Alberta) and lots of paved apron. There are two fuel pumps either side of a sign that gives prices (good prices, too) for avgas and jet, but while the right tank has a Jet A sticker on it, there is no avgas marking on the left tank. Weird. The paper cover of the journey log tears on the seat pocket as we take it out to record the flight. Grr. I always buy the hardcover version when I have a choice. But they keep replacing this one before it's full, dunno why.

We unload the airplane and I give the receipts for the ferry fuel to the customer: they are responsible for that. The Regina receipt is just a truck fuel ticket, not a credit card receipt, because the truck driver didn't process the credit card, just called in the information. Client needs a proper receipt. I didn't bring a CFS in from the plane, but the fuel number is in the recently called list in my phone. They fax a copy of the credit card receipt and everyone is happy.

Dinner is at some chain restaurant where they casually offer you garlic bread with your entree, then charge you $3.50 for it. One slice.

I did get a chance to call the airline captain who was one of the first to encourage me in all this. As I was approaching Regina, he had been just leaving, ferrying a smaller airplane in the other direction. I believe that brings his home collection of aircraft to five. He's well, just retired, still happily married to his original wife, and having a great time. I'll see if I can get out to see him when work and other aspects of life let up around ... January I think.
Labels: ATC, costs, flight plans, food, fuel, landing, paperwork, pressure, publications, safety, weather

posted by Aviatrix at 00:00

via airplanepilot.blogspot.com

As always, flying aircraft around Canada can be a challenge, even for more experienced pilots.

JetAviator7

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

Will VORs die?

2010-07-22T14:49:00.001-07:00

Are VORs on the decline? Will they die and vanish? Long story short: yes, VORs will die.

I’ve been in aviation for more than ten years now and I’ve heard lots of theories about the end of the VOR system. Because VORs have to be installed at specific location, they are expensive to build and maintain. And because of their limited coverage, many of them are needed to cover wide areas.

GPS is much better. It offers a worldwide coverage and it is much more accurate than VORs. GPS is also easier to use. No frequency to tune in, no need to select a radial or to identify a Morse code. GPS provides a direct position, where VORs require a second station or a DME to establish a position.

Despite all of these drawbacks, VORs are still around, and I bet that they will still be there in ten years from now. Aviation evolves very slowly. Installations like VORs have a life-cycle of several decades. Modifying procedures and publications also costs a lot of work, effort and money. Switching the whole system from VOR to GPS can not be done in one single “big-bang” step.

VORs are also used as backup in case of GPS failures. Not total failure of the GPS system, but failures of the receiver on board aircraft. In a GPS only system, the only navigation system left is radar vectoring. Before predicting the death of the VORs, the same oracles predicted the death of the NDBs. This finally happened – or is still in progress – but way later than they predicted.

GPS continues its extension. In the US there are now more GPS than ILS approaches, and almost all en-route navigation is based on GPS. I don’t know what could replace the VORs as a backup system at this time, but I’m sure that as soon as there will be one, VORs will die.

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Symposium puts aviation safety in the spotlight | infonews.co.nz ...

2010-07-22T08:18:00.001-07:00

AVIATION 21 July 2010, 1:51PM

University Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey and School of Aviation chief executive Ashok Poduval. CREDIT: Massey University

Symposium puts aviation safety in the spotlight
By Massey University
69 views

PALMERSTON NORTH

Academics and practitioners from across New Zealand and Australia will gather next week to review the latest developments in aviation safety, management, technology and education.
The University's School of Aviation is hosting a symposium to discuss issues facing the industry.
The symposium, on July 28 and 29, in conjunction with the Aviation Industry Association and the Royal Aeronautical Society is part of Aviation Industry Conference Week at the Palmerston North Convention Centre. Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey is the keynote speaker at the launch of the main conference on July 26.
The symposium will be a forum for disseminating research and discussing current issues in aviation, with an emphasis on bridging theory and practice.
There will be 13 speakers including School of Aviation chief executive Ashok Poduval, who will give a presentation on the impact of advanced technology on pilot training. He will speak about how training philosophy in the industry needs to be reviewed – something the school has already done – to keep pace with the technology of aircraft equipped with digital avionics.
“The training syllabus for a commercial pilot’s licence is focused almost entirely on physical handling and manoeuvre skills," Mr Poduval says. "The air transport aircraft for which these pilots are being prepared to fly and the light aircraft on which they are trained are now highly automated and demand a different approach for safe and efficient operations.”
The symposium programme can be viewed on the Massey website: http://aviation.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/departments/school-aviation/aviation-events/symposium-2010.cfm The full conference programme can be viewed on the Aviation Industry Association’s website: http://www.aia.org.nz

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via infonews.co.nz

Aviation safety is a primary concern of all of us who fly, and the better the training curriculum for those pilots learning to fly.

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

Inventor Of The Aircraft "Black Box" David Warren Dies At 85

2010-07-21T12:39:00.001-07:00

An Australian scientist who invented the flight data recorder famously known as the "black box" to help investigate aircraft accidents has died at the age of 85, defense officials said on Wednesday.

David Warren, whose own father was killed in a plane crash in 1934 in Australia, was a research scientist at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne.

He came up with the idea of a crash and fire-proof machine to record the crew's voices and instrument readings after helping to investigate the mysterious crash of the world's first jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953.

Warren designed and built the world's first flight data record prototype in 1956 which became known as the "black box" but it took five years before the value and practicality of his invention was realized.

It took another five years until authorities ruled that the flight-data recorders should be fitted to cockpits in Australian aircraft.

via postchronicle.com

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

Delta Reports Earnings And Airline Stocks Go Splat

2010-07-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

Delta Air Lines reported earnings this morning, the first airline to report earnings for the second quarter.

While the headline numbers for the airline's results look quite good on the surface -- airline stocks began to drop after the numbers were released and they have yet to get up again.

Why is this the case -- if Delta reported such a large profit?

If you are a PlaneBusiness Banter subscriber, you might have a good idea. As I said three weeks ago, I think a lot of this recent giddyness concerning the "return" of airline revenues is, I believe, on shaky ground.

Yes, no question that the second quarter numbers should be good across the board for the sector -- with one glaring exception. The only major airline that will probably post a loss for the quarter is AMR, parent of American Airlines.

But as I talk about in this week's PBB, we are now seeing a number of economic metrics that are pointing toward a recessionary recovery in the U.S. that is running out of steam.

Take those developments, coupled with the fact the airline industry is now looking at the start of a traditionally slow period in September -- throw on results from Delta that disappointed on the revenue side -- and poof. A perfect recipe for an airline sector selloff.

Now you know.

via planebuzz.com

And we think general aviation has problems!

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

First iFlight from Farnborough ready to roll #FARN10

2010-07-19T13:00:00.001-07:00

via flightglobal.com

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

2010-07-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

Vectren Dayton Airshow 2010 - Media Day http://ping.fm/oe1Xm

Farnborough 2010: A Preview

2010-07-16T14:06:00.001-07:00

via flightglobal.com

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Air Zoo offers summer flight experiences | General Aviation News

2010-07-16T05:17:00.001-07:00

Jul

15

Air Zoo offers summer flight experiences
Posted by Janice Wood · July 15, 2010

This summer, guests at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Mich., have the chance to take flight in a Cessna T-41 Mescalero (pictured), North American T-6 Texan and Vultee BT-13 Valiant, courtesy of Aviation Adventures and Michigan Warbirds.

All three of these historic aircraft were used as trainers in the armed forces. The T-41 was used to train Air Force pilots beginning in 1964. During World War II, the T-6 was used as an advanced trainer in the U.S. Army Air Forces and Navy. The BT-13 was also used during the war as a basic trainer by the U.S. Army Air Forces.

Guests can experience these aircraft with an array of flight packages including:

T-41 Flight Experience by Aviation Adventures: Passengers will get a bird’s-eye view of the greater Kalamazoo area. This flight experience lasts 20 minutes and costs $75 for the first passenger. Each additional passenger costs $25. The T-41 can hold up to three passengers.

T-41 Pilot Experience by Aviation Adventures: Passengers will learn about aerodynamics and how to pilot the plane by using the flight controls. The passenger-pilot will have the chance to try basic flight maneuvers such as turns, climbs and descents. At the end of the experience, the passenger-pilot will be awarded a certificate of logged pilot time that may be used towards private pilot training. This 30-minute experience costs $109 for the first passenger and $25 for each additional passenger.

World War II Flight Experience by Michigan Warbirds: Experience the thrill of flying in the T-6 or BT-13 with the World War II Flight Experience. This familiarization ride will begin with a briefing from the pilot. After the aircraft is in the air, the pilot will let the guest take the controls and experience flight firsthand. This 30-minute experience costs $200 and is limited to one passenger.

Flights from Aviation Adventures are offered Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Michigan Warbirds flights are offered on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Height and weight limitations may apply. Tickets and gift certificates are available for purchase at the Air Zoo. To schedule a flight or for more information: 269-382-6555.

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via generalaviationnews.com

This is a great way to fly in a World War 2 training aircraft and experience the thrill of a throaty radial engine.

Must do for the aviation aficionado!

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Aviation Biofuel Advancements To Be Showcased At International Air ...

2010-07-15T04:56:00.001-07:00

Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) � Leads U.S. government efforts to purchase aviation fuels derived from alternative sources. Among the world�s largest purchasers of jet fuels, DESC entered into a strategic alliance earlier this year with ATA to foster closer cooperation between military and commercial aviation with respect to the deployment of alternative fuels.

UOP � A leading producer recognized for fueling more commercial, biofuel-flight programs than any other company in the world. Biofuels Digest recently distinguished UOP as �Processor of the Year.�

Solazyme � The leading producer of algae-derived oil for aviation and diesel use. Biofuels Digest recently distinguished Solazyme as the �#1 Bioenergy Company of the Year�.

Solena � Pioneers in municipal solid waste to jet-fuel production. Solena recently teamed with British Airways to announce a fuel-supply agreement for London City Airport.

Algae fuel is a biofuel which is derived from algae. During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. Up to 99% of the carbon dioxide in solution can be converted, which was shown by Weissman and Tillett (1992) in large-scale open-pond systems.

Several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae fuel production commercially viable. The production of biofuels from algae does not reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), because any CO2 taken out of the atmosphere by the algae is returned when the biofuels are burned. They do however eliminate the introduction of new CO2 by displacing fossil hydrocarbon fuels.

High oil prices, competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources, and the world food crisis, have ignited interest in algaculture (farming algae) for making vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels, using land that is not suitable for agriculture. Among algal fuels' attractive characteristics: they do not affect fresh water resources, can be produced using ocean and wastewater, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.

Algae cost more per unit mass (as of 2010, food grade algae costs ~$5000/ton), due to high capital and operating costs, yet can theoretically yield between 10 and 100 times more energy per unit area than other second-generation biofuel crops.

via avstop.com

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SR-71 'BLACKBIRD' FORD MUSTANG PRODUCED IN FIRST EVER SHELBY-ROUSH COLLABORATION

2010-07-14T11:47:00.001-07:00

Aviation-themed Build #1 of 1 Ford Mustang SR-71 “Blackbird” to be sold at auction July 29, at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, with proceeds supporting youth experiences and education
DEARBORN, Mich., July 14, 2010 – Two automotive icons, legendary racer and manufacturer Carroll Shelby, and world-renowned racer, engineer and designer Jack Roush, have come together in their first vehicle collaboration project to join Ford in creating a one-off 2011 Mustang, the aviation-themed SR-71 “Blackbird.” The one-of-a-kind vehicle will be sold at the Gathering of Eagles July 29 during the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) 2010 AirVenture Oshkosh, the world’s greatest aviation celebration. Ford is the exclusive automotive partner of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and all of the proceeds from the sale will benefit the EAA Young Eagles organization. EAA AirVenture Oshkosh will be held from July 26 to Aug. 1 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis.
The “SR-71” designation holds a dual meaning for the one-of-a-kind, fully-customized Mustang. First, “SR-71” refers to the car’s design and performance-inspired connection with the SR-71 Blackbird, the aircraft that holds all official airspeed and altitude records and is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular planes ever produced. Second, “SR” represents the first collaborative project between Shelby and Roush. Mustang Chief Designer Darrell Behmer led design for the project and Mustang Chief Nameplate Engineer Dave Pericak led the engineering effort. Ford Racing Performance Parts also were added to further enhance the exclusivity of the car. The sale of the SR-71 “Blackbird” will highlight an evening of festivities at the EAA Gathering of Eagles July 29 during AirVenture.
The group that will directly benefit from the auction proceeds is EAA’s Young Eagles, which has provided free introductory flights to more than 1.5 million young people since 1992, while also teaching the value of hard work, personal responsibility and enhanced math and science skills.
“Ford Motor Company’s historic tie to aviation is no better represented than by the company’s commitment as a continued partner of EAA and AirVenture, a celebration of flight here in Oshkosh that is unmatched anywhere else in the world,” said Tom Poberezny, EAA chairman and president. “Ford’s generosity in donating the Mustang SR-71 ‘Blackbird’ to the Gathering of Eagles further demonstrates a dedication to supporting aviation and inspiring aviation enthusiasts of all ages.”

In 2008, Ford’s inaugural vehicle specially-built in support of the Young Eagles, the one-of-a-kind Mustang AV8R, raised a record $500,000 for the charity. “The excitement around the 2008 AV8R, our first one-off Mustang ever produced, inspired us to push for another first, the collaboration of Carroll Shelby and Jack Roush,” said Edsel B Ford II, a member of Ford’s Board of Directors. “This year’s SR-71 Blackbird is a special tribute to Ford’s lineage of performance vehicles, as well as to the promising innovators of EAA’s Young Eagles.” Ford vehicles sold at auction during past EAA AirVenture events have collectively raised more than $1 million to support the Young Eagles.
The Mustang SR-71 “Blackbird” is Build #1 of 1 and presents a truly unique opportunity for collectors. The vehicle is based on a 2011 Mustang GT 5.0 with the glass roof option. Ford Racing performance modifications (Supercharger, Handling Pack, tuned exhaust, and exhaust tips) generate 100 additional horsepower from the all-aluminum 5.0L 32-valve V8 engine. The special racing Handling Pack optimizes the performance experience and lowers the ride height by one inch.
From there, the car takes on a design personality similar to that of the original SR-71 Blackbird aircraft. The Mustang’s stunning design theme includes black and gray matte exterior paint with harmonious SR-71 themed graphic treatment, performance wheels, front and rear fascias and an integrated spoiler/wing to reflect the car’s connection with its namesake aircraft, which made its inaugural flight in 1964, the year the first Ford Mustang came off the line. The “Blackbird” nickname is reflected in the car’s exterior paint treatment, complete with markings from the liquids which leaked and streaked until the plane came up to speed. A unique screen print glass roof design and exterior artwork reflect the unbridled spirit of the Ford Design team.
The interior cockpit will seat only two and includes a roll-cage, racing seats and fire extinguisher. The signatures of Jack Roush and Carroll Shelby are embroidered into the seats, and special gauges and instrument cluster graphics have been added.
Enhancing the value and allure of the vehicle, the Mustang SR-71 “Blackbird" will feature an appliqué autograph area capturing Roush and Shelby’s signatures and badging to further reinforce the uniqueness of the car. The vehicle will be on display at the Ford Hangar at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh beginning July 26.
Additionally, Ford and EAA will give AirVenture attendees the chance to win a 2011 Mustang GT convertible and other cash prizes in a raffle, with proceeds benefiting the EAA Young Eagles program.
During EAA AirVenture, Ford also will offer attendees access to the latest advances in automobile technology, as well as many of the industry’s most revered classics at the popular “Ford Hangar” on the grounds of Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh. Ford activities will include top-tier entertainment and interactive components that will add excitement for the hundreds thousands of aviation fans in attendance.
About EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
The annual meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), EAA AirVenture features more than 2,500 show aircraft, including homebuilts, antiques, classics, warbirds, ultralights and rotorcraft, and is expected to attract nearly 600,000 aviation enthusiasts. During the week, more than 500 forums are conducted by aviation leaders and NASA researchers, along with FAA personnel, aircraft designers and a host of others. EAA AirVenture is a 24-hour event. For more information, please visit www.AirVenture.org.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 176,000 employees and about 80 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, production of which has been announced by the company to be ending in the fourth quarter of 2010, and until its sale, Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.

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Man, what a neat car! It almost looks like an aircraft ready to fly!

JetAviator7

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Preparing A Career In Aviation

2010-07-13T16:56:00.001-07:00

The aviation industry has suffered some hard times recently. The attacks of 11 September on the World Trade Center and the delays increased security at airports are charged on aviation. Despite these setbacks, the air is a growing industry and its place in a world in microcosm and global world is saved. In the coming years, mainly due to the increased connectivity of the Internet and the growth of the global market, it is a constant need for persons qualified for aviation careers.If you are interested in such a career, the first step is education.

Although the types of careers in the air vary greatly from carrier to pilots, training is needed in all areas. You should have an idea of what area you are interested in exploring and determining the requirements for this area. Knowledge of mathematics and computer science is for most occupations in the aviation airports industry.Large necessary, are not the only area of air transport needs of employees. Small and local airports are scattered throughout the country and these small airports offer some very different positions career in aviation.

There was a growing demand for pilot training for small aircraft. Small airports offer hangar space for aircraft and personnel they sell pilot supplies and aircraft needs of recreational pilots. include the complete lines of aviation engineering David Clark headsets, which were designed to protect the ears and pilot training communication.Private can deliver even begin before the completion of high school, and give you a good start in the field of personal aviation. Another viable option for a career in the Army Aviation.

The Air Force is an obvious choice, although other branches of aviation units were as good. To a pilot in the Army, you have to go to college. The service academies are the first option, but if it is not possible, it is still possible to be a military pilot, the realization of a college program that offers an ROTC training. If you are interested in other aspects of aviation services, the training and qualifications for the repair of aircraft mechanical and create jobs. You can also get an education in which air traffic control and radar on the service.

Whatever your interest, not to mention the aviation industry expects trained candidates and also candidates for a criminal record and have provided the reliability and sense of responsibility.

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2010-07-13T09:13:00.001-07:00

Discover a vision breakthrough designed to protect your eyes

Hiller Aviation Museum

2010-07-13T05:50:00.001-07:00

The Hiller Aviation Institute & Museum was founded by helicopter pioneer Stanley Hiller Jr. in June 1998.
The institute was conceived in the early ‘70s on the premise that objective presentation of history, with all its linkages and drivers, would be a logical foundation which to construct a vision of future global science and aviation.
Silicon Valley is an ideal location for an institution where science and aviation problems and solutions can be explored, evaluated, taught and communicated to the public and corporate audiences. Concentrated in this area are the talents, sciences, the progressive attitudes and capital resources needed to develop science and aviation in the 21st Century.
Mission of the Hiller Aviation Institute is to stimulate and engage our communities to discover the past, celebrate the present and imagine the future of aviation with a focus on unique technological innovations and innovators

Open Hours:

10am-5pm, 7 days a week

via usamuseum.org

It is always fun to go to an aviation museum and see historical aircraft and learn about the a href="http://all-things-aviaton.com">pilots that flew them.

JetAviator7

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Become an Airplane Geek for a Day

2010-07-12T21:09:00.001-07:00

Each year since 2006 as AirVenture approaches, I take a minute to look back on the new friends I’ve made through our social media contacts on Twitter as well as here at Jetwhine. The blog is almost four years old, while my “Jetwhine” Twitter account was opened just before AirVenture 2008.

If I look back on any of the new relationships with a bit of extra fondness though, it would be the meet up I’ve had with the Airplane Geeks. I’ve been a closet radio guy all my life, so connecting with people all over the globe each week means something pretty special to me. My thanks to my other Geek buddies, Max, David, Dan here in the states and those two loonies Grant and Steve in the outback down under.

One thing we’ve noticed at the Geeks recently is a real rise in the amount of listener mail, as well as the downloads which of course tells us we must be on the right track. People approaching us to be see if they can be a guest on the show also means a tip of the hat to my comrades for their hard work.

AirVenture 2010 – Your Big Chance

With this year’s big show approaching yet again in beautiful downtown Oshkosh, Jetwhine and the Airplane Geeks are joining forces for the first time. On July 27th at 4 PM, I’ll be at Pavilion #6 just north of the control tower for a session on the practical aspects of social media in aviation.

I’ll be joined by my co-conspirator at Jetwhine Scott Spangler, as well as my fellow Airplane Geek Dan Webb. Our able co-presenter will be Jon Ostrower known to the rest of the world as the Flight Blogger, the first guy I every watched shoot video, edit and post to stories to his blog right from an iPhone. I’m still learning video editing myself.

Sure we’re going to talk about social media 201 – how to use social media to solve real-world aviation problems – but we’re also going to be offering some lucky visitor a chance to turn all geeky on us … at least for a day.

Everyone who joins us at our AirVenture session on the 27th at 4 PM will have an opportunity to tell us in their own words why THEY should be a guest on the Airplane Geeks. We’ll have a recorder on hand to record every single word, so the Geeks who can’t make it to Oshkosh will have the chance to weigh in before we select a winner.

Dan Webb says we might even have time for a little bit of Airplane Geeks “Jetpardy,” so be prepared.

Only one Airplane Geek guest entry per person so practice your sales pitch before you arrive. If you’d rather read your pitch from your own cue card or cheat sheet, that will be perfectly acceptable.

So mark your calendar for July 27th – two weeks from tomorrow – and join the Jetwhine/Airplane Geeks/Flight Blogger pack at pavilion #6 at 4 PM and you just might be our next guest on the Airplane Geeks.

PS – Even if you don’t want to enter to be a Geek Guest, stop by and say hi. We’ll be giving away those valuable Jetwhine buttons, and some Airplane Geeks T-shirts.

Rob Mark, editor

Related Posts:

Social Media Gets Serious at AirVenture
Cute as a Button for AirVenture 2009
Why Being Geeky is Cool
Does Parochialism Hinder Aviation’s Future
AirVenture Blogger Fest Next Week

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 4:14 pm and is filed under The Buzz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

via jetwhine.com

Ah, to Geek or not Geek, that is the question.

Great blog and fun to read, just wish he would approve some comments from time to time.

So, go fly your aircraft to OshKosh and forget about us here.

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Is Your Flight Department Up To The Standard? Part 2 ? What is a ...

2010-07-12T21:05:00.001-07:00

The International Civil Aviation Organization pressed Thursday for a new safety data sharing system to help reduce aircraft accidents worldwide and give travelers better information on carriers' safety records.At the close of four-day talks, more than 600 ministers and civil aviation directors general from 150 member countries as well as industry representatives recommended that the UN aviation agency "create a global safety information exchange to enable analysis of key safety indicators," said a statement.

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PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

2010-07-12T21:02:00.001-07:00

Hello there friends. It's that time once again. Yes, that time when we here at the PlaneBusiness Worldwide Headquarters work our little pencils to a numb and our brains to a frazzle.

And poof -- out comes the latest issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.

This week we talk about June traffic and RASM estimates. After Continental's miss right out of the box, all the rest of the usual suspects that report RASM estimates came in pretty darn well, including the airline sector's top stock for the week -- US Airways.

The DOT issued its May Airline Consumer Travel Report this last week and US Airways and Alaska both had great months. We pick the numbers apart more closely as we usually do. Oh and yes, cancellations were up. As for the number of flights that saw passengers on the ground for 3-plus hours -- that would be five. Four were United Airlines' flights that were diverted to Colorado Springs and one was a Delta Air Lines flight.

So, as we ask this week -- when is the DOT going to send both airlines their itemized bills -- per the new 3-hour tarmac rule?

We talk about the latest analyst tweaks. Remember-- second quarter earnings are right around the corner.

Oh and of course we talk about Boeing and Airbus this week. Airbus just got dinged by the WTO, which ruled that yes, the company had received illegal subsidies. The case against Boeing was supposed to be ruled on by the WTO this month -- but now that has been postponed to September.

Bad timing for Airbus, which is smack in the middle of the U.S. Air Force Refueling Tanker contract fight with Boeing.

Looks like the American Airlines/British Airways deal is finally, mercifully, going to get the European nod this week.

And oh, we have lots of mail this week. Including a very long letter to the editor concerning the concept of "job security" and some follow-up reader notes concerning our annual "Ode to a Hot Dog" column.

Oh and what about the Colgan Air pilot who was just busted for having one of the largest collections of child pornography ever seized?

No wonder Pinnacle wants to make the name "Colgan Air" go away.

It's never boring around here.

Subscribers can access this week's issue here.

For all of you who are not subscribers, shame on you.

via planebuzz.com

Ah, the wonderful airline business. Glad I never chose that career path; too many of my friends flew for Eastern Airlines.

I sure hope that Boeing gets the aircraft deal for U.S. Air Force refuelers - we need to buy more Made in the USA products.

JetAviator7
All Things Aviation

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Knowledge Base » A Brief History Of Gps In Aviation

2010-07-12T10:38:00.001-07:00

GPS, or Global Positioning System, is a system that helps an individual determine where he is located as well as where other things are located. GPS has become incredibly popular over the years with even more mobile devices available. However, GPS in aviation has been around longer. As long ago as 1978 GPS was being experimented with and a satellite was sent into space to test the technology.

GPS, or Global Positioning System is a system that helps an individual determine where he is established, and when other things are located. GPS has become incredibly popular over the years with more mobile devices available. However, GPS in aviation has been very longer. Already in 1978 it was being experimented with GPS and a satellite was sent into space to test the technology. That is almost 30 years ago and today GPS is for many people the car! Nevertheless, aviation is one of the first companies to get involved, because with GPS location and speed are very important in the field of aviation. The U.S. Department of Defense handles GPS, but allows the public to use for free. GPS on an airplane is essentially a map of the route of the original location to the destination. Information is programmed into the GPS and it helps for autopilot and things of that nature. It tells the pilot where they are managed, how far they are the destination and the altitude of the aircraft. GPS is invaluable to pilots and it is very useful. A popular option is the Garmin aviation GPS. This GPS system is specifically designed for use in aircraft. Not all GPS systems will work in an aircraft like they would in a car, so buying a specialized aircraft GPS is important. A headset is the air still important, even using the GPS, because you must communicate with the tower not to mention that you need to protect your hearing. Of course, GPS has been around since the 70s, but it is not yet fully operational aircraft that long. It was not until the mid 1990s that GPS became fully functional with 24 satellites and aviation adopted the new technology and put it to work. Since the mid-1990s, the GPS system has become incredibly important for all pilots and aircraft are now equipped with this device. It helps pilots stay on course and if something happens the system lets them know how to get back on track. GPS is important not only for pilots but also for everyday drivers. And, although GPS is a long time was just gaining popularity and understanding with the general public.

via blog.numsai.com

With all of these new devices in our aircraft I sometimes wonder if new pilots don't learn to rely too much on them.

JetAviator7
All Things Aviation Blog

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bigfaqs.com » Is aviation a dieing Form of transportation?

2010-07-12T10:34:00.001-07:00

The job description includes supervising aprox 14 employees, scheduling for all employees, receptionist work as needed, grooming as needed, kennel work as needed, retail ordering and management, marketing and promotion for the business and web site updating and maintenance. This is in the suburban Milwaukee area. Any one have any insight on what they would [...]

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Blue Angels Announce 2011 Team Members

2010-07-11T03:37:00.001-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 9, 2010
Release #: 006-10

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, The Blue Angels, announce the officers selected for the 2011 team

The squadron selected two F/A-18 Hornet pilots, a C-130 pilot, events coordinator, and a flight surgeon to join the team in September. The commanding officer and the public affairs officer were previously selected for the 2011 team, and a maintenance officer has been selected to join the team in 2012.

"Nearly 50 highly qualified officers applied for these positions, so the competition was extremely tough," said Lt. Ben Walborn, the squadron's applications officer. "Over the course of four months, we invite the applicants to attend our shows so the team can get to know each of them personally before we select finalists. Once selected, we bring the finalists down to Pensacola during the Pensacola Beach show to interview them and make a final selection. It's a very thorough and fair process designed to select the best officers to represent the Navy and Marine Corps."

Commanding Officer:

Commander David Koss of Orange Park, Fla., is currently the commanding officer of the VFA-14 "Tophatters" at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, Calif., and is a 1991 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Commander Koss was selected in April 2010.

F/A-18 Hornet Pilots:

Marine Maj. Brent Stevens, 34, of Knoxville, Tenn., is currently assigned to VMFAT-101 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar, Calif. He is a 1999 graduate of the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Navy Lt. David Tickle, 29, of Irondale, Ala., is currently assigned to VT-7 at NAS Meridian, Miss. He is a 2002 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy

C-130 Aircraft Commander:

Marine Capt. John Hecker, 37, of Huntsville, Ala., is currently assigned to VT-6 at NAS Whiting Field, Fla. He is a 1997 graduate of Auburn University.

Events Coordinator:

Navy Lt. Todd Royles, 31, of Willow Grove, Pa., is currently assigned to VFA-41 at NAS Lemoore, Calif. He is a 2001 graduate of Pennsylvania State University.

Maintenance Officer:

Navy Lt. Richard Mercado, 39, of Torrance, Calif., is currently assigned to Fleet Readiness Center Southeast at NAS Jacksonville, Fla. He is a 2001 graduate of Excelsior College. He will join the team in 2012.

Flight Surgeon:

Navy Lt. Jason Smith, 33, of Santa Rosa, Calif., is currently assigned to Navy Operational Support Center at NAS North Island, Calif. He is a 1999 graduate of Yale University.

Public Affairs Officer:

Navy Lt. Katie Kelly, 28, of Elgin, Ill., is currently assigned to Navy Office of Information West. She is a 2004 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. She was selected to join the 2011 team in July 2009.

Seven of these eight officers will join the current nine members of the 2010 team. Expected to return for 2011 are:

F/A-18 Demonstration Pilots:

Navy Lt. Jim Tomaszeski, 31, of Orange Park, Fla.

Navy Lt. Rob Kurrle, Jr., 31, or Statesville, N.C.

Navy Lt. Ben Walborn, 30, of Reading, Pa.

Navy Lt. Christian Simonsen, 34, of Coon Rapids, Minn.

C-130 Aircraft Commanders:

Marine Capt. Edward Jorge, 36, of Hollywood, Fla.

Marine Capt. Benjamin Blanton, 32, of Ventura County, Calif.

Maintenance Officer:

Navy Lt. John Thompson, 45, of Baltimore, Md.

Administrative Officer:

Navy Chief Warrant Officer Four Adolfo De Montalvo, 46, of El Paso, Texas.

Supply Officer:

Navy Chief Warrant Officer Three Clive Dixon, 41, of St. Catherine, Jamaica.

For more information, call: Chief Kurt Anderson, Public Affairs Chief for the Blue Angels at: (850) 452-3955.
http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/docs/pr_20100709.pdf
-Blue Angels-

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It is always great fun to go to an airshow and see pilots fly high-performance aircraft doing maneuvers which are normal for them but seem daredevlishi to us!

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The not so subtle intersection of Russian aircraft and politics

2010-07-11T03:36:00.001-07:00

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Cross Country Flight – Deviations and Diversions

2010-07-11T03:23:00.001-07:00

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Tips for mountain flying

2010-07-10T08:58:00.001-07:00

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Mountain flying can be particularly dangerous if you are not prepared for it. Moreover, pilots often have a lack of understanding when it comes to flying in mountainous areas.

Hence, a recent post written by Jason Schappert for the Let’s Go Flying blog about crossing mountains plus a podcast he did for his MzeroA.com blog are well worth noting. In his post for Let’s Go Flying, Jason mentioned three key tips for mountain flying:

Know Your Route Inside and Out

Always Have A Way Out

Timing is Key

However, his most important point was that mountain flying tends to be an early morning event because the temperatures are lower allowing for lower density altitude. Moreover, the winds would not have pick upped yet and this reduces the risk of mountain waves and extreme turbulence.

Meanwhile and in the podcast, Jason explained the following important mountain flying concepts:

How to approach a mountain pass

How to always leave yourself a way out

How mountain waves effect you as a pilot

Jason’s post also includes the full transcript of the podcast which is also well worth reading through along with some pictures he has taken of flying through mountains.

Share and enjoy:

Related posts:
Mountain flying tips

Tips for your next checkride or solo

Tips for flying an aircraft with a tailwheel

Reducing risk in the cockpit podcast

Tips for flying when there might be fog

Tagged as: Mountains

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Flying your aircraft in the mountains can be hazardous to your health. Be sure and learn all you can before you find yourself in a box canyon and out of options.

JetAviator7
All Things Aviation Blog

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Jacobson's Ladder

2010-07-10T08:53:00.001-07:00

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Through Eager Eyes - Chapter 4

2010-07-09T14:21:00.001-07:00

Through Eager Eyes - Chapter 4

Full of Wonder and Innocence, a Young Girl Romances the Sky
A Short Story by Dan Pimentel

(Note: This is the fourth of six chapters in this story. Check back every Friday at noon when I will present the next chapter, or click here to read all chapters after they are published - dan)
Chapter 4: Wheels Up
Throughout my young life, I have been waiting for this moment to arrive. The sensation of flying in a small airplane is one I shall feel today, a sense of freedom, of soaring not unlike Eagles. It will be grand.
But the path here has been torture. For what seemed like forever today, my DooDah, Mommy and Daddy have been driving around the airport in Katy, with everyone waiting for me to scream "Let me out!" But I did not. They have tried to see if anything about flight scares me, they tried to remove me from my comfort zone, and they have failed miserably.
As I sit here about to take off on the most exciting adventure I have ever encountered, it seems so natural, this concept of flight. Some of my earliest memories are of watching birds hover in our bird feeder, their tiny wings moving in a blur as they hover to a stall before landing gracefully on the minuscule edge of the tray holding their bird seed lunch. I'm mesmerized as they then depart in an effortless ballet of movement, and catch the wind to glide off into the distance. Each time I see another small creature soar through our yard, I become hypnotized in the familiarity of it all.
DooDah has just said those words I have been waiting to hear, and we are cleared for takeoff. He again twists the very important white knob before him and Katy begins a tip-toe towards the large number one-six painted on this big road-like strip of tarmac. We line up in the center of the big numbers, and things start happening extremely fast. The anticipation inside me is about to reach explosive levels as I know we are about to...fly.
I am fixated on the capable hands of the pilot in the left seat directly in front of me, his hands moving everywhere now. But his right hand settles on that white knob, and he gingerly starts rotating it, screwing it in with a gentle, calculated touch. As he does, Katy's engine begins to come alive, and we lurch forward swiftly. As the white knob continues moving towards the panel, the engine's roar gets louder and louder, and we pick up speed quickly. As the white knob reaches the full-in position, Katy is racing forward, and as the speed increases, I can clearly feel something changing under the plane. It is the wheels, protesting as if they do not want to leave the ground. We seem to be stuck momentarily in a metamorphosis between rolling and flying. In a very short time, I see Katy's nose rise, and the angle of the plane changes dramatically, pushing me solidly back into the seat. Underneath the plane, the rolling sensation I have been experiencing soon vanishes, and as if lifted by the hand of God himself, Katy's big wings grab the air with enough force to lift us skyward and as we climb, I am amazed at how fast the ground falls away.
We are finally...flying.
Yes, I have flown in big jets, but the sensation was one of a flying living room, boring and without any real adventure. But as Katy takes us upwards, away from the tarmac, I am stunned at how cool this feels, how fantastic this adventure has just become. Inside the big airliners, I am usually fast asleep before the plane leaves the ground, but on this glorious ride through the sky, I am awake, alive, and feel privileged to be one of the lucky few humans on this day to be able to enjoy the freedoms that come from flying your very own airplane.
This freedom is something I treasure as each second of this flight takes place. Like the birds outside my window at home, we are now gliding through perfectly blue sky, no tethers of any kind keeping us from chasing this day's dream. I let my mind race on what a person could achieve with the freedom of flight, of the accomplishments that could be completed with such a magical flying machine at your disposal.
The houses below are getting smaller, the cars look like toys as they slip slowly beneath Katy's wings, which look to be shaped a bit like a Hershey Bar, square in design but sturdy in build. Down below, I see parks full of kids playing, and can only imagine that like me so many times before, they are looking up as Katy slips through the sky, wishing they could fly like I am today. I might be the luckiest girl in the world at this very moment, those kids are stuck on the ground while I get to dance elegantly through the sky like a feather.
This flying stuff is something I could get very used too. For some reason, I seem to be attached to it in some strong way, linked to aviation in what feels like a perfect relationship. As we move across the sky, my mind races at what I could do with my life if I too had a freedom machine like Katy waiting to take me skyward. There would be wonderful trips with friends to discover the best airports with the tastiest airport food. For some reason, it sounds splendid to enjoy a hamburger at a cafe overlooking a runway. There might be important trips to do environmental work on behalf of my community, getting there quicker so I can have the opportunity to do more good on the ground. In times of need, I could use my airplane to fly supplies to those suffering through a disaster, or maybe take some kids up – they would be like young Eagles looking to be set free as I have been today.
But that is tomorrow, and this is today. Now, I am smothered in glory and immersed in sweet emotions as the four of us are taken through the air inside a craft that seems content with providing a supple ride on invisible rails. As the city slips by below, all is right in my world. What troubles there are in the streets below are not welcome here inside Katy, she is my shield from the harsh realities of life, if only for the few moments that we are airborne.
Up here, there is abundant joy because we are flying, and angels have my back, this I know.

posted by Dan Pimentel @ 11:55 AM

via av8rdan.com

It is great to see young women pursue aviation today. We are going to need all the pilots we can get shortly.

Visit the All Things Aviation Blog today!

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

2010-07-09T08:32:00.001-07:00

Are BizJets "Politically Incorrect?" http://tinyurl.com/2cpya73

2010-07-09T07:57:00.001-07:00

All pilots and those interested in general aviation need to reach out to the public and make a difference. http://bit.ly/cgEMwt

Solar Impulse HB-SIA First Solar Night Flight | NYCAviation.com ...

2010-07-09T07:53:00.001-07:00

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA, a Swiss solar-powered plane, completed the first non-stop night flight on solar energy after flying 26 hours and 9 minutes. It was the longest solar flight at the highest altitude in aviation history, Solar Impulse announced on Thursday.
The Solar Impulse HB-SIA has a huge wingspan, equal to the Airbus A340’s 63.4 meters. It includes approximately 12,000 photovoltaic cells, most of them on the wing and around 880 on the horizontal stabilizer.
The plane took off on Wednesday morning from the Payerne airbase with André Borscherg, CEO and co-founder of the Solar Impulse project, at the controls. The HB-SIA flew at an altitude of 8,500 meters until 11:00 p.m., when the sun rays stop being enough to supply the solar cells.
During the night, the airplane continued flying using the energy stored in the solar cells. It landed back at Payerne at 7:00 a.m. Thursday. At its highest, the Solar Impulse surpassed the 8,500 meters intended and reached 8,700 meters of altitude.
“This is a highly symbolic moment: flying by night using solely solar power is a stunning manifestation of the potential that clean technologies offer today to reduce the dependency of our society on fossil fuels!,” Bertrand Piccard, initiator and President of Solar Impulse.
The project was financed by Solvay S.A., Omega and Deutsche Bank. It cost 100 million Swiss francs.

via nycaviation.com

Despite my earlier skepticism, progress continues towards "green" aircraft and saving the planet.

Wow, 26 hours plus! Amazing!

JetAviator7

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

FAA Stresses Upset Recovery Training : AINonline

2010-07-09T07:45:00.001-07:00

FAA Stresses Upset Recovery Training

By: Chad Trautvetter

Accidents, Safety, Security and Training > Safety
--> July 8, 2010
Safety, Training, Government

Citing an increase in aircraft accidents involving loss of control (LOC), the FAA yesterday issued Information for Operators 10010, which calls for operators to incorporate upset recovery training. “Although the overall accident rate has decreased, the category of LOC continues to outpace other factors as the leading cause of fatal accidents in the last 20 years,” the FAA said.
LOC is defined as “flight outside the normal flight envelope, with nonlinear influences, and with an inability of the pilot to control the aircraft. Twelve years ago, an FAA-industry working group co-chaired by Boeing, Airbus and the Flight Safety Foundation developed the Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid as guidance for upset recovery training for flight crews.
While the working group was primarily focused on large aircraft, the guidance also applies to those flying smaller swept-wing turbine aircraft. As a result of the steady increase in LOC-related accidents, the FAA “strongly recommends” that operators include applicable sections of the Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid in their training programs.
However, the FAA noted, “Any LOC recommended recovery techniques and procedures provided by a manufacturer for a particular aircraft take precedence over those in the training aid.”

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via ainonline.com

All pilots need to be aware of the dangers of aircraft upsets. A few years back a corporate jet coming into land at Grand Rapids, MI had an upset which injured the flight attendant and a passenger.

All of us need to be aware of this issue.

JetAviator7

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

Aviation Industry : Back Into The 'Friendly Skies' By Farnborough ...

2010-07-07T12:54:00.001-07:00

Aviation industry :Â Back into the âfriendly skiesâ by Farnborough 2010 ?

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â SUNIL KEWALRAMANIÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â February 18, 2009

As investments, airlines are best left to relentless optimists and colourful egomaniacs. Over the long term, a diversified portfolio of airline stocks has reliably lagged behind broader market averages. Airlinesâ long-run operating margins have averaged just 2 per cent since 1950, says UBS.

In 2007, during the Paris Air Show, the aviation industry was flying highâ¦.the world economy was booming and credit was plenty. Â Customers who had booked from Boeing and Airbus could get a premium for waiving their bookings in favour of companies interested to jump on the aviation industry growth story.Â Today, airlines are happier returning their aircraft than taking delivery. Â In 2008, the Amex Airline Index has plunged more than 70 %. Â Â Not only has the game changed, the dominant players have changed as well. At Farnborough this year,Â Middle-Eastâs Etihad Airways has ordered 45 aircraft from Boeing and 55 from Airbus, worth about $ 20 Billion at list prices.Â It reinforces Middle Eastâs position as one of the few regions where airlines have the financial clout to expand aggressively.

Singapore Airlines, which reported its third-quarter results on 10th February 2009,, is one of the less terrible operators. It has the two qualities every carrier needs to withstand troughs: a strong brand and a patient majority shareholder (state-owned Temasek, in SIAâs case). On top of that, it has one of the worldâs better-looking balance sheets: cash in the bank exceeds long-term liabilities by more than three to one; a youngish fleet of fuel-efficient aircraft; and one of the most highly rated management teams around. As such, the worldâs largest airline by market capitalisation is an industry benchmark. If SIA is struggling, pity the rest.

SIA is indeed suffering. The September to December period, traditionally its most profitable, saw net income almost halve. Operating metrics were solid: passenger load factors down only 3 per cent, while costs (excluding fuel) fell 5.5 per cent. But it came a cropper on hedging, locking in purchases of jet fuel at much higher rates than the periodâs average of $99 a barrel. Losses should widen: 44 per cent of fourth-quarter fuel requirements â" well above the industry average â" have been pre-bought at $131 a barrel, compared with todayâs spot price of $56.

As those hedges fall away, however, SIA has a real opportunity to stand out from the pack by protecting its dividend. China Eastern had recently rejected Singapore Airlinesâ bid to expand its operations. What is more, cash flow after capex over the first nine months almost covers last yearâs dividend. In an industry that oscillates between varying degrees of over-capacity, preserving the payout would really hammer home the difference between the leaders and the laggards.

Â

For Vijay Mallyaâ"the self-proclaimed âking of good timesâ who patterns himself after Richard Branson, the launch of Kingfisher Airlines three years back seems to have come as a cropper. Slower economic growth due to unexpected world crisis along with dramatic fuel price rise earlier this year has taken the tails out of the airline industry. There are urgent demands being made for reducing sales taxes from 26 per cent to 4 per cent which could help reduce air fares.Â A sanguine Mallya has called for India to ease its restrictive FDI policies, which currently prohibit foreign airlines from holding stakes in domestic Indian carriers.

Â

Although oil prices have retreated of late, threats by OPEC to cut production coupled by the threat of inflation which could return in the wake of extremely expansionary monetary policies of the world central banks, could cause fuel prices to go up again. Â Fuel costs make up about 65 % of costs on long-haul flights but only about 30 per cent of costs for short-haul flights. Qantas, one of the worldâs most profitable airlines has recently grounded aircraft, suspended routes, chopped capacity, cut jobs and struck a deal with its long-haul pilots to lock in the companyâs 3 per cent per annum wages policy until 2013.Â In the wake of 9/11 and SARS, the Australian carrier had performed better than its peers, picking up market share as well as aircraft abandoned by airlines who could not afford them.

Â

According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, the price of Indian fuel is based on international parity pricing, despite the fact that international crude is refined in India.Â Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates in India, represent 40-45 % of ticket costs as compared to the global standard of 35 %.Â In the backdrop of high fuel prices, domestic passenger numbers has fallen significantly from a year ago according to the Indian aviation industry.Â Jet AirwaysÂ recently laid off 10 % of its workforce, only to relent and take them back under duress.Â GoAir has laid off a significant chunk of its expatriate pilots. SpiceJet has announced reductions in its daily flights from 117 to 100.Â Kingfisher Airlines is negotiating sale of two of the five A340-500 aircraft it had committed to buy from Airbus in 2007. Â Both Spicejet and GoAir are returning planes to lessors.Â It is also contemplating deferring taking deliveries of 29 narrow-bodied A320s .Â In response, some have adopted the use of winglets on the wing tips to reduce fuel consumption, others are flying their aircraft at higher altitude, choosing parking bays closer to the runway to reduce taxing time. Â Some are cutting down the amount of water in toilets and for human consumption they carry while others are carrying lighter plastic cutlery, food trays etc. Even the Indian government has recently pitched in by withdrawing the customs duty of 5 % on jet fuel.Â In addition, oil companies are reducing ATF prices by Rs 9429.87 per kilo litre with immediate effect.

Â

American, Continental and Delta have reduced flights to various destinations. Pratt and Whitney estimates that its EcoPower engine-washing process saves Hawaiian $ 1 million in fuel annually across 31 Boeing 767 engines.Â Eight senior pilots and the US Airline Pilots Association have filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration stating that US Airways is pressuring pilots to use less fuel than they feel is safe, in order to save money. By removing six seats, JetBlue reduced an A 320 weight by approx 904 lbs.Â Air Canada is considering removing paint and primer from its 767s to save 360 lbs per plane.Â Â Alaska Airlines indicated in 2004 that removing just 5 magazines per aircraft could save $ 10,000 annually in fuel.Â Itâs new beverage cart, at 20 lbs lighter, could save $ 500,000 in annual fuel costs.Â Yet, fashion favouring turbo-prop aircraft, the most fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly in the skies, should help sustain order books for the same. ONEWORLD alliance of various airlines will jointly explore options for collective buying of fuel.Â

Â

Mergers and Acquisitions enable capturing abandonedÂ territories :

In 2003, Air France bought rival KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and has succeeded in luring passengers away from European rivals by offering long-distance connections through its Paris and Amsterdam hubs.Â Lufthansa acquired Swiss International Air Lines Ltd in 2005. It aims to match last yearâs record profit by capitalizing on rivalsâ weakness and by harvesting routes abandoned by competitors.Â This is analogous to Southwestâs model, where Southwest is capitalizing on players who have pulled off during the downturn in the aviation industry precipitated by high oil prices. Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines are planning to merge. Â Continental and United Airlines are also planning a close alliance.

Â

Elite class of rising carriers emerges on the scene :

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, the strength of this club (which includes Southwest, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Ryanair and Deutsche Lufthansa) underscores the growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots. These powerful players are able to hedge costs, borrow money, buy new planes and pamper high-paying customers while their poorer rivals cut routes and seek cash infusions. On Singapore Airlineâs five new Airbus A 380 super-jumbo jetliners, first-class passengers sleep on sheets made by French fashion house Givenchy, while coach passengers have USB ports for connecting their own electronic devices next to their seat-back video screens.Â In the face of a severe industry downturn, Singapore Airlinesâ operating profit rose 60 % in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008.

Â

Southwest Airlines Â as a role model : Â Itâs discount-model has kept it profitable for 35 years.Â It aggressively hedges fuel costs and thus has avoided current high fuel prices, to which most of the other carriers have succumbed.Â It has hedged fuel at $ 51 a barrel.Â The efficient hedges have enabled Southwest produce gains of $ 455 million in 2004, $ 892 million in 2005, $ 675 million in 2006 and $ 439 million for the first nine months of 2007.Â It Â has $ 3.7 Billion of cash in the bank and a market capitalization of $ 9.9 Billion, more than the combined market value of the six-largest conventional U.S. carriers.Â

Â

Next-Generation aircrafts :Â Airbus has demonstrated its ability to fly its A380 aircraft with a synthetic liquid fuel processed from a gas called gas-to-liquid (GTL) in a three-hour flight between Filton, UK and Toulouse, France.Â The new A380 has fuel efficiency of 2.9 litres a passenger for every 100 kms and carbon emissions of just 75g per passenger per kmâ"17% less than that emitted by the Boeing 747.Â Boeing 777 is the most fuel-efficient plane in its class.Â The 747-8 will be 16 % more efficient than the 747-400 (and 11 % more efficient than the A380). Â The A350 is the Airbusâs response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Besides, EADSâs A400 M, once in service,will be capable of carrying a payload of up to 37 tonnes over ranges of up to 4700 nautical miles. Launched on July 8 2007â"7/8/7 in US date format (date was chosen for impact), demand for the high-tech and futuristic 787 Dreamlinerâ"a long-range 250 to 300-seat jet whose carbon-fibre body is set to make it 20 % more fuel-efficient than comparable models has been astounding. Dreamlinerâs advanced aerodynamics (smooth wiring technology, spoilers that droop when flaps are deployed, and laminar flow nacelles lower drag) increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.Â Higher bypass ratio allows engines to be quieter. Boeing has received orders from more than 60 customers for 892 aircraft, worth $ 145 Billion at list prices. Boeingâs energy use and carbon dioxide emissions at its major facilities are believed to have fallen 24 % between 2002 and 2007.Â The Chinese white 90-seat ARJ21-700 jet is called âXiang Fengâ or âFlying Phoenixâ and its appearance broadcast live on state television. 100 of the 180 bookings have come from Kunpeng Ailrines, a new venture between Chinaâs Shenzhen Airlines and the US-based Mesa Air Group.Â The arrival of the âFlying Phoenixâ will truly mark the ascent of China as a leading world superpower and will energize growth in the Asian subcontinent.

Â

Green Ross to SpiceJetâs rescue : indicative of sound contrarian call

Spicejet of India has chose as its suitor W L Ross & Co. Â W L Ross has made his reputation on contrarian calls — buying into the steel industry in the US when no one would touch it, for example, and snapping up a Japanese bank when it was saddled with bank loans in 2000.

Â

Low cost model here to stay

Air Deccan pioneered new ticketing channels at internet kiosks, petrol pumps and India post offices which helped bring down distribution costs by 12%-15% as compared to opting for a GDS (Global Distribution System) and for travel agents through the legacy system. If the motive is to cater to the large inclusive consumer base at the bottom of the consumer pyramid then the business model must create a scaleable product that delivers higher volumes at lower price points above very low costs with wafer thin margins.Â The low cost model is about innovations, efficiency and enhanced asset utilization which are increasingly necessary in times of high fuel prices. The cost per available seat km of a low-cost carrier is significantly lower than that of full-service carrier.Â The average revenue per seat for Ryanair, Europeâs biggest budget carrier, is Euro 39, as against Euro 247 for British Airways and Euro 57 for EasyJet, another low-cost carrier. It therefore implies that the airline with the lowest revenue per seat is at a comparative advantage and has significant cushion to tide over this rather cyclical industry.

Â

The Indian aviation is still one of the countryâs sunrise industries and both airlines and investors consider India as a compelling market. In my opinion, the oil bubble would have burst due to more durable demand destruction by the time the next Farnborough show is held in 2010.Â The fundamentals viz. that Indiaâs 1 billion people generate just 16 million domestic trips a year, is still very much intact.Â This, coupled with the emergence of investors with deep pockets will ensure that the industry emerges stronger after the chastening shock. Equilibrium is expected to be found in the next two years as airlines are working to optimize capacity, rationalize routes and cut loss-making routes.

Â

By simply raising fares, the distinction between low-cost and full-fare airlines will diminish, resulting in an undifferentiated business model. The government, on its own part, has to up its ante and improve its infrastructure. It is not uncommon to witness planes circling over destination zones in Mumbai and Delhi several times before being allowed to land, thus causing wastage of precious fuel.

Â

The current scenario is almost reminiscent of the last downturn in the aftermath of 2001 terrorist attacks on the US.Â That setback proved short-lived and so I believe will this one be.

Oil prices have retreated under the impact of unwinding of speculative positions by hedge funds and demand destruction is taking centre stage. The future belongs to the bold and daring, and not the timid and weak. The stage is set for survival of the fittest. Â In the process, men will be separated from the boys.Â The ongoing turbulence presents a tremendous opportunity for aviation industry players to emerge stronger than ever before. Â The 2010 Farnborough air show promises to be dominated by a new set of industry players, ones that emerge victorious after trial by fire.

Â

Note : Mr Sunil Kewalramani is a WHARTON BUSINESS SCHOOL MBA and CEO, Global Capital Advisors.Â He may be reached at worldequity@sunilkewalramani.com.Â

Bullet Points :

1)Â Â Â Â Â The arrival of the Chinese âFlying Phoenixâ will truly mark the ascent of China as aÂ Â Â leading world superpower and will energize growth in the Asian subcontinent.

2)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â For Vijay Mallyaâ"the self-proclaimed âking of good timesâ,Â the launch of Kingfisher Airlines three years back seems to have come as a cropper.

Â

3)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Launched on July 8 2007â"7/8/7 in US date format (date was chosen for impact), demand for the high-tech and futuristic 787 Dreamlinerâ"a long-range 250 to 300-seat jet whose carbon-fibre body is set to make it 20 % more fuel-efficient than comparable models has been astounding.

4)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The fundamentals viz. that Indiaâs 1 billion people generate just 16 million domestic air trips a year, is still very much intact.Â

5)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Rather than lean on the government for largesse, the aviation industry players need to pull up their socks, adopt global best practices, learn the art of effective hedging of fuel requirements, stimulate consumer demand and capitalize on battle-routes abandoned by their weaker rivals to strengthen their position in the world aviation industry.Â

Mr Sunil Kewalramani is a Wharton Business School MBA, a CPA, CA and a leading consultant for multinational companies on global asset management, strategic planning and cross-border mergers and acquisitions

Permalink: Aviation Industry : Back Into The ‘Friendly Skies’ By Farnborough 2010 ?

via dotneter.tk

Airlines are either a boom or bust business, and lately it has been mainly "bust".

Once we see aviation make a recovery we will know the economy is on the rebound, but the airlines never know when to quit their nonesense when they are making money.

JetAviator7

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

PlaneBusiness Banter Now Posted!

2010-06-30T03:43:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone.

It's a great day in America, isn't it? Sorry, just channeling my inner Craig Ferguson.

Here at the PlaneBusiness Worldwide Headquarters it's been a bit of a challenging 24 hours. We experienced a loss of connectivity late yesterday as a rather nasty line of thunderboomers erupted almost directly over our heads. I lost all email for a bit, and we lost our FIOS (our internet connectivity) after one particularly nasty lightning surge.

Things are now back working as they should, but it caused our editing process to slow to a crawl last night. No, let me rephrase that. It came to a screeching halt.

I finally gave up and we all started up again this morning at about 6 a.m.

And so here we are. Yes, it's a great day in America.

After I get done here I get to go to the vet's office and find out how difficult it is going to be to transition my cat to a new form of insulin. Why do I have to do this? Because the FDA has halted the sale of the type of insulin she was on.

I'm so looking forward to this. I know she is too.

I know that PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers are looking forward to this week's issue -- so here it is. Finally!

This week in PlaneBusiness Banter I talk about the change in command at the Allied Pilots Association. The APA is the pilot union at American Airlines, and well, let's just say the APA and I go back a long time.

Captain David Bates was just elected as the organization's new leader and while this is a most welcome event (anything would be an improvement over the previous "leadership" and yes, I use that term loosely) as I write this week this is a two way street. Management at the airline has to tune up its game plan as well if anything constructive is going to happen as a result of this change in union leadership. More on all this in this week's issue.

On the passenger rights front, Kate Hanni and her followers received a nice bone to chew on last week when we once again had one of those nasty "stranded on the tarmac" incidents. This time the aircraft belonged to Virgin Atlantic, the ordeal sounded awful, but that still doesn't mean that the airline was totally at fault. As usual, there was enough blame to go around. Airport, airline, customs officials, you name it.

A fact that should negate any move to extend the "three-hour rule" to international flights.

Of course this didn't stop the DOT Secretary from using the incident as another excuse to pander to the masses.

We talk a bit this week about the latest Boeing 787 delay information, and we also talk about the American Airlines - FAA discovery of unexpected "cracks" that were found in some Boeing 767 engine pylons. Could newly installed winglets be creating the problem?

Meanwhile, airline stocks had a dismal week. Shares of Hawaiian Airlines took the brunt of the sector decline -- fallout from an Avondale Partners downgrade and price target reduction was to blame.

Oil prices were back on the move again as well last week, as oil traders came down with a case of hurricane angst on Friday.

Finally in this week's email bag, we hear from our subscribers on a range of issues. We have a corporate travel manager lamenting the changes at Continental, someone who agrees with us that the industry is already too regulated, not regulated enough, and someone who asks: if all the airline analysts are so bullish, isn't that a perfect time to sell my stock? Answer? Could very well be. I am a big fan of contrarian thinking. Especially after reading my daily economic news feeds.

As usual, we talk about all this -- and more -- in this week's issue. Subscribers can access this week's issue here.

via planebuzz.com

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

The USA No Longer Holding Short of Canada

2010-06-30T03:33:00.001-07:00

The USA No Longer Holding Short of Canada

A few readers have written to alert me to a change in FAA regulations effective June 30th. The new rule requires controllers to issue, and pilots to receive, explicit clearances to cross any runway, including an inactive or closed one. Controllers are no longer allowed to simply say "taxi to" the active runway and must give a routing and explicit instructions to cross or hold short of each runway encountered en route. They can still assign an airplane to follow another, instead of giving explicit routing, but must issue crossing and/or hold short instructions to the following aircraft if the route crosses any runways. The "follow the 737" type of instruction is very useful for pilots who are unfamiliar with an airport that has confusing taxiway instructions. The controller can just have us follow someone that they know knows the way, such as a scheduled airline flight.

This rule change makes me happy, because the rule has existed in Canada since before I learned to fly, and was deeply ingrained in my psyche before my first solo. Every time an American controller blithely says to me, "Taxi to runway seven," I frown and consult my runway diagram, thinking "how does she want me to get there?" I choose a route using the taxiway diagram, but my instinct is still to stop at all hold short lines. To tell the truth, even when I am in the States and know that the rule allows me to proceed across the double lines ahead of me, most of the time I still call ground and "confirm cleared across two seven?" The ground controller might sound irritated, but not as irritated as she would sound if I committed a runway incursion.

I believe some US airports have had this in place as a house rule or a local regulation for some time, because I have had explicit US runway crossing clearances in the past. In fact on June 20th I landed at a US airport and my taxi clearance to parking included an explicit runway crossing. The next day when I was taxiing out it didn't, so I confirmed and then followed up with "I guess you guys don't need to issue that clearance until next week, eh?" The previous day's controller was possibly practicing for the change.

What safety procedures already present in the US should Canada adopt? Off the top of my head, I'd like to suggest that Nav Canada print airport identifiers on WACs and VNCs (charts).
Labels: air law, ATC, FAA, safety, taxiing, US-Canada differences

posted by Aviatrix at 00:00

via airplanepilot.blogspot.com

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

USA Today - Money: Terrafugia flying car gets a break from the FAA . More #Aviation #news - http://tinyurl.com/pvkm37

2010-06-30T03:31:00.001-07:00

Check out this website I found at twitter.com

Posted via email from all-things-aviation's posterous

North of Lake Superior

2010-06-18T14:56:00.001-07:00

North of Lake Superior

I wrote this blog entry in detail and then attempted to publish it on a day that Blogger had some major problem, and the text was eaten, so this is the reconstructed version.

Before we left Gore Bay, we double checked our next fuel stop. It would have to be Wawa, as the wind was too strong to make Marathon, and there isn't anywhere else a wheel plane can stop for fuel along the north shore of Lake Superior. There were no fuel NOTAMs for Wawa, but a careful reading of the CFS entry reveals that winter hours are still in effect, and the fuel service is scheduled to be closed by the time we arrive. The PIC makes a quick call to verify that fuel will be available for us tonight, and then we start up and taxi back to the runway.

The four cylinders of the little engine directly drive the propeller and with full throttle the pistons are pounding up and down at almost 2700 rpm. We're rolling down the runway and soon airborne again. We cut northeast across the water and level out on a direct track above the wilderness towards Wawa.

My role here is mainly as companion, safety pilot and whip cracker. I'm the one who says, "You fill the tanks and I'll update the weather and file the flight plan," or "Just pee and refill your water bottle: we'll eat in the plane." She is doing the flying. We should be able to get three or four legs a day, assuming we aren't NOTAMed out of our own airport. The weather is good and turbulence is light, but it occurs to me that while I'm used to flying out the last minute of my duty day, she more normally flies for an hour or two and goes home. Plus we're literally flying cross-country and it's likely more stressful for her than me. I want to have two competent pilots in this cockpit six hours from now, so I suggest I fly this leg and she kick back and take it as easy as she can, to conserve her energy for later in the day. I know she's more of a night owl than I am, so I want to use her strengths. She agrees and I take control.

Here I could insert three paragraphs about rocks and trees and lakes, but this is Northern Ontario. You've been here, if not in person, then with me. We can't see the big lake yet from this vantage point, but there are rocks and trees and lakes. Mostly it's trees, mostly some sort of pine, and we pass them at a groundspeed of 70 knots or so.

After a lot of this we approach Wawa. We have the latest winds and altimeter setting, from an autostation or perhaps from a flight service specialist, I don't remember which, and we've tuned the aerodrome frequency. There's someone in the circuit, landing on 03. This is unexpected, because the surface winds are strongly favouring 21. That's consistent with us struggling along trying to maintain seventy knots westward over the terrain. I listen again--we have lots of time before we get there--and the aircraft in the circuit reports touching down on the threshold of 03. I call them on frequency and ask if the winds are not favouring 21. They laugh and explain that they're a helicopter. The winds are definitely favouring 21. They are doing hover practice over the runway and landing westbound on the threshhold of 03. Ohhh, that makes sense. They promise to stay out of our way and I join the circuit. The trees are quite high and 21 has a displaced threshold because you can't make a normal approach over the trees to the actual end of the runway. You almost can in this plane, with 40 degrees of flaps and that headwind. I descend towards the runway and flare slightly high. I realize it, and fix the landing with power; there's lots of room to play around and get a nice soft straight touchdown.

"Whee! You let me land!" I say, "How'd you know I wouldn't pooch it?"

"You never said 'you have control'!"

"You never took control. It's your plane!"

This sounds like a CRM disaster movie, but of course if I had any doubt I could safely land it, I would have given her control, and if she had any doubts she would have taken it. I probably have more time flying Cessna 150s than she has total time, but mine isn't recent time and I've watched a lot of pilots more experienced than me embarrass themselves in small airplanes that they used to know how to fly. We both laugh and taxi in. One of us parks in front of the fuel pumps. I think it was her, because I remember pointing them out. Pumps inside a locked cabinet are easily identifiable to me, but it was the first time she had seen them and didn't instantly recognize that shape as meaning fuel, or the red stripe as being the one that says 100LL as opposed to the black one for Jet-A. We shut down and go inside to find out who has stayed late to provide us with fuel. No one has, but there's a local there from another business who calls the appropriate person and says they'll be right here.

He is, and he fuels us quickly, but the $75 callout fee is more than the fuel bill. There was no avoiding it, as we had to get fuel here, and its not less trouble for someone to come out for a little plane than a big one, it's just more painful when it's a higher proportion of the fuel bill. I pay callout fees a lot at work, fuelling on weekends and early morning or late at night, but the callout fee is typically less than 5% of the fuel cost, so it never feels like an issue. She pays for her fuel and we start up and taxi back to the runway.

We're still not going to fly direct to Thunder Bay, because this is a big lake. If we cut straight across it we would be out of sight of land, and we'd still only be in the northwestern corner of the lake. We'll remain within gliding distance of the shore, or at least the shore of islands, following a big offshore arc. For the first part we're over land still because although Wawa is close to shore, it's at the eastern end of a big cape that juts out southward into the lake. It would be longer here to go over the water than to cut across the cape. Insert another forty-five minutes of trees.

Finally the expanse of Lake Superior comes into view. This is a huge, huge lake. We can see the shore beside us to the north, but we can't see the western shore and the whole south east to south west is just water. There must be people in the world who cannot conceive of this much water. I'm not sure I can. We pass offshore of Marathon, and of a floatplane base. I imagine some pilot inattentive pilot planning to fuel there and then discovering too late that there is no runway. It's close enough to Marathon they could probably make that and not have to ditch, though.

There are big islands and peninsulas down the west side of the lake, so we're flying over them as Thunder Bay comes close enough to tune the ATIS. We call the tower and follow their instructions for a downwind to the long runway. The sky is just beginning to pinken as we touch down. She follows the taxi instructions and chooses the Maintair Shell as our parking spot. We need fuel and oil. The FBO agrees to sell us both, but then are surprised to discover they are out of our grade of oil. We try the other FBO, but they don't have it either. That's unexpected. The CFS lists our grade of oil available at Kenora and Fort Francis, but it's too late in the day to call and confirm that. We'll call in the morning, and call this a day.

We leave the airplane fuelled, chocked, locked and tented and take the FBO recommendation for a hotel. It's much better than the last hotel I stayed in in YQT. This one has polite service, clean rooms, and a pool with a giant waterslide. Damn me and my superlight packing. Let this be a lesson: there is always room in your flight bag for a Speedo.
Labels: airplanes, flight plans, flying, private flying

posted by Aviatrix at 21:30

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Would you want to become a pilot for a living now?

2010-06-18T05:30:00.001-07:00

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Scott Spangler has written an interesting post on JetWhine where he noted a recent NPR story about the dwindling number of student pilots in the USA. Apparently, it is being reported that the FAA’s estimate for this year’s number of student pilot certificates will total less than 60,000 – an all time low. For some perspective: Student certificates peaked at 209,406 in 1968 (around the height of the Vietnam War) and then reached an all-time high of 210,180 in 1979. Since then though, they have been in decline and fell into the five figures in 1994.

Scott noted that he often receives plenty of questions and genuine interest about becoming a pilot from youngsters but their interests is mostly fueled by having played video games and from seeing Red Bull Air Racing. However, the NPR story also profiled a CFI and aspiring professional pilot who is the perfect example of why pilot numbers are in decline:

His loans total nearly $100,000, and to build the experience that will qualify him for a $20,000-a-year right seat in a regional airliner, he’s forced to “flight instruct, tow banners, and haul skydivers.” Think about the attitude bred by this decades-old system and the declining student and pilot population should surprise no one.

In other words, why would anyone want to become a professional pilot under those conditions? However, Scott noted that the US aviation industry only makes changes when it is forced to but then he suggested that:

A good solution might be the military model, where candidates vie for a coveted seat, knowing they will receive top-notch proficiency-based training designed for the mission they will soon fulfill. Anyone can apply, but only the best will be chosen for the education program that fills a guaranteed professional pilot slot. Because the airlines would have more invested in their pilots, perhaps they wouldn’t treat them like Doritos: Hard financial times? Furlough them! There will always be new suckers who still believe in the happy airline pilot dream.

Hence, we want to know what our readers think – especially any USA based pilots who fly for a living. Would you choose to become a pilot again or choose a different line of work? What do you should be done to reverse the decline in pilot numbers?

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Press Release - Statement from the FAA in Response to the Associated Press Story about Temporary Flight Restrictions over the Gulf of Mexico

2010-06-17T12:36:00.001-07:00

Statement from the FAA in Response to the Associated Press Story about Temporary Flight Restrictions over the Gulf of Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today’s story by the Associated Press contains a number of inaccuracies with regard to the government’s oversight of flyovers in and around the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Since May 28th, the FAA has approved every request to fly over the area–more than 176 requests. While the temporary flight restriction requires pilots to stay above 3,000 feet, the FAA is working with news organizations and granting exceptions so that pilots can fly at lower altitudes throughout the day.
The reason for these requirements is safety, pure and simple. So far, there have been a number of reported near misses over the Gulf due to heavy traffic and pilots flying above the oil spill to give their passengers a closer look.
On Sunday, a helicopter carrying a member of the Associated Press violated the temporary flight restriction around the oil clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. The helicopter operator was not authorized to fly into the restricted area and was flying at various altitudes well below 3,000 feet. For over 30 minutes, the pilot was not in communication with the Border Patrol aircraft that is providing traffic advisories for all participating aircraft. Border Patrol was forced to divert other traffic in the area, creating a dangerous situation for everyone involved. When the pilot was finally reached he was told to leave the area.
A pilot deviation (an action that results in the violation of a Federal Aviation Regulation) is being filed against the helicopter pilot.

via faa.gov

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Four tips for better takeoffs

2010-06-17T07:33:00.001-07:00

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A First Time for Everything

2010-06-16T17:52:00.001-07:00

A First Time for Everything

Next morning the weather looks passable on my iPod Touch, but there is such a paucity of reporting stations, or civilization of any description, around the north shore of Lake Superior that we can't be certain. And I know the GFA is based on the same kind of interpolation I have to do. I know what the weather was like half an hour ago at three five mile circles scattered around the north of the lake, so from that I try to interpolate the suitability for flight between them. While the PIC is in the shower, I pick up the phone and call an expert for a briefing. He starts describing the moisture content, stability and direction of travel of air masses, then interrupts himself. "Did you say Brampton?"

"Yes. I'm in Brampton now; it's clear skies."

"Someone just yelled a NOTAM for Brampton across the room, 'All runways closed."

He isn't able to elucidate the reason for a sudden airport closure, or suggest when they may reopen. In my experience, airports have closed for resurfacing, drag racing, severe weather, special security events, or major accidents. I'm guessing the last, and we decide to drive out to the airport anyway, hoping that everyone is okay and the wreckage is cleared before we want to depart.

As we pull into the parking lot we can see police cars and police officers on the airfield. This is weird, but hey, they are allowed to be there, and the NOTAM says the runways are closed, not the apron. My new guess is that there is some kind of drug bust going on. I live in a country where one is not obliged to cower in terror at the mere presence of law enforcement officials, so while the other pilot makes a few last minute decisions about what to take and what to lock in the trunk, I walk through the unlocked front gate from the car parking lot and into the aircraft parking area.

I'm immediately approached by a young man in a reflective vest. "Where are you going?" he asks.

"Thunder Bay," I reply.

I love to watch the moment of adjustment a person goes through when you give a valid answer to a question, but it is not the same order of magnitude as they were expecting. He asks if I am renting a flying school plane and I tell him, no, a private aircraft, and give the call sign.

Then it's his turn to watch someone react to the unexpected, "Make sure you do a very thorough preflight." He doesn't know if our little one-fifty was one of the victims, but there was extensive vandalism on the field last night, and a number of aircraft were damaged. As I walk further I can see a flying school light twin with all the windows bashed in and a fire extinguisher lying beside it on the apron. Detritus such as engine plugs, aircraft covers and seat cushions are strewn on the grass. A Katana has been pushed up against a hangar. There are footprints on the horizontal stabilizer of an older Skyhawk. The perpetrators have also left broken beer bottles and what looks like a corsage. Evidence suggests that some high school students have chosen to celebrate their putative entry into adulthood by getting drunk and committing a federal crime against thousands of dollars worth of other people's property.

The airplane tied tail-to-tail with ours has been hit, but ours looks good. It's tied down, the doors are still locked, and the only exterior damage is what looks like a long-ago mend to a rear window, probably broken by an unsecured object in turbulence. Not the first one I've seen like that. There are tiedown rings inside and I secure all our cargo as I calculated it should go, with the light objects like our jackets and the engine cover at the back and the snacks and water on top right behind the seats.

I've never seen this kind of vandalism at an airfield before. I call back flight services to update them on the situation. The briefer says he's never seen it before either. I ask if they have an UNTIL time on that NOTAM. It's midnight zulu, which is eight pm here, but "midnight zulu" is a default kind of time, not something with a real reason behind it. The weather forecast suggests we can get at least to Thunder Bay today, so only this NOTAM is stopping us. After a bit of waiting around I decide I don't like this NOTAM.

A police officer in blue latex gloves is dusting the rear window of the airplane behind us for fingerprints. I ask whether it is the police or airport management who has imposed or has power to change the NOTAM. Reflective-vest guy is there, and says that it's his responsibility, and that he will change it right now. He picks up his phone and does so. In the time it takes me to call Flight Services to file our flight plan, they have received and propagated the cancelling NOTAM. Excellent. This, right here, is an example of why pilots are so infuriated by incompetent security. Aviation has a lot of rules, a lot of procedures, a lot of things forbidden from time to time. But they are for a reason and in the vast majority of cases when you have a reason that is more reasonable than their reason, you find the right person, you explain your reason, and you go do what you have to do. You may have to prove it is safe, and it may cost money, but it's easier than getting thirty millilitres of shampoo through security in a 110 mL bottle.

We fuel, taxi out and she starts the take-off roll. My flight instructor instinct kicks in and I advise, "Rotate normally and wait. The airplane will take off slowly." I know she's been bombing around solo in this airplane, but we're now close to max weight, and it's worth being tagged as a back seat driver not to be in the plane during a departure stall. She follows my advice, and the airplane rolls along the runway on its rear wheels for a bit before it lifts off and slowly climbs. If a pilot isn't used to this behaviour in a loaded airplane, she may pull back harder on the control column, trying to get it to fly. It may become airborne in ground effect and then stall, crashing back down on the runway.

I have the local airspace on the VTA and displayed on a handheld GPS receiver so I navigate while she flies. We call Toronto Terminal for flight following and they laugh right on the radio as they radar identify us "grounding fifty knots." A voice in the background of the transmission says "... only has four hours of fuel." I have a picture of a crowd of people gathered around a radar scope laughing at our slow-moving blip. Freaking headwinds.

We gain a little speed as we level out at 4500' so we're mostly keeping ahead of traffic on the highway. Mostly. Metropolitan Toronto thins out behind us and Wiarton, where Canada's most famous groundhog lives, slowly comes up ahead. We pass it and continue up the peninsula and then across the water to Manitoulin Island. It's a short over-water stretch, but the briefer said that many pilots choose to go the long way around to avoid it. We're not even out of gliding distance of land, and the beach that we would end up on in the case of engine failure looks more hospitable to me than something we might find between North Bay and Sudbury. But everyone has different risk tolerances.

Manitoulin Island is pretty, with lots of little inlets. I wonder if someday there will be a bridge, making this shortcut available to car drivers, too. Our first stop will be Gore Bay. It's easy to find, and we land and taxi in, parking next to the fuel pumps. There is a white building on uphill next to the apron and I walk up there in search of a phone and washroom. They have both, and sell us the fuel we need.

I'm writing this blog entry tired, and while that's not dangerous like flying tired, it's in danger of being boring, so I'll leave off here and continue the story after we depart, with full tanks and empty bladders.
Labels: aerodynamics, ATC, crime, NOTAM, places, private flying, security, wind

posted by Aviatrix at 00:00

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Specialized Scholarships for Aviation Maintenance | The Delta Online

2010-06-15T16:11:00.001-07:00

Aviation maintenance is a highly specialized field of work and requires a high degree of understanding, skills, and professionalism. In the last few years, the aviation industry has witnessed a decline in the number of people venturing into the field of aviation maintenance. Apart from this, the high levels of security risk in the aviation industry, especially after the events of September 11, 2001, have boosted concerns regarding the maintenance and day-to-day wear and tear of airplanes.

In order to boost this dwindling profession, the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) has launched a campaign to promote a higher degree of professionalism among aviation maintenance personnel. The association is aiming to develop and improve skills, methods, learning, and achievements in the aviation maintenance industry. PAMA has been conducting meeting and seminars at both the national and state levels, and striving to recognize achievements in this field. However, most importantly the association has been collaborating with other organizations in the aviation industry and has been actively addressing the queries of governmental agencies pertaining to maintenance rules and guidelines.

In the recent years, PAMA has also established a Student Scholarship Program that recognizes and rewards qualified airframe, power plant, and avionics students who have selected aviation maintenance as a career. The awards that the association provides, may be used for tuition, fees, supplies, or books, which are related to their program

The association also supports another scholarship program – known as the Foundation Scholarship Program. Created to recognize and reward qualified students who have selected aviation maintenance as a career, the PAMA Foundation (PAMF) Scholarship Program awards $1,000 to the recipients. The association awards these scholarships regardless of the color, race, religion, and the national origin of the applicants.

PAMA’s programs operate based on donations received and from the funds raised at PAMA’s Annual Chili Cook-Off. Though the scholarships are not renewable, students have the option of reapplying for the scholarship every year.

Apart from PAMA, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) also provides scholarships for qualified students wishing to study further in the field of aviation maintenance. The UAA’s Era Aviation, Inc. Scholarship offers two scholarships, each of $2,500. The aid is to help students who are admitted to an aviation maintenance technology program at the university with the cost of tuition, fees, and tools. While one scholarship is awarded to a helicopter maintenance student, the other is awarded to a general aviation maintenance student. Additionally, preference is given to candidates who are intending to follow a career in Alaska itself.
While these two are the more prominent of the scholarships in this field, there are others as well, such as the Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) Aviation Maintenance Technician Scholarship Award Program. This program aims at promoting the choice of helicopter maintenance as a career, and the scholarship is given to five recipients. Apart from this, the first place winner also receives about $1,500 from HAI to assist with the associated expenses.
Overall, the field of aviation maintenance should pick up as such kind of scholarships add to the value of the field, and attract more students to enter the industry. While helping students along financially, these aviation maintenance scholarships are also giving rise to specific skill-based talent in the country.

Click Here To Discover more about aviation scholarships

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