Left Seat, Big Hardware: Is 'Airline Pilot' Still the Wannabe Career for Our Kids?

This is the second in a series I'm calling "Av8rdan Asks", in which I lob softballs underhand at some of the people in various aviation professions.

Ever since we pilots have been tots, at one time or another, we've all answered "Airline Pilot" when asked what we wanted to do when we grew up. As little kids, we would eye the flight deck of those gorgeous 707s with a gleam in our eyes, dreaming of wearing the uniform, complete with REAL wings, not the cheesy plastic ones the FA gave us when we flew in back with mommy and daddy.

Yes, you can always tell the future left seaters at the airport terminal...they are the ones with face blastered up against the window grinning as they watch ground crews push back gigantic airplanes down below. You'd think I must have been one of these kids, but you'd be wrong:

O.K., for full disclosure, not ALL young boys dreamed of being a pilot. Known as "Danny P. Dot" (my very first official screen name?) back in 1961, I used to say "garbageman" when asked at five-years-old about my career aspirations. Yeah baby, the thought of hoisting heavy plastic cans of someone's fetid trash onto my shoulder and then dumping it into a stinky, noisy truck was oh so cool. Or not. Maybe it was Cowboy. Or Astronaut. Or Fireman. Whatever.

Recently while looking at some dire hiring reports from some of today's struggling airlines, the realization unfolded that I really did not know what the job of "Airline Pilot" is really like. Do you know? Does anyone "in the back" really know?

So I put the word out, and Ken Wells, a veteran Captain for Southwest Airlines, accepted my request to be my second candidate in my becoming-quite-popular "Av8rdan Asks" interview series. I recently started the series with an interview of Sara Keagle, a Flight Attendant for a major airline, and the results - found here - were very well-received. She helped set up the interview with Wells, which is presented here.

The material from Capt. Wells - known as @SWA_Captain on Twitter – was so detailed, I found it hard to edit, so I am making this post into two parts. In this first segment, I will present the Captain's words on what the job pays, schedules, the "nuts and bolts" of his profession. In part two, we'll get into some more philosophical topics and throw around some of Wells' opinions on hiring, airline weather guessing procedures, answers about whether the job is worth pursuing for young people and what he'd do if he ran FAA for one day.

World of Flying: Describe your current position, flight hours, make/model you are currently flying and what you've flown in the past.

@SWA_Captain: I am a Captain at Southwest Airlines, flying the B-737/300/500/700. We fly all three versions, the classic (round dial fleet – 300/500) and the Next Generation glass cockpit auto-throttles – 700. SWA does not have any -800 or -900’s. I have over 14,000 hours of flight time. I have been at Southwest for 14 years, and was in the United States Air Force for 12 years before that, where I flew T-37’s, T/AT-38’s and F-15’s.

World of Flying: Tell me what your schedule is like, days on, days off, days on a row, how far you have to commute to get to the flight deck, etc.

@SWA_Captain: I have a driving commute of three hours to get to my Houston Hobby crew base. Since I only drive once a week, it’s not bad. As a fourteen year Captain in Houston (which is a pretty senior base) I bid around number 184 out of 325 Captains. Most of our monthly lines are 12-14 days, consisting of 3-days trips, usually. We have some turns (1-day), some 2-days, and some 4-days, but never more than a 4-day trip. I usually bid for straight 3-day lines, PM trips, and usually hold Wed/Thurs/Fri or Sun/Mon/Tue. Working three days a week is great, and it gives me enough time to have my own small business on the side: a landscape lighting company.

World of Flying: Tell me about the pay structure on your airline. How long does it take typically to move to the left seat, and then what can a Captain earn?

@SWA_Captain: Our pay structure is a little different compared to most airlines. We are paid by the “trip”, from the historic length of our first flights from DAL-HOU, which was 243 miles (DOT). So we are paid trip pay per leg, based on the mileage of that leg, with some additional factors built in for city pairings that might have additional delays on them because of ground delays (like in Philly or La Guardia). One trip equals 243 miles, or is about 50 minutes. In other words, today’s flights are: DEN-LAX/blocks 2:30 of flight time/pays 2.90 trips. LAX-SJC/blocks 1:05 of flight time/pays 1.20 trips. SJC-ONT/blocks 1:10 of flight time/pays 1.30 trips.

Our pay works out like this: New hires make $46.00/trip (about $54.00/hour) and Captain pay tops out at the 12 year point where you make $174/trip which is around $204/hour. When I was hired in August of 1995, the length of time to upgrade was about 6 years. Like everyone in the industry, we have been hit by the recession/fuel prices, and also by the recent legislation raising the Captain retirement age to 65, so we have seen our pilot hiring stagnate. We are forecasting no pilot hiring for 2009 and 2010, and current upgrade times are moving out to 10-12 years to upgrade. Of course, we are waiting for economic conditions to improve, at which time we might rapidly ramp up our hiring and aircraft acquisition, and you would see the hiring numbers go up and the upgrade times come down.

One great thing about SWA is that we have no airline hourly limits imposed upon us. Through picking up or dropping trips in our open-time system, trading with other pilots, etc, we can fly as little (zero trips) or as much as we want, right up to the FAA limit of 30 hrs/7days, 100 hrs/month, and 1000 hrs/year. If you just fly your average monthly line, you are flying around 80 hours per month, or 90 trips. In addition to our trip pay, we receive $2.15/hour per diem for each hour away from our domicile on a trip. We also have duty rigs that assure we are paid a minimum of 6.5 trips per day worked, or .74 trips per hour on duty, or a trip/hour ratio of 1 trip per every 3 hours away from domicile. All of these rigs are compared to the scheduled trip pay total, and you get the highest of them.

We don’t do a lot of hub and spoke flying, so you will average about 4-5 legs per day, and less than one plane change per day, which is nice. Your trips will take you all over, so even though I am based in Houston, I’ll see Texas flying (the Texas Two-step), I’ll see the west coast, the east coast, and all point in between. The variety is what makes it stay fun, even after 14 years.

World of Flying: What was your specific route to the left seat, how and where did you received training, and how many years did it take to make it to the left seat?

@SWA_Captain: My flying career started with a college degree (USAF ROTC), Air Force pilot training, 6 yrs as a T-37 Instructor Pilot, three years as an F-15 combat pilot, 3 years as an AT-38 Instructor Pilot, and then I came to SWA. I was an FO for six years, and have been a Captain for eight.

World of Flying: Since the Buffalo crash, I read about increased scrutiny at the regionals to bring their pilot training up to the same levels as the majors. Do you feel there is a difference between the training of regional pilots and majors pilots?

@SWA_Captain: The biggest difference between regional airlines and the majors is not training, it is simply flight experience. SWA requires all applicants to have an ATP and a B-737 type rating. We also require experience as the Captain/Pilot-in-command in turboprop and turbojet aircraft. The regional airlines don’t require as many flight hours or an ATP, so the experience level for new hires will be less. All the training itself is going to be quality, and it is overseen by the FAA. The bottom line is that regional pilots are going to be less experienced when they are first hired, but will build their experience as they fly. Regional Captains used to be upgraded as fast as in a year to a year and a half, but I don’t think that is the case now, as everyone’s hiring has slowed down with the recession.

Remember, things have changed from the way they used to be. Regional airlines used to pay $15,000-$30,000 per year and have quick upgrades because they had a lot of transition as pilots left for the major airlines as soon as they had enough hours. Now, when no one is doing a great deal of hiring, the movement is not nearly as much.

Part two of this interview with Captain Wells coming soon. Might as well bookmark this page now and send the link to all your flying friends so they can get this valuable info too.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this interview are those of Captain Ken Wells alone, and not necessarily those of Southwest Airlines or the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association.

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Wearable Aircraft and Dancing With the Wind

My loyal readers will know that when the wind gets to howling here in Western Oregon, you can often find me in the first open space I can find to fly one of my two Parafoil stunt kites. If you're not sure what these are, they are not pleasant little toys your grand-kids fly, no, these are serious lift-creating, wind catching machines attached by two high-test cords to the ends of your arms.

I have always been sort of a Charlie Brown kind of kite flyer, and may even hold the world's record for trashing just about any kite I get my hands on. If there's a tree, I will find it, if the kite has a stick in it, I will break it. But these Parafoil kites are different, they look exactly like the canopy-style parachutes you see most skydivers use these days, and are flown by abrupt but controlled yanking on the two control lines. Yank hard in a stiff wind and the kite spins a quick three-sixty, yank the other line and it spins back around - thankfully - so you don't have to become instantly insane trying to fly it with crossed lines.

My two kites both handle the same, but with one major difference. The 4-foot Spectrum Parastunter handles quick in a brisk wind, and if you let it get too high directly overhead, it can lose lift, stall and ball up in a mess of ripstop nylon and tangled control lines. My big 12-foot PowerFoil is a beast, it catches large amounts of wind, pulls very hard on its operator's extremities, and with the right amount of wind, it could haul a large child all the way to Hawaii.

Both of these kites are tremendous fun to fly, but are as unpredictable as they are astonishing. One minute they are rocketing through my airspace, and the next minute when the gust dies down or when I'm trying a three-sixty at maybe 50 feet AGL, they come crashing to Earth. I can't EVEN imagine what it would be like to actually use one of these wings for human flight, but then again, I am not a Paraglider pilot. Yes, people get great pleasure flying a much large equivalent of my kites, and the thrill they get when doing so must be ridiculous!

After a recent Tweet on my afternoon's kite flying, I received some great information from Shannon Lucas, a paraglider pilot who is soon moving to Corvallis, Oregon just 45 minutes away from here to attend Oregon State University and complete his doctoral studies in aviation human factors. And from the following, you can just sense this pilot knows a few things about the human factors required to keep a mammoth kite wing in the air. Here is Shannon's verbatim description of paragliding:

"The exhilaration of leaving the Earth is common to all forms of flying. Leaving the earth under your own power, however, sets paragliding apart by touching humanity's ancient dream of spreading our arms and floating on the wind. On the ground, you learn to dance with the wing as it kites, beginning with clumsy, sudden, and exaggerated movements. In time, this erratic dance becomes a fine waltz with the finesse of a martial arts kata. A few steps into the wind, and you're flying.

But the paraglider is an aircraft that you wear, and in the air, it becomes a part of your body and mind and embeds itself in your psyche. Leaving the ground, you sit back in the harness, the wing is above you, and you're flying like you fly in your dreams with a full view of the ground below you and the horizon ahead of you. The wind in the lines is the only sound apart from the occasional beep on the vario to let you know you've found rising air.

Each flight is an experience with infinitude, and each carries the power of the first. Even the short flights down the training hill remain exhilarating."

Now that is eloquent writing, my flying friends. When I read this today, I thanked God I am a pilot, and am able to surround myself with people like Shannon and his Paragliding buddies. It is this kind of enthusiasm for flight that gets me up each morning, and when he makes it up here to Oregon, I can guarantee you I am going to chase him and his posse down and go watch them as they dance with the wind in their wearable aircraft through the pristine skies of the Willamette Valley.

Of course, the keyword here is WATCH, because I know I don't have a set big enough to actually fly a strap-on kite with my ass attached to it as ballast.

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Is the 'Vision' Fading or Getting Clearer?

In the daily soap opera that is today's general aviation market, one thing is certain: Here on the outside, We the People have no clue what goes on in the Board Rooms of America's large airframe makers.

For instance, we can watch endless Twitter updates and blog posts of people who THINK they know what is going on with the very fluid Cirrus Design's SF50 Vision jet program, but in reality, unless you are on the inside at Cirrus HQ in Duluth, please don't say with authority you know how to call this one.

So with that said, I must state for full disclosure that I am not affiliated with anyone in Duluth, except in my dreams where the best airplane I could imagine owning will be built. No, my total time rubbing elbows with the Cirrus elite comes down to this:

About three summers ago, I was strolling one of the back rows at EAA Airventure, probably on my way to consume another brat off Johnsonville's "World's Largest Grill". As I walked, I noticed that walking beside me as a sort of wing man was a guy wearing that year's Cirrus Design outfit, with a big ID badge telling me it was Alan Klapmeier. So I struck up a quick conversation, told him I am in awe of the wonderful flying machines his company makes, and how someday I would own one. The conversation lasted maybe two minutes, but in that time he seemed sincere in wanting to know my thoughts on the 'SR' line of airplanes he produced. I could easily see this was a man who actually cared about what this pilot thought...not as a prospective sale, but just because he bought into that age-old concept that in almost all situations, pilots treat other pilots with mutual respect regardless of class. It's just what we do.

Sure, it was only two minutes, and I have no other idea what Klapmeier is like when he's been crossed. But this I do know: When he and brother Dale first started talking about carving Cirrus Design out of the hinterlands of the cold, wet North, people said it would take drive, dedication and immense focus to succeed in building GA's first large-scale production composite piston singles. Well, we know where that drive got the Klapmeiers:

When you look back at the Cirrus sales numbers on the General Aviation Manufacturer's Association website for the last 10 years, it is easy to see this company knows how to build and sell airplanes. The highest year looks to be 2006 when GAMA says Cirrus sold 721 total planes. Nobody can dispute that is a success story without equal in today's GA marketplace. Yes, Cessna sells planes too, but they get to ride on 82 years of brand recognition. I believe the company the Klapmeiers founded is a bigger success simply because in 1984 when Alan and Dale started to produce the VK-30 aircraft, nobody had even heard of Cirrus. Today, it still brings a smile to this pilot's face each and every time I see one on a ramp, or hear any radio call from the hundreds of beautiful birds I share the sky with that have call signs ending in "Charlie Delta".

This past week however, news dropped that has set the GA community on it's behind, shaking our heads as we wonder what the hell is going on up at Cirrus HQ. You've heard it by now, but here is how AOPA reported it:

"Alan Klapmeier, chairman of the board at the Cirrus Aircraft, says he’s had a heavy travelling schedule for the past eight weeks, seeking investors to help him gain control of Cirrus’ SF50 Vision program. His goal is to raise enough capital to convince Cirrus’s majority investor, Kuwait’s Arcapita Ventures investment group, to sell him the Vision project and let him lead a separate company dedicated to manufacturing the SF50 Vision single-engine jet."

Slice that any way you wish, but in an economy where airframe manufacturers are barely surviving, this kind of big financial news about one of GA's most important programs is both shocking and chilling. Like I said, I am not even remotely affiliated with anyone at Cirrus, so the following is simply my two cents worth of speculation:

One has to assume that Klapmeier – who has been a catalyst behind the SF50 program – has seen some sort of writing on the Board Room walls, and didn't like what he read. That could have possibly been that Cirrus's other managers and financial backers were about to pull the plug on the Vision jet, and Klapmeier wasn't about to stand by and let the program die. So like he did when he and Dale first built Cirrus, he went out in search of a way to keep the program alive. This is really the only conclusion one can take, because why would he be seeking to start a completely new company and possibly re-name the jet “Aegis” if the program was going to be alive and well under the umbrella of Cirrus Design?

After the first shock and awe of this breaking news wore off, I have come to realize this is really a very good thing. I am 1000% on board with the Vision, and think it's design and performance goals are as wonderful as every other model Cirrus has developed. I am being Mr. Obvious in saying it would be a huge blow to the entire GA community to see the SF50 program go away, and we as aviators need to rally behind Klapmeier and anyone else who joins him to keep the Vision/Aagis program moving towards certification and production.

And no, sorry, I haven't got the millions Klapmeier will need to pull this off. But if I did, I can think of no single aviation executive I would rather bet on than him. I say that as a pilot who has met him for a total of two minutes, but usually that's all it takes for me to size a man up.

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A Certified Solar GA Plane in Our Lifetimes?

I have just finished watching Home, a wonderfully filmed aerial tour of our planet created by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. In this documentary - shot from about a zillion dollars worth of rented helicopters – narrator Glenn Close explains that as a species, we humans have been on this four-billion-year-old rock for about 200,000 years. The films makes a pretty convincing case that we've pretty much trashed our planet just in the last 50 years alone.

As someone who completely believes that the theory and science behind global warming is real, I know that unchecked, the "faster and faster" civilization that the film describes will continue to deplete our resources. One only has to look at the wild weather that rips through the USA these days to see that something is amiss in our atmosphere, big time. Bigger hurricanes, blistering cold, daily thunderstorms packing more dangerous winds and hail.

We aviators hear the distant footsteps of many in the eco-community who would love to take away our precious 100LL fuels, as if the comparably small carbon footprint made by a few lonely Cessnas out chasing hamburgers is more dangerous to the environment than the endless freeways clogged with Escalades full of spoiled consumers who must have it all, and they must have it now.

Even though the GA community is an almost unmeasurable part of the overall global warming phenomenon, we nonetheless must strive to find cleaner, renewable ways to power our aircraft. One major effort in that direction was announced this week in a press release from Solar Impulse:

Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg today unveiled, at Dübendorf airfield close to Zurich, the Solar Impulse HB-SIA, the first aircraft designed to fly both day and night without fossil fuel or pollution. The project was launched in 2003 and has produced a totally unprecedented aircraft: with the wingspan of a Boeing 747-400 and the weight of an average family car (1600 kg), never has such a large craft been built with such low weight. Over 12,000 solar cells mounted onto the wing will supply renewable energy to the four electric motors with a maximum power of 10 HP each. During the day they will also charge the lithium-polymer batteries (400 kg), which will permit the HB-SIA to fly through the night.

Now this is a project with serious ramifications. Imagine large cargo haulers quietly lumbering along at high altitudes, carrying cargo (and maybe people) long distances with an endless fuel source – the sun – keeping it moving without burning even one dead dinosaur.

What, you don't think a solar airplane can fly long distances? I think the Solar Impulse team would jump at the chance to debate you on that point:

The HB-SIA is the first prototype of the Solar Impulse project. Its mission is to demonstrate the feasibility of a complete day-night-day cycle propelled solely by solar energy. After fine-tuning on the ground, the aircraft should make its first test flights between now and the end of 2009 at Dübendorf Airport. A first complete night flight is programmed for 2010 and will take place over Switzerland. The results from the HB-SIA and their analysis will serve to develop and build a second aircraft, the HB-SIB for circumnavigating the world in five stages, each lasting several days, in 2012.

This is one great project, and when you read the reasons behind the effort, it really makes perfect sense:

"In a world dominated by fossil fuels, and given the urgent need to find sustainable solutions, the Solar Impulse project sets out to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies and to promote their use. It is also a symbol of the energy savings that can be accomplished using new technologies. The pioneering spirit which enabled man to conquer the planet and space in the 20th century should today allow us to find solutions to reduce our dependence on oil, not by reducing mobility and personal comfort, but by creating dreams, hope and enthusiasm."

So can you envision a world where we fly solar-powered GA aircraft? That might be a bit of a stretch, but what about a hybrid aircraft? What about all-electric power, such as the Yuneec E430, a Chinese Light Sport Aircraft that is at this very moment crated and headed to the USA to try and undergo "certification testing" by the FAA in time for EAA's Airventure later this summer.

I think in this world, at this time in our planet's history, we have no choice but to pursue any and all avenues of renewable fuels and methods of power for GA aircraft. If the alternative is to park the fleet because we've run so short on dead dinosaurs that the refineries have stopped ginning any 100LL, than I'll take a solar-powered airframe over a parked one any day.

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Can't Handle 10,000 Gs? What a Wimp.

We have always known that astronauts have to train for years to acquire superhuman strength and condition their bodies to withstand stresses that would kill mere mortals.

Even so, you won't find one that can survive the Space Slingshot:

From Popular Science Magazine: Forget rockets. All you need to launch a satellite is a sled and a giant magnetic slingshot. Astronauts are trained to withstand as much as nine times the force of gravity. (Three Gs, by comparison, could make the average guy pass out.) But even the toughest among them fall out of the running when it comes to a launch concept from a company in Goleta, California. To survive the ride on Launchpoint Technologies’s invention, the payload has to be able to survive a brain-splattering 10,000 Gs.

That pretty much rules out “flinging” as a way to get humans – or even monkeys – into space. This is just one of the numerous articles you can find right now on Popular Science's wonderful website. Here is a taste:

Tourist's Guide to Space: Can't decide where to spend your fortune on a trip out of Earth's atmosphere? Click here to check out Popular Science's Tourist's Guide to Space.

Read all about the Rocketplane: With its rocket-engine tail and fuel-packed fuselage, this modified business jet might be the first private craft to launch tourists into space. Click here to read the article.

Junkyard on the Moon: Man's exploration of the moon has left behind over 20 tons of probes, rovers, rocket boosters and assorted other detritus scattered around the whole of the lunar surface. The moon has no atmosphere to burn up incoming objects, so once a spacecraft's orbit decays, it will eventually end up in a pile somewhere on the surface. Read the PopSci article here.

The Top-Secret Warplanes of Area 51: Stealth jets? Hypersonic bombers? What's really being developed at the military's most famous classified base? Click here for Popular Science's in-depth reporting on the topic.

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How to Change Your Life in 1.0 Hours

Editor's note: The idea for this post came in from @shannonlucas via Twitter. He's a doctortal student at Oregon State University studying Aviation Human Factors, and is a paraglider pilot and aviation, space and science junkie.

The quest to learn to fly always starts the same. As children, we see an airplane fly overhead and stop playing tag long enough to watch it fly out of sight. We are soon found an a nearby airport, hanging on the fence as little "Cessnas" and gigantic airliners come and go. Then, somewhere between puberty and Social Security, you get "that bug" and find yourself at a local flight school signing up for a discovery flight:

You are grinning wide as you stroll to the flight line with a Certified Flight Instructor. After you pile into a training aircraft, you're blown away that he/she lets you taxi out to the runway. On that runway, the CFI lets you push the throttle in and yank back on the yoke so the houses get smaller. It is at that point – when the wheels leave the runway and you are FLYING – that you just know that flight lessons are in your future.

Every one of us licensed pilots had experienced some form of the above. So once you decide that you must become a private pilot before you die, then what? Well, on the suggestion of one of my readers, here are a few suggestions, tips, tricks and recommendations for you to digest as you embark on the journey of your life. And remember, I am NOT a CFI, for those really serious flight instructor questions, look up any CFI out at that little airfield located at the edge of your town:

Finances: Like many pilots, I too struggled to acquire the funds to complete my PPL. I took a lesson here, a lesson there, until I amassed enough to go whole hog and finish up. My advice is to (a) make sure you have enough money going into your training to finish the program and earn your private ticket. If you get to solo a GA plane and stop, and then wait a while to start again, you will have to go backwards, a really bad thing in flight training. I have heard this "solo and stop" situation compared to sex, where you get into the goodies a little bit and REALLY like it, but there is no, um, happy ending. Or, (b) look into the possibility of a Sport Pilot ticket, less money, but less privileges too. Either way, sell the boat, pawn the jewels, re-fi the loan you got on your last re-fi, and jump in with both pockets full of cash.

Radios: The best thing I did going into my primary training was learn about aviation radio phraseology. Get a cheap aviation scanner off eBay or Craigslist and listen to it as much as possible, Or, go online to liveATC.net and dial in a large number of frequencies. Then try to learn the drill, how pilots receive clearances, how they are cleared to land, what they say back to ATC when told to fly a heading and altitude. Your goal is to sound as slick as the airline guys, ATC will love you for that. Once you have a working knowledge of what is going on in your headset, the radio work will make perfect sense in those critical first few flight lessons.

Weather: Not going to pull punches here...you can and should learn about aviation weather as soon as possible, even long before you have the money to take lessons. There are plenty of books out there that will give you a working knowledge of METARs, TAFs, FAs, PIREPs and everything else you will eventually need to know to conduct a safe flight. Get the book, go to any number of fine sites such as Aviation Digital Date Service (ADDS) and stuff your head full of weather knowledge. Do it today, so that when you begin your primary training, that's one more thing you are fairly good at, and one less thing to get in the way of the really important things like aircraft control.

Go back to the airport fence: When I was in the very early phases of my primary training, I would go out to the approach end of runway 29L at FAT, to where the old midget racetrack was way WAY back in the day on McKinley Avenue. I would park there and watch GA planes slip through the air right over my head, and after noting the wind direction, I could easily see the pilot using rudder to keep the nose pointed at the runway. From directly underneath the arriving planes, I taught myself stick and rudder flying, how the ailerons and rudder worked in unison to battle any crosswind trying to send the craft on a go-around.

I could go on all night, but these are just a few things I learned in my early training. I hope the wannabes in my readership will see this, print it out and stuff it in their desk, to retrieve right after they get home from that discovery flight, right after their fires become lit.

This is important: If you desire to learn to fly, do it today...do not wait until you are lying in a bed down at the hospice home heading off to fly with Lindbergh. I promise that the feeling of accomplishment you will enjoy the day you pass your private check ride will be worth every sweaty minute you spend trying to make a squirrelly little flying machine behave.

Glad to help. $100 hamburgers are on you when you get that ticket.
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Update @1128P on 062209: Just received an hilarious comment on this post through the Twittershere via @Navyaircrewman: "Great topic! You forgot to warn about how its [learning to fly] more addictive than crack and the expenses of this hobby make golf look cheap." O.K., point for the Navy.

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Talk Up GA to Anyone You Meet

At the end of 2008, the FAA says there were 613,746 pilots in this country, including 80,989 student pilots. That's a lot of aviation ambassadors out there, whole legions of enthusiasts who should be talking about general aviation 24/7.

At the grocery store, in line to buy your morning bagel, waiting to get your tires rotated, at church, at work, anywhere is a good time to strike up a conversation about flying private aircraft. I usually just drop into any conversation something that hints that I own a plane and can't wait to fly it again. If the person opens up a bit and asks about my plane or my flying, baby, open the floodgates:

The way I see it, unless a person has some sort of diagnosed fear of flying, just about everyone wants to learn to fly, and is jealous of those who already have earned that privilege. So when you let them know you are a pilot and they want to learn more, it gives you a golden opportunity to tell them about the joys of flight, about the almost surreal sensation we aviators enjoy each time we act as PIC and lift a flying machine skyward.

And once you've mastered the art of talking up GA in the checkout line at the local Piggly Wiggly, why not take that to the extreme and offer to speak at a middle school and fire up a bunch of fresh minds about flying? Or maybe your city's Chamber of Commerce would welcome a pilot to speak at a luncheon about using GA as a business tool.

Now I know what you're thinking...you're a little shy, and speaking in front of an audience scares the hole crap out of you. You get queasy just thinking about public speaking, so being up at the lectern with a roomfull of eyes on you is unimaginable...or is it:

Former Astronauts James Lovell, Walter Schirra and John Young are three aviators who were also members of Toastmasters International, a great organization known throughout the world as the best resource for teaching regular people to become great speakers. I am also a long-time Toastie, and can attest that this inexpensive, fun and seriously effective program works like magic, and can teach any pilot to take command of a room in any situation.

When you become a seasoned Toastmaster-trained speaker, you will be able to talk about flying any time, anywhere, to any group. For very little time and money, the program can teach pilots public speaking skills that allow you to assess your audience, command their attention, keep them enthralled, make them hang on your every word, and close the deal with a powerful conclusion. When a trained Toastie pilot ends his/her presentation, there will be a decent percentage of people in the room who will have been persuaded to seek out a flight school and investigate the possibilities of taking that important first flight lesson.

If you want to learn more, here is the Toastmaster's International world site, and here is a place where you can find a meeting in your area.

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I am Not Crazy, Airplanes Are Alive!

I'm going to sound a bit cliché here, but there is a special bond a pilot forms with his/her airplane. It's not the same bond you form with people, or the dog, or a pristine '64 Mustang. This bond is the kind of – dare I say it – love one acquire for this bizarro collection of nuts, bolts, aluminum, gasoline and electrical toys that unlike anything else, can take us skyward and allows us to FLY.

Only other airplane owners will know what I'm talking about, non-flyers cannot know the love we have for our planes. It goes far beyond admiration, you admire a flat screen TV, but you love an airplane. And I may sound crazy in saying this, but in my case as well as many others, the airplane loves you back.

I have written at length about my love of Katy, our family Cherokee 235, about how this vintage but well-preserved girl races my heart each and every time I open the hangar door. I believe this airplane has a heart and a soul, as do all airplanes. Walk inside Duggy, the bright yellow "Smile in the Sky" DC-3 and I swear you can feel that beautiful machine's pulse as you climb the steep incline to the cockpit.

Now before you go off thinking I'm just making this stuff up about Katy, I recently found someone who can corroborate my story fully. Out of the blue last week, I received an email from Larry Chapman, a previous owner of N8527W who lives in Georgia. He wrote to tell me how happy he was that I was taking care of his old girl, and from his email, I sensed he had the same feelings for this plane then as I do now.

So I asked him to elaborate on his relationship with the 28th Cherokee 235 to come out of Lock Haven, and this was his reply:

"I flew numerous trips in N8527W during a period of eighteen years. 27W inspires confidence. It is so easy to fly, so forgiving, high lift wings, manual flaps, and it’s got that big O-540 to deliver the power. In that time, I really got to feel that 27W and I were an entity – one being. I never doubted that 27W would not perform for me. We flew in all kinds of weather -- thunder storms, rain, snow, severe turbulence, and a lot of good weather too. And, as with any relationship, there were many times when we had to work together to overcome problems such as a partial engine power failure, electrical failures, or loss of radios on IFR flight, but I never had any doubt that 27W wouldn’t get me where I was going safely."

One being, yes, that describes how I feel when I fly Katy. But, I found out, she wasn't always "Katy", no, she carried a different nickname back in the day:

"When I bought 27W, it was painted blue over white with small tail letters. One of my daughters said the plane looked like a bandit with the paint scheme it had then, so the name "Bandit" stuck even after we changed the paint scheme to the blue over grey it has now. I like the name "Katy" that your wife gave 27W...I think it fits."

Chapman flew Katy with pride, and in return, the old girl served him well. But like many friendships, it had to come to an end:

"About the year 1997, the character of my business changed and I began doing more local work around Atlanta Metro area. The hours I flew every year began to decline and when I was getting ready to renew my insurance in 2003, I realized I had only flown 17 hours in the last year. I decided that it was time to sell 27W as neither one of us was now benefiting from our relationship. I called Lowe Aviation in Macon, Georgia and they flew a pilot up to take the plane to Macon to sell it. I sat there and watched it take off and I then just watched where it had disappeared for probably thirty minutes. One of my very best friends had just left my life – an era was over."

He ended one of our emails by saying "thanks for buying my friend" and after these many exchanges, I feel lucky as hell to be the caretaker of this tiny sliver of our personal aviation history. But I also know I'm tasked with maintaining this sexy (to me) 45-year-old flying machine, because like all airplanes, Katy, or Bandit, or whatever the other owners called her, deserves nothing less.

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When War Gets Close to Home

We read about our country's two wars every day, and after so many years, the daily reports seem to blend in like the bland desert scenery of the Middle East. That is, until you get an email from one of your favorite family members that brings it right straight into your life front and center.

My cousin Linda's daughter Laura has been in the United States Army for years, mostly stationed on the East Coast. I unfortunately had lost touch with her until 01.10.09 when I received the following description of her new assignment. It was a nothing-held-back, sort of cryptic note telling of her flight into the belly of the beast, up near enemy lines near Kabul to Forward Operating Base Shank in the Logar province of Eastern Afghanistan....

"...fall asleep. Actually I think I passed out. One of the guys said my face was smashed into my assault pack. He kept staring at me to see if I was breathing. He said he wanted to touch me to see if I was alive, but he couldn't move his arms. The flight was amazing, cold, but amazing. Needless to say, I awoke when we started making evasive moves prior to landing. When we finally landed, it felt so good to get out of that plane, and take off all the gear. We flew with doors open. Oh Yeah!! I was all about cuddling!! Body heat was my saving grace. Others body heat that is.

I had finally arrived at my FOB, my home away from home. We got off the bird, got our stuff off and waited for the next bird to land so we could all go find our new cots. As the next bird came in, it flew directly overhead. That was amazing but I realized their power. Suddenly 80lb duffle bags went flying like they were paper. Then I went flying! Thank God this giant NCO grabbed me and held me down. He literally caught me by my arm and held my shoulders down. It was rather disconcerting."

I immediately looked up FOB Shank and found it was seriously near the tip of the spear as they call it over there. Since then, I've exchanged emails as best I could with Laura (we don't really care that she's technically a second cousin, to me she is family, 'nuf said). Now, each news report from over there seems to have a greater importance, for all the obvious reasons.

But as an aviator, I really took notice the other day when I received yet another looooong email from her, again from deep in the 'Stan at FOB Shank. This one was chilling, and really brought home what she must be going through over there:

"We are getting hit by larger and larger IEDs. I was supposed to fly up there (vicinity of the IEDs) that night. I wasn’t sure if my flight would be canceled or not. I really hoped that it would. But, of course, this is the Army and the mission goes on. My original bird was used to get the soldiers to the hospital, but the CPT that runs the air missions told me we had another bird going to my location that could pick me up and take me. It was landing here and picking up explosives. Picking up what? Explosives. “Oh great. I can still go.” I said with false enthusiasm. While my inside voice was saying, are you f**king kidding me?? I have to fly AT NIGHT, with full illumination (meaning you could see without a flashlight) on a Blackhawk full of explosives!!! Fabulous. I did. I grabbed my gear and off I went. What a creepy surreal flight that was. We flew so close to the mountains, I swear the 50cal hanging out the window was going to hit the mountain side. You could see the outline of the mountains out both sides of the Blackhawk. It really looked like you could reach out and touch them. I figured that as long as I could see the mountains out the side windows and not out the front window… I was good. I was very glad to land that night, crawl into my sleeping bag, say a prayer for the families of the fallen Soldiers, thank God for allowing me this experience, granting me the serenity to do this job and keep my wits, and of course, landing safely, and a warm sleeping bag. These Soldiers, this job, this way of life… never ceases to amaze me. There is no place like home!"

I am not at liberty to say what Laura's duty entails, only to say it's supposed to involve more pencil pushing then rides up dark canyons sitting atop explosives in a Blackhawk. But in my life I have only met a few truly courageous people, and Laura is one of them. She has to be, because anyone would have to be to stay sane in a desert that resembles Mars, a million miles from home, with terrorists lobbing home-grown bombs in your general direction 24/7.

I may not fully understand why we have American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, but while I have family in harm's way, this war will take on new meaning. Because when someone you love steps off the Blackhawk and their boots hit the ground, that's when everything changes.

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An Interview: Inside the Life of a Flight Attendant

For as long as there have been commercial airliners hauling passengers to Grandma's house, there have been members of that flight's crew managing the cabin, serving meals and refreshments and soothing the jitters of scared flyers. Long ago when big airliners still had propellers, they were called "Stewardesses" or even the less respectful "Trolley Dollies", neither of which stuck, thankfully.

Today, the women and men in that profession are called Flight Attendants, or FAs for short. We see them on every trip to the airport, often waiting for their next leg to begin, often looking quite bored. As I watch them moving through endless airports towing their well-worn suitcases, I often wonder just what life as an FA is like.

Recently on Twitter, I mentioned that curiosity to Sara Keagle, a veteran FA with a major carrier which shall remain unnamed. She blogs as TheFlyingPinto, and offered to answer for publication any questions I had. I took her up on this offer, and the results follow. I hope you find this as interesting as I did, it really is a look into what that profession really is like:

World of Flying: What the schedule of an FA like?
TheFlyingPinto: An FAs schedule varies tremendously, depending on what airline you fly with, how much seniority you have and what your preferences are. Most FAs start out on "reserve" and generally have 10-12 days off per month while being on call 24 hours per day. Once off reserve, you are known as a line holder. Once a month, FAs go through a bid packet that has schedules and after the FAs bid, lines are awarded in seniority order. The more junior lines are less productive, meaning more legs per day. Flight Attendants are paid for flight hours so every time we touch down in a day, the more we are "off" the clock. For example, if you are based in New York and your trip is a turn to San Francisco, your flight time is 11 hours of pay for 13 hours of work. On many junior FA trips, would be 5-6 legs per day and you end up working 14 hours and getting paid for 6, and of course the chance for weather, ATC, or mechanical delays increases with each leg.

WoF: How hard it is to climb the career ladder as an FA?
TFP: I don't think it is too difficult to climb the career ladder as a FA. We do have supervisory positions but at my airline they are usually filled by junior people who don't want to sit reserve. I think most people become FAs because of the flexibility of the job. As a supervisor you work 5 days a week, 40 hours a week. As a FA you create your own schedule and work as much or as little as you want. My airline pays a couple dollars more per hour to international FAs, language speakers, and lead FAs. Domestically, when you bid for your schedule, you also bid for your position. We also have International Service Managers who are interviewed for the position, specially trained and paid a 20% over ride. The pecking order is seniority. Everything at an airline is based on seniority, pay, schedules, hotel rooms, and non-reving (space available travel).

WoF: How much training goes into being an FA?
TFP: Training is FAA mandated and usually runs about 4-6 weeks depending on the airline. FA Candidates (FACs) learn about the airlines fleet, how to evacuate an airplane in an emergency, what to do in a ditching, how to handle a medical emergency, and yes, how to handle unruly passengers. I went through training prior to 9/11, so the way we were taught to deal with highjackers was to become "human" to them. Female FAs were instructed to "talk" to the highjackers, let them see us as human beings by pulling out pictures of our kids etc. We were actually told to have pictures of kids in our bag whether we had children or not. I can't give too much detail on our updated security training but I will say that method went out the window after 9/11, and now we have an option to go through a training program with The Federal Air Marshals.

Our evacuation training is pretty intense and a lot of FA candidates don't make it through this portion of training. I think this part of the training is where the term "Barbie Boot Camp" came from. FACs have to go through a mock scenario and evacuate an airplane full of people (other classmates) You have two chances to get it right but it must be 100%. If you fail the second drill you are dismissed from training. We started with 56 people in my class and graduated with 43.

FAs are also highly trained in how to handle medical emergencies. I wouldn't recommend getting sick on an aircraft but if you do FAs are there to help. We have oxygen, AEDs and a full medical kit that trained health care professionals can use on board. There is a service called Med link that assists any medical professionals and insures them too.

WoF: What do FA's earn?
TFP: An FA is paid per flight hour and an average FA flies 80-85 per month. The hourly rate is different at each airline and is contractual. Most airlines after 9/11 took big pay cuts. I am lucky at my airline we did take some concessions but our hourly rate remained the same. My airline is unique to most in the fact that we can fly as little or as much as we want. We have FAs that fly as little as one trip a month and FAs that fly 180-200 hours per month. A FA starting out at my airline makes about $20. per flight hour. An FA tops out in pay at 15 years and makes $50. per flight hour.

WoF: How many male (or female?) passengers hit on you?
TFP: Not as much as people think! I used to wish this were the case. Now that I'm married I'm not looking but when I was single I was looking. What was hard though was dating! Every guy I went out with thought I was being propositioned on every flight, and as a reserve I never knew where I was going or if my schedule would stay the same once it was assigned. I was accused more than once of lying when I was being tossed around by scheduling. We're not trained to deal with this...I think that the flying public thinks this happens a lot more than it really does.

WoF: Tell me a funny/crazy/strange passenger story.
TFP: My craziest passenger story is the time I came across a man in first class, at his seat, joining the Mile High Club....solo mission!! There he was for all to see, a paper back book in his left hand, and you know what in his right hand. As a fairly new FA, in my early twenties, I didn't know what to do! I called upon my fellow crew members but all being female, we didn't want to approach him. Luckily, it was prior to 9/11, so we called on our male FO to come out and ahhhhemmm....tell our x-rated passenger to put "it" away! And yes, security met that flight at the gate.

WoF: Tell me a story about a time when you helped someone overcome fear of flying or maybe helped a child to enjoy their first flight.
TFP: I see a lot of passengers who are nervous fliers. I am always willing to give a pep talk and let them know they are ok....but I love when kids are excited about flying. I get a kick out of unaccompanied minors who are veteran fliers and love traveling. My heart breaks when an unaccompanied minor doesn't have that independent streak and is scared or heartbroken leaving someone they love. I really think it depends on the child, whether or not they should fly alone. I always encourage kids to come up and meet the pilots, see the flight deck , get their photo taken with the pilots. I think I've turned a few kids on to the possibility of being a pilot. Oh, and of course they always get their plastic wings.

WoF: What is the hierarchy in the plane?
TFP: The heiarchy in the plane is as follows: (1) Captain, (2) First Officer, (3) Lead FA, (4) Remaining FAs in seniority order. The Captain always has final say. I have heard FAs tell passengers they can remove them from a flight for unruly behavior. Although, they will strongly influence the decision, it's the Captain that has the authority to do so, not the FA. The people that work at my airline are great, I have never seen a situation where a FA didn't follow a Captains order, but I have never seen anything unreasonable asked of a FA either. The camaraderie at my airline is exceptional, and I think it shows in our customer service.

WoF: It always appears to me that FAs live out of their suitcase. Is that true?
TFP: YES! I have had a suitcase attached to me since 1993! My suitcase is always half packed on the floor next to my dresser.....always! Life as a FA can be extremely lonely, especially in the early years. I missed most holidays in my twenties, and even when I had exciting trips after a while it wasn't fun by myself anymore. I am in a good place now – I have a great husband and two-year-old daughter, I fly part time, I love my hotel room one night a week, and I think because I am able to fly part time (about 10-12 days per month) it is good for my relationships. I get "me" time, and my husband and daughter get quality time together. My family also comes with me sometimes, if the destination is nice and there are seats. My daughter has flown about a dozen times and has her passport....she's ready to go! You can always see photos of her on my blog.

WoF: The public perception is that many male FA's are gay. Is that true?
TFP: No, definitely not. There are lots of straight male FAs. And, I may get in trouble here but here's the deal. I prefer to work with the gay male FAs as opposed to the straight male FAs. I know I am stereotyping here but, usually, gay male FAs are fun, funny, and great FAs!! Straight male FAs...ummmm....not so much. They are nice people, but just like men in the kitchen at home, they leave a mess! I can always tell when a straight male worked the galley before me!!

UPDATE @ 103P ON 062209: Someone on Twitter is posting that because of the way the last question above is worded, I must somehow be saying ALL male flight attendants are gay. (1) That is not true, (2) they are reading into this question something that is just not there, and (c) for the record, I have absolutely NO PROBLEM with anyone being gay. I support gay rights 100%, so do not believe the crap being thrown around about this post on Twitter - dan.

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You Expect Big Things at Airventure...

There really is no way to describe EAA's annual Airventure show to non-flyers because telling them about endless rows of every kind of aircraft ever manufactured on display means nothing.

You tell them about the best of the best acrobatic pilots bringing their "A" game to the afternoon air show, and tell them about the four monster exhibition buildings full of exhibitors selling the latest and greatest aviation software, hardware and of course, toys.

But when you describe "Oshkosh" to other pilots who have never been lucky enough to walk the hallowed ground of OSH-Wittman Regional Airport, you just have to tell them about some of the almost unbelievable things they'll see there. You can guarantee another pilot that if they make it to Cheese Country, USA the last week of July, they'll see something so big, so exciting, so mesmerizing, they will stop in their tracks with jaw dropped. And if they make the show this year, what they'll see will be really REALLY big, according to this EAA press release [pdf]:

"With the announcement today that the Airbus A380 is coming to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009, EAA reinforced the reputation of its annual fly-in as a one-of-a-kind showcase of aviation’s innovations, unique accomplishments, and wide-ranging interests. For the first time in North America, AirVenture will provide the opportunity for the global aviation community and the public to admire the world’s largest passenger airliner on static display and in flight."

See what I mean...EAA really does think BIG! But for those expecting only a brief flyover, sorry, you'll be disappointed:

"The A380 will arrive and perform a flight demonstration to kick off the Tuesday, July 28 air show. After commanding the stage through the remainder of the week on AeroShell Square, AirVenture’s main aircraft showcase area, it will open the air show again on Friday, July 31 with a flight demonstration before its departure. “I’m pleased that Airbus chose EAA AirVenture Oshkosh as its first occasion in North America to provide an up-close and personal look at the A380,” said Tom Poberezny, EAA president and AirVenture chairman."

EAA's Dick Knapinski said in an email that the show's organizers are trying to find a place to fit the behemoth Airbus, and have settled on three possible locations for the A380 exhibition. Details for interior tours and other public viewing have not been released, but I'll bet I'm sure not the only curious pilot who would welcome a peek inside the world's largest airliner.

Billed as the World's Greatest Aviation Celebration, this year’s event takes place July 27 – August 2. Other features of this year’s event will include: Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo mothership “Eve”; the cockpit crew of US Airways flight 1549; observation of several historic aviation anniversaries; celebration of aviation’s role in humanitarian activities; spectacular Warbirds demonstrations; the world’s best aerobatic performers; a concert by the Doobie Brothers; the comedy of Jeff Dunham; 10,000 aircraft; 2,500 show planes; 800 exhibits; and 500 forums and workshops.

So I just have to ask any licensed pilots reading this...how the hell can you possible stay away from Oshkosh again this year? Go ahead and visit the show's site here for more 411.

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Hidden Treasures in Your Own Backyard

The other night, a friend and fellow Tweeple tweeted a link to a site that listed an almost endless number of Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields. The site – published by Paul Freeman – is a treasure trove of information about those long-lost patches of yesteryear.

After my friend – @jonathanlorber, a Skywest Captain who was on RON in Aspen – posted the link, I immediately went there and dug through the listings for Southwestern Oregon. What I found simply blew me away:

Just down the street from the DanoDome is Meadowlark Prairie, a pristine chunk of natural wetlands that connects via a wide and perfect bike path to the West Eugene Wetlands, said to be the last one percent of undeveloped wetlands in the entire Willamette Valley. I have ridden this bike path many times, traversing under Danebo Avenue on one of many underpasses reserved just for bikes. Now how cool is that...dedicated bike underpasses! You gotta love Eugene. OR. Little did I know that while riding this stretch, I was skirting the southern fenceline of what was once Willamette Airpark / T-Bird Airport.

Yes, right there in this vacant piece of real estate once was a vibrant airfield, with real stick and rudder guys dancing with crosswinds as they slid their Cubs and Airknockers into perfect three-point landings. Freeman's great site illuminates the history of this little patch:

"This former general aviation airport was evidently established at some point between 1945-47, as it was not on the April 1945 Portland Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy). The earliest reference to the field which has been located was in the 1947 OR Airport Directory (courtesy of David Brooks). It described Willamette as being managed by a Robert Bevans, who operated Bevan’s Flying Service from the field. The runway configuration consisted of a 2,500' northwest/southeast gravel strip & a 1,900' north/south sod strip."

Too cool. But wait, the more you dig, the more you find at this wonderful site:

"Willamette Airpark gained a paved runway at some point between 1953-59, as the 1959 Klamath Falls Sectional Chart depicted the field as having a 2,500' hard surface runway. Jay Flitton recalled, “Between 1962-1964 Willamette Airpark went by the name 'T-Bird' Airpark. My dad, while going to graduate school at the University of Oregon flew out of 'T-Bird' a lot. My mom started her private pilot lessons there. That is where I had my first airplane ride! A Cherokee 140. It had a beautiful log terminal building with a 'Control Room' that had a giant picture window overlooking the airport, there was no tower. The whole terminal looked more like a ski lodge or maybe something that should be in Yellowstone National Park. It was a beautiful little airport with a lot of activity. Too bad it is gone.”

Who knew? Oh wait, I guess Paul Freeman did, and lists these historical gems here. More from Freeman's site:

"John Tucker recalled, “I learned to fly at T-Bird in the 1960s. It was a wonderful place for a young boy to learn to fly. My dad started to fly & I took lessons too. I was offered a job (which I took) mowing the grass around the airport. Then I progressed to fuel & line boy. I also helped the mechanic in the shop with small jobs. Of course I traded every hour against flying time. They had a couple of Champs, one N81967, two Piper Colts, a Cherokee 140 & 180, the latter being N7432W. Other planes were Champion 7402B, a Shinn, and a few others. They also had a Link Trainer in which we airport kids had our first exposure to instrument flight. We would take turns flying, then we would become controllers."

After reading this, I cannot wait to begin poking around over where I believe this old field was once located. It is a little piece of Oregon aviation history that I did not know existed, and to think it is only about 1.4 nm from where I type this.

Mano man, this is the kind of stuff that keeps us aviators alive. The patch was located northwest of the intersection of South Danebo Avenue & West 11th Avenue, and now as I bike that path, I find myself stopping under what I perceive to be the final approach to the old NW/SE runway. My full-engulfed aviator's mind can easily hear those fabric-covered taildraggers as they slip along above my position, crossing a fence that has long since bit the dust on their way to a return with those surly bonds.

I encourage anyone who loves aviation history to go here and poke around like I did...and see if you discover a Pot 'o Gold just down the street from your casa. This is one of those sites on the web that you know was created by someone who is devoted to doing the research and webmastering that a comprehensive site like this requires. This guy deserves to have someone in a very cool plane fly in to where ever he lives and buy him a $100 hamburger for all the time he must have spent on this site.

UPDATE @ 1049A on 06.11.09: Windy Hovey of WREN, a non-profit that works in the West Eugene Wetlands sent me a great shot of the field where this airfield was once located. It is very easy to make out the NW/SE runway in the shot below:

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Not Believing the Briefer Can Get You Killed

As I wrote this post last week from a friend's Casa in Central California, our 2002 PT Cruiser was parked just outside. That would be the same PT Cruiser I drove for 12 hours solid to get from my home in Eugene, Oregon to Fresno for a series of photo shoots and advertising client meetings.

Now I know what you're thinking. Why would a newly-ticketed IFR stick with a really capable IFR Cherokee 235 choose to dodge SUVs for a dozen hours on Interstate 5 when he could just flown the Katyliner? Two words: Thunder. Storms.

It's like this:

After my last Cali flying adventure was scrubbed when the front half of Katy's vintage starter broke off when cranking to depart for the Golden State – and after waiting three weeks to get the plane back in the air – I had flight-planned this flight to the most intricate detail, and the plane was flying great. But a combination of Global Warming and Mother Nature's bad-ass attitude had been spinning Monsoon moisture over the West coast for days, around a low that refused to budge. As the trip approached, things were looking like the flight over the dramatic Siskiyou Range at the CA/OR border might even be accomplished VFR.

I was awake hours before even the Dawn Patrol guys get up, planning a 7A departure. I had expected to call the weather briefer, and had filed one IFR flight plan just west of Mt. Shasta and another down the coast into Santa Rosa for fuel, potty and cookies before popping over to FAT. But before I called for a briefing, I checked the long list of online weather sites I use. Not a bad plan, get a good "big" picture in my noggin before calling Lockheed Martin's human to confirm what I thought to be the case. This usually works out fine, except when it doesn't:

My surfing the 'Net revealed only a handful of tiny green returns on the NEXRADs for the route, except one decent active cell just west of Redding. The IR satellite looked good, the only major buildup was that one big cell in the Shasta area. METARS for all stations to the border looked CLR, as did the major NORCAL stations and on into FAT. With a planned IFR route at 11,000 and a freezing level at 12,000, this looked like a doable trip. I would depart EUG IFR, cancel in the Shasta area, and navigate easily around that one big cell before cruising down the Big Valley into my destination. What could go wrong with this scenario? I checked numerous www sites and they were in agreement. You pack up the car, I'll slip in a quick call to 1-800-WXBRIEF. That's when this flight went seriously downhill.

See, I believe professional WX briefers know more than just about all pilots who get their WX data strictly off the web. So I floated the call, and got a response I did not want to believe:

The briefer told me in no uncertain terms that not only was VFR "not recommended", it was not even possible down my Shasta or coast routes. His system showed what he called "massive" cells maybe 100 miles wide all over NORCAL, with not much gap between these convective monsters. He mentioned the "possibility" of significant downdrafts over the Siskiyous, hail, wind shear and kept repeating himself that I really should not try this flight...period, end of conversation. This briefer was a pilot too, and when he said he wouldn't try this trip even in a Citation, this got my attention. But his info was so far removed from what sites like ADDS, DUAT graphics and Weather Underground were showing, his briefing left me completely baffled. And frankly quite pissed.

When I notified my half-asleep traveling partner of the dilemma, she suggested I call back and try to get a different briefer to see what his/her story was. Nice plan, considering the drastically different interpretation of the route WX:

So I called back, and this being 530A, I got the same briefer. When I honestly told him I was hoping for a different outcome from a new human, he was not amused. He again told me this would be a dangerous flight, and proceeded to ask me if I was planning to attempt it so he could get it on tape in case things happened. So when the briefer starts reminding you that he's recording the conversation as if to produce EVIDENCE for the upcoming NTSB inquiry, this should instantly get the attention of any pilot that is not a complete moron.

We decided the briefer must know more than I do, and packed up the PT Cruiser, pointing "Andy" hammer down southbound with his nose aimed at Fresno. Roughly a dozen hours later, we arrived in the city of my birth, tired but alive. On our jaunt south, we discovered the Briefer was right, and the Internets were way, WAY wrong:

The miles flew by driving from Eugene to the border, with a 3,000 layer of scud lying about 300AGL off the deck obscuring anything along the freeway. I could see the occasional hole and knew this was just a simple layer any IFR pilot could easily punch through to a beautiful blue sky cruise. But as we drove into the area where we thought Mt. Shasta should be, all we saw instead was a wall of impenetrable gray clouds. Our car and numerous big rigs began being pelted with a combination of heavy rain and bizarro crosswinds. There were strange cloud formations that looked just like what the very bottom of active CB systems might look like as they spit cats, dogs and buckets of water down upon us. It wasn't until we got all the way into Redding that the sky cleared and I could loosen my death grip on Andy's steering wheel. As I header south, in my rearview mirror was the nastiest buildup of thunder storms I have seen in a while. It was a bitch to get through this crap at zero feet AGL, I can only imagine what wrath this behemoth would have dealt my GA plane.

I still do not know why the online briefing data and phone briefing were so different, but it is clear to me that the phone human saved my bacon this go-around. On this trip, I did not feed the monster thunderstorm my small aircraft...and consider this bullet dodged.

I can attest to this sure thing: Earning your instrument rating DOES make you a better pilot and a better weather guesser. When these kinds of storms are out there waiting to devour your flying machine, those 40 hours of dual and endless hours of book learnin' really come in handy because when you earn this advanced rating, you will become an aviator with a better sense of with the "big picture" weather briefing really shows.

And that knowledge can save your life, which I'm sure we can all agree is a good thing.

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First ride in Boeing's Dreamliner

The unmarked Gulfstream lifts off of Eugene's Mahlon Sweet Field, carrying me, my laptop and camera, a sales rep from Boeing's Commercial Airplane Division, and two burly guys in dark suits and shades talking into their wrists. I assume our route will take us to Boeing Field in Everett, Washington, site of the Dreamliner assembly plant. That would be a fair assumption since I had been selected out of a pool of 102,000 journalists worldwide to take the very first ride in a fully-assembled 787 Dreamliner.

O.K., you're reading this, and KNOW they haven't fully assembled a 787, yet, or so the Boeing media photos show. But as we touch down near Montréal at Mirabel International Airport, I can see a 787 sitting in a darkened hangar at the far edge of the field. As I gather my things to depart the Gulfstream, one of the Secret Agent types crosses his arms in front of me, and lays on the briefing:

Here's the deal, reporter boy. This airplane doesn't exist until we say it exists, got it? That won't be for several months yet, got that? We have selected you to preview the new Dreamliner and will authorize you to “leak” the story in about two weeks, only when we give you the green light. It's a buzz creation scheme, baby. Nobody will believe your story, but it will get people talking. I nod my approval. "Whatever," I say rudely, "just show me the damned Dreamliner, you APE!"

I am escorted to the hanger and sure enough, there it is, a fully assembled Dreamliner. Around the sleek fuselage, a hundred Boeing technicians are swarming, as technicians often do. At the bottom if the stairway to heaven is a young lady named Kate, who welcomes me aboard. She looks like the Flight Attendents of yesterday, dressed in an impeccable suit, even wearing the traditonal Stewardess hat that they used to wear back when DC-3s ruled the sky. Seriously sweet.

From the very first moment I enter the cabin, I can see this airliner is like no other. I see sweeping arches directing my eye upwards, where I find a soothing “simulated sky” created arrays of light-emitting diodes that makes the plane look more spacious. Kate directs me to the first class cabin, and after unloading my carry-ons into an oversized luggage bin, I melt into the large, luxurious seat. Out of the window – which seems far larger then any I have ever seen on an airliner – I see the technicians are gone. Gently we are tugged to the ramp, and it seems odd to be the only passenger on such a plush machine able to seat about 250 people. Back in coach, I see a bevy of Boeing technicians are watching my every move. They want to see how the first actual human from outside the company reacts to the Dreamliner:

Now there is a smooth hum emanating from the floor, as the two Rolls-Royce engines spool up. But it is not the usual sound you hear when a modern airliner powers up. Maybe it's the Star Trek-like interior surrounding me, but this hum seems more of a low frequency vibration, as if the heartbeat of the Dreamliner was going through every pore in my body.

Taxi does not feel like a normal taxi, with the squishy tires and “fish out of water” feeling that other jets have when they are wheels down. In the Dreamliner, you glide along hovercraft-style, with no discernible hint that the airliner is still in contact with Planet Earth.

Into position and held, I feel the two massive engines increasing thrust. Mirabel tower cuts us loose, and up in that dreamy, forward-thinking cockpit, the Captain firewalls the FADEC system and we rocket forward as if shot from a cannon. Like a fine business jet, the Dreamliner gets airborne NOW, and climbs out at what I figure feels like 5,000 FPM. I am in airplane heaven.

Level in cruise, there is no engine sound, no hum of any kind...only that same low frequency vibration that makes your biosystem at one with the plane's. Soon, I am served real food – Prime Rib, imagine that – served on real china of a very contemporary design. Kate sits down next to me and asks what I think so far. After gushing for maybe 10 minutes, she asks if I'd like to visit the cockpit. What kind of a question is that for a pilot like me I mumble as I follow her forward.

Inside the futuristic cockpit, nothing is as it should be. This is a major leap forward for commercial airliners, as every button, every glass MFD and PFD, every radio knob, even the cup holders, are like none anyone has witnessed before. I watch as the Captain and FO lounge in ergonomically-correct chairs, operating a series of computers that drives guidence systems and engine management software that would make the Space Shuttle seem so last generation.

As I stand drooling over the most beautiful panel ever conceived, the Captain turns and politely asks if I'd like to take over the controls for a few minutes, to really get a hands-on feel for a Dreamliner. I am stunned, and as he departs the right seat...I cannot move...my feet are WELDED to the ground. I tug, but both shoes stay put. It is easily a GA pilot's worst nightmare...being that close to the yoke of a Dreamliner, frozen in space, not being able to move.

Just then, my dog jumps up on the bed and begins pawing at me to awaken. AWAKEN? Huh? My eyes creep open and all I see is the ceiling of my bedroom, not the inside of a Dreamliner. WTF?

Slowly, it hits me that this has all been, yes, a DREAM...and I realize why Boeing choose to call the 787...the Dreamliner.

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Now is the Time to Invest in GA

I wanted very much to headline this post as "Good Times for GA" because everywhere I look this week, we see forward progress on many fronts. Sure, GA deliveries were still down 41.1 percent in 1Q09 according to GAMA, but in this post, I am resisting the temptation to always focus every bit of GA news on our pathetic economy.

If you take dismal sales and student start numbers out of the picture, GA's future has to look bright, no way to dispute that. Here are a few examples courtesy of AOPA, which by the way operates one of the web's best aviation news operations:

TSA lessens security restrictions on transient pilots

"The Transportation Security Administration confirmed that is has a new security directive signed by TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides that tones down proposed security restrictions for transient pilots flying into commercial-service airports. The new directive, called SD-8G, clarifies and corrects some of the issues that AOPA and the GA community objected to in SD-8F. The new directive will go into effect June 1. As AOPA has previously reported, SD-8F would have required pilots based at or flying into commercial-service airports to undergo a background check and receive a security badge in order to continue to have unescorted access to their airports."

This is great news, because this ridiculous TSA badging requirement was being rammed down our throats in secret. Sure, pilots like me who base at a field being served by the regionals will have to use a badge to get through a gate, but it's always been that way, no changes here. So kudos to all the GA acronym groups who helped TSA come back to this party.

Next up, we see serious forward progress on FAA funding reauthorization, again, from AOPA:

House passes FAA authorization, no user fees

"The House of Representatives on May 21 passed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R.915). The bill is a four-year authorization that would fund the FAA through 2012 with aviation fuel taxes, ticket taxes, and a general fund contribution. AOPA strongly supports H.R.915, which is nearly identical to a bill that passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate last year. The bill includes a moderate increase in taxes on GA fuel but would not impose user fees."

This still has to go through the Senate, but that is a different body these days then when the Bush/Cheney White House and the GOP held that chamber hostage to keep their brethren in Corporate America satisfied. Now that Arlen Specter has cut the GOP off at the ankles in that room, expect a more logical, sensible vote on FAA funding.

And last, there is finally a new Captain at the helm of the Good Ship FAA:

New FAA chief confirmed

"The U.S. Senate on May 21 confirmed Randy Babbitt, former president of the Airline Pilots Association, as the head of the FAA. The position has been filled by acting administrators since the term of the previous administrator, Marion Blakey, expired at the end of fiscal year 2007."

Babbitt has a full plate as he takes over at FAA, including design and implementation of the NextGen ATC system, and solving the months-long labor dispute with our NATCA-member Air Traffic Controllers. But since Babbitt is very much a "union man", NATCA's President, Patrick Forrey, could not be happier with the confirmation:

“On behalf of the air traffic controller workforce and the aviation safety professionals that NATCA represents, I want to congratulate Randy Babbitt on his confirmation. He takes over an agency that certainly has its share of challenges and problems to fix, but also has dedicated, highly skilled and professional employees on the front lines of the National Airspace System that are represented by an organization – NATCA – which puts safety above all. Randy has the world’s most skilled and dedicated workforce of aviation safety professionals and subject matter experts ready to work with him to put safety first and modernize our system to meet the demands of the FAA’s true customers, the flying public. But first, this workforce must be assured that its help is wanted and not ignored like the last several years. It is time for a restoration of fairness to FAA labor relations and the opening of the door of collaboration and mutual respect. We wish Randy well as he takes on these great challenges."

Any way you slice all this, the stock is definitely rising for GA. Now if we can get the economy turned around and sell a few planes and get a few new faces to darken the doorways at America's flight schools, we'll be on the road to recovery.

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A GA Flight to Perfection, USA

Ask any GA pilot, and they'll tell you of the same quest, where they strap on their favorite bird and launch in search of fun, sunshine and the elusive $100 hamburger. To many of us who hold our pilot's licenses dear, we seem to be in a continuous hunt for new destinations to aim our props, places with something to do once wheels meet runway.

In a perfect flying world, our dream destination would feature beautiful scenery, lots of good airplane folk hanging around a comfortable FBO where large amounts of pastries and baked goods are free for the taking, an FBO that also offers sensible ground transportation. This place would be close to endless recreation, in a location known for clean air, friendly people and a laid-back lifestyle.

Over this past Memorial Day weekend, I had the rare opportunity to find this exact GA Shangri-la, a wonderland of fun, food, airplanes and endless blue skies:

We launched out of Eugene Airport (EUG) and pointed Katy eastbound, hammer down. Our scenic 40-minute journey became more beautiful with every NM as we climbed up over the Cascade Range. We were awestruck with the panorama of the Three Sisters and Mt. Bachelor peaks at our nine o'clock, and the Waldo Lake Wilderness off our three. With perfect zero winds aloft, the ride was on rails, and soon we had Katy lined up with runway 36 at Sunriver Resort's airport.

After a nice greaser – ya' gotta love the way the Piper Cherokee almost lands itself – we taxied to parking on the kind of GA ramp we all dream of finding. Along with several full rows of your usual Skyhawks, Skylanes, Turbo Lances, Glasairs and a smattering of vintage hardware like a mint Cessna 170, we also saw a TBM 850, a King Air 350 and an Eclipse 500 parked over in the high rent district south of the main ramp. It was very cool to watch the TBM launch as we strolled to the FBO, where our day really started to come together:

After ordering fuel to a very friendly crew that seem a touch surprised a Cherokee of any kind had tip tanks, we were blown away to be offered FREE loaner beach cruiser bikes for the day. Yes, some FBOs give you a little cookie, or a bottle of water, but just outside the FBO was about 20 FREE bikes, just choose one and go. Had this been Palm Springs, you could expect to pay $18.95 for a half-day bike rental, but not at Sunriver. Here, it's gratis baby, and man, that sure makes you, the guest, feel important.

So what do you do with free bikes at Sunriver? Better to ask what DON'T you do. You can cruise along the banks of the gorgeous Deschutes River on perfect paved bike paths, or roll on over to the brand new Equestrian Center for a guided horseback ride. Or, go past the horses and pull into the Marina for a canoe or raft rental, and float the river for six miles before the resort staff meets you and brings you back to your bikes. And then there's the golf:

O.K., I don't play golf, but I know people who do, including one PGA professional who has achieved the highest level you can get in PGA course management. I've photographed golf courses, and as an avid lawn mower, I just know healthy grass when I see it. And just about everywhere I looked as we pedaled along were pristine greens and manicured fairways that I'm sure are known for their wonderful playing qualities. But what blew me away was the professional-level Putt-Putt golf course, which was REAL grass! Not concrete painted green, where you try and hit the ball up the Clown's butt, no, these were real greens just like the real course, with real tee boxes, all perfectly clipped to allow a round of putt-putt golf like you've never experienced.

After a great meal in the Lodge, we again cruised our FREE bikes all over the complex, in perfect 72-degree weather, breathing the cleanest Oregon air, saying hello to endless happy people. This was a GA day to remember, and I cannot wait to return again to Sunriver in August for our 22nd wedding anniversary during the Sunriver Music Festival Aug. 12 -22. On that trip, we will again claim our free bikes, take the two-hour horseback ride through the forest and along the river, stay in a condo we find on VRBO, and play a round of serious Putt-Putt golf.

If you own a GA plane and live within a couple of tanks of S21 - Sunriver Resort Airport - you really need to make this place a required destination. A flight in here to play for a day or a week is what GA flying is all about. It is the very essence of why we buy and fly private planes, a destination that defines the kind of freedom we as pilots enjoy.

And while I certainly can afford to rent a couple of bikes for a day, the fact that they are free to pilots is something that resonates with you long after you have departed the pattern for home. My ad agency reps several properties in the tourism field, and it's things like this – a freebie when they could have gigged you out a twenty spot – that keeps people coming back.

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Review: An Aviation Film That's NotJust an Aviation Film

At its very core, Monika Petrillo's film Flyabout is aimed squarely at pilots. Come on, what aviator wouldn't want to ride along on a 30-day circumnavigation of Australia in a flight of GA planes, chasing dreams, making lifelong acquaintances, and possibly dodging a few wayward kangaroos?

In this documentary – which premiered at the super-cool SXSW Film Festival in Austin in 2006 – Petrillo is a freshly-minted 25-year-old VFR pilot who embarks on a dream flight of a lifetime around the entire Australian continent. It is a film about a journey any GA pilot would cherish, so let's look at the synopsis from the flyaboutmovie.com site:

Monika Petrillo has never been a person to postpone her dreams. So at 24 she decided to get a pilot's license. A year later, her father surprised her by learning to fly as well. As the movie begins, they take off together to circumnavigate the continent of Australia.

The only woman pilot in a group of eleven people, Monika experiences the true freedom of flight above one of the most untouched places on earth. As she becomes exposed to Australian culture, she learns about the Walkabout, a spiritual journey the Aborigines have valued for tens of thousands of years. That inspires her to use this trip to take stock of her own spiritual household. The first step toward that end is to relax. But that proves much more difficult than she thought: a tight schedule, careful and constant maintenance of the aircraft, pot-holed dirt runways, mechanical failures, sudden loss of visibility and unpredictable crosswinds keep her both too busy and too uptight. But what impacts her most is the conflict that arises between her father and herself.

They had both underestimated the consequences of her father‘s limited experience as a pilot, and that quickly takes its toll—not only on the collaboration in the cockpit, but also on their relationship. Monika struggles with feelings of responsibility on the one hand versus doubts about contradicting her father, who has always been her role model, on the other.

As their plane continues its path across the outback, the young woman slowly comes to realize that personal and spiritual growth can‘t be forced. Instead of searching so hard, she starts to look out the window. And that simple action is the first step towards learning the real lesson.

Flyabout is an intimate, personal story about a pilot‘s journey around Australia. It is the story of a young woman growing into an adult and coming to grips with how generational roles change over time.

The last paragraph of the synopsis really is the takeaway here. This film is layered so deeply, it cannot even remotely be considered "just" a travel film. One minute, the screen comes alive with gorgeous footage of vast Aussie sunsets, and in the next scene, we are flying across endless vistas of the Outback. But just when you begin to settle into the joyride, Petrillo launches into a multi-faceted story designed to make us think about, life, family, relationships, destiny and our inner being. Of note are Petrillo's poignant thoughts about how we all need to learn the ways of the Aborigines once in a while and strip away life's stresses and cleanse our souls. She talks about the importance of getting out into nature alone, where you can focus on...you. I cannot agree more with that notion.

The film hits my personal mark on many levels. Petrillo succeeds in capturing the true essence of what it means to fly, and how flying affords we aviators certain freedoms that non-pilots cannot enjoy. And as a photographer, I applaud much of Petrillo's footage in the film, especially when she interlaces stunning visual scenery of Australia with air-to-air footage of her flight and shots from the ground. It is obvious a great deal of planning and coordination went into this project. However:

My only struggle throughout the film was Petrillo's contentious relationship with her father. This trip was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, a memory you remember long after dads go west to fly with Lindbergh. The filmmaker does such a great job carrying the "Walkabout" story line, and is able to demonstrate the camaraderie pilots enjoy while on these kinds of long cross-country adventures. While the problems with her father were real, I left the film wondering if the main story line would have been more powerfully delivered had Petrillo left out the "daughter vs. father" thread entirely.

Would I recommend you see this film? Absolutely. It will make you think about how short life really is, and about how important it is to live every second without regrets. And, it will make you immediately start planning some serious flying adventure trip. If this film does not make you want to head out to the airport NOW and crank up the Skyhawk, you should consider turning in your pilot's license.

On the infamous four star film rating system, I would happily give Flyabout 3.5 stars. The story is solid, the photography is very good, the score is moving, and [of course] the aviation details are right on. If you have a party planned soon with a bunch of your pilot buddies, buy this film and show it on the big flat screen withe the surround sound cranked up...I guarantee that everyone in the room will thank you.

The film can be ordered here, or you can catch it July 27th through August 2nd at EAA AIR VENTURE 2009 in the Skyscape Theater in the AirVenture Museum. You can watch a preview trailer here (high bandwidth) or here (low bandwidth).

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Am I a Tweeple, or Just a Twit?

I make no excuses for my age, 52, and while there are aches and pains that develop when the human body ages, there is also a great wealth of wisdom one learns as our body clocks tick through middle age.

But there can be no disputing the fact that we Boomers are tasked with trying to keep up with the younger humans among us. While Generation X, Y and Whatever might have us beat on technology, we cream many of them when it comes to knowing those life skills that can only be mastered after several decades of making mistakes.

As a graphic designer/web site developer, I feel quite confident about my computer skills, and I've been a Mac user since the first ones hit the streets. I cut my teeth on Pagemaker 1.0, and try these days to run fast enough on the continuously updating tech treadmill to feel pretty comfortable with my power user chops when it comes to designing in Indesign, photo work in Photoshop, or web work using Dreamweaver or Flash. Sure, the kids can code circles around me, but half of them end up sending their files to the printer as RGB images, not having connected the proper dots on high-end digital lithography techniques.

Like everyone else, I live (and die) on the Internet, that rapidly changing minefield of information we are all completely tethered to these days. And in that minefield, the one area that is literally exploding is social media, which is where my mind starts going a bit numb:

It's like this: I've been into social media since America Online 1.0 changed our lives. Back in that day, we'd sit impatiently listening to the ridiculous sound of two V.34 modems connecting, which resembled a couple of Muskrats intoxicated on Olde English 800 making passionate love. As an early AOL user, if you weren't careful, you'd end up chasing off Toxic Tanya when a simple chat in an AOL chatroom became Fatal Attraction.

Yes, those old chat room days were, um, interesting. Was that really Suzie in Omaha, or was "Suzie" really "Fred" sitting in his underwear in a single-wide in Boca Raton? Minefield.

Today, social media has blossomed into a complete monster, with everyone you know jumping into Facebook and Twitter, big time. I went the same route as everyone else, getting seriously comfortable with Facebook while thinking Twitter was just a fad. But then I bit the bullet and signed on as a Tweeple, or am I a Twit? Beats me...but I know I tweet, and once I Twat I Taw a Putty Tat. Jeez Louise:

Now with just about 800 "followers" on Twitter, I am beginning to get my legs with this new minefield of information that comes rushing at you so fast, it is hard for my 52-year-old brain to digest. I believe there is value in this service, and as a blogger and former journalist for over 30 years, I never miss a news breaking news story while on Twitter. Today, I learned that the House passed H.R. 915 – the FAA Reauthorization Bill – almost in real-time. The immediacy of Twitter is, as the kids say, sick.

I can see the usefulness of reading other people's "tweets" all day, but sadly, only about 70% of the "Tweeple" I follow actually tweet about something interesting, The other 30% just wastes keystrokes. Here are a few gems pulled verbatim off my Twitter "timeline" just now:

• Twitter is the devil. It lulls u into a sense of trust & u tell the world stuff that shouldn't be told.

• Am already so friggin full - salad wine ribs steak wine wine

• Putting food in my stomach first. Then a beer.

• Pissed that my Sonic on Hwy. 10 was closed at 1120pm! WTF!

Holy crap! Do these Tweeters really THINK other Tweeple really care when the burger joint down the street closes?

Now don't get me wrong, Twitter has become a great way to push traffic to my blog and ad agency website. Nothing financial has come of three weeks of solid Twittering though, and the Twitterati hasn't punched my card to financial independence. But, I've noticed just about everyone has a scheme for how I can improve my Twitterification, and maybe I'll soon learn the Twouble with the Twit is worth the Twerrible Twime I am having Tweaching my Twfollowers to only Tweet Tweets Twhich I want to Twread.

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Our GPS System: More Stinking Leftovers

Recently, AIN Online's Andrew Wood ran a very good, very detailed article with a headline that is sure to get any pilot's attention:

Federal Watchdog:
GPS Constellation in Peril

Since we all use GPS these days as a primary means of VFR nav – and for IFR nav for those with certified boxes – hearing that the system is in "peril" ought to get our attention big time. Here's a pull from Woods' AIN article:

"A study from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) predicts that GPS service levels could fall well below civil requirements in the next decade. GPS typically has 24 satellites in orbit, although it currently has 31. But these are mainly aging “legacy” units, which are progressively failing and, while replacements are being launched, GAO calculates that these will be insufficient to bridge the gap before the Department of Defense’s advanced technology GPS III satellites are forecast to enter service in 2014. Worse, GAO investigators state that the GPS III program timing is overoptimistic, meaning a two-year delay is likely."

Man, as a freshly-minted instrument pilot – one with his eye on a Garmin 430W for Katy – I do NOT like the sound of that. But wait, there's more, and it gets worse. Again, from AIN:

"GAO predicts that a two-year GPS III delay could cause the constellation to go below the optimum 24 satellites as early as next year and deteriorate to as few as 18 satellites before full recovery in 2022. The report is a startling indictment of lax management, poor contractor oversight, “requirements creep,” indifference to budgets and schedules and the continuing lack of a single individual with complete program responsibility, according to the GAO."

How's THAT for uncertainty? You can read the entire GAO report here [pdf], but if you wish to add more uncertainty to your already concerned mind, here is a pull from the GAO report's summary section:

"It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption. If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected. (1) In recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals; it encountered significant technical problems that still threaten its delivery schedule; and it struggled with a different contractor. As a result, the current IIF satellite program has overrun its original cost estimate by about $870 million and the launch of its first satellite has been delayed to November 2009--almost 3 years late. (2) Further, while the Air Force is structuring the new GPS IIIA program to prevent mistakes made on the IIF program, the Air Force is aiming to deploy the next generation of GPS satellites 3 years faster than the IIF satellites. GAO's analysis found that this schedule is optimistic, given the program's late start, past trends in space acquisitions, and challenges facing the new contractor."

All I can say is this: This whole situation smells like more stinking government leftovers from the Bush administration, who I am sure was told this could have been avoided if they would only come back from the ranch long enough to do something correctly in a timely fashion. And in these early months of the Obama administration, again our new leaders are charged with cleaning up yet another mess. But as the days tick off under our popular [unless you are in that GOP 20 percent that bows to the alter of Rush Limbaugh] new President, I am personally energized that he has teams in place to sterilize Washington and get these important tasks completed.

The FAA funding and labor issues are certainly tops on the list of W's aviation-related messes that Team Obama is tasked with cleaning up. But certainly the GPS system has to rank right up there too...if not for us GA guys and gals, but for the military, who needs the system far more than we do.

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A Tour Any Aviator Would Cherish

I have been making a number of worldwide friends these days as a fairly new "Tweep", and one of those is Vincent, a Swiss private pilot who Tweets under the name PlasticPilot. He lives near Frankfurt and has most of his time in a PA-32 Saratoga. He also has a large handful of hours in one of GA's most exhilarating rides, the Diamond DA40 with G1000 instrumentation. He is "one of us" a regular guy with a passion for aviation.

Recently, PlasticPilot made blog friends with a safety engineer at the Pilatus factory in Stans, Switzerland, which is sited in a most scenic part of this planet in the dramatic Swiss Alps between a mountain and lake. That e-friendship led to an invitation to tour the Pilatus factory, and Plastic Pilot has written a long and very good post about that tour here.

Of note are the mentions of the PC-21 military trainer, and the many "NO PHOTO" areas where it is constructed. When we think of Pilatus, of course we all think of their uber-groovy PC-12, the does-it-all turboprop bizliner that can haul massive weights in pressurized comfort at efficient operational costs and then land on a dime and give you .07 cents change. I consider the PC-12 to be the one large aircraft I would buy tomorrow if those six Powerball numbers came my way, it simply eclipses everything in it's class in all categories, IMHO.

I have known a few people who have been lucky enough to travel to Switzerland and take the Pilatus factory tour, and believe me, I am completely jealous. So PlasticPilot's blog post on the tour was welcome reading. If you are even remotely interested in the PC-12 or the Pilatus family of aircraft, go here and read the blog post...I promise it will be time well spent.

One dream vacation I have always had on my long-term agenda is a trip to Tuscany and then up to Vienna by train to enjoy the visual and performing arts that this jewel of a city is known for. I now am adding a side-trip to Stans on that excursion, as it sure sounds like hanging out with a large number of Pilatus hardware and the people who craft them would be a great way to cap off a trip to the EU.

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Wal-Mart in the Cockpit?

The Internets are buzzing today about the fresh NTSB report just out describing the fatal crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Buffalo, NY. I am not going to rehash what happened in those last few moments before the plane stalled (read the pdf CVR transcript here) and nose-dove into the ground, and I am not going to place blame on the now-deceased pilots. There is enough of that going around tonight and I'm not going to pile on.

Instead, I am going to place blame on the regional airline system itself, in particular, the pathetically low wages that the regionals pay to most of their pilots. Yes, a Captain flying a RJ into the major hubs can make a decent living, but only after struggling through years of time building while earning about the equivalent salary as a clerk at Wal-Mart.

Sure, we all know that Wally World gets away with paying their cashiers such low wages because face it, these jobs are just not that hard to learn. But just how low is that anyway? The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has this:

"Wal-Mart pays an average hourly wage of $8.23 an hour, according to independent expert statistical analysis, which falls below basic living wage standards and even below poverty lines. Since “full time” at Wal-Mart is 34 hours a week according to company policy, full-time workers make a mere $17,114.24 a year—below the federal poverty level for a family of four. A "sales associate"earns on average $8.23 per hour ($13,861 annually) while a "cashier" earns about $7.92 per hour ($11,948 annually)."

That is about on par with the minimum wage here in Oregon, which rose for 2009 to $8.40 per hour, or $17,472/year for 52 40-hour weeks worth of work. And when you look at 2008 numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, yes, it appears on national average, airline pilots earn $123,500 per year on scheduled carriers and $86,060 on nonscheduled carriers. Those are some serious paychecks, about what you'd expect to pay someone who takes lives into their hands several times a day and must operate at a very high level of well-trained precision.

Those salaries however, must be skewed by the few international pilots who fly heavies over the poles...because according to today's Associated Press story on the crash of Flight 3407, low pay is one thing that is being probed by NTSB:

"The co-pilot in an airline crash that killed 50 people in upstate New York was paid a salary so low that she lived with her parents near Seattle and commuted across the country to her job, a combination of long travel and little money that a safety official called a "recipe for an accident." The second day of a three-day National Transportation Safety Board hearing Wednesday focused on whether Captain Marvin Renslow and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw were fatigued on the wintry night of Feb. 12 when they apparently made a series of critical errors as Continental Connection Flight 3407 approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Shaw, 24, had worked for Colgan Air of Manassas, Va., which operated the flight for Continental, for 13 months, flying 774 hours in her first year. Colgan pays its beginning first officers $21 an hour, which means she would have earned $16,254 that year, although she could have earned more if she worked more hours, said Roger Cox, an NTSB aviation safety expert."

Of course, Captain Marvin Renslow earned far more than the low wage paid his FO, which is par for the course on today's regional airline flight deck. But even if he earned the $67,000 per year that AP quotes in their story, it does not justify paying the right seat garbage wages just because the airline knows they have to build time en route to the left seat.

It is beyond my comprehension why there is such disparity in airline pilot salaries. Yes, I know the airline is taking advantage of young bucks fresh out of CFI school because the line knows they have to work somewhere to eventually become a Captain. Why pay them a fair wage when you can low-ball them and add the difference to your company's bottom line? So what if the FO has to eat dog food to stay alive, what's an FO's other options to move across the flight deck? Nada.

I know a few airline pilots, and even an FO on a Skywest Vibroliner launching out of FAT must train to a high safety standard that allows them to safely fly those passengers to their destination under any circumstances. So if a Brasilia driver must know as much about systems and safety as a high-time 777 driver at the bigs – and operate in the exact same IFR system – why would that FO's service be worth crap wages while the 777 driver earns a fat six-figure paycheck? Less people in back, shorter hops, yes, but I challenge anyone to tell me that the low-paid FO is less of a pilot. Maybe they're worth half of the 777 Captain's pay, but knowingly paying them the absolute minimum you can get away with is wrong on so many levels.

When a cashier at the big box store gets about the same wage for dragging beans across a scanner as a professional line pilot tasked with keeping a pressurized tube full of souls in the sky alive, there is something serious wrong with our current airline pay system. It is my hope that Colgan – and the other regional airlines who pay these insulting low wages – will get burned so bad by public and media flames that they are forced to increase FO pay to a level more in line with what that job is actually worth.

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Lost in Translation: Get Your Locomozione On!

Each week I receive Google News Alerts from around the globe, urging me to click their link and read many foreign language articles on Terrafugia's groovy roadable airplane, the Transition. Today one came in from Italy that looked interesting. The only glitch is that I do not read Italian.

But today, we world wide web users do not have to read a language to view a foreign web site...thanks to a number of free translation services. What follows is a verbatim translation found here, and presented for no other reason than pure unadulterated yucks. It starts off pretty deep, like a wise Italian philosopher sitting high atop a mount:

"If the dream of the man is that one to fly, the dream of who goes to work is that one to avoid the ingorghi, exiting in all serenity from the garage of house without the incubus of the tails overhead. A little as remembered (them) the protagonists of the series to futurist animated designs of the Jackson's. The dream now has become truth. It will even pass still a little than time before being able to go in some store and to order it (or to order it), but we will not perhaps have not to wait for too much. The car that flies, or the airplane that moves on the earth like an car, is indeed and Terrafugia Transition is called."

What follows is some serious technical verbiage that tries to clear up just what the heck this flying car/roadable airplane jazz is all about:

"The Terrafugia Transition has detached from earth in order only 37 second ones, a time similar to that one of the first flight of the Wright siblings, it has made but it in “a thus normal” way to make to think that yes, the future is the much nearest one. The frontal sight evidences one of the particularities of this hybrid vehicle, that is the configuration with surface canard, that is the front position of the horizontal stabilizers, the small fins that seem of the moustaches and characterize also from the aesthetic point of view the Transition. An other curiosity, for that it regards the aeronautical part, is discovered watching it from the posterior part: own because draft of means that must also travel on road, and the driver must therefore be had the possibility to see how much happens to its shoulders, not is an only tail and centers them, but the tail is double, decided laterally regarding the fuselage, or nside that to say it wants. At last the propeller: it has posterior position, and obviously it centers them, but during the automotive march it is not of intralcio to the guide."

Got all that? Didn't think so. But wait...you knew there was more:

"Of the Transition the things are many that they hit, but that more detail regards the halves wing without a doubt. The change of configuration, from car airplane, happens in second 30 (a time similar to what the ones of a cabriolet must attend for the opening or the closing of the canopy), and the video that appears on the situated interesting of the Terrafugia is indeed illuminant. The speed on the four wheels is of 65 miles hour, to the maximums of the speed concurred on the American roads. As aircraft has a cruise speed of approximately 185 km/h, a speed of spin (that is that to catch up in order to carry out the takeoff) of 130 km/h, and in order to detach itself from earth have need little more than 500 meters. The stall speed that is approximately 83 Km/h, while in flight it has an important autonomy, that is 450 miles, little more than 700 kilometers. That, as an example, it could concur to everyone of we, to exit from the garage to Brescia, to arrive to Montichiari, to enter in track, to take off, to land to Fiumicino and to arrive until in center to Rome without having to change half of locomozione. Not but those of the dimensions, substantially similar to a Piper PA 28, even if slightly more reduced."

Now this is indeed progress. I mean, really, haven't we all been looking for a better way to get from our garage in Brescia to arrive until the center of Rome without having to change half of locomozione?

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Head Rolls Over VC-25 NYC Flyover

By now everyone knows about the bungled photo shoot late last month involving low passes over Manhattan by VC-25 – Air Force One when the President is on board – and a couple of fighter jets. The traditional media reported numerous cases of panic in the streets of New York City as people watched in horror as a very large, very ominous jet being "chased" by fighters flew low and slow over their offices and homes. There are numerous Youtube videos up now that show the commotion this flight caused.

On this blog as well as 1,000s of others, we have all agreed that this shot could have been made in Photoshop. It was in fact a pilot training mission as well, so the costs – estimated at about $328,835 – would still have been spent as the crew trained in the same ship but in a different location.

For many, this is not so much about the cost as it is about an obvious lack of good judgment by someone The White House Military Office. And now, CNN and others are reporting that this episode has cost someone their job:

"President Obama has accepted the resignation of Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office responsible for the controversial low-altitude flyover of New York by a 747 plane used as Air Force One, the White House said Friday."

Caldera has – in the usual Washington manner – gone off to spend more time with his family. CNN has Caldera's "official" quote:

"I have concluded that the controversy surrounding the Presidential Airlift Group's aerial photo shoot over New York City has made it impossible for me to effectively lead the White House Military Office," Caldera said in a letter to Obama. "Moreover, it has become a distraction to the important work you are doing as president. After much reflection, I believe it is incumbent on me to tender my resignation and step down as director of the White House Military Office."

President Obama was said to be "furious" and for good reason. Any thinking man or woman would have foreseen the possibilities that existed in this mission to open wounds that have not begin to fully heal, even so many years after 09.11.01. So Caldera made the right choice, even though when you read the full CNN article, it appears others were the boneheads who made this incredible poor decision.

Kudos for Caldera for taking the sword for his department, but the actual people who threw this photo shoot together ought to consider going off to, um, spend more time with their families too.

This kind of insensitive crap is so last administration.

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Up Close and Personal in the Caribbean!

We pilots love to "spot" big jets inbound to land...we've been doing it since we were puppies. The closer the better, and if you get a little jet blast on your brow...all that much better.

But if you REALLY want to visit the Mecca of planespotting, Princess Julianna Airport on the island of St. Maarten is the place to be. You can stand at the end of their mega-runway on scenic Maho Beach, which sits one tiny chain link fence away from the TDZ.

Now take a tour of Maho Beach with me, via Youtube:

Here's a 747 toying with the vacationers at Maho | View

The largest back taxi in history! This landing on St.Maarten from the cockpit of a 747 ends with a 180 on the runway and a back taxi to the terminal. After a nosewheel landing, the crackling noise you hear in the video is the camera hitting the windshield! | View

This guy puts his camera in the sand to get the full effects of the blast from a KLM 747-400 landing | View

Gotta watch this one all the way through...the girl in the video is oblivious to what is about to happen! | View

This videographer says that St. Maarten has the smallest runway in the world where a Boeing 747 lands. Watch this one through to the end and you'll see the inbound do the biggest, baddest go-around ever flown | View

Here's a long one shot with a Sony mini-cam worn in the headband on the Captain's head, lots of good cockpit chatter | View

And last and certainly least, a bunch of presumably drunk college boys getting a blow job courtesy of KLM Airlines | View

There are dozens more on Youtube, found here. Just don't blame me if you waste time browsing aviation videos when you're supposed to be taking out the trash or attending Susie's piano recital!

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Five Freakin' Thousand.

(Editor's note: This one is pulled from the Nov. 2007 archives, but with all the chatter about bird strikes these days in the traditional media, I thought you-all might enjoy it - dan)

The one thing that pilots can never defend against is a bird strike. You plan for them, trying to figure out what you're going to do when one happens. And that is (1) to try to avoid a direct hit in your face, and (2) fly what remains of your airplane to a safe landing ASAP.

On occasion, you will hear ATIS warn of "caution, birds in the vicinity of the airport", or something that raises your consciousness level about avoiding birds to a higher level. If you are departing, you try and get through the first 1,000 feet AGL without making contact with Tweety Grande. If you are on final, you keep focused in the numbers, knowing that a strike close to the ground at approach speeds means you have very little room to let control of the plane slip away.

A couple of years ago, I came about as close to a bird strike as I care to ever be. Here is what came down:

As I prepped for Thanksgiving, I realized I had a couple of hours at dusk to hit EUG and practice a couple of landing procedures in 27W. As I pre-flighted in the hangar, I had the scanner glued to ATIS, which warned of "birds in the vicinity of the airport." I cruised to the run-up box and then departed 34L with a mid-runway intersection takeoff. The controller asked if I preferred moving to the east side of the field to use 34R for my touch and go's, which I accepted. I slipped into a nice smooth right downwind, the 235 settling into the perfect 500 FPM descent. That was about the last time this approach felt normal.

For those readers who do not know the terrain surrounding the Eugene Airport, there is a large lake just southwest of the field that is apparently the perfect love nest for a quarter of a zillion migratory birds. It is not at all uncommon to see those awesome giant Vs of geese flying off to winter in Cabo, or wherever they spend the coldest parts of the year:

As I turned base to final for my first practice landing, the controller came on and told me something that I swear is true...you can listen to the ATC tapes if you want. He told me, and I quote..."Cherokee 8527W, caution – I have returns, uh, it looks like a flock of maybe FIVE THOUSAND GEESE moving east to west across the north end of 34R at about 300 feet AGL. Are you SURE you want to do a touch and go right now?"

Now I promise you, hearing that there are five grand worth of flying objects in my direct path, any one of which can cause possible catastrophic damage to my plane, well that really got my attention! So I called for a full stop, and as I passed through 300 AGL, I might have dug fingernail grooves in the yoke.

See, I had NO FRICKIN' IDEA how much actual airspace five thousand geese takes up, but I was pretty sure that a few of the stragglers with bad nav systems might have drifted south of the westbound pack, and could have very well been over the approach end of 34R – right where I was. So I braced for impact, mentally thinking about ducking when Tweety Grande meets my windscreen. It was the crapiest approach and landing yet in my new 235, but in many ways, when I touched down with a thud and realized I still had my life and my airplane in one piece, the landing felt like a greaser from heaven. It's always nice to know Papa Louie has my back.

I'm writing this stuffed to the brim after Thanksgiving dinner, and I have to say, birds look best when laid out on the dinner table between candied yams and cranberry sauce, not lollygagging along near my airport.

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This is News Nobody Wants to Hear

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association represents 66 fixed wing airframe manufacturers, and is our best benchmark for telling just how foul this economy is right now as far as general aviation is concerned.

From the looks of numbers released today, it is as foul as a a load of tufu rotting in an un-refrigerated 45-foot trailer in the hot sun in Fresno in August. Yes, I've been there, and trust me, it was plenty foul, just not as foul as GAMA's release:

Today GAMA stated that in the first three months of 2009, deliveries of general aviation airplanes totaled 462 units, a 41.1 percent drop from the same period last year, with industry billings falling 18.2 percent to $4.34 billion. “This is an extremely difficult time for our industry,” said GAMA President and CEO, Pete Bunce. “We are dealing first and foremost with the severe negative effects of a worldwide economic downturn, but also with unwarranted criticism focused on the industry. The result has been the cancellation of orders for new airplanes and the loss of more than 15,000 high-paying jobs for American workers over the last several months.

The reality is that the U.S. general aviation industry leads the world in innovation and remains one of the few American industries with a positive balance of trade.” Bunce added, “We will continue to work with governments around the world to recognize that general aviation can play a key role in propelling the economic recovery.”

The piston airplane segment was down 55.1 percent in the first quarter, with 179 units delivered as compared to 399 airplanes in the first three months of 2008. The turboprop segment was the only segment that experienced growth in the first quarter with 92 units delivered, up from 89 units during the same period in 2008 for a 3.4 percent increase. Business jet shipments fell 35.7 percent in the first quarter with 191 airplanes delivered, as compared to 297 business jets in the first quarter of 2008.

Ouch, pistons down over 55%! When we think of pistons, we think of Cessna and Cirrus, so it is no surprise both have taken quite a somber tone of late. Sure, Cirrus is ramping up again slowly, and yes, Cessna has cut the Columbus and closed their Bend plant trying to restructure and save coin. But considering that their sales could both be down roughly HALF, it is most notable that neither one has closed their doors.

And while the 3.4% increase in turboprops is a welcome bump, it has little power in offsetting these dismal 1Q09 numbers. We've all been waiting for this GAMA report (pdf), and it illustrates just how hard this fight is to keep ALL of our legacy makers in the game.

So do GA a favor, so buy a Cirrus or Cessna today. Just don't take out some screwy interest-only, adjustable-rate, annual reset loan that you can't possibly pay off...because it's that kind of crap that brought us all here in the first place.

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner Moves One Step Closer to a First Flight

I haven't posted about Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in a while, since the program seems to have developed a keen ability to lull us into a sort of impatient trance. Each time previously when we began to get excited about Dreamliner, somehow the program would sing us a lullaby and we'd go back to that mysterious place, a place that takes from us our ability to care much about the 787 program's endless delays...waiting, and waiting before moving on to the next aviation story.

But news today (05.03.09) out of Everett shows that finally, there is significant movement in the program, quite literally it seems (from Boeing's release):

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner that will fly later this quarter has moved from the paint hangar to the flight line. Fuel testing - the first in the next phase of extensive checks the airplane must undergo - will begin in the next few days. "We are making great progress, and moving ever-closer to first flight," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 Dreamliner program.

When you stop to consider the battery of tests ZA001 – this first testing 787 – has completed, it sure looks like they are very close to lighting this thing off and pointing it skyward (again, from Boeing):

In recent weeks, the 787 completed a rigorous series of tests including build verification tests, structures and systems integration tests, landing gear swings and factory gauntlet, which is the full simulation of the first flight using the actual airplane. With Chief Pilot Mike Carriker at the controls, the simulation tested all flight controls, hardware and software. The simulation also included manual and automatic landings and an extensive suite of subsequent ground tests. All structural tests required on the static airframe prior to first flight also are complete. The final test occurred April 21 when the wing and trailing edges were subjected to their limit load - the highest loads expected to be seen in service. The load is about the same as the airplane experiencing 2.5 times the force of gravity. On April 13, the leading edge of the wing was subjected to its limit load while the rest of the airplane was subjected to loads expected at cruise. And in September 2008, the "high blow" high-pressure test was completed on the static airframe. During that test, the airframe reached an internal pressure of 150 percent of the maximum levels expected to be seen in service.

On the slate now are additional power and systems tests as well as engine run-ups. After completing a series of high-speed taxi tests, Boeing vows to launch later this quarter, which means by the end of June. And according to their latest Dreamliner press release, their order book shows 886 airplanes ordered from 57 customers. And you can just about bet the farm those 57 customers are as ready as anyone to see the coolest airliner ever actually fly.

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The White House Blew This One

Back on April 27th, the good people of New York City were scared half out of their wits by the sight of a 747 escorted by a couple of fighter jets low and slow just above skyscraper level. The people below were justifiably mortified since these are people who will never, ever get over 09.11.01, for good reason.

This was however not a act of aggression against America, no, these were United States military planes. In fact, the big honkin' one was AIR FORCE ONE – without the President on board – and the secret mission being flown was...a photo shoot. Seems someone in the White House press office thought it'd be a gas to have some new images of AF1 with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

The sight of low flying airliners over Manhattan caused a great deal of panic, and while NYPD was briefed, the public had not been, for security purposes. So reports came out everywhere of people running into the streets, and whole buildings of people freaking the hell out. Jeez, who could have saw THAT coming?

After the story broke, the White House apologized, and President Obama – who apparently did not know this was planned – was said to be "furious" when he heard about the photo op. Ya think?

The Huffington Post reports the cost of this photo op at $328,835, and in these troubled times, one has to wonder why the beautiful shots the WH already has of AF1 wasn't good enough. And while analyzing this story, HuffPo joined, oh, about a GAZILLION other media outlets, photographers, graphic designers, and of course, MR. OBVIOUS, in publicly wondered this:

In this digital world that we live in, it is rare to find an image of any kind that hasn't been ran through Photoshop, if only for color and exposure correction. In fact, trying to find an advertising or publicity image that hasn't been manipulated in some way is impossible. There are ethical guidelines we Photoshop professionals must adhere to, and the most important is to not deceive the viewer. Remove a parked car here, green up the grass there, maybe even make a model a tad thinner, all perfectly acceptable. Usually, it would not be acceptable to photograph Air Force One over the Atlantic and Photoshop it flying by the Manhattan skyline...that is deception. But if anyone had stopped this train wreck of a photo shoot long enough to think it through, surely it made more sense to produce the shot in Photoshop than to spend almost $400K to scare the crap out of the perfectly happy citizens of NYC.

To prove their point, HuffPo's artist spent $6 on a stock photo of NYC and whipped up an acceptable example...in a reported 90 seconds. I created a similar low-rez web image at the top of this post in about 4 minutes. Had I made this a high-resolution image and spent some time on it, I can assure you that 99% of Photoshop users would not have found one thing to indicate the -47 was not actually flying over Manhattan when the shutter was clicked.

One of NYC's own papers, The New York Daily News, has taken this "should have used Photoshop" theory much further, and has been running a contest where viewers can submit their own Photoshopped creations of AF1 flying in all sorts of crazy places. The submission showing AF1 buzzing King Kong as the monkey hangs off the Empire State Building is hilarious.

Sometimes, I wonder how anyone in our Federal Government functions day-to-day. I seriously hope my President speaks his mind to the people in charge of making the poor decision to complete this ill-timed shoot in airspace that is much more sensitive to low-flying airliners than any other. Had I been the current occupant of the Oval Office when this gigantic mistake happened, heads would have rolled.

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Great News from the White House for NATCA

There has been some great movements forward for our Air Traffic Controllers in their long battle with FAA to get a fair labor deal. Yesterday, three of my ATC friends/readers sent me the following from NATCA's Patrick Forrey, which I have chosen to publish verbatim:

Brothers and sisters,

I am proud and excited today to share the first bit of good news that has come from our determined efforts to convince the White House that our nearly 1,000-day struggle to end the FAA’s brutal trampling of our fair collective bargaining rights has been so detrimental to the workforce, the National Airspace System and the safety of the flying public that it must be addressed now and not put on hold until the arrival of a confirmed FAA administrator later this spring.

Today, the Obama Administration has made the announcement of the appointment of a team of mediators to immediately address our contract dispute with the agency. It’s a key first step toward the goal that we all share: An end to the FAA’s imposed work rules and unfair pay system and a fairly negotiated successor agreement to the 2003 CBA that all of you can ratify.

Here is what I issued as NATCA’s official statement to the press after the White House’s announcement:

“With this bold step, President Obama is fulfilling his commitment to the safety and modernization of the air traffic control system and to the dedicated men and women safety professionals who run the system each day. President Obama is showing the leadership that will guide a positive way forward in which aviation safety professionals will be included as valued stake holders. As the president made clear, a resolution to the dispute is critical to stabilizing the controller workforce, restoring a collaborative working relationship between controllers and the FAA and successfully installing the Next Generation Air Transportation System needed to spur economic development and increase the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of air travel.

“I would like to thank Secretary LaHood for his leadership and commitment to resolving this issue.”

Let me share a bit about how the past couple of weeks have played out here in Washington.

On April 16, I met with administration officials. It was a very positive meeting. The Obama Administration definitely understands what the Bush Administration did to the hard-working aviation safety professionals we represent. They understand the long, hard struggle that you all have faced to try and serve the flying public and maintain the safety of the system while being treated with such utter disrespect and unfairness. They understand how the FAA’s pay rules have forced new trainees to quit, led thousands of our most experienced controllers to retire early to escape the brutal treatment and lack of an increase to their retirement annuity, and removed any incentive to want to transfer to busier facilities, leaving many large TRACONS and other key facilities dangerously understaffed and overburdened with inexperienced trainees.

The administration made it clear that our contract issue was a high priority and were anxious to address it immediately, resolve the dispute and then move forward in a spirit of collaboration and renewed focus on problem solving and advancing system modernization efforts. The fact that this meeting took place on the 87th day of the new administration – within the well-known “First 100 Days” benchmark for evaluating the progress of a new president – speaks volumes about the dedication of OUR president and longtime champion of our cause for fairness, to NATCA’s most important issue.

Moving forward from this announcement, there are not many details to share. We have not yet ironed them out. But the administration wants it to come together quickly.

I know that you all must have a lot of questions right now and will be very hungry for any details when the negotiations begin. I certainly understand that desire to stay informed and I will do my very best to keep you as up to date as I can. But please understand the extremely sensitive nature of what is now finally transpiring.

There will be very few details that will be allowed to leave the negotiating table, for good reason. My main concern is that you all get a fair process and a ratifiable agreement. We will not be doing any press activity today or in the days to come beyond my brief, aforementioned statement. We will not be negotiating in the press.

We are being given an opportunity at a fair process to negotiate a ratifiable agreement. I respectfully ask that we all keep the tone of our comments and expectations at an even keel.

This is a great day, brothers and sisters. But it’s only the first day. The end of our long struggle is within sight but it’s still a few steps away. I ask you all to stay strong, stay united, and stay patient. The work you put into helping to elect leaders here in Washington who value your work, respect your commitment to the safety of the flying public and now are demanding your fair treatment is finally paying off. I hope to report back to you very soon with more good news.

In solidarity,
Pat Forrey
President NATCA

See, your vote DOES Matter. One White House snubs NATCA, while another vows to work with/for them. Maybe it's because the former occupant wasn't able to connect the right dots to see the importance in having well-paid, rested, experienced controllers pushing tin across our skies.

And for the new occupant, this issue is simply a no-brainer.

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Anyone with a Crystal Ball, Ring Me Up

Since last fall, we've all been watching the slow, torturous demise of the thriving general aviation industry in this country. You can cast blame at any number of mostly GOP cronies, greedy Wall Street golden boys and the ethically-challenged mortgage banking/credit card industry, but the fact still remains that GA is being killed by this recession.

We see daily news of plant closures, layoffs, so much bailout money flowing out of Washington, D.C. in numbers so big, We The People can't even keep track. While the traditional media is focused on the sad real estate and auto industry news and growing unemployment numbers, we aviators look for signs that the sky we love to fly across in indeed falling.

I personally had a couple of benchmarks I have been watching for to be my "canary in a coal mine" and signal a serious downturn, or, better put, a slippage of forward progress back to where we once were just a few months ago. One big news item that would have thrown up red flags would be any announcement of serious financial trouble at Cirrus Design, but thankfully that has not happened.

The other benchmark I have been watching for is any really awful news out of Cessna. Now everyone who reads World of Flying knows I am a Piper driver, but that is not because I do not like Cessnas. It is because our Cherokee 235 was $25,000 less than a comparably-equipped 182 Skylane with similar performance. Make no mistake, while Cirrus might have re-invented the four-passenger GA airplane, Cessna was there first. Ask Average Joe about a small plane they saw – any small plane – and they'll usually say it was "one of those Cessnas". The legend and legacy of Cessna is etched in GA's foundation, so it is horrible news to read news like this:

Cessna has decided to suspend production of its new eight-passenger Citation Columbus model, its largest business jet model. Cessna also plans to close a plant in Oregon that builds the Corvalis 350 and Corvalis 400 TT aircraft, moving that assembly line to the company's Independence, KS facility. Also planned are a total of about 2,300 more layoffs company-wide, according to Forbes.com.

Yes, you read that right. The Columbia plant that Cessna just picked up at fire-sale prices is being shuttered. These moves by the biggest GA benchmark of them all means more misery for our sector, nobody can dispute that. Just how bad the GA market is right now is anyone's guess, unless you're the CFO at one of these large manufacturers.

In this prize fight we are having to keep GA afloat in these troubled financial times, this Cessna news is a right cross directly on the jaw to every pilot, or anyone remotely related to general aviation. But we've proven a tough opponent, having taken hits like Adam and Eclipse while still remaining wobbly but upright.

Scan the web any day right now, and you'll get mixed signals. Yesterday, it was this news out of Cessna, and today it is Honda announcing they are delaying their sexy HondaJet's first flight of a production-conforming ship for a year, until January, 2010. But we also read that at EBACE next month, Daher-Socata will formally announce plans to invest $330 million to develop a new eight- to 10-seat twin-engine aircraft to offer in the market segment above its TBM 850 turboprop single. Add that to the news that Cirrus is ramping back up slowly and has not announced any delays in their Vision SF50 program, and we see – you got it – mixed signals all around.

How will this all shake out? Is Textron tiring of the losses at Cessna? And, is Cessna digging in for survival, or making the long-term moves required to sustain their brand? If this recession/depression continues too much longer, will we continue to see more suspended programs, more plant closings and additional layoffs? Who will be left in the market, and who will be toast?

All valid questions. One question however that none of us can answer is this: What will the GA industry look like as 2009 evolves into 2010? If you can answer that, pal, you really need to buy lotto tickets tonight.

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Not Sure This Will "Fly" With the Authorities

My readers know I am all over the flying vehicles story, and so far the Terrafugia Transition has been the most exciting product in that arena.

And, I encourage others to attempt a jump into this horse race, although they might proceed with due caution as Team Terrafugia sure looks to have a big head start bringing their 'roadable airplane" to market.

But today I read about the High Road Aerocar being developed in sunny San Diego. The specs look promising, with 180 mph cruise, 20,000 ft, ceiling and IFR certification. But I cannot jump on their bandwagon until they remove the image from their web site of their Aerocar supposedly landing on a...ROAD!

Maybe it was a miscommunication between their web developer and their marketing team. Maybe it was an inside joke that did not get edited out of the first site drafts, who knows? And yes, the image could possible be an airport, or is that a road with an aircraft parked next to it? Confused? Me too. But one thing we do know is that if they are trying to sell the Aerocar as being legal to actually land on ROADS, I believe there might be a few County Mounties who will want a piece of that. Along with the U.S. Department of Transportation, the FAA, and all those people driving their kids to violin practice on some dude's RUNWAY!

So, no, I'll pass on any more coverage of the High Road Aerocar until this is taken down, changed and explained away. If that happens, I'll revisit coverage of their project, because the design – while similar to the Transition – is worthy of consideration.

And that thunderous roar you hear right now is the sound of 1,000 MIT students ROFL as they read this post.

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