Done Right, the Purchase of Your Own AirplaneCan be Extremely Rewarding

By Dan Pimentel,
Airplanista Blog editor

I have made the point many times that I believe AOPA Pilot Magazine is the finest aviation monthly on this planet. That's not kissing up, that's just a fact in my world. While some publications will eloquently explain the pros and cons of the latest mega-million-dollar bizjet or  discuss 101 ways to use a rivet, Pilot consistently delivers the GA content welcome to aviators like me who fly single-engine piston airplanes.

Much of the success of Pilot rests on the shoulders of their long-time Editor, Tom Haines. He “gets it” because he is one of us. Tom flies a Bonanza A36, and uses the plane in much the same way I use my 1964 Piper Cherokee 235...for business but also for lots of pleasure.

Tom's latest Pilot column discusses the topic of choosing to buy the right airplane based on your anticipated future missions. I was prompted to write this post because I too went through this drill when choosing Katy (our 235), and think it is a vital topic worth some more verbal expansion.

When I decided there was sufficient bank to be able to afford a plane of my own, I sat down and considered the following criteria for the airplane:

1. It had to be fixed gear to keep annuals and insurance affordable,
2. It had to carry four adults of average weight and their stuff. And notice I said “adults” and not “humans” since I did not always want to be forced to make one of those four pax a toddler,
3. It had to be reasonably efficient with fuel burn. I was hoping for something south of 15 GPH,
4. It had to be certified for IFR and have a working two-axis autopilot connected to a GPS,
5. It had to have a low-time engine,
6. Paint and interior had to be at least an 8/10,
7. It had to have enough range to make Central California from Eugene, Oregon, specifically Fresno KFAT, a crow-flies distance of 469NM. (I still have numerous advertising clients in that region),
8. It had to be priced below $70,000,
9. It needed reliable parts availability because as a mostly business airplane, I wanted AOG to be kept to a minimum in case a maintenance issue stranded me somewhere,
10. It had to look nice on the ramp.

So, based on that criteria, what was my mission? I have never owned my own airplane, so I had to guesstimate what this ship would be used for. The end result of this pondering was that...

The majority of my flights would be two adults, however with a new granddaughter, I could foresee many trips with all four seats full of souls. I planned on about a 60/40 division of business to pleasure. When I flew for business, I needed the capacity to carry sometimes 300-ish pounds of gear...yes as a photographer/videographer I do have a tendency to carry too much crap when I travel. When I use the airlines, I have to cram a minimum of gear into a carry-on backpack and roll-aboard, so this plane would set me free to load up with everything I might need on a shoot. Because you never know when the producer might call for us to add a kitchen sink to the set. The pleasure flights would be mostly around the Northwest, day trips with not much gear.

Bottom line, it would be unwise to spend big money on the care and feeding of my own plane if I could not use it for business trips up and down the West Coast. So it needed to be able to sip fuel when chasing hamburgers around the state on a clear and a million day.

I began looking at the different airframes. Price eliminated the Bonanzas, and useful load eliminated the Mooneys. It basically came down to Cessna and Piper, and I had quite a few hours in many variants of each. I first considered the Cessna 172 Skyhawk and 177 Cardinal, both very affordable, but neither had the full-fuel payload I needed. So I began sizing up their 182 Skylane, which delivered all the performance I desired, but came at a premium price way north of my $70,000 threshold.

Next I looked at the Piper Cherokee line. I loved the way the 180s flew, they were stable, predictable, and landings were smooth due to the ground effect of those sweet and low Hershey Bar wings. While the 180 did fit much of my mission profile, the 730 pounds of useful load and 50 gallons of dead dinosaurs on board was not enough to carry four adults and their bags on very long cross-country flights.

My research than led me to the Cherokee 235. It had all the performance and useful load of a Skylane, but comparably-equipped 235s were priced sometimes $30,000 less than 182s with generally equal engine and airframe times. I began connecting the dots, and no matter which way I looked at the 235, it suited my mission perfectly. In October, 2007, I bought N8527W, a 1964 235 model B. I found out later, Katy came off Piper's Vero Beach assembly line as the 26th 235 ever produced. When they say the early 235s deliver a really nice performance package...believe it:

“Katy” has a payload (after 84 gals of full fuel) of 930 lbs. That is enough to legally put a 200 lb. human in every seat and they all can bring aboard 32.5 lbs. of stuff. Those four pax will travel through thin air at about 121 KIAS burning 10 to 12 GPH depending on winds. She can make it Eugene to Fresno in four hours, and has enough range to actually make Los Angeles and even San Diego, if the PIC had equal, um, bladder capacity. She came with a price tag south of my $70K number, and has been very dependable, with predictable $1,000 annuals...the last one has NO squawks.

For big business trips, the 235 shines by taking me and LOTS of stuff a great distance. And for hamburger chasing, Katy sips fuel, climbs like a homesick angel at 1,500 – 2,000 FPM, and lands at 70 mph to consistently make the first turnoff.

The dance one must do while deciding what airplane to buy is significant, but important. I suggest taking the list I supplied above and modifying it with your numbers and your desires. Once you have an idea of the mission, and have identified the make/model of a flying machine that will suit those needs, I strongly suggest taking your time finding the perfect airplane. Do NOT buy the first airplane you look at on impulse, because I assure you the rush of adrenaline you will feel when you begin looking at airplanes that could actually be yours will be like crack cocaine to any aviator.

Be wise, be patient and be smart. Do those three things and you will have a positive love affair with YOUR airplane, one that nobody else can call theirs. And when you swing open those hangar doors for years to come, each time, you'll get a massive hit of pride, of elation, of lust.
   
Because there is simply no substitute for owning your own airplane.

The Money Burger from Chef Stuart Stein:BlueSkies Grille, Hampton Roads Executive Airport, Norfolk, Virginia (KPVG)

By Chef Stuart Stein

Hampton Roads Executive Airport (KPVG) is a fantastic example of a thriving general aviation complex. This non-towered airport has crossing runways, full serve and self-serve fueling facilities and a recently opened $2 million, 6,300 square foot executive terminal building. Located 7 miles southwest of the heart of downtown Norfolk and having access to the interstate freeway system makes it the perfect reliever airport for Norfolk International (KORF).

Steve Fox and Andy Gibbs, the principals of Virginia Aviation Associates, L.L.C., bought the airport through bankruptcy proceedings in May 2000. As pilots, these business men are committed to airport growth and improvement. Fox and Gibbs expanded from 300 acres to 634 acres, built a new terminal building and actively recruited aviation related businesses. These guys are just getting started. KPVG is currently in the process of constructing a new 5,350 foot east-west runway, converting the existing runway 10/28 to a taxiway and installing an ILS.

One flourishing business that seems to be the heart and soul of Hampton Roads Executive is Karen Singletry‘s BlueSkies Grille. Over the last ten years Karen, with her daughter Lauren and son Jarred, have fashioned a relaxing and friendly place to refuel and plane watch. A recently remolded patio facing the runways contains Adirondack patio chairs, bright blue umbrellas and white picnic tables. Inside vibrant red upholstered chairs and booths give this place an urban diner look. It just feels clean and inviting.

Ambience aside, patrons come for the view, the cuisine and Karen’s hospitality. Every one of the 40 seats gazes out on to the south flight line and runway 10/28. Cessna 172s, Piper Cherokees and an odd Cessna 336 in-line twin frequently pass by the window. A & Ps from Lear Steven’s Aviation next door float in and out throughout the day grabbing a piece of pie d’jour and a cup of coffee. Various hanger rats invariably stop by just to say “hi” to Karen.

BlueSkies is only open for lunch and serves a simplistic diner-like menu. Four categories dominate: Soup & Chili, Salads, Sandwiches & Franks and Desserts. Barely two dozen items in total. This place isn’t about local farmer produce, pasture-raised hand massaged cows or just off the boat fish. In fact there isn’t a piece of fresh fish offered. What BlueSkies is about is executing a limited short-order menu with grace and a smile.

The Lode Star Burger ($5.99), named after the WWII Lockhead C-60, is a solid ¼-pound beef patty topped with the regular fix’ns. It’s not pretentious, not fancy and not at all greasy. It is tasty. The Mile-High Club ($6.99) is an expanded version of their Turkey Sandwich ($6.49). It stacks alternate layers of sliced pre-purchased turkey and ham with crisp bacon and American cheese. The classic doesn’t break any new ground but does satisfy. The Grilled Chicken Salad ($7.29) has warm strips of grilled to order chicken breast over fresh chopped green leaf lettuce. Olives, red onions and tomatoes are nestled among the greens. Again, we’ve seen this before but somehow the bright, airy and sunny room makes it taste special.

While many menu items saw a can opener, BlueSkies’ Chili ($4.99) and Soup of the Day – Chicken noodle on this visit ($3.99 - $4.99) – were definitely made from scratch. Hearty offerings but it’s what the body craves in winter. “Today’s Desserts” selections are worth the trip. On this occasion Karen offered Banana Cream Pie ($3.49) and Apple Pie a la mode ($3.99). These were not made on premise but who cares. Yummy is yummy no matter the origin. The apple was decadently, gooey sweet while the banana cream had a dense, rich custard. In a word, delicious.

BlueSkies is a place you want to like and Karen and her staff make it easy. It isn’t the best diner food. It doesn’t have the widest selection of items. It doesn’t even have the best view of the airstrip. BlueSkies does have something elusive, something intangible. Call it a feeling, a vibe; a certain je ne sais quoi. Whatever you call “it”, it keeps newcomers coming and regulars coming back.

Hampton Roads Executive Airport (KPVG)
Elevation: 23 ft. / 7.0 m (surveyed)
Zip code: 23321
Sectional chart: Washington
Control tower: no
ARTCC: Washington Center
FSS: Leesburg FSS
Wind indicator: lighted
Segmented circle: no
Runways: 02/20 3,525 x 70ft. and 10/28 4,057 x 70ft
Traffic Pattern: 677 ft. AGL for helicopters, 1,223 MSL for multiengine aircraft
& turbine aircraft, 1,023 MSL for light aircraft
Right Pattern for runway 10 & 20
Lights: Dusk-Dawn, ACTVT MIRL RYS 02/20 & 10/28 - CTAF.
CTAF/UNICOM: 123.0
WX AWOS-3: 118.375 (757-465-2175)
www.flypvg.com

BlueSkies Grille
5172 West Military Highway #D
Chesapeake, VA 23321
Phone: (757) 405-3313
Hours:
Open Monday - Sunday 11:00AM - 2:30PM
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Skies-Grille/102819743107035?sk=wall
blueskiesgrille@yahoo.com

EAA 1457 and KEUG Firefighters Meet toLearn How to Work Together

As a hangar resident of Eugene, Oregon's KEUG (Mahlon Sweet Field), I have watched as the City of Eugene constructed the airport's new Station 12 literally about 50 paces from my hangar door. And even though the station is up, running and fully staffed, I had yet to walk over there and say hello. So the recently January meeting of my EAA Chapter at the station was a highly-anticipated event.

The meeting was the first for our new club President, Bob McManus, who also happens to own the Jabiru parked next to my Cherokee 235 in our large group hangar. Bob really got his tenure off to a roaring start by arranging the firehouse meeting, which ended up being extremely productive for both the pilots and firefighters.

Prior to a tour of the new facility – which earned a LEED Silver Award – the EAA members packed the station's conference room for a very informative session aimed at education in both directions. The firefighters were interesting in learning specifics of GA airplanes while also helping the EAA members to better understand how their station functions in an emergency.
   
The presenter at Monday’s meeting was Engineer Linn Burch.  He is a line firefighter/paramedic, with the rank of Engineer, which means he is an apparatus operator.  He is coordinating training for the City of Eugene's Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) team.

The ARFF-certified firefighters who crew the station consistently earn A+ ratings in their FAA evaluations, and they can tell you precisely where system shutoffs are on each commercial airplane that services KEUG. But they pointed out there was “very little” specific training aimed at GA airplanes. Two such specifics discussed were the ballistic rockets used not only on Cirrus airplanes but also many ultralights and Light Sport models, and also best practices for accessing a tightly-cowled composite experimental engine compartment that is on fire.

District Chief Craig Shelby said this about the department's interest in learning about GA airplanes: “Speaking specifically to GA knowledge with ARFF Teams, I would have to say the primary training is directed towards commercial aircraft, since ARFF is required for the airlines/airport to stay in business. We recognize GA is often the majority of traffic at an airport, so it is everyone’s best interest to having a better working knowledge of GA so we can serve all of our customers. It is Linn Birch's passion for training, and his desire to make it interesting (and based on questions he has received from team members) that has promoted our efforts to include GA aircraft information in our monthly training. For resource information, Linn is a member of the ARFF Working Group. (www.arffwg.org)  They have a publication, and work cooperatively with the American Association of Airport Executives. He uses this resource to network with other trainers, and to share information.”

 Also discussed was the possibility of notifying the fire station when an experimental airplane was about to make its first flight, or even light off a new engine for the first time. Since many builders call the tower before a first test flight, the firefighters said a call from ATC to their station via a direct line would be easy to coordinate.

When asked about being on hand at a member's hangar when starting a fresh engine, one firefighter said their crew were “like sponges” as they learned new ways to serve the airport community, and that seemed like an easy thing to coordinate.

Lots of discussion was spent talking about when to declare an emergency. The fire guys and an ATC controller in the audience agreed that we should “declare early” so emergency crews can be as prepared as possible. One point made by former United Captain and EAA 1457  member Phil Groshong drew muted chuckles from the crowd when he said the "worst time to declare emergency is after you crash." Makes sense to me.

After the official meeting, it was on to the tour, which was quite cool, if you love gigantic fire trucks (who doesn't?). We saw how the crews live, eat, relax and work out in the on-site gym, but the real star of the show was the 1991 Oshkosh T-1500 truck at center stage in the main equipment bay of the station.

Painted in fantastic day-glow yellow, this particular Oshkosh fire truck carries 1,585 gallons of water, 205 gallons of AFFF foam and 700 pounds of “purple-k” dry chemical. Any of this can be dispensed RAPIDLY through a roof turret rated at 375-750 gallons per minute or a bumper turret that delivers 300 gpm.

This however is not the biggest, baddest truck in the Station 12 fleet. In the shop on the day of our tour is their 2004 Oshkosh Striker, which is larger and has more capacity than the T-1500 we saw.

After taking turns sitting in the “flight deck” of the T-1500 enjoying a panel that has enough switches and steam gauges to make any aviator smile, we toured the “Disaster Trailer” which is a Wells Cargo rig stocked with 100 backboards, patient movers (rugged large-wheel  gurneys), medical triage boxes, IVs and Oxygen.

Overall, this session brought the two communities of the airport together. We EAA members learned about how the station operates while the fire crews got to ask specific questions about the airplanes we fly. Many in attendance predicted that this new collaboration will continue and grow as we aim to help the firefighters who help us when needed.

Six Great Private Pilot Training Programs in the U.S.

Editor's note: This guest post is one of many we hope to publish on the Airplanista aviation blog. If you have a completed story or post, we'd love to review it for possible publication...please email it here.

By Courtney Henderson

There are hundreds of flight schools located across the United States, many of which offer great instruction. When searching for an aviation training school, you will want to make sure the school you choose is the best for your needs.

First off, if you are seeking a private pilot license, make sure you are looking for a school that caters to this type of student. Some aviation schools only offer instruction for commercial pilots. In addition, research whether the school operates under Part 61 or Part 141 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Available aircraft fleet and cost of the program should also be taken into account. To verify the credibility of the school, contact your local FAA Flight Standards District Office, Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce to check the school’s safety records and business practices.

Listed below are six great flight training programs in the United States. By no means are these the top programs. However, they are the better programs in their respective locations. If you do not live near any of these schools, contact your local airport or community college to inquire about any recommended flight training schools in your area.

Flying Tigers in Houston, Texas: Associated with Lee College in Baytown, Texas, the Flying Tigers flight school offers top rate flight courses and training at a great price. A wide variety of aircraft types are available to give you the opportunity to learn the most about visual and instrument flight rules.

Dean International in Miami, Florida: Earn your private pilot or commercial pilot license at one of the most prestigious flight schools in North America. Dean International has 35 aircraft in their fleet and has educated more than 6,000 pilots from all over the world.

Flight Safety International: With 40 learning center locations across the world, Flight Safety International is one of the leading aviation training companies in the industry. The company’s headquarters is in the United States, and most of its training centers are located in the U.S., as well. In addition to private and commercial pilot training, they also offer maintenance technician, flight attendant and dispatcher training.

Connecticut Flight Academy in Hartford, Connecticut: This school operates out of the Hartford Brainard Airport (KHFD). Because the school is so closely located to some of the world’s busiest airports (New York and Boston), students are well-trained in operating aircraft in high traffic areas.

Aviation Professionals Incorporated in Chicago, Illinois: Operating out of Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) this flight school boasts itself as one of the oldest flight training schools in America. Training is offered for both private and commercial pilot licenses.

Alliance Flight Schools in Scottsdale, Arizona: Instruction is one-on-one at this training center that operates out of Scottsdale Municipal Airport (KSDL). Standard and accelerated courses are offered for earning your private pilot license.

Courtney Henderson is writer and editor for Airport Management Degrees. In her spare time, she likes to write guest articles for various websites on various topics of interest.

Invest :60 seconds to Help AIN Report on a Vital Topic

I have made the point many times that quite possibly the finest news source for monthly aviation news is Aviation International News (AIN). While other more frequent publications like General Aviation News and Pacific Flyer have GA issues covered very well, and while AOPA Pilot Magazine succeeds in raising the bar each month for glossy aviation magazines, nobody reports aviation in-depth like AIN. Their reporting on all elements of our aviation world is stellar, and one of those reporters who seems to consistently crank out much of this fascinating content is AIN's Matt Thurber.

Recently, Thurber posted a quick survey online and I am asking my readers to quickly go here and help Thurber and AIN by taking one minute to participate. Thurber made this really easy for you by having everything on one quick page. It is short, concise, and will provide vital input on an important topic.

AIN's Pilot Training and Professionalism Survey has just five questions, so please drop what you are doing right now and invest sixty seconds in helping this reporter obtain some info for a future piece.

If you have questions, feel free to contact Thurber via email here.

Prolific Flight Attendants Very Much a Part of Our Aviation Family

By Dan Pimentel
Airplanista Blog Editor

It is quite easy during the first few minutes of a commercial airline flight to all but ignore the Flight Attendants (FAs) asking you – nicely – to take your seat and stow your stuff. We spend the next few moments avoiding the safety briefing, cocky as we are, thinking we already know how to fasten a seat belt, what more do they need to tell us anyway? Oh yeah, the exits, yada yada, flotation devices blah blah.

But try as we do to ignore FAs, funny how we travelers will quickly push that call button the second we need something. Soda not cold enough? Push the yellow button. Pretzels just a tad too stale? Yep...yellow button.

FAs get nowhere near the respect they deserve. They are a vital, highly-trained member of every flight's crew, and I can assure you, when the call goes out that an emergency is on board, any FA on any carrier will know what to do.

The lives these people lead are interesting at best, and chaotic at worst. If it possible for them to enjoy a somewhat normal life with family, home and hobbies, but they spend many nights alone in a crash pad or hotel room with time to kill. How FAs fill that time varies, but two that I know pull out their laptops and write really fantastic blogs and books.

I was prompted to write this post after seeing the new re-design of The Flying Pinto blog, written by Sara Keagle (Pinto). Here, you will this sort of enjoyable material:

The Crazy Things Passengers Say to Flight Attendants
Drunks on a Plane: The Top 10 Hottest Messes at 35,000FT
Top Ten Gross Things Flight Attendants Have Seen
Flight Attendant Careers: Gay vs Straight
My Favorite (Kids Travel) Things
Ask the Flight Attendant: Flight Attendant Salaries
The Ten Types of Annoying Passengers, According to a Flight Attendant
Do Passengers Really Hate Us: A ParodyFlight Attendant Hazing

Sara's blog is hip, upbeat, colorful, and reads very well. It's a very good example of how we bloggers do it right as she keeps it lively, fresh and relevant. How she does this on the go with a career and family at home is just shy of a modern technomiracle.

Another FA that writes a very good blog (and upcoming book) is Heather Poole. Her Another Flight Attendant Writing About Flying blog has almost endless content, all which pulls back the curtain on her life as an FA.

Some top posts from Poole's blog:

How much do flight attendants get paid?Crew Confessions
Flight attendant buddy passes - do you REALLLY want one?
Height, weight and age requirements for flight attendants (and why Christina Ricci could never be a Pan Am stewardess)
Gifts for flight attendants - and travelers!
Why are so many flight attendants gay? A straight point of view...
Luggage Review: Club Glove Flight Crew Set
5 tips for traveling with a wedding dress

Two aviation bloggers, Benet Wilson, left,
and Jon Ostrower shown "Laviating" in the Lav
of a Gulfstream once owned by Oprah Winfrey.

If you know of the phenomenon know as Laviating then you've been to Heather's site. Here you'll find numerous self-portraits of people taken in Lavs around the globe.

Poole is also an author with a high-profile book coming in March, 2012. Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet is sure to be a great read, written by someone who knows how to write well and has been there and done that. This is what Amazon.com has to say about Poole's upcoming book:

Real-life flight attendant Heather Poole has written a charming and funny insider’s account of life and work in the not-always-friendly skies. Cruising Attitude is a Coffee, Tea, or Me? for the 21st century, as the author parlays her fifteen years of flight experience into a delightful account of crazy airline passengers and crew drama, of overcrowded crashpads in “Crew Gardens” Queens and finding love at 35,000 feet. The popular author of “Galley Gossip,” a weekly column for AOL’s award-winning travel website Gadling.com, Poole not only shares great stories, but also explains the ins and outs of flying, as seen from the flight attendant’s jump seat.

These are just two of the MANY Flight Attendants who write about their profession. You might be served by one of them on your next commercial flight. So you are hereby warned that if you choose to do something stupid, irresponsible, crazy, whack, or flagrantly stoopid on board a scheduled flight, the chances are higher than you realize that the smiling person in the uniform asking you politely to STFU and take your seat might well be taking notes for their next blog post.

A Rare Opportunity for an Up Close Look at the F-22 Raptor

Photo: Lockheed Martin

By Adam Fast  | @adamcanfly

"Congratulations," the email started, "you have been selected to attend our first Lockheed Martin Tweetup". That led to frantic trip planning, and a bunch of excitement.

Twitter and these 'Tweetups' have given me an incredible number of experiences that most could never imagine, something I'm very thankful for. My first Space Shuttle launch at STS-129, visiting Mission Control for STS-130 (forever cementing my human space flight geekiness) technically our entry with @MyTransponder to the Boeing DreamLiner before the public were admitted at Oshkosh, and now this.

This? Being present for the factory rollout of the final F-22 Raptor, SN 195 and an opportunity to spend some time in one of the simulators (later learning it's technically the "cockpit demonstrator." While it is a real chunk of airframe with accurate controls, the things displayed on the screen and HUD are the unclassified version.) Oh, and we'll be going through the C-130J and P-3 wing assembly lines. And I was one out of the 14 selected of 60 applicants.

We arrived and were escorted to B(uilding) 2 on Dobbins Air Force Base which connects to B-1, the building which holds the assembly lines for the C-130J, P-3 and (now being decommissioned) the F-22. There was mention of assemblies for the F-35 too, but we avoided those areas due to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) concerns. Sound like a big building? Try 3.3 million square feet. To access our conference room, we had to walk into the factory area - and it was overwhelming. The sights, sounds and smell was very industrial - sort of like your local maintenance shop, only immaculately clean, tape on the floor indicating where each creeper, parts bin and tool box was to be kept when not required for some piece of assembly.

B-1 was built in a bit over a year to facilitate assembly of B-29s, and has been used for aircraft production most of the time since. It's common to see anything from a small bicycle (with large baskets for carrying items) to full size pickup trucks driving in the aisles, which are the size of a normal two-way city street. 

After introductions and discussing some of the rules (like no photography, period) we headed out through the factory floor, and inside the fenced-in-inside-the-building area where the Raptor was assembled - now empty, except for a single complete airframe, off the line and lit with spotlights. I incorrectly tweeted it looked baby blue - it did, but that was more due to the color the lights were programmed for. When it got outside it was definitely green, lighter so than you would see on a Boeing airliner, for instance, if you've watched their rollout festivities. A couple people spoke, a video was shown, and it was showtime. From our spot there's a gigantic US flag under which is written "Through these doors pass the most awesome fighters in the world." Some ways away more sobering statement can be found: "A mistake covered up may cost the life of a brave pilot."

Photo: Lockheed Martin

A loud bell began ringing (a safety indication that the hangar doors would be opening very soon) and a drumroll started. A local high school marching band would be following the plane. And the parade was off! The tug was pulling the airframe, followed by the marching band, the program and military leadership, and the employees. We were mixed into the employee group, the fourteen "tweeters" and our four "chaperones" who later said "it was easy to keep track of you all - we just had to look for who were looking down regularly and holding a smartphone".

The convoy continued for some ways around the corner of the building and to the front, stopping at the intersection the Raptor would be taken down to be completed - testing the fuel tanks, final electronics work, and test flying before ultimately getting its paint and special stealth coatings and delivery in the summer of 2012. There the management, employee, marching band, and eventually we got our photos taken with the aircraft. Everybody went back to work, and we headed back to our conference room for lunch. There two test pilots, Trigger (who of course would not explain his call sign) and JB (who wouldn't even acknowledge HAVING a call sign) told stories and answered questions about their experiences doing production test flying on the Raptor.

After lunch came a split into two groups, and my group went out onto the C-130 and P-3 floor. Walking from station to station we saw a floor become an airframe, wings appear, and engines / propellers be installed until the very last spot where a completed Hercules awaited its trip to the paint booth. Then it was time for fun - on to the cockpit demonstrator. It's not full-motion, and the avionics displays aren't the same since many capabilities are classified - but it's a "legit" airframe and controls. We didn't have much time, so we cycled in and out through air to air, air to ground and landing sorties - but the systems (at least what we could see) are incredibly advanced and pretty awe-inspiring.

If you came here expecting an objective view of the F-22 program, plane, or policy - sorry, this isn't it. I'm a fanboy, and I will admit that without hesitation. This is an incredible aircraft with the technology to keep our pilots safe and enemies fearful. I'm thankful for the opportunity to visit and Lockheed Martin's hospitality during our visit. Our entire group didn't open a door during our entire visit - there was always someone there. It felt like we were actually somebody important. What a great trip!

The Epicenter of General Aviation – as Seen From Space

Google Earth's satellite images of the crust of our planet are a marvel of modern technology. I am forever amazed at how detailed they have become, and that makes me wonder what even more precise detail our country's spy satellites can achieve.

Despite the many uses for Google satellite images in our daily lives, one weakness in their system was the often stale nature of the images. We the viewer were always at the mercy of Google's satellite orbital schedule, and since this planet is a fairly large target, sometimes an image stays on their system for a very long time.

So it is very good news that somehow, the current Google Earth satellite image of Wittman Regional Airport (KOSH) was taken on opening day of AirVenture Oshkosh last summer on July 25 according to EAA.

When you take a zoomed-in look at the Oshkosh show grounds in these Google images, it is easy to spot favorite locations on the field. Of interest to me were two spots, one was the parking spot of Cory Robin's “Wilgabeast” out in the North 40:

From space, Cory's 1984 PZL 104 Wilga 35A looks much like any other high wing airplane parked in the endless rows of parking that parallel's KOSH's runway 9/27. But the way Cory brought us all along for the ride as he journeyed to and from Wisconsin is notable. He tweeted and posted on Facebook about going “Low and Slow to Oshkosh” and it was a really interesting look at a very interesting flying machine. Once there, Robin personally impressed me when he donated two dozen posters of Amanda Franklin to my magazine's Tweeplechase event. He had purchased the posters as a fund raiser for the Franklin Flying Circus, and by donating them to Airplanista Magazine, he leveraged that purchase to do as much good as possible. BTW, the “Wilgabeast” as it is affectionately called, has undergone a complete off-season engine replacement, adding another 100hp, and will have a new paint scheme and super groovy new nose art designed by a Brussels artist when we see it again this summer at Oshkosh 2012.

Also of note was a look at the opposite end of the show, down in Camp Scholler:

When you look at the screen grab posted in Twitter by @Eyeno of Camp Bacon, you see all that makes a trip to Oshkosh so special. The red vehicle at the top of the inset above is the Chevrolet HHR owned by Martt Klupper, a.k.a @AirPigz, and the large RV to the bottom of the inset is Mike Miley's @HomeSweetRoad, a.k.a. the mobile home of the MyTransponder digital universe during AirVenture. The RV to the right was the OSH temporary home of @Adamcanfly and @PilotStu. This collection of tents, beer, bacon, camaraderie and aviators demonstrates the social nature of this event. Throughout the show, people come and go at Camp Bacon, telling stories and enjoying the company of many like minds. Camp Baconites lean heavily on the geek end of the aviator spectrum, all are on Twitter all day every day, and the camp is ground zero for meet-ups between new friends and those who are eating the bacon (drinking the Kool-aid?) for the first time. Oh, and all that bacon? It's a Martt thing, 'nuf said.

While the two tiny insets I have added above give you a glimpse into just two stories that were running concurrently at #OSH11, the enormity of the entire show grounds multiplies those stories many thousands of times. If you have been lucky enough to get to the “World's Largest Aviation Celebration” and have walked all day every day, now that you see the show as a whole, you know why your feet and legs ached when you finally stopped for the night.

Every speck of this satellite image has a back story, a tale of aviators who waited all year to load up the Cessna and plow across the square states towards the biggest hangar party ever created. If you have never been to AirVenture, go here and zoom around a bit, and try to imagine being down there on the ground, immersed in all that aviation goodness.

Many of you will be already planning your #OSH12 trip, but I do not think I will be in your camp this summer. I have a massive European trip planned about the same time, and taking time off work for both Oshkosh AND Vienna will be impossible. So I think I'll be skipping this year's version of the Oshbash, which is a bummer but it'll give me many more months to prep for a grand re-appearance at #OSH13.

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 and Little-Known Airfields. The site – published by Paul Freeman – is a treasure trove of information about those long-lost patches of yesteryear. 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 and 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 from 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:

Schappert's New FAR/AIM Book Is a Very Good Idea

Anyone who has ever sifted through the full-on version of the FAR/AIM manual knows it reads with all the delight of the IRS Tax Code. My copy has post-its and highlighter throughout the section that covers IFR flight, because I know my CFI, Jim Hunt, is going to ask me about these items at every Instrument Proficiency Check. If not for the various flags, I'd be stuck digging deep to try and find relevant answers.

But now, the problem of having a “War and Peace” length FAR/AIM has been solved for Private and Sport Pilots, by CFI Jason Schappert.

"There are over 1,200 regulations in the FAR/AIM,” Schappert said, “however only about 100 of those concern Private and Sport Pilots. We pulled out all the fluff leaving only what you really need to know for your Sport/Private Pilot certificate. Each regulation is transcribed then broken down into plain, conversational english. Regulations are even tagged as "Popular Checkride Questions" so students really know where to study hard."

This book is a MUST BUY (after all it IS the Christmas shopping season hint hint) for any Private or Sport pilot, and especially for any student pilot. It reads easily, due to editing by Benet Wilson, a long-time Twitter #Avgeek and new addition to AOPA's social media team.

Click the banner ad above to buy this book right now, you will enjoy it. Schappert's book is available as an eBook or as paperback through Amazon...and any books bought through the ad above helps to support the Airplanista blog.

Looking Back on Four Years of Aircraft Ownership

Photo: Michael Patrick Connolly | Illustration by the author

By Dan Pimentel,
Airplanista Blog Editor

In October, 2007, I traveled to Whiteman Airport in Los Angeles to pick up my 1964 Piper Cherokee 235, a journey that began a love affair with an airplane. Yes, we pilots get like that with our babies, and I believe it's healthy for an aviator to be enamored with his or her flying machine.

This article generally is not for the owner/pilot, because you already know this drill. Instead, it is meant for the student pilot now learning and hoping to one day buy a plane, the renter pilot who really REALLY wants a ship of his/her own, or the person on the street who thinks owning an airplane would be cool but knows zero about what is involved.

I will break down things that I believe you'll find of interest, tidbits of information I have learned – some the hard way – in my four years as the owner of “Katy” our beloved 235. First, let's start with this statement:

Unless you fly your airplane as many as 20 hours a month, single ownership of a private  – and the costs thereof – really doesn't pencil out. In fact, if you just go chase a few hamburgers once in a while when the WX is clear and 1,000,000, it can look like a serious money pit if you really get down and crunch numbers. But when you consider the sheer exhilaration of swinging open your hangar door and seeing YOUR airplane waiting to lift you skyward, it becomes a much better value. How can anyone put a dollar figure on the joy of flying? And more importantly in this conversation, how can anyone correctly determine the personal value a pilot gains by being lucky enough to have bought a personal transportation miracle? Things like oil, and annuals, they become line items on a spreadsheet. But spend a few precious hours alone in your hangar, polishing wings that are already shiny just because you can, and you quickly realize that this is a quality life easily worth the price.   

I'm not going to break down the hard costs of private airplane ownership. There are plenty of good resources for that on AOPA.org and NBAA.org. Instead, I want to get more philosophical, and provide thinking that goes deeper than just numbers.

My thought process as I examine the worth of owning Katy actually starts at the end of this saga...50 years from now. That's when I see myself lying on a bed somewhere, waiting to “Go West” to fly with Lindbergh and Papa Louie. It will be then that I can look back on my life and say I accomplished one of the things that made my life well lived. I worked hard, saved money, made minimal financial mistakes, and along the way, bought not just some tiny toy airplane, but a decent, comfortable, capable, cross-country load hauler airplane. In life, we all have goals, and one of mine, from as far back as I can remember, was not only to fly, but to own an airplane I can call my own. So regardless of the cost, as I pass from this life to the next, I will have considered that accomplishment nailed.

When we first saw Katy, I was in lust, and clouds covered my eyes and blurred a clear view of her. I first laid eyes on her at Fresno's Air Terminal, and didn't see many of the knicks, scratches, worn/chipped paint or almost microscopic indentations from hail. What I did see was an immaculate interior, a very low-time engine that looked factory new, and a decent IFR panel with King radios and an assortment of digital upgrades and goodies. On that first test flight, she flew straight and was powerful, a stable ship that on a gusty day was easy to maneuver. I made an offer that was accepted, and I was well on my way to airplane ownership.

But when I returned to Los Angeles to witness the annual and finalize the deal, I began seeing things I had not seen before. No dealbreakers, just more “age spots” than I had first seen. Knowing nothing about annuals, and being a rookie at ownership, I made what could have been a fatal mistake and had the seller's mechanic who was doing the annual also do the pre-buy inspection. That could have been a huge problem, but now, after four years and three subsequent annuals, nothing big was overlooked, and I believe that even with a pre-buy from a third party, I would still have bought the airplane.

Owning a nearly-vintage airplane (Katy is 47 years young) might be pause for concern, but thankfully the Piper engineers in Vero Beach got the Cherokee line right. This plane has proven to be bulletproof, with only minor squawks found at annuals. In fact, there have been a few ticky-tacky little things to fix, like a broken pilot's side air vent or a ridiculously hard to adjust door latch, and we've cleaned up numerous wiring disasters caused by ham-handed techs cobbling together avionics the easy way, instead of the right way. In general, the plane has been rock-solid, with a very high dispatch percentage rate.

From a maintenance perspective, annuals have been quite predictable, ranging from $800 to $1,800. We've had two starter issues, one a massive starter failure that took out the ring gear, and also a stuck starter solenoid that meant the prop cranked over the minute you switched on the Master...not good. Both came on days when we were departing on important trips, generating more than a few %$#@!*&% words not suitable for publication here.

My airplane ownership experience has been far more positive than negative. We've taken Katy on numerous business trips up and down the West Coast, including one trip to film a TV commercial in California that really proved the worth of private airplane ownership, and in particular, ownership of this make/model:

The shoot was for a client who was at the time offering real charter services in Cirrus SR-22s. We had arranged to have a beautiful silver -22 meet us at the Reedley airport outside Fresno, along with a Los Angeles-based crew and their large truckload of equipment. We departed Eugene with four adults in Katy, plus full fuel (84 gallons) and as much gear as we could stuff in any part of the cabin not occupied by humans. We were still under legal gross weight, and flew non-stop right to the shoot in just under four hours and about 50 gallons burned. At the time, AvGas was about $4.50, and R/T end up costing $112.50 per pax in fuel alone. Even if I were to double that figure for fixed costs, engine wear etc., it still was far cheaper than the airlines...and took about 1/3 the time door-to-door when you consider how much wasted time we'd have endured waddling through the hub-and-spoke system, and renting a car to drive to the shoot.   

On another trip to California, we were able to make a stop in Grass Valley outside Sacramento, meet with a client 35 miles east of Fresno, RON with friends, and visit a client in the Bay Area on our trip north the next day. Two days, three clients...two of them in small remote cities not served by commercial carriers. It was an impossible itinerary using anything but a private airplane.

So, enough already about dollars and cents...let's talk about what I gain through private airplane ownership. The very first word that pops into my mind is efficient....that an airplane allows efficient travel without the need to deal with the airlines or stumble through the Amtrak system on a schedule that is at the mercy of the next freight train around the bend.

With Katy, we can fly many short routes in a day, or fly longer legs and enjoy an overnight at a destination that would take hours to drive. One example was yet another business trip from Oregon to California:

I awoke early and checked online WX between Eugene, OR and Fresno, CA, and saw a quick IFR departure through a thin layer, and nothing dramatic on the entire southbound route. That did not jive with what the TV news guys and TAFs had suggested, that thunderstorms were forecast in the area of Mt. Shasta in NorCal. Since this was a winter IFR trip, I chose to back that data up with a phone call to an actual human with a phone briefing...where I received the bad news that IFR or VFR was “not advised” due to “severe” thunderstorms in the area of the Siskiyou Range. So we elected to pack the car and drive to Fresno. About 12 hours later, after wasting 66% more time on the southbound leg, we arrived tired, grumpy and had lost one entire productive day of our trip. Oh, and we will also lose yet another day with clients because now we have to repeat the 12-hour trek north up Interstate 5 by car to return home.   

Owning our airplane makes many day trips possible, and adds greatly to our quality of life. When we just have to scarf down Tuna Fish and Chips by the sea in Astoria – nestled in the far northwest corner of my state – it's an easy 1.0 flight in Katy, but a 4.0 hour journey in a car. We can have a leisurely Sunday wake up, saunter to the hangar and slip over to The Bowpicker for lunch. We can wander aimlessly on the beach before a smooth, easy hop back to the southern Willamette Valley, arriving fed, relaxed and refreshed hours before the evening news. That. My flying friends, is functionality.

Some of the benefits we as business owners enjoy when traveling via private airplane are obvious and can be quantified with saved dollars or hours. But here is one huge thing about owning Katy that I believe gives me a competitive advantage as the President of an advertising agency/creative studio that promotes aviation businesses, and that is ramp cachet:

On numerous occasions, we have been invited to pitch a campaign to an airport located on an airport, such as an avionics shop, FBO or OEM parts manufacturer. Sure, the competition shows up in Brooks Brothers suits driving a Mercedes, but they arrive at the wrong side of the building. We arrive in our private corporate airplane, and after parking our airplane on the correct side of the building (the ramp), we are greeting not as sales people, but as AVIATORS. Since we pilot types tend to support each other, without even beginning our Dog and Pony Show, we've established ourselves as an aviation company, because we fly, and that translates into an understanding the business of flying. Arriving by private airplane to conduct business gives the impression that you are successful...because you are.   

So in review, yes, there have been financial hits, and none of which are ever easy to swallow. But Katy is a solid performer, and can actually carry four adults and their stuff as far as her full fuel tanks can take them. When the plusses meet the minuses, it's not even close, owning a plane beats not owning one.

I will take private airplane ownership any day...because it is as wonderful an experience as you imagine. If flying is freedom, it is safe to assume that flying your very own airplane is the ultimate freedom.

Steam Gauge Studies

By Tim Evart
for Airplanista Aviation Blog

The scuttlebutt at my son’s airline is that pilot applicants for first officer slots in the company’s Dash 8 turboprops are failing pre-hire simulator rides at higher rates when coming from flight training experience limited to glass cockpits. There are no available statistics that I’ve been able to find regarding the difficulty in pilot transitions from one instrument display to another but it at least seems a reasonable possibility. The recent past had pilots transitioning from knowing how to fly with analog gauges to learning to fly with the newer electronic displays, not the other way around.

Although I have limited experience with these new, electronic “glass cockpit” flight displays, from the literature it seems accepted by most that they are relatively easy to transition to. This would make sense too as electronic displays are a more recent invention with newly discovered human factors information built into their design. Debate regarding the efficacy of this design is not what I am qualified to comment on in spite of my opinions on certain aspects of it. I do for example prefer to use an old fashioned analog watch rather than a digital version to tell time. This doesn’t mean I can’t tell time with a digital clock, I simply like the full 12 hour display from which to discern the current time location.

Similarly, although I may read with an appreciative nod about speed/altitude strip confusion written by pilots forced to make the transition from “steam” gauges to “glass”, my guess is that with a short time allowed in a training situation, most pilots would get used to reading the strip display. Oppositely, and with equal inexperience, I can only imagine the trials and tribulations in getting used to analog gauges after soloing in a G1000 equipped C-172SP and never flying anything less, all the way through commercial/instrument AMEL. Thus we arrive at the potentially troubling matter at hand:

Are flight schools with nothing but glass cockpits handicapping their students interested in a career as a professional pilot?

The Hook

A cursory look at prominent collegiate flight schools reveals advertising touting the advantages of learning to fly in aircraft equipped with the latest in cockpit flight displays. The marketing hook is to “train for the future” in aircraft with the latest equipment to prepare the student for the type of flying they will supposedly be doing right out of school. After all, who would want to train on those old fashioned mechanical gauges you can find at all the other flight schools?

Well, I hate to burst any bubbles, but the future hasn’t quite made it here yet. If you are an aspiring airline or corporate pilot, you will in all likelihood, get your first flying job in aircraft equipped with the old fashioned six pack of steam gauges. Unless that first job is at the flight school that taught you on glass as a CFI teaching your students on glass, you will most likely be flying airplanes with analog gauges. Additionally, you will be using equipment with two VOR’s if you’re lucky, just one if you’re not. At the bare minimum you should be able to use one VOR to find cross radial intersections in IFR situations, since the other VOR may fail in flight. The point is that whether you instruct, fly aerial survey, freight or passengers in turboprops, you will probably be flying older aircraft equipped with steam gauges and radio navigation instruments. You can probably get away with limited experience on NDB/ADF usage, but you had better know how to keep the sunny side up with a gauge roughly the square millimeter size of your iPhone.

ADF to GPS

Today’s GPS system is driving us toward a time when it may dominate the world of aviation navigation. Knowledge of how to use the older units like the Garmin GNS 430 can occupy the brain cells that normally would have been reserved for the ADF. When the time comes to upgrade to a more sophisticated unit those skills will transfer over if you stay in the same family of Garmin avionics like the G1000. If your first experience with full glass avionics is from a different manufacturer, my hunch is it will still be a relatively easy transition. The 430 is a popular unit, installed in many GA aircraft and thus more likely to be in a new commercial pilot’s first working plane. And since ADF is being rapidly replaced by GPS as the alternative to VOR/localizer/ILS navigation, you will be better served learning older, simpler GPS avionics well than newer, more complex and expensive systems as long as you don’t foresee a pressing use for them in the near future.

Harder to Go Back?

Where does this leave those pilots facing a pre-hire simulator session after being raised on glass? My advice would be to get some training in a flight training device (FTD) set up with analog gauges and then finish off with some flight time in an older training aircraft and a CFII. Finally, you could prepare for the sim session with an FTD patterned after the aircraft parameters you will be tested on. There are plenty of pilot candidates, new hires and up graders using Microsoft’s Flight Simulator PC software and a cheap yoke or flight stick to sharpen up for a simulator ride with surprisingly good results.

Conclusion

This is by no means meant to disparage those student pilots with the wherewithal to purchase a modern aircraft post certificate or the instructors that would train them on the latest in glass. If you can afford to buy the more expensive training and aircraft, more power to you. This is just to make note of the recent developments anecdotally seen at one airline. The development will probably be short lived anyway with pressure to hire new FO’s with more experience than allowed in the past. Regardless, the point is still valid that young people with ambitions to fly in today’s commercial environment will be better served to seek out safe aircraft with steam gauges in which to learn.

The airplanes you fly in your entry level pilot jobs will usually be old. The company that owns them will not have the finances to upgrade them to a glass cockpit and then make sure every pilot in their employ can fly it safely. For better or worse, like it or not, this is the world of professional aviation for those pilots working on getting the required experience to fly that fancy biz jet or 767. Your “Steam Gauge Studies” will do you well regardless of what direction your flying takes you.

Undercover Report: Santa's Flying Sleigh:How Miracles Really Happen

Along about this time every year, the "Elves" in Santa, Inc.'s secret underground hanger at Bradley Sky-Ranch Airport (95Z) in North Pole, Alaska, are very busy. These are not the regular toymaking Elves, or even Keebler Elves, but highly-skilled Sleigh Technicians certified in Airframe and Powerplant repairs and inspections for once very special flying machine:

When you break down the mission that Santa's Sleigh has to accomplish in one night, it makes sense that it takes 5,698 FAA-licensed Elves to keep it free of squawks. We've had a mole inside the secret hangar and determined – based on various unverified sources from inside Santa's operation – these unsubstantiated but nonetheless interesting facts about his annual mission:

Miles traveled to every chimney in the world: 2,123,907 nm

No. of takeoffs & landings: 141,784,554

Percentage of VFR vs. IFR weather: 66% VFR / 34% IFR

No. of instrument approaches: 61,867,408

Breakdown of approaches: ILS 60.1%, GPS 34.1%, other 3.8)

Average speed: 1,207 KIAS

Average altitude: 17' AGL

Packages delivered: 1,458,569,208

Average presents per household: 10.2

Cookies consumed: 850,707,324

So how, you might ask, can one craft complete such a remarkable mission? To find out the secrets to Santa's sleigh, Airplanista's mole went inside Santa's Flight Department and has been undercover since early November. In several interviews with Elves at the highest levels of Santa, Inc., we obtained the following quotes, presented here verbatim: 

One area of continuous concern among pilots is the sleigh's powerplant. In order to make the high number of operations all in one night, we caught up with third shift Engine Technician Elf Arlyn T. Treeroot, who said this: "I don't want to insult the readers of your little blog, but they will not possess the intellect to comprehend the sleigh's powerplant. It is a Trangressional Orbital Molecular Mobilization Articulation System, or TOMMAS. What happens is that every 1,300th of a second, the entire molecular structure of the sleigh, the toys and even the damn reindeer are regenerated exactly one sleigh length ahead, or roughly 39 feet. So in one second, Santa and his sleigh can cover about 9.6 nautical miles. That means, say those ATC wannabes at NORAD give him vectors around unsafe weather and he has to deviate from San Francisco to Miami, POW, he can make that leg happen in 3.89 seconds! At this rate, the little hop from one chimney to the next happens in mere fractions of nanoseconds. Yeah, let your little readers chew on THAT!"

Jeez, what Elf attitude.

OK, fine, we get it...the damn sleigh gets it on, it's FAST! But as pilots, we also know that steering a machine traveling at a velocity of roughly 30,032 KIAS can be a little touchy, and nailing an instrument approach at those speeds can be a bitch, especially when the active "runway" is about as long as a house's roof is wide. Again, to pull back the curtain and get the inside scoopola, we liqueured up Mr. Treeroot on Sambuca and Red Bull, and he sang like a canary into my MP3 recorder posing as a ball point pen: 

"See, it's not all Santa, you got that," Treeroot exclaims, huffy little troll that he is. "In fact, the fat guy isn't all that good at stick and rudder any more, his gut gets in the way of the flight controls. So we've set the whole sleigh up with a Garmin G3000 panel with autoland, so he just sits back and rides the thing down to steal more cookies, like he really needs them. Here's how it comes down: Figure he's up there at cruise indicating well to the north of maybe 30,000 knots, fat and happy. Outside of town, our Chimney Proximity System picks up the Mode C emitted from your freakin' chimney which communicates trajectory, distance and required velocity to the TOMMAS. Then, our patented Reindeer Tail Augmented Flap Deployment System, or RTAFDS begins to slow the forward speed by activating the Projectile Object Outside Propulsion Integration Equipment, or POOPIE. This really sounds high freakin' tech but really all the POOPIE does is shoot Raindeer crap into the path of all those advancing molecules, the ones going all over hell courtesy of the TOMMAS. Deer crap and sleigh molecules hate one another, so those molecules slow their forward progression cause, I mean, who the hell wants deer crap all over their stupid molecules? This slows the sleigh right down to approach speed on about a 2,000 FPM descent so autoland can initiate and drop the Big Guy onto the numbers each and every time. Freakin' Ingenious system. I'm personally responsible for the deer crap emitter nozzles on the POOPIE. You ought to see what a 100-hour looks like on those things!"

Whoa. I never had any idea. So there it is, more in-depth investigative reporting from the Airplanista team. Hope you enjoyed this diversion from reality, and have a safe and Merry Christmas.

Join Santa’s Flight Crew by making a donationto support Sky Hope Network!

On a journey to solve her own children’s disappointment, Sky Hope Board member, Jo Damato, discovered a way to turn the dilemma of her pilot husband being away for the holidays into a way to help other people. She created “Santa’s Flight Crew” wings that arrive with a special note from Santa explaining that he needs help flying on Christmas and has selected Dad (or other family member) as a very special member of his team.   When she shared the idea with others, she realized that this would be an excellent program for Sky Hope Network. Jo added “I was looking for a way to make sure my kids knew that Daddy being gone on Christmas had special meaning and it’s turned into a wonderful way to help others.”  

The full-size gold plated metal wings can be ordered for $10 per pair at www.sky-hope.org and will arrive in a custom box with a note from Santa. The pins measure 2.5” across and have a quality bar pin backing. Orders must be placed on or before December 7, 2011 and will be shipped the week of December 12, 2011.

Sky Hope Network President Robin Eissler said “When Jo told me about the idea, I thought it was a wonderful way to give back to the aviation community on so many different levels. Aviation is a service industry and so many of the people in our community are needed to work on the holidays. This is a great way to recognize them and it’s the perfect time of year to put some magic into their mission.  We plan to continue this as an annual program and use the funds raised to support our mission of Business Aviation Support in Emergencies.”

Founded in 2010 and based in Georgetown, TX, Sky Hope Network is a group of business aviation professionals dedicated to using their contacts and resources to locate flights for people in need. Sky Hope Network is a 501(c) non-profit. Learn more about Sky Hope here.

Here's My Version of Airplane Heaven...What's Yours?

If you've ever seen "What Dreams May Come” with Robin Williams and Annabella Sciorra, you know it's a beautiful and extravagant movie that won the 1998 Oscar for Visual Effects. But as easy as this great flick is on the eyes, it is the story that grabs your heart and refuses to let go.

So what does this movie have to do with airplanes? Great question…read on.

The movie’s premise is based on Robin’s own perception of what his heaven would look like after he dies in a car crash scene and is reunited with family that has preceded him in death. It is a living, moving Van Gogh painting, with masterfully illuminated, digitally created vistas that stretch to the edge of every frame.

Watching it took me to a place I have been often, a place I call my own Airplane Heaven. If the premise of the film is to be embraced, then we create our heaven in the image we imagine in our thoughts. I have experienced my own Airplane Heaven often, starting soon after my dad died 31 May, 1991. I have been there so many times now, the scene is etched in my mind forever.

In my Airplane Heaven, there are no Pearly gates or rivers of wine and endless tables of gourmet food, as some have suggested greet the chosen in the popular view of the storybook version of heaven. But there is an automatic gate that’s opened by keying in a series of secret numbers known only to those who are lucky enough to visit my magical place. And that river of wine…is actually an assortment of imported beer – mostly Guiness Stout and Kaliber – and the food is a combination of t-bone steaks, tacos, $100 hamburgers, organic greens and cheesecake. Those Brats the guys and gals are eating over at my never-ending Hangar Party are TWO FEET LONG, cooked on a grill so big it makes Johnsonville’s “World’s Largest Grill” look like a freakin’ hibachi.

In my Airplane Heaven, the ramp is filled with one flyable version of every airplane ever made. All are in perfect condition, gleaming under a crystal clear blue sky, keys in the ignition and the tanks full of fuel – which by the way flows freely from wells stretching to the horizon. Since this is my Heaven, I hold type ratings for everything ever made, and I get to spend my days throughout eternity making the daily decision about which of these many airplanes I get to fly today. Maybe I'll pull out the 787 or loop a few loops in Wayne Handley's Turbo Raven...the choices are truly endless.

In my Airplane Heaven, everyone is there enjoying the airport. There’s Papa Louie in his new HondaJet…and is that Art Scholl in the right seat? I suspect Art and Dad are going up again to see just how far upside down they can get that HondaJet today. Oh what, you didn't think an HA-420 was certified for aerobatics? Dude, what part of Airplane Heaven don't you GET?

And at the Airport Café (which has a tanker truck of Eugene’s luscious Café Pecori coffee out back) we find Lindbergh, sitting with Amelia and Noonan, talking navigation, no doubt. Lindy is toying with Amelia, showing her a new Garmin 796, just to screw with her head...he's like that you now, always the jokester. And check out the crowd over at Jimmy Doolittle’s hangar, gathered around his solid gold B-25. There's a juke box playing music from the 40s, and a barrel of coins next to it so the dancing never ends.

Yes, friends, if the premise of “What Dreams May Come” is to be believed, then this IS my Airplane Heaven. Only in the movie, they also visit hell, which is about as nasty as you might imagine. But what, you might be asking, is my vision of Airplane Hell?

Strangely at first glance, it appears identical to my Airplane Heaven. There before you stretch endless rows of perfectly airworthy airplanes, keys resting in the ignition. The WX is clear and a million, and you’ve got nothing to do all day but fly…after all, you’re dead, so your Daytimer is wide open.

Only one major difference…in my Airplane Hell, there is no gas. Not a drop of Avgas or Jet A to be found. All that hardware is there only to torment your soul as you stand helpless on a blistering hot ramp, awash in pity as you loathe your future, which could not possibly be less bleak. A licensed pilot could not dream up a scenario any more horrible, when off the horizon comes a low rumbling noise. The noise becomes louder, and as the skies darken with the wings of a thousand airplanes blocking out the sun, your hell becomes unbearable as all the guys from over the hill in my Airplane Heaven buzz you, one after the other, all grinning.

Yes, our world is what our thoughts make it. You can choose to live in a dark world filled with broken dreams, anger, and unsatisfied resolutions, or push on courageously to new and glorious heights.

I choose to push on – in the words of Buzz Lightyear –  to infinity, and beyond!

A Professional Pilot's Challenges forStaying Healthy While FBO Hopping

By Lynda Meeks,

Founder of Girls With Wings

For the Airplanista Aviation Blog

Hmmm, should I order the lobster pasta? The seasoned strip steak with new potatoes? Or perhaps the chicken cordon bleu….? Yes, my pants felt a bit tight this morning, but they seem to be loose enough now…  And I did work out this morning.…

I was a skinny kid, but in college managed to put on not the freshman 15, but the freshman 50. My weight fluctuated constantly after that, and despite seven years in the military doing PT, or physical training, my weight seldom got below what the army said I should weigh. I had to do a “tape test” to determine I wasn’t overweight. It wasn’t until I didn’t have someone telling me to drop a few pounds that I got my weight under control and started working out for the fun of it.

Before my furlough, I did my best to stay in shape, which wasn’t always easy given the deliciousness and variety of inflight catering that comes with being a pilot for a fractional airline. Long cross country flights in the Citation X just called for passing the time up in the cockpit eating slow leisurely meals, which had been ordered via my company’s blackberry tool for menu selection.

Regional menus provided crab cakes in the Cape, Jambalaya in the Delta, Tex-Mex in the desert southwest, and pretty much a wide enough variety of standard fare to tempt any palate. However, because it is true that if a pilot isn’t complaining you should check for a pulse, quarterly revisions to the menu didn’t seem like often enough when you ate often 40 or so of the meals per month. At the issuance of the new menus every three months we were relieved to try something new.

My cooking skills have always been marginal. After preparing a meal at home I often wonder if it is a blessing I’m single so I don’t have to share my concoctions with a  family or if I’m single just because word has gotten out about my ineptitude in the kitchen. Either way, it was hard to say no to the more than generous portions of food that were secreted into the “crew closet” before every flight. This was a far FAR cry from my days flying for the regional airlines. Crew schedules did not have time built in between flights for obtaining sustenance sufficient for flying the mighty Beech 1900 in and out of the PIT hub. Often we’d have an ungodly long break between the first two legs and it was all we could do to keep up on the next six. Meals were either brought along in a cooler or purchased by inserting the mere coinage we were paid to do such a job into vending machines.

That all changed when I moved on to the fractionals, which I consider the best flying job there is. Pilots are treated better because they are the face of the company to the owners. Some of these meals were suitable for gifts, with vegetables cut into flowers and fancy condiments. Other meals were provided by the local deli and not much more than sandwiches wrapped in grease stained paper but just as delicious. If warming them up was necessary, by the way, it was accomplished by a short sit above the dash in the sun.

Although I usually chose the vegetarian meals because they were lower in fat and calories, most desserts were the same with any meal. Decadent, rich, football player sized portions of brownies, cheesecake and other sweets were the norm.  Add this to the food that passengers left behind (most often left with the rampers at the FBO – but sometimes, uh, not), there were many more calories in than calories out. Snacks of FBO cookies and popcorn added to the damage.

With my week on/week off schedule, I usually spent the 7 days off starving myself in preparation for another round of gourmet dining a la my lap. One thing that I eventually found out helped on the road was a simple trick. I carried apples with me and any time I was tempted to crack open one of those meals or eat one of those cookies; I told myself I could after I ate an apple. If I didn’t want to eat the apple, I knew I wasn’t hungry and I was tempted to eat that other food for all the wrong reasons.

Working out on the road was not always easily accomplished either. Most days start before the sun comes up and end after sunset. Motivating yourself to visit the hotel’s fitness center before or after a 14 hour duty day was one thing. As a runner, I usually preferred to explore the terrain surrounding the hotel for my exercise. So motivating myself to explore unfamiliar territory via foot was quite another. Especially in the dark or cold. Thanks to www.MapMyRun.com, I usually round a suitable route to accomplish some weight gain avoidance duties. 

Note: in order to decrease the risk to my bodily self, I would check in with the desk and tell them where I was going and when I expected to be back. Some clerks showed more concern than others. However, I figured if I didn’t show up for a flight this would be a nugget of information helpful to my recovery.

By far the best runs were not on any map. At the top of any list is the dirt path through the woods (Atlanta, GA), followed closely by a paved path through said vegetation (Minneapolis, MN). It helps to have a knowledgeable, like minded front desk clerk to clue you in to these secrets. I remember a clerk in Charleston, SC, who swore up and down there was nowhere to run around the hotel despite there being a promenade along the riverfront. Once I got to the promenade I stumbled upon bike trails that ran through the woods for miles!  Other running routes could be found by asking other visiting pilots like the route around the ___  or as I like to call them, “swamps,” near our hotel in Teterboro, NJ.

I’m not averse to running through the neighborhoods nearby but caution must be exercised here as well. Especially when Cujo decides you’ve gotten a little too close to their fence. Good thing running strengthens your heart for the times that it stops suddenly and accelerates even more abruptly. Staying in a big city often dictates runs based on a grid system, which does tend to simplify finding your way back. To pass the time I would listen to my mp3 player which also has a radio function. I could usually find an NPR station so I could catch up on the news at the same time I worked up a sweat.

Worst of all was staying in a place with none of the above. Chattanooga, TN, stands out in my mind as a place where I most often had to jump into the grass on the side of a two lane road with no shoulder. I don’t know if the drivers tried to push me off the road because they thought I had no business being there or they were too preoccupied thinking, “What in the world is that girl doing?” to realize how close they were coming to my right thigh (I always run facing traffic).  Not all threats have two legs or four wheels. A friend of mine was running in Orlando, FL, and swore he came within a few feet of an alligator. He ran as fast as he could back to the hotel room, not stopping til the door slammed behind him.

Most of the time I went out with no particular destination, counting on my sense of direction to get me back. This didn’t often work, as a run in Brunswick, GA, soon taught me. Located on a small island, I set off in the morning with about an hour and a half available for a run. I picked up the road to the right, figuring once I got even with the hotel on the other side of the island I would cut back over. A couple miles into it, I started to feel like I had lost my bearings so I stopped and asked a local which way the hotel was. Unfortunately, just like a VFR pilot doesn’t trust their instruments when faced with inadvertent IMC conditions, I disregarded her bearing pointer and kept running.

About an hour into the run, I had NO idea where I was, but, heck, I was on an island, how bad could it be? As long as my feet stayed dry, and I kept going counterclockwise, I had to arrive back to the hotel eventually, right? Then I started getting worried. My watch told me it was time to be taking a shower and getting ready to go to the airport. Luckily I came across an open business and asked again which direction to head. The last few miles were run about as fast as I had energy left and I didn’t delay the flight.

Most runs weren’t this dramatic. I ran in all kinds of weather, all over the country, and miss those days now that I am furloughed. I am now forced to run the same routes around my neighborhood over and over and have gotten to where I’m only running about three miles every other day and I miss it.

A Decision Has Been Made to Cease Publication

By Dan Pimentel,
Airplanista Magazine Editor/Founder

After 14 months of producing Airplanista Magazine’s online monthly edition, and with plenty of reflection, it has been decided that the continued production of the magazine will be impossible at this time.

My day job as President and Art Director of Celeste Daniels Advertising and Design, Inc. took a positive step forward recently when we picked up another large performing arts client, one that will demand more of my attention going forward into 2012 and beyond. With this new work, I will no longer have the 100 to 120 hours per month required to produce a magazine that while fun to create, generated insufficient income.

I want to personally thank each and every contributor who supplied their art and their words each month to support Airplanista Magazine’s mission of strengthening the general aviation community. It's my belief that as a team, we produced a very nice magazine that brought our readers something enjoyable in their inbox each month.

For those of you who enjoy my writing, I'll still be publishing more of my signature "sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, always unpredictable" material on the Airplanista Aviation Blog. Yes, it IS the blog you are presently reading, so go ahead and bookmark this blog by using the SHARETHIS button below:

We will also present the writing of some Featured Writers, many of which have been previously published in our online monthly editions.

The takeaway: I've been a successful freelance writer through parts of five decades, and I'm not going away. While this post might look to some like an end, to me, it feels more like a beginning. I hope to leverage the contacts I've made these last 14 months to seek out a few quality writing projects that I believe will make a difference in our GA world. I still have plenty to give back to our aviation family, and with my words, I still have work to do, things to say, and with a little luck, lives to change.

I thank you for the opportunity to present Airplanista Magazine to you, and hope you enjoyed the ride.