If You Had
Any Doubts...

From the first day I read about Terrafugia's Transition®, I have been impressed not only with the design of this aircraft/car hybrid, but also by the talented people from MIT who are bringing it into our world.

Pessimists said it can't be done, that it will never fly. The extremely smart team that is birthing the Transition has heard them all...that even if they can make it fly, they can never get it approved for legal highway use. These naysayers like to say this idea of a "flying car" has been tried before, and it will be DOA without ever seeing it's first test flight:

Oh how wrong those people are now...on so many levels. First, it is NOT a "flying car", it is a "roadable airplane" meaning it's first job is flying, backed up by driving. But the clowns who swore it would never get off the ground so to speak should not look at Terrafugia's "Picture of the Week" which accompanies this post.

In this shot from Terrafugia's web site, you can clearly see the fuselage coming together. This adds to the wonderful photos we have seen before of their full-scale operating folding wing, which was on display at EAA Airventure last summer. It appears the Design team now has a fuselage, a great wing design, and is ever-so-close to putting this all together for a test flight.

Here is a list of fun facts about the aviation project I believe is the most exciting one out there today:

The estimated base price for the Transition is $148,000 – pocket change for a versatile vehicle like this. As Terrafugia gets closer to delivering that all-important first production vehicle in 2009 a more firm price will be announced.

Terrafugia does not release the exact number of airframes reserved, but as of July, 2007, all of Terrafugia's anticipated production though the end of Q2 2010 had been reserved. I suspect that the date to fly (drive?) your Transition off the lot has even grown farther out since those numbers were released in 07/07, and you can bet that after Oshkosh this summer, the first positions won't be available until well into 2011.

The company is now in the prototype phase of the Transition's design, and is planning to have their first full functioning vehicle operational in late 2008...which is only just a couple of hundred days away.

Terrafugia is working with major insurance underwriters to develop a policy that includes the 50-states auto insurance required for highway use, but also with the hull and liability insurance that is found in typical aircraft policies. This is not a part of the Transition puzzle I had pondered before, but the fact that the Terrafugia team is all over this again shows how "together" these people are.

Power for the Transition comes from the Rotax 912 ULS – a 100hp, four stroke engine that is FAA certified to run on 91-octane autogas or 100LL. That same engine wil power both the propeller and the vehicle's front wheels while on the ground.

Again, this project remains on the very top of my list as the one that can really change the game in the public's awareness of general aviation. When people start seeing Transitions down at the Mall or the corner market, you can be assured it will draw crowds full of gawkers with lots of questions about flying...and THAT is a great thing.

To get on this exclusive list of future Transition owners, here is what you do:

Download (pdf) and print 2 copies of the deposit agreement. Fill out the information, sign, and return both copies to the address on the bottom of the form with your check for $7,400.00 made out to Terrafugia, Inc. They'll sign and send you back your copy along with your airframe deposit certificate showing your airframe number. Your fully-refundable deposit goes in an individual interest-bearing account at Cambridge Trust Company and remains the property of the customer.

Here is the link to the current Transition spec sheet as a PDF.

Oh those of little faith, be damned. This project is moving forward, it will succeed, and it will be fantastic. The fact that their positions are being pushed so far out into the future speaks volumes about how the flying public is starting to accept the Transition as a serious vehicle. And at a projected $148,000, it is a steal. Sure it will go up from there, but even at close to two hundred large, it would still be a great value.

I want one, I've always wanted one, and one day I will have one, when the budget allows a hangar mate for Katy.

Oh wait...DUH...I don't have to keep this one in the hangar..silly me...I'll just drive it home and put it in the garage.

GAMA 1Q 08:
Nothing Can
Stop This
Train

There isn't a day that goes by that we don't see endless news reports of our financial world falling down around us like a house of cards. With crude now selling at $126 a barrel (and rising) and as much as $130 being tacked on to your airline fare just to cover fuel costs, it is not surprising that millions of Americans are barely getting by. And those Americans seem to be buying less piston-powered airplanes.

But according to the first quarter, 2008 sales report from the General Aviation Manufacturer's Association (GAMA), apparently there are enough people left in this world with enough money to buy the seriously expensive turbine powered GA aircraft, because their member company sales are off the freakin' charts overseas, even while actual shipments dropped overall. Here is a pull from GAMA's press release to set this stage:

"GAMA announced this week that first quarter total industry billings were up 16.1 percent to $5.3 billion, an all-time high for the first quarter, while total shipments were down by 7.5 percent. Business jet shipments totaled 297 units in the first quarter of 2008, a remarkable 40.8 percent increase over the 211 units delivered in the first quarter of 2007. This past quarter's overall industry billings remain impressive, with the turbine segments showing dramatic increases. The trend of increasing market share occurring outside of North America continues for most manufacturers. It is apparent, however, that current uncertainty in the U.S. economy is having an affect on some of the offerings in the piston spectrum of aircraft."

Here are a few highlights from the report, which can be downloaded here as a pdf:

There was a total of $5.3 billion in sales, the bulk of that coming from Airbus and Boeing who sold BJs totaling $150 million, Bombardier who sold 67 units for $1.6 billion, and Gulfstream who sold $1.2 billion.

Other major players were Cessna, which sold a total 96 jets including 15 of their Mustang, contributing to overall sales of $955 million. Interesting here was that they sold 13 Cessna (Columbia) 400s and 3 Cessna 350s. Their biggest seller in their legacy line remains their 172SP with 34 units.

Eclipse seems to have their assembly line up and running just fine these days, posting sales of $64.3 million with 52 units.

Cirrus reported sales of $35 million, which includes 55 SR-22s and 18 S-20s, but only 3 SRVs.

Mooney continues to hand craft their beautiful line selling 8 M20TN Acclaims and 5 M20R Ovations for a total of $7.2 million.

As always, the Pilatus PC-12 remains a "sell 'em as fast as you can make 'em" model, with the Swiss company selling 22 units in 1Q 08 for $75.1 million.

Piper had sales of $33 million, which included 18 of their PA-46R-350T Matrix as the hottest model, with 18 units sold.

And Socata EADS sold 8 of their gorgeous TBM 850s for a total of $23.6 million in sales.

Overall, the "more billings, less shipments" scenario means the ultra rich are buying more high-end hardware, while the single-engine sector shows some signs of slowing. If this sour economy and high fuel prices continue much into 2009, U.S. single-engine makers might have to start adjusting their line-ups to keep money flowing in. An example of this would be the The Jet from Cirrus or the Piper Jet from Piper, moderately priced entry-level bizjets that will be easy to sell to high-rolling baby boomers with disposable income. These PJs will infuse cash into these companies...and while they will not seriously increase the shipment numbers, they ought to really bump up the billings.

Don't Lose Control

That's the advice of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) in a new TV spot they have produced to raise public awareness about the lack of interest Bush's FAA has in your air safety.

I watch the Youtube video below and wonder just how far we have to fall before anyone in Washington cares enough to make ATC staffing a priority equal to blowing up stuff in Iraq.



That ridiculous war has been sold to us because it is for our safety, which is precisely what our NATCA members want...to have decent working conditions so they can keep America safe.

So much for the fairy tale that is compassionate conservatism. All I can hope for today is that NATCA has Barack Obama's phone number, because they are going to need it after May 20th when Oregon helps seal this nomination deal once and for all. I really had hoped HRC could make a run for it, because a strong woman is what WDC needs right now to slap them back into submission. But it looks like it'll be Obama vs. Saint McCain in the general, which ought to be an easy 60/40 win for Barack, unless of course the voters of our country have gone mad.

We Live in
Tumultuous Times

I was not alive during the Great Depression, when people lined up down the blocks of this great country trying to be lucky enough to gain a bowl of soup. But with each passing day, our financial news gets worse, our economy gets weaker. It's as if the terrorists are screwing us all into the ground one gallon at a time.

I am thankful tonight for not having a big growing company like Dayjet, a wonderful business model for an air taxi operation. In a perfect economy, I might be jealous of such a company, but with a crumbling investment capital market, insane fuel prices, and tighter budgets in all classes of air travelers, it is sad but not really surprising to read this very well-written article on Aero-News Network:

"Citing difficult times within US investment markets -- and resulting issues with securing new investment capital -- DayJet announced Tuesday the Florida-based air taxi service plans to drastically scale back operations. ANN has confirmed with DayJet executives 100 people were laid off, reducing the company's workforce to 160 employees."

While there are many, many upstart air taxi operators out there today, none have been as visible as Dayjet. Their devotion to the Eclipse 500 is well-known, and they received some of the first -500's off Vern Raburn's assembly line.

ANN reports that DayJet operates 28 Eclipse 500 VLJs now, and has (had?) big plans for the future:

"The air taxi provider is by far that planemaker's largest customer, with reportedly some 1,400 planes on firm order or option. Despite the ominous tone of Tuesday's announcement, however, Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn told ANN he is not overly concerned about DayJet's future. "The last company I'm losing any sleep over is DayJet," Raburn said."

Ouch, Vern, that one hurt a little.

The current volatile business climate in the U.S. is only slowing down Dayjet's growth, so says their CEO, Ed Iacobucci in this quote from ANN:

"I won't dwell on this point, but suffice it to say that given the current state of the US capital markets, the timing of our planned financing could not have been worse. Without the growth capital required to open new markets, the company must scale back to a size that is consistent with the demand of our existing customers and service region," Iacobucci said. "DayJet’s business model is based on operating at a critical mass, requiring investment ahead of growth. We hired and trained a number of employees in anticipation of future growth and always planned for additional capital investment at this stage."

I really hope that this is just a blip, a hiccup, a setback, a stumble...for Dayjet. I have studied their business model, and it is as sound as any out there today. Iacobucci and his team have done their homework, and if any group can make an air taxi operation profitable for the long haul, it is Dayjet.

It is especially important to see Dayjet succeed because of the bad karma it will bring to the sector if they fail. Today, there are many, many investors, competitors and future air taxi customers out there watching this Dayjet situation from the sidelines. And in a country that is void of any sort of financial leadership, should this fine company go down for the count, more could follow. It will not necessarily be their fault either, because just a few years ago, who could have thought that BushCo and his buddies would celebrate crude oil spiking to $123 a barrel while they just sit back and laugh at the millions of Americans who are spiraling in like a shot-up P-51.

I wish Dayjet the best, and hope their financial Knight in Shining Armor comes riding into their life soon. I want them to be wildly successful so the air taxi industry can continue to blast off like we all know if can. Air taxi, and low-fare, Cirrus SR-22 based private air charter networks like this one really are the future of commercial air travel, and they are all at a critical point in the birthing process of this emerging sector.

Spin the Dial

I am just barely old enough to remember TV sets with rotary dials, the kind which coined the phrase at the top of this post that describes what you used to do back in 1964 when nothing much was on the tube. The modern-day version of that is of course the chronic channel changer who blasts between channels on his/her remote, trying to find one good show on any of the 200 channels that the cable company has delivered to their parlor.

The Internet version of that task is what I do when I cannot find any decent "news" out there worthy of comment. And in tonight's web scour, I found a couple of gems...one sent to me and the other found by accident.

The first is TripCart: The Travel Blog, a funny but informative look at the airlines. It is billed as "the best place on the web to find things to do in the United States. Presents a religiously updated blog full of advice and tips for trip planning." There are quite a few posts worth a look, especially when you just look a their headlines:

Baby in the X-ray Machine at LAX
Stewardesses of Yesteryear
More Stewardesses of Yesteryear
The TSA Loves Dressing Up Disaster

and my personal fave:

Airlines Suck Worse than the IRS

Another travel blog that was sent into the World of Flying Tipline (see feedback button at right), is Geekabout, who posted a thorough look at airline seats headlined "Ranked: The 10 Most Comfortable Airline Economy Seats." When you read this post, it makes very good points:

Not all economy seats are created equal. By doing a little bit of digging you’ll find out enough info to help you make a flight in economy a pleasant flight, instead of an unbearable one. Seat pitch and width can vary greatly between airline carriers and aircraft type. Seat pitch is the distance from any point on one seat to the exact same point on the seat in front or behind it. And while it is not the exact equivalent of “legroom”, it does give a very good approximation of how much seat room you should expect. The Bottom Line: the more seat pitch the better!

A number of airlines have about 32" of pitch between their seats, with Japan Airlines offering 34" according to geekabout.com. Only Virgin America and Singapore Airlines offer a seat width in the 19 - 20 inch range. Good stuff, go check it out Here

One carrier missing from geekabout's Top 10 list of most comfortable airline seats is Skywest, which I fly often. I would assume it's because the seat pitch on their EMB 120 Brasilia flying vibrators feels a lot like 28 inches, when in reality it is actually 31 inches of non-reclinable, pew-like discomfort. And their width is spec'ed as 17 inches, but I swear it it feels like 12 inches when a fat tourist is falling asleep next to you, his arm hogging the itsy-bitsy armrest, his head falling onto your shoulder, sushi-induced drool running down his chin.

When I am not flying Katy on Dano Airlines, I usually get my tickets on frequent flyer miles which my aviation ad agency acquires in truckloads. It makes me think that the next time I attempt to fly the friendly skies, I might just spring for a first-class upgrade so at least I can have enough room on the flimsy tray table to open my laptop AND drink a tiny plastic cup of lukewarm soda pop.

IFR Progress Report: Yikes!

Most of my loyal readers know that I am in the midst of earning my instrument ticket so I can plow THROUGH clouds instead of tap dancing around them in VFR conditions. And if this winter in Oregon is any sort of look into the future, holding an IFR ticket up here is about the only way you can actually FLY your plane all year.

With 23.7 hours in the book, major chunks of this very complex training are starting to sink in. Sometimes I feel like an Old Dog trying to learn new tricks, and other times I feel like a seasoned Line Pilot slipping a -47 into SFO at minimums. One minute it is wildly satisfying, the next I am so completely screwed up, it is really handy to have a high-time CFI-I in the right seat to bail me out:

Today, I flew my first official IFR cross country, stuck underneath the Viban view-limiting device. It was a clear and a million blue sky day, but I would not see that gleaming sun, because in my simulated world, it was crud and a 1,000. On a VFR day, my southbound assignment of EUG to Roseburg would have been a sweet :36 minutes of scenic bliss. But under the "hood" it was all about the numbers, it was all business. Fly the damned radial, try not to wander, and be prepared for an "E-ticket" approach at RBG.

Of all the XC airports my CFI-I Jim Hunt could have picked, he choose the VOR-A into RBG because it is about as tricky as they come. I had flown this one on my X-Plane simulator a few times, and after several tries and a little help from my CFI, I figured out how to make this one happen:

I flew over the VOR at five grand just fine, and initiated a textbook procedure turn to set up the approach. Inbound, I dropped to 3,800' until over the VOR, and then slid on down to the circling minimums of 2,600' with intentions of finding an airport out there amongst the simulated soup. Only problem: There is only 3NM between the VOR and the threshold, so any speed carried over the VOR means you are still up in the deck at the missed approach point. No airport in sight means a missed approach, and with terrain on all sides of RBG, you had BETTER fly that procedure perfectly. It is insane how hard this approach is, but with Jim's coaching to slow down, I dropped two notches of flaps at the VOR, and when the Viban's came off at 2,600' – simulating coming out of the clouds – there was Roseburg Airport just under Katy's nose. After a wide circling left turn, I dropped the girl into RBG like a pro. Sweet.

But while that approach was invented by Satan himself, what was coming next made the VOR-A at RBG seem like child's play:

After grabbing our clearance back to EUG and climbing high enough to let Seattle Center find my blip, I was cruising north under the hood, fat, dumb and happy. What happened next was not really a surprise since I know CFI's must do this at some point...we went partial panel. Jim covered the attitude indicator and horizontal situation indicator, and I had to use what was left to get my butt back to EUG. Oh, and did I mention we were doing a new (to me) approach, the VOR DME into 34L? This was just plain nuts. But, it was also very important training.

As I went about forgetting which way the stupid compass lags or leads, I wondered what ape designed such a crazy instrument. But I also had my VFR GPS tracking to EUG VOR, and with the turn-and-bank hinting to me what level might actually be, I somehow kept Eugene off the nose and the wings out of the Douglas Firs below.

All in all, a good day. Each trip out, I feel a touch more confident about one day doing this stuff for real up in the clouds, shooting real approaches into real airports in real IMC. When I can do that each time and keep the shiny side down while keeping ATC happy, I will know all this training will have paid off.

Diesels in Our Future?

Each time we see another article about leaded AvGas going the way of the dinosaur, many of us immediately think about a day when small but powerful aircraft engines without spark plugs will push us through the sky. These small wonders would burn diesel fuel, which is not that far removed from Jet A.

Until just recently, diesel aircraft engines such as those manufactured by Thielert Aircraft Engines of Germany represented our best hedge to cover our bet if/when 100LL is ever pulled out of production. Yes, small turboprop engines might one day be an option too for GA aircraft, but that is quite a leap from what we have today. With diesel engines as our one realistic alternative to current avgas powerplants, it is really bad news that we read this from AOPA's web site:

"After three years of investigation, suspicions about the financial health of Thielert Aircraft Engines (TAE) have culminated with the company’s filing for bankruptcy, the termination of founder Frank Thielert as chief operating officer, and a renewed criminal investigation against both Thielert and management board members. While TAE has appeared to be a successful company, having bought Texas engine manufacturer Superior Air Parts, secured deals with American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturers, and recently signed on to supply Cessna Aircraft with its 2.0-liter Centurion turbodiesel engines for its 172 Skyhawk line of piston singles, the company’s burn rate (negative cash flow) had raised suspicions since 2005."

Thielert's Centurion line is such an exciting product, it had won the approval of Cessna's mighty engineering team, which does not enter into any agreement without significant due diligence. I have always felt that by Cessna offering the Thielert engines in a certified model, it validated the Centurion line as an important and viable new source of GA aircraft power. With that in mind, it is troubling to read this, again from AOPA:

"Cessna Aircraft Company has decided not to deliver any Cessna 172TD aircraft powered by the German-built Thielert diesel engine, following the bankruptcy of Thielert Aircraft Engines. None had been delivered, and the type certificate was still pending."

But as we know from our U.S. airlines, bankruptcy is just a way to keep the wolves at bay, and is not necessarily the end of a company, or the end of Thielert. AOPA elaborates, and also drops back into the mix a small but interesting tidbit:

"Meanwhile, sources at TAE in Germany say that the company is still shipping engines and parts, and that no layoffs are anticipated. The bankruptcy will undoubtedly change the landscape of the general aviation diesel-engine movement. Diamond Aircraft is expected to announce production of its own turbodiesel engine at next month’s ILA convention in Berlin, and it’s expected that Lycoming will develop its own general aviation turbodiesel in the near future."

That last sentence woke me right up the minute I read it...a Lycoming GA turbodiesel? Yes, it appears that way back in 1998, Lycoming and Detroit Diesel toyed with the idea, but a certified engine never came of the experiment. I scoured the Internets today and found this from a bNet article dated 1998:

"An aero-diesel engine development program has been announced by Textron Lycoming, Williamsport, Pa., and Detroit Diesel Corp., Detroit, Mich. The two companies will share responsibility for the design, development, certification and manufacture of aero-diesel-engines, should performance, reliability and market targets be met. The new program will study the applicability of a 200 hp, turbocharged engine for general aviation applications. A prototype engine has been placed in a Lycoming test cell for evaluation."

Any other information on that project [a photo of a Lycoming "heavy fuels" engine from Oshkosh can be found here, scroll down] is AWOL from the web, but as a very satisfied Lycoming owner, I'd promise to be overjoyed by the announcement of such an engine.

And with Oshkosh – and with it the official GA announcement season – just a couple of months away now, maybe Lycoming will be smart and jump into the diesel aircraft engine market as a front runner. If there ever was a time to push a turbodiesel GA engine to market, now is that time. The competition is on the ropes, and buyers keep reading about the "greening" of aviation by the elimination of lead in our fuel. If Lycoming were to certify their series of heavy fuel engines, I cannot imagine a world where they would not sell like crazy.

Make it burn Jet A and have a 3,000 TBO, and they would have a tough time building them fast enough.

A is for Airspace,
T is for Toastmasters

I am sitting at SFO, waiting for a connection down to Fresno, and have just finished a familiar conversation with a non-aviator who shared my row on United's 1290 out of EUG. It is not the first time I have had this particular conversation, nor will it be the last. The subject: Airspace.

O.K., you might be asking yourself why a pilot would want to discuss the intricacies of airspace with someone who wouldn't know their Charlie from their Bravo. The conversation always starts the same:

I was flying in one of United's 737s that offered ATC transmissions on cabin channel 9, and made a comment to the passenger next to me that it is cool to be able to listen to ATC en route. She had no idea you could do that, but slipped on the worn-but-free headset that United still crams into the seat pocket. I heard nothing from this woman until we landed. As we taxied to the gate, she removed her headset and was pretty much BLOWN AWAY having listened to ATC for the first time in her life. She turned to me and asked, seriously, "how DO they keep all those airplanes from crashing into each other?" It was the opening I was looking for.

I informed her that I was a pilot, so I was qualified to explain how ATC keeps all the inbounds to SFO from trading paint. As we cruised to the gate, I began the speech:

"Inside a certain boundary surrounding large metro areas, all aircraft – regardless of size – are talking to the same air traffic controllers," I said, "so lesson #1 is that nobody flies in the San Francisco Class Bravo airspace without permission. SFO airspace is a positive control area, meaning every airplane is being told what to do and where to go. But the really important thing to remember is that a Piper Cherokee like I fly is of equal importance to the Controller as a 747 loaded with tourists. The reason is that the Controller knows precisely where the airliner is going because he is on a pre-determined instrument flight plan. But the small general aviation plane may be flying under the more relaxed visual flight rules, and in busy airspace, ATC keeps a close watch on the small planes to make sure they don't get in the way of the big ones."

The woman was astounded, as the flying public usually are when they find out that just about everything in the sky is in touch with someone somewhere. I believe that the lady came away with a better understanding of general aviation, and also more respect for us GA pilots who are up there chasing clients or hamburgers. I closed the conversation by trying to emphasize that GA pilots have a very high level of training, and are not that far removed from the two professional pilots commanding the flight deck of an airliner. Except for a long list of regulations and of course a couple of advances ratings, I said, "pilots are pilots. We all fly machines that react to control inputs identically, all have generally the same types of systems, and occupy the same airspace for much of the time. Some just fly higher and faster than others."

The fact that Average Joe, Jane and their kids are unaware that we GA pilots need to be highly-trained to guarantee the safe outcome of a flight into busy airspace cannot be overstated. As pilots, we need to be on the lookout every day for opportunities to talk up GA in a positive way. Your children's school is a great place to speak about flying, and many service clubs like Rotary or business clubs would welcome a presentation to explain why and how we fly.

And maybe – just maybe – we might just spark a fire in one audience member so they seek out a flight school at that little patch on the edge of town and start living their lifelong dream to fly. If that happens, our time spent as a GA advocate will be more than worth it.

And if you think you are too shy to stand up in front of a large audience and speak with confidence and flair, then you need to join Toastmasters International like I did almost 4 years ago. I promise you that anyone can benefit from their once-a-week meetings, and in no time, you'll be able to speak in public without breaking a sweat. You can find out more about what Toastmasters can do for you here, and find a local club here.

Bottom line: If 1,000 GA pilots joined a Toastmasters club somewhere and learned how to address any audience on the positive aspects of flying, we'd have a whole new crop of ambassadors out there on the front lines singing our praise. And THAT would be a great thing.

(Note: this is a reprise of an older post because I am on the road for next couple of days, but this is such a great organization, it deserved some more "ink" - dan)

This Will Give Any Aviator Hope for Tomorrow

Many moons ago, I attended a sprint car race at the legendary Ascot Park Raceway in Gardena, California. It was late on a Saturday night, and driving back to my hotel alone, I thought I'd be brilliant and take surface streets instead of the freeways.

Bad idea. Really, really bad idea.

As a gringo from Fresno, I had absolutely no business cruising those 'hoods at night. At each stoplight, large groups of the meanest, most dangerous street punks, gangbangers and thugs would stare me down, and I prayed they somehow would get the memo that I wasn't a narc. They would see my white skin and have no idea that I am the least racist guy around, a gentle human who thinks highly of any person of any color – regardless of race – until they prove me wrong.

I mention the above story to emphasize that there are some very, very mean streets in Los Angeles metro, and just next door to Gardena is Compton, home to an equal if not greater number of troubled youth. I cannot know what it must be like to be brought up on those streets, but I do know this:

Mixed in with the thugs and bangers are some good kids who are trapped in the ghetto usually by a family situation back in their broken home. The line these kids walk to stay on the good side of the law is a fine one, and most of them just need someone like Robin Petgrave to care about them and their future.

If you've never heard of Petgrave, you are not alone. I had never heard of him or the Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum he founded in Compton, but a story in the most recent General Aviation News caught my eye. Petgrave is my hero tonight, and may be for some time. The "museum" he runs is far more than a traditional museum, it is a flight school, a mentoring program, it is hope.

The museum's web site is beautiful, and is a great window into this outstanding youth aviation program. The kids that are involved there see this as the way out of a dead-end world, and from all appearances, it works very, very well. While the site is full of good youth aviation news, this – from a very good Long Beach Tribune story – has to take the cake:

"Sixteen-year-old Jonathan Strickland is barely old enough to drive a car, but he’s already breaking world records in aviation, according to a local program. At Compton Woodley Airport on Saturday, Strickland became the youngest black pilot to solo six airplanes and one helicopter in the same day, said Robin Petgrave, founder of Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum. Kelly Anyadiki, a 16-year-old Inglewood resident, also broke a world record and is now the youngest black female to solo four airplanes on the same day."

This program is the real deal, it really does represent the future of aviation. As soon as I finished looking at their site, I immediately joined with a lifetime membership at $50/year, and received the following in my inbox:

Now that you're an official member we really need your help. We need for you to spread the word about the Aviation Angels to all your circle of friends and those you know who care. This organization will become more powerful if every Angel recruit 5 more angels. Just tell all your friends personally or you can even promote online with cool banners showing you're an angel on your myspace page or other web sites.

This pull quote above is the reason for the big yellow banner at the top of this post. I need five of my readers to join this cause and join this museum. If you care about helping a bunch of kids who have spent their lives being told they won't amount to nuttin', this program is the way to do it. Please, please click the banner above, spend a fifty and join up...then email me your name so I can publically thank you on this blog.

The next time you are in L.A., stop by the museum at Compton Woodley Airport, 961 West Alondra Blvd. in Compton [map and directions are here]. Meeting these kids might be the most fulfilling afternoon you will ever spend with a bunch of very cool young aviators.

And man oh man, if I ever meet Robin Petgrave in person, I just might have to tell him to his face he is the classiest chopper driver in the land.

Some Ideas Deserve
Worldwide Greatness

A couple of weeks ago, I met Juice Welch, a twenty something demo pilot for Cirrus Design. She had so graciously delivered a gorgeous new silver SR-22 G3 to a video shoot for us, and Reedley Municipal was her fourth (or fifth?) stop of the day.

You could tell this pleasant young woman was a true aviator when she rattled off her itinerary for the day...SMO to San Carlos, over to Livermore for lunch, back to SMO and then up to Reedley...arriving about :30 seconds before her scheduled ETA.

Juice – she was allegedly only called Chelsea for about a minute after birth – hung out with us for a couple of days, and even helped as the "pilot" in the video. But as we were trying to find some sort of shade, I glanced down and noticed a really attractive pilot's watch on her arm. I am not a watch afficianado, but it is kind of cool to check out some other person's wrist E6B:

As I privately stared at Juice's wrist, I couldn't quite make 2 + 2 equal 4. Here was this major-league, fighter pilot-ish, multiple time zone, super groovy, flight calculating, chronometer, but it looked...like a woman's watch. It had a really attractive leather strap that didn't look like it was hand-carved from the northbound end of a southbound alligator...no, this watch was beautiful. It was feminine, but also functional for its pilot owner. I had to ask...

Sure enough, what Juice was wearing was the "Amelia", from a company called Abingdon Watches. I commented that a really serious pilot's watch designed just for women was an great idea, and I wondered out loud who the brilliant person was that dreamed this watch design up.

Juice replied "I did", with a bit of a grin. You see, this wasn't just a fashion statement, or a really swell way to time a procedure turn. Abingdon Watches was HER company...from her web site:

"With Abingdon Watches, Chelsea “Juice” Welch, a Santa Monica, Calif.–based pilot, has launched the first company dedicated to developing top-quality, realistically priced watches to meet the needs of female pilots, mechanics and adventurers all over the world. Abingdon Watches began as a dinner conversation between a mix of energetic women pilots and airplane mechanics. Welch listened as her colleagues repeatedly expressed their desires for a fully functional aviator’s watch that is fashionable, versatile and, most importantly, made for women. In that moment, Juice decided to form the first company dedicated to developing top quality, realistically priced watches to meet the needs of female pilots, mechanics, and adventurous women all over the world."

When you think about it, this really makes perfect sense. Juice's reasoning behind starting a watch company when many in her demographic are still "figuring things out" is best said in her own words:

"Act as though it were impossible to fail and use the tools necessary for you to accomplish your goals. When I was a child and I told people I wanted to fly, people would ask me why. I asked them, “Why not?" And nowadays, when people ask me why I started a watch business for female pilots, I still reply back with, “Why not?” There is nothing you can’t do as long as you act as though it were impossible to fail."

Juice asks on her site "If you went jogging you wouldn't wear a man's running shoe. So why would a female pilot buy a watch designed specifically for a man?" The gal does have a point, doesn't she?

If you have a significant other that is a woman who flies (or wants to fly), I can GUARANTEE you big Brownie points if you buy her one of Juice's watches. Or if you are a female pilot yourself, trust me, you want one of these watches.

Yes, this is a sales pitch, and no, I get nothing but satisfaction out of every sale. I barely even know Juice [however she does solidify my theory that I will never meet a Cirrus driver that isn't way cool]. But I believe this is such a great idea, if I were an investor with a boatload of spare change, I'd be on the phone yesterday asking how I could pump enough "support" into this smart company to launch it to the highest of levels of the worldwide watch market.

For more information on the coolest watch out there made "for women, by women", contact Abingdon Watches at (310) 736-5673 or visit www.abingdonwatches.com.

This is Why I Voted
for DeFazio

I am extremely proud of my Congressman tonight, because Pete DeFazio is introducing legislation to keep Chatty Cathy from yapping away on her cell phone for those few hours we are all trapped inside a speeding pressurized tube on commercial flights. The bill, called H.R. 5788, says the following (the full text found at govtrack.us):

"Introduced in House: To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish prohibitions against voice communications using a mobile communications device on commercial airline flights, and for other purposes."

When they use the term "mobile communications device", what they really mean is this:

"A commercial mobile radio service or other wireless communications device; a broadband wireless device or other wireless device that transmits data packets using the Internet Protocol or comparable technical standard; or a device having voice override capability."

One note on this bill is that it does not apply to "a member of the flight crew or flight attendants" on an aircraft. This is a good thing because in the unlikely scenario when gremlins take an airliner's radio system hostage, it will be nice to let the FO use his iPhone to call ATC.

And while I appluad Rep. De Fazio for introducing this bill, I half-jokingly wish he or his staff would have consulted the GA crowd before giving the bill its street name:

The "short title" of this bill shown on govtrack.us is the `Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act of 2008'. As any good pilot will tell you, "airplane noise" as defined by us aviators is that wonderful sound when a gigantic radial engine roars by overhead, or the sound that a Piper Cub makes taking off from a tiny grass strip. We make a mass exodus each July to Oshkosh just to flood our ears with "airplane noise" and we've never met an airplane that makes bad noise with the engine(s) running.

Maybe they should have called this the "Any Idiot Who Uses His Cell Phone In Flight Will Get Tossed Off the Ship Like D.B. Cooper Act of 2008".

This bill is just in its infancy, and has yet to move through the maze of bureaucracy that is our Federal Government. If you would like to see just what this bill – or any other – is up against, here is the route H.R. 5788 would take to become law:

[verbatim from govtrack.us] This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Introduced bills go first to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills never make it out of committee. Keep in mind that sometimes the text of one bill is incorporated into another bill, and in those cases the original bill, as it would appear here, would seem to be abandoned.

In case you missed that one Civics class in middle school where they explained this stuff, a house bill is first introduced, it is then scheduled for debate before being voted on in the House. If it wins approval there, it goes to the Senate for more debating and more voting. If it passes there, it finds its way to the President's desk where it is hopefully signed, or vetoed and sent back to the maze for more debating and more voting.

So the fact that my Congressman introduced this bill is great, but I am not going to get super excited about it until it is actually signed into law by a President.

Because it's what
we pilots do.

Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you I've always been forever in love with Cirrus airplanes, and also Cirrus Design, the company. We won't tell Katy (our Cherokee 235) that there are two giant wall posters in my office, both SR-22s, both beautiful.

When I say I have maximum respect for Cirrus Design as a company, I am not kidding. They are just one classy company, and have always delivered on the promise of very well-built, very slick, high-technology flying machines. And while many companies build cool products, more then a few do not do much of anything to help ad agencies like mine promote clients who use their goods.

But Cirrus is a major exception to that rule, and here is why:

About a year ago, we picked up the Stratus Alliance Air Charter Network as a national client. They have recently launched their network, one that will fly both business people and families in new Cirrus SR-22s, for a price that is rock bottom. And a couple of weeks ago, we had two large video shoots scheduled in Central California that required a crew from Los Angeles who would come in with a large diesel truck loaded with $150,000 of equipment. It would be the perfect opportunity to also shoot some footage for a planned Stratus sales DVD, if only we had a Cirrus...

If only we had a Cirrus. Well, it turns out, my partner Julie Celeste had been in contact with Chris Eichman – Divisional Director for Cirrus up here in the Pacific Northwest – about lining up a Cirrus for a still photography shoot. So when Julie and Chris began to see the value in using all this cool Hollywood movie gear to maybe get some awesome footage of an SR-22, the wheels of opportunity began to whirl. And when smart people like Chris and Julie imagine the possibilities, all kinds of great things can happen:

I was flying down to the Reedley Airport outside of Fresno, with Katy loaded to the gills, including two professional actors from Portland. I had no sooner landed and unloaded when I heard a pleasant female voice calling "eight one one Romeo Tango's on a three mile straight-in for three-three, Reedley." The voice was that of Juice Welch, a Cirrus demo pilot who was delivering a gorgeous new SR-22 G3 turbo for us to use in the Stratus video shoot. She greased a perfect "no chirper" precisely at 7PM – her planned ETA – with a eye-popping sunset as a backdrop. I was tickled to watch her arrival as my step-son Scott – the Director of Photography on the shoot – captured some amazing sunset/landing footage for our project. It all came together so well, it gave me chills.

The day of shooting came off without a hitch [read all about it here], and I came away with even more respect and admiration for Cirrus Design and the many fine people they have in their organization. They didn't have to help us, but they did. They didn't have to route Juice and her beautiful SR-22 through our world so it could be the star of our show, but they did.

And sometime off in the future, I am going to return that favor to Cirrus big time. It would be an honor to use just about anything in my skill set to help such an awesome company sell more hardware. But if I have to spend a weekend washing every plane on their production ramp to say thanks, it will be 48 hours of wet, soapy bliss.

I am not really sure why Cirrus choose to offer this generous gesture of support from one aviation business to another, but I suspect it has everything to do with that unwritten creedo that we aviators live by...

Pilots helping pilots. Because it's what we do.

Highway. Freakin'. Robbery.

With each passing day, every American is being held hostage at the gas pumps by skyrocketing prices that show no signs of abating. Is it that "they" don't think we'll notice $3.99 regular or $7.99 Jet A, or is it that "they" don't care. And if you've been around this planet for the last seven years or so, you most certainly know who "they" are.

It is just pathetic how the good people of the United States are taking this crap without a fight. As the oil barons rob us blind, they are also slowing killing off one of this country's most important industries. From AP:

"Delta and Northwest, seeking to combine to create the world's largest airline, posted losses Wednesday totaling $10.5 billion for the first three months of the year due to exorbitant fuel prices and write-downs of their companies' value. The figures from Delta and Northwest follow large losses at other carriers, such as United Airlines parent UAL Corp., which earlier this week reported a $537 million first-quarter loss on higher fuel costs, and likely rank among the industry's largest quarterly losses ever."

And here is the reason why the airlines are being pummeled right now:

The above "dashboard" courtesy of oil-price.net is the reason for the following, pulled from various sources:

"Exxon Mobil made history recently by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices. Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said 4Q 2007 net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share."

and this:

"BP, Europe's second-biggest oil company, posted a 53 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit as production rose and increased its dividend. BP climbed as much as 3.5 percent in London trading after boosting the payout by 31 percent from a year ago. Net income advanced to $4.4 billion."

and this:

"Soaring oil prices lifted Chevron Corp.'s annual profit to $18.7 billion in 2007, the fourth consecutive year that the San Ramon company made record amounts of money."

If that has disgusted you, I'm not EVEN getting started.

In researching just how OBSCENE these oil company profits are, I discovered oil-price.net, a well-written site devoted to breaking down the entire "cost of oil" picture. In a blog on that site, writer Steve Austin enlightens us about profits, and gives us a clue why BushCo is in love with the tiny country of Kuwait:

A table that accompanies Austin's story shows the "break-even price" for Kuwait at $17 a barrel USD, a "a key measure" determined by the amount of money it takes to extract 1 barrel of oil. At a market price of $100 for that same barrel, Austin's charts show that cost of extraction and production is multiplied an unbelievable 488 percent!

I briefly jumped around the Internets after seeing this to try and prove these numbers wrong...but found similar "break-even" prices listed on other reputable-looking sites. As all data on the web is to be taken with a considerable amount of skepticism, all versions of this "break even price" story are generally in the same range regardless of writer, so I think Austin's take on this is right on.

This is a sad, sad time for our country. I sure hope the airlines can hang on until new leadership can be elected to the White House. And if that leader is John McCain, we are SO screwed.

Chinooks as Playthings?

Now I will admit that I've never picked up a copy of the London Daily Mail, so I can't tell you if it is a straight-up media source, or a tabloid. I am sure any British readers will set me straight on that.

But in my nightly scour of the Internets tonight, I stumbled upon a couple of stories out of the U.K. that if true, are sad but at the same time kind of funny, in an arrogant sort of way. Both of these tales are about Prince William, who I'll admit to knowing very little about...except that he is a pilot and that makes him welcome in my world. But you might agree after reading this from The Mail's web site that his decision making skills may need work:

"The head of the RAF has "erupted" with rage over revelations Prince William landed a £10million RAF helicopter in girlfriend Kate Middleton's backyard during a military exercise. Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy is said to have been furious at the 'sheer stupidity' of the situation and demanded a "line-by-line" explanation from subordinates."

According to The Mail – and again I do not know if this is fact or fable – they say Middleton and her parents "watched in delight" as the Prince practiced take-offs and landings in the yard of their sprawling home in Bucklebury, Berkshire. Even if this was an "official" training exercise, you have to admit it takes a pretty big set to drop in on your lady in a CHINOOK! What, there was no shining armor handy?

And lest you thinkith this diversion was a "one-off" escapade, Young William seems to be getting pretty used to jaunting around the Isles in a monster twin-rotor chopper. While the backyard sortie into lovely Kate's garden was amusing, this, if true, is NOT excusable. Again, from The Mail:

"Details of the two-hour stunt emerged just days after the prince was heavily criticised for using a Chinook to fly himself and brother Harry to a stag weekend on the Isle of Wight. Last week it emerged that after getting his much-coveted wings, William flew a Chinook to London and landed at Woolwich, where he picked up his brother and fellow army officer Harry. They then flew to the Isle of Wight where their cousin Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne, was enjoying a weekend-long stag party. The flight enabled them to spend an extra five hours touring the pubs of Cowes where at one point rowdy revellers pulled down William's trousers."

From a quick glance around the British media tonight, there seems to be no shortage of bad vibes about one of the most visible of the "Royals" blasting off across the lush English countryside chasing way more then hamburgers...all on the taxpayer's dime. I can see no way this ends well for the reputation of the dashing Prince, who might want to just BUY HIS OWN CHINOOK with the spare change his Grandma has stashed under those gilded throne cushions at any of the many palaces and castles that her family calls home.

A First-Hand Chronicle
of Learning to Fly

If you have ever wondered what it is REALLY like to get in the left seat of a rented flight school airplane and blast off into the wild blue to earn your private ticket, boy have I got a great blog for you to read:

Greg Perry is just your average guy, a 42 year-old magazine publisher out of Huntington, West Virginia who likes cars, autocross, NASCAR, home improvement, and someone named JuliaK, so says his Blogger profile. Greg has wanted to fly for 35 years, which means he discovered flying machines at about seven-years-old. And like me, and so many other pilots, he has waited patiently for the stars to align in his life, and finally began the process of earning his pilot's license in March of 2008.

Now I read quite a few aviation blogs, but "42 and Flying" stands out in the crowd. Why? For the same reason Ernest K. Gann stands out...the writing. Perry's keen ability to string the right words together to form really interesting stories makes his blog flow effortlessly from cyberspace to your brain. As a description of the "fun, fear and frustration" of flying, it is worthy of praise from a guy like me who has been getting paid to write for my entire adult life.

Here is a sample of the way "42 and Flying" draws you in to the cockpit and never lets go. This description of a flight student's first landing is priceless:

"We enter the left-hand pattern at HTW, and Nelson [his CFI] again is relating to me all this information in his relaxed, easy-going way. "You're going to land this puppy," Nelson says over the headset. Totally out of the blue. I am stunned. "Oh, I'll help a little bit, but you'll do most of the work," he says, and takes his hands completely off the yoke to illustrate the point.

Great. We're at 1,500 feet and descending at 3-400 feet per minute now, the engine at idle, and there's two guys in the airplane: One of them has landed a plane before. One of them has not.

If you think this has the makings of a classic mathematical question on the SAT, you're right. If two men are in an airplane traveling 65 mph, one of them has landed before and the other has not landed before…what are the odds of the plane safely making it back to earth without a huge fireball as the finale?

Nelson talks me down, down, down. It is a little unsettling at first, but you MUST get used to the sensation of no power and descending at a controlled rate. That's all a landing *truly* is, a controlled descent (some say crash) to the ground. Base leg, and I turn the plane on final, pointed right at the numbers of Runway 26. Nelson reminds me not to push the nose down, it'll go there all on its own. The plane practically flies itself toward the runway numbers, just over the trees that are at the edge of the runway. The engine has been idling since the downwind leg. The number 26 gets larger in the windshield, and I'm doing my best to keep the plane straight. About 10 feet off the ground, the mystical Ground Effect takes place, and I pull back on the yoke. Nelson adds a little more back pressure using his yoke, and we settle right onto Runway 26 as pretty as you please. Other than that last-second application of back pressure, Nelson's hands were off the yoke.

I landed 40Golf pretty much by myself today. Just call me Maverick, honey."

If you have been there and done that, you will agree Perry's writing is spot on. So pour a cold glass of whatever gets you wound down, go visit "42 and Flying" tonight, and enjoy. Oh, and be absolutely sure to bookmark his blog, because I can guarantee this will be a wild ride that we will all want to take with him.

The best part is that Perry can carry us all along on future flight lessons without worrying about weight and balance or being over gross. Hope we don't make him nervous, with a couple of hundred blog readers looking over his shoulder.

Go Ahead, Tell
AOPA What You
Really Think

There can be no disputing the fact that as fuel costs rise and our economy teeters precariously close to the edge of a full-on depression, people all over the country are choosing to hold on to any extra cash they somehow managed to collect. If you have a dream to learn to fly, and if you're still are getting a check from a job that has yet to be sent to China, chances are you've chosen food, housing and gasoline for the mini-van over flight instruction.

If any of that sounds familiar, AOPA feels your pain. The fine art of building up our pilot population is a daily part of their job description, and in an effort to keep the phone ringing at flight schools across America, the following from their web site indicates they want your help:

"
One of the biggest threats facing general aviation is the dwindling pilot population, and that's why AOPA is turning to you for ideas on how to reverse that trend. "Take five minutes and tell me what you'd do," implored AOPA President Phil Boyer. Share your ideas in this short online survey. So far, hundreds of members have responded to Boyer's call to action published in the May issue of AOPA Pilot. "But that's not enough. We need ideas from every AOPA member," Boyer said. "This issue is as important as the user fee fight, and the more information we have, the better we can tackle this problem that threatens the very heart of aviation."

A pitch in the latest AOPA Pilot Magazine featured an appeal from Boyer and a personal request for members to take the short survey. According to AOPA, you've followed that instruction well, with "more than 600 pages of high-quality opinions and ideas" received by the middle of last week.

If you are AOPA [and these days you have no reason not to be], go here and throw your ideas on how would build our pilot population in the mix. The questions are phrased in such a way that you really are given carte blanche to speak your mind:

(Q) In general, besides cost, what do you think are the major obstacles that keep new people from learning to fly today? Please limit your response to 75 words.

(Q) Let's say you were sitting across from someone who had the time and financial resources to learn to fly. What would you say to that person to convince him or her that they ought to take up flying? Please limit your response to 150 words.

(Q) If the job of recruiting new adult student pilots was entirely up to you and you had the full resources of AOPA to back you, what would you do to convince more people to learn to fly? Please limit your response to 500 words.

When I took the survey, I basically told them they should hit up every major aviation and aerospace company in the country to develop a foundation that would pay the cost of earning a private ticket for up to 5,000 of our best and brightest young men and women ages 18-24. Why? Because a 21-year-old that gets his/her license will hold that ticket for 40-50 years and buy lots of aviation stuff along the way. But there is an even better reason to focus on this demographic:

These young people are all very well-connected and once they get their ticket, will be talking [texting?] general aviation to their close circle of friends. The 5,000 new pilots each year will be the seed that keeps GA growing as our pilot population ages.

What I proposed to AOPA was that they begin a nationwide version of my Welcome Sky Aviation Scholarship Program that I developed at Fresno Chandler Downtown Airport several years ago. It's a simple concept – sort of a 'Robin Hood' style of developing funding – where rich pilots with extra cash lounging around their bank accounts take that cash, pool it, and pay for full-ride flight training scholarships. The recipients of these funds are really sharp kids who have written essays on what it would mean for them to learn to fly. In the few years I pushed Welcome Sky in Fresno, we managed to produce four new private pilots, and I know this system works. I have never had the means to administer it nationally, but I know AOPA does.

Just my two cents, because they asked for it.

Excellence in Reporting
from MSNBC

We bloggers love to bang on the mainstream media any time they get an aviation story wrong. You know the drill, when you open the morning paper and read that a "twin-engine Cessna 172 with eight people on board" has crashed.

But when a mainstream media outlet gets it right, they deserve major league kudos. And this week on MSNBC.com, reporters Alex Johnson and Grant Stinchfield really hit one out of the park with their story about airline pilots who are claiming they are being forced to fly with low fuel levels. In a nutshell, the story goes something like this, from the MSNBC site:

"As cash-strapped airlines pack more passengers on flights into ever-busier airports, pilots are filing internal complaints warning that airline cost-cutting on fuel supplies could be creating a major safety risk. The complaints, compiled by msnbc.com and NBC News from a database of safety incident reports maintained on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration, reveal wide-ranging concern among pilots that airlines are compelling them to fly with too little fuel. With the cost of jet fuel having doubled in the past year, according to Energy Department figures released last month, airlines are eager to save fuel costs."

This article is a must read for anyone who is a pilot, or anyone who plans on becoming a passenger on many major U.S. carriers. This story is reported the way real journalists used to work, by digging deep to uncover actual facts. Here is how Johnson and Stinchfield developed their story:

"MSNBC.com reviewed more than 5,000 voluntary incident reports filed by pilots and first officers with the Aviation Safety Reporting System. All filings in which flight crews declared “minimum fuel” or more critical “fuel emergency” situations were examined for those in which crews either declared the fuel problems after having requested extra fuel before takeoff or specifically alleged that they took off with inadequate fuel for conditions. The filings examined for this article reflect the sentiments only of pilots who chose to file reports and to include specific commentary on why they thought the incidents arose."

While the names of the pilots who made these incident reports have been redacted, the Aviation Safety Reporting System is maintained by NASA, who considers the database a "reliable and conservative snapshot" of events. My two cents:

With fuel costs skyrocketing, it is easy to see how the airlines would want to cut back anywhere they can on fuel. But as any PIC knows, the safe outcome of that flight rests on the shoulders of the Captain, who needs to be the last word on fuel on board. If this MSNBC is true – and I believe it is – this is just more of the same from the an industry who just recently got busted big time for trying to slide in under the FAA-mandated inspection regs. It is not a stretch for this cynical outsider to visualize a corporate world of Big Airlines who would require dispatchers to supercede the fuel orders of the Captain. As each day passes, we the people lose faith in most of the Big Airlines, and this story doesn't help earn back our confidence.

So go here and read this story, it is a very good example of how investigative journalism used to be conducted, back when reporters had the balls to really get their hands dirty. Reporters Johnson and Stinchfield go at this story from every conceivable angle, leaving no stone unturned.

Oh, and Grant Stinchfield has a great blog post on this story, for more information.

17 April, 1964.

That date holds a special meaning to me, and a very small handful of aviation historians who have heard about the legend of Three-Eight Charlie. It is on this day 43 years ago that a 38-year-young mother of three from Columbus, Ohio returned from one of aviation's most important thrill rides to become the first woman to fly solo around this planet.

When Jerrie Mock touched back down at Port Columbus Airport in “Charlie”, it marked the end of what should have been considered to be one of aviation's few seriously legendary flights. She traveled over 23,000 miles, traversed five oceans, and made 19 stops spread around the globe. The story has endless twists, turns, suspense, high times and low points, and demonstrates how any one of us can achieve great things if we just want it bad enough. If you want to read my AOPA Pilot Magazine story “Aviation's Forgotten Pioneer” about Jerrie's flight, click here.

After you read about Jerrie's accomplishments, it will boggle your mind how this story fell straight off the aviation history radar screen. Just to prove how forgotten Jerrie's flight is, go ahead and ask anyone out at the airport if they know the name of the first woman to fly solo around the world. Even though her flight was far more technically challenging and almost 20,000 statute miles longer then Charles Lindbergh's NY - Paris jaunt, it will surprise you that every pilot you ask knows of Lindy, but no one will know about Mock. And yes, half of them will think it was Amelia Earhart.

I discovered this gaping hole in the aviation history books in 2000, and it has been my passion to correct this malfunction ever since. When I found FAA N1538C – aka Charlie – sitting disassembled in a Smithsonian warehouse that year, I knew something had to be done. So I launched a nationwide campaign to re-educate the flying and non-flying public about Mock's flight.

Many of my current blog readers may not know that in 2004, I acquired the movie rights to Jerrie Mock's life story and historic flight from Jerrie herself. Since then, I've developed a full-length feature film screenplay about her and her flight, and have been trying to get Hollywood interested in what I feel is the greatest aviation story never told. So far I've been skunked.

So this is my annual plea for help. If you know anyone that is either (a) a major-league decision maker in the film industry, or (b) an aviator who is so gloriously wealthy that they'd never miss a few million in spare change, ask them if they want to help me correct aviation history's biggest omission. Here is the URL to send them:

http://www.three-eightcharlie.com

Together we'll tell the greatest hangar flying tale of all time.

Why I Blog

I received a long email from a frustrated reader recently who wants to "unsubscribe" from World of Flying due to a laundry list of issues far too lengthy to address here. Absolutely no skin off my nose – my readership continues to grow daily – but it made me think about why I pound out near daily posts and rants mixed with a little poked fun once in a while.

One of this reader's main concerns was lack of a "comments" section. Well...

I turned off comments long ago after finding no real solution to prevent dope dealers from trying to sell me knockoff Viagra, and Nigerian zillionaires sending me invitations to "help" them take a few million out of their country. Of the one occasional real comment I received, I got about 10 spam comments. Sad to say, nothing in the Blogger system seemed to work to prevent this. So I choose to just make a nice clean "Email Me" link, so that when people really had something to say, they could reach me.

Another peeve of this reader was my left leaning slant on things. He actually said my rants were "tiresome and sound sadly similar to Rush Limbaugh, just from the other side." While I freely admit to my progressive take on politics, the readers who have contacted me thanking me for this slant outnumber those who don't by about 10 to 1. The great thing about being a blogger is that you get to exercise your freedom of speech daily and effortlessly, and I do so without remorse. And the best thing about being a blog reader is the ease at which you can CHANGE THE CHANNEL when you don't like what you are reading:

This is how I see politics on the blogs: There are now so many blogs out there on the Internets, you can find one for anything you choose. Save the whales, nuke the whales, there is a blog meant just for you. So when you run across one that tilts in a direction you do not, it is really, really easy to click through to one that does.

I blog because I love to tell flying stories. The frustrated reader tells me that my recent posts about Katy – our family 235 – made him run to open a copy of Controller for a little airplane shopping, a compliment I really enjoyed to read. I believe the most important job that my blog can do is inspire people to learn to fly. Those happy flying tales they see on WoF really do make me warm and fuzzy inside when I write them. But if all I wrote was warm and fuzzy, I'd get complaints that I didn't write enough flames of BushCo and his band of GOP cronies.

Trust me, it is very hard not to hurl daily word attacks at an administration run by a frat boy that tells the Pope he made an "awesome" speech. It takes great restraint not to bash those who think $114 for a barrel of dead dinosaurs really is sweet for crude. The GOP gives us bloggers so much good material each day, it is hard sometimes to think [or blog] about anything else.

I blog because it is simply a blast. The aforementioned frustrated reader might actually think I take this stuff seriously, which I do not, trust me. Blogging to me is a way to give my brain a few minutes off from reality, and if I yank a few chains, so be it...isn't that the very essence of the First Amendment? I do not plan to change the world with this blog, I'd be elated to just push a few souls out to the airport on the edge of town so they can take that first flight lesson.

But in the interest of proving I don't have thin skin, Mr. Frustrated Reader did make some very valid points, some of which I take to heart. So you will find a nice fat "FEEDBACK" button in the upper right part of this page. Click that and you're compliments [or flames] will get delivered straight to my inbox. Send me spam and I will promise to send you back boatloads of bad karma, and believe me when I tell you...my bad karma is REALLY bad.

As far as being too political, I can't guarantee there won't be more Bush bashing until 01.20.09, but I will try really hard to keep things light, which is and has always been the purpose of World of Flying.

Merger Mania is a Very Bad Idea

Call me cynical if you wish, but I am getting very, VERY bad vibes about this week's mega-merger in the airline sector, reported widely, including on cnn.com:

"Delta Air Lines announced a long-speculated deal to acquire Northwest Airlines Monday, a combination that will create the world's largest airline and could lead to a series of other deals to reshape the U.S. airline industry. The deal could lead to less competition and higher fares on some routes where the two carriers now compete."

That last sentence should tip you off to what is really going on here. In case you just landed on this planet from, say MARS, present-day Washington D.C. has but one purpose in life: Create a business environment in the United States that allows the one-percent elite to plunder the wealth of the other 99 percent of us by making as much profit as possible on anything they touch. You have to look no further then the corner gas station to see what I mean.

The mechanism that we the people have always had to keep corporations in check has been our anti-trust laws. Back in the days before our government was sold to the super rich, lettuce growers couldn't get together over coffee and agree to set prices, it was against the law. But in today's Washington, anti-trust laws – sort of like the Constitution – are only a fable that can be side stepped any time some fat corporation wants to push the market prices of anything through the roof. In BushWorld, we are seeing more of this, again from cnn.com:

"On April 9, the Department of Transportation tenatively approved a suspension of antitrust laws for several members of the SkyTeam alliance - Delta, Northwest, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and two other international partners - with the object of combining trans-Atlantic operations and operating as a single carrier for flights between the U.S. and Europe."

So when Delta and Northwest agree to merge into our largest carrier, you'd THINK our Federal Government is on top of this, right? Associated Press reports it widely, reminding us our country is still being held hostage:

"The Justice Department pledges to take a look at how the proposed merger of Northwest and Delta will affect consumers. But analysts see the deal eventually winning regulatory approval. The airlines say they want to complete the transaction by year end, in the closing window provided by the presence of the Bush administration, which is seen as largely merger friendly."

The only people who think these airline mergers are good for the industry are the very top managers of the merged carriers. Everyone else, including the pilots who fly the passengers who will get screwed in this deal think the mergers are a huge mistake. And if you think these airline mergers will ever result in lower prices, you're head is buried deep in GOP quicksand.

235 Test Flight:
Mission Accomplished

Since October of 2007 when we bought our Cherokee 235, I have been waiting to write this post. I have been waiting to put the 235 to the test, cramming it full of people and stuff and flying it long distances. Well, I am back tonight from that first "test flight", and as promised, "Katy" is truly a capable workhorse disguised as a mild-mannered family airplane:

The "test flight" would need to test not only the 235's load carrying capabilities, but also its long legs. To complete the mission, I needed (a) four humans of average weight, (b) lots of heavy suitcases and additional equipment, (c) all four fuel tanks topped completely off, and (d) enough miles in the flight plan to test the wonderful range reputation the make/model has. The test humans were myself, wife Julie, son Michael and his lovely wife JJ, with an average weight of 177.5 lbs. The baggage, camera and computer equipment weighed in at an estimated 175 lbs. Add 504 lbs. of distilled dead dinosaurs in the fuel tanks, and Katy would be just an ounce or two below her maximum certified takeoff weight of 2,900 lbs.

Our mission profile was demanding. Fly direct into tiny Reedley Municipal Airport just east of Fresno for a quick photo/video shoot for the agency, blast off up to California's Wine Country for a wedding, and return home the next day. Katy would have to haul the four of us and all our stuff from the middle of Oregon to the Middle of California, without complaint on a very tight schedule.

The results? Fabulous.

The primary reason we bought a 235 was this kind of mission. Our 1964 airplane is still fully capable of performing the exact mission it was designed for when Piper built the ship, and I have to say, Katy still does it with a great deal of style