10,003.

Go to the local mall and walk around. You’ll pass two people here, see three girls giggling over there. In the Hot Dog on a Stick, there are two girls wearing those silly uniforms that looks like something from the Jetsons.

You estimate that between the people in the stores to the guys and dolls cruising for action, there are about 340 people you’ve passed. Well, if that mall was in the state of Oregon, odds are you’d be the only licensed pilot in the building:

With a current population of 3,421,399 souls, FAA says that 10,003 of us Ducks and Beavers are licensed pilots. One in 340, roughly.

So the next time you shove the throttle to the panel, yank back on the yoke and the houses get smaller, smile wide and thank yourself for pushing through the check ride from Hell and obtaining your ticket…because you are one lucky S.O.B! We aviators are a rare breed, and I recommend you grin from ear to ear the next time you head out to the patch to convert fossilized dinosaurs into altitude as you spend the better part of a glorious day just poking holes in the sky.

No wonder they
can never make
ends meet

The No. 1 cost that the airlines must deal with these days is obviously their fuel bill, but I took a look at some landing fees and was floored at what it costs to drop heavy metal into some big fields:

In 2004, Toronto's Pearson International Airport has ranked second in an annual survey of the highest landing fees at global airports. Pearson charged USD $8,203 for a Boeing 747-400 to land, compared with Tokyo Narita's USD $8,777 fee for a 47, which led the world in extremely unbelievable fees.

Translate that into cost per seat, and it’s no wonder these guys are bleeding red ink.

Pearson also had the second-most expensive landing fees in 2004 in two other aircraft categories, charging $1,715 for an Airbus 321-100 and $497 for a CRJ200-LR. Five hundred bucks for an RJ…that’s nearly ten bucks per seat just to slip a greaser onto the numbers!

At home – again looking at 2004 figures – Dallas-Fort Worth Airport raked in $110.5 million in landing fees at $2.53 per 1,000 lbs., so says their official Annual Report. And this year, their landing fees have spiked to $4.94/1,000 lbs. Do the math and it comes to nearly $220 million in fees that airlines must pay just to chirp the tires on a DFW runway.

With the traffic that mega-hubs like DFW and ORD get, you’d think the places would feature solid gold urinals when that kind of money is pouring in the side door.

As usual, Cessna CEO gets it right

I’ve always been a big fan of Cessna Aircraft Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jack J. Pelton. On Pelton’s watch, the Pride of Kansas has grown profitably while maintaining a very high level of quality in their flying machines. Pelton shoots straight, and when he speaks, people should listen.

And last Friday in a speech to government and industry officials at the Aero Club of Washington, I really hope those in attendance were listening, not so much for the notability of the speaker himself, but for what Pelton was saying:

"These myths have crept into the public discussion about FAA funding, and they have gained undeserved credibility. I am a businessman, not a policymaker, and FAA officials often speak of the need to run the FAA more like a business. So, I propose we address some basic business questions before we implement more policies or procedures that could potentially add cost or make the system more burdensome than it already is. The questions we need answered are: Where does our aviation system stand today? Where is the market headed? What are the requirements we will have to meet?

Wow. Can our current Federal government handle so much logical thinking? Pelton is right on with this…how can GA trust the FAA with a blank user fees check, in light of the debacle du jour that comes out of D.C. each and every news cycle?

Pelton stated the five myths about Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization:

• Myth one: The mechanisms for funding the FAA are not working;
• Myth two: A funding overhaul is needed to pay for modernization, and to cover revenue shortfalls from the declining commercial ticket tax;
• Myth three: General aviation does not pay its share for its use of the National Air Transportation System;
• Myth four: User fees will provide stable and predictable funding for the FAA; and
• Myth five: Very Light Jets coming to market will place a new burden on the air transportation system.

He correctly offered information about how GA represents about 3 percent of all operations at our nation's 20 busiest airports, noting that the air transportation system was built to accommodate peak airline traffic at airline hubs. Pelton pointed to Reagan National Airport as a glaring example, saying that even though DCA was closed to GA traffic for four years, the costs of operating the airport did not decrease.

He closed by saying that the argument that the new crop of VLJs will overwhelm the nation's ATC system is completely unrealistic. "Even if the most optimistic predictions about VLJs turn out to be true,” Pelton said, “we will not see large numbers entering the system over the next five years.”

And he should know.

So will the powers-to-be listen to a successful GA CEO with a proven track record that is offering to throw some solid business sense into the FAA funding debate? My guess is no, but then again, Pelton doesn’t work for Halliburton, so he doesn’t matter to the dynasty running our country.

Big-time recognition

My other aviation site, www.three-eightcharlie.com just received a very nice recognition on Aero-News Network, one of the biggest outlets on the Internets for aviation news. I am still on a business trip, but did check the stats while on dialup (uggggh) and BANG, the spike was huge.

Always nice to get a linkback like this.

Just what the world needs

Space Adventures – best known for sending space tourists to the International Space Station for $20 million a pop – has announced plans to build a $265 million spaceport in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial spaceport would be based in Ras Al-Khaimah, with the UAE government has making an investment of $30 million in the project.

Space Adventures and a Texas venture capital firm called Prodea will also help finance suborbital vehicles being built by Myasishchev Design Bureau, a Russian aerospace firm.

This is today’s further proof that the fledgling suborbital flight industry is heating up in 2006. Recently, the U.K.’s Richard Branson announced a $225 million spaceport to be built in New Mexico, which will be the headquarters of Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism company. VG has already contracted with Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites to develop a suborbital spaceship based on SpaceShipOne technology.

Coming in the heels of the news that Bush and Co. wants to hand operation of seven large U.S. seaports over to a UAE company – when it’s been documented that the UAE has had past ties to the financing of terrorist groups – this development is interesting. Do we really want countries in the volatile Middle East having the capabilities of launching big, big rockets? I guess it’ll be fine so long as we are all best buds…but get them pissed at us and I must say, for them to have that kind of rocket capability is a touch disturbing.

Or, maybe I am being way too paranoid?

He said, she said over
AOPA ’07 Expo move

We’ve got a good old fashioned catfight going in Atlantic City, where AOPA has pulled the plug on their 2007 Expo at Atlantic City International Airport in favor of Hartford, Conn.

AOPA President Phil Boyer released statements saying this:

“The officials with the underused Atlantic City International Airport simply don't want to be bothered with a bunch of general-aviation aircraft, regardless of the income they would bring to the airport and Atlantic City. “The airport handles only 38 airline operations a day, but Expo would put such a burden on their facilities that they wanted to charge us an exorbitant amount to pay for normal aircraft operations.”

The fee that AOPA calls “exorbitant” is reported to be $250,000. But Atlantic City officials have said the $250,000 was only a "preliminary estimate of the cost" and was later reduced to about $150,000. AOPA says Expo will attract between 9,000 and 11,000 people who will dump between $8 million and $10 million into the local economy.

AOPA last held Expo in the area in 1995 at Atlantic City's Bader Field, which is scheduled to close next year – a closure AOPA opposes. Atlantic City's people contend that AOPA's decision against holding its show there next year is partly related to Bader Field's closing. They've also said the problem lies with AOPA's planning of Expo, which they say should have started about six months ago, but that AOPA didn't contact agencies in the area about the show until “the 11th hour.”

I find it hard to believe that AOPA’s staff – some of the best and brightest in all of aviation – were late to the gate on planning Expo, when other Expos seem to go off year after year without a hitch. And if the move was in fact retaliation for closing Bader, too freakin’ bad for Jersey. Now maybe other cities and states that want to close their airports will think twice before writing off all those annoying little airplanes and the millions of dollars that their owner/pilots spend:

It's like this: Does anyone actually believe AOPA would ever spend a DIME in Chicago after the rape and pillage of Meigs Field? Not a chance.

In 2004, when AOPA told Atlantic City's mayor – on the record – that closing Bader was an act of taboo that would not be easily forgotten by the association's nearly 450,000 member pilots, maybe Hizzhonor didn't take those flyboys from Frederick seriously. Now, as millions and millions of easy dollars goes up to Hartford, they will see that AOPA really was the baddest elephant in the room after all when it comes to taking care of GA in America.

This will make flying
over the flyover states
a little more exciting!

Did you know that Oklahoma has entered the space race? Don’t feel alone if you haven’t…I follow the aviation news daily and read a dozen trade publications every month, and this one slipped right by me:

The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA) is resolved to create in this decade a commercial spaceport that will expand and economically develop the space frontier with advanced spacecraft operation facilities and concentrations of specialized industries in Oklahoma.

A “spaceport” in the heartland of America? Yeah, I didn’t see this one coming either, but apparently this project has been around since 1999 when Governor Frank Keating signed SB 720, the Space Authority Industry Development Act, creating the OSIDA. Now, it appears push is coming to shove over airspace near the Spaceport.

AOPA stated this week that the FAA's draft environmental assessment of its intentions to convert Clinton-Sherman Municipal Airport in Clinton, Oklahoma, into a spaceport does not address impacts on GA routes in the area. Let’s hope they are not talking figuratively. AOPA's director of air traffic services, Heidi Williams, makes their case:

"What we have been able to glean from the assessment is a potential impact on airways. For three hours during each launch from Clinton, it is possible that 16 Victor airways could be closed. When combined with the two nearby military operations areas, a launch could severely limit the options for GA aircraft transiting across the entire state of Oklahoma."

AOPA has been in contact with the FAA to find a way for these flights to occur under air traffic control separation.

Now I have to say this: If all parties can come to the table and sort out these traffic issues, I say good for Oklahoma! I hope this spaceport brings in thousands of high-tech, high wage jobs for the area, because we ALL know commercial space flight is coming, and coming fast.

The FAA will be having a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 9, at the South Western Oklahoma Development Authority, Western Technology Center in Burns Flat, Oklahoma.

Find out everything you would like to know about OSIDA here.

Not the Motel from Hell,
not this time

The last time back to the land of Cheese Museums and endless airplanes, I had to stay in a run-down trucker’s motel in New London, Wisconsin, about 30 miles away from OSH. This place was so slimy, the bedbugs has tattoos, the manager’s name was Al Qaeda, and some Freightliner driver named Bubba in the next room still wants to make me his girlfriend.

But this time – oh baby – all that is changing.

I’ve just confirmed my reservation of a room in a private home just 15 minutes from the show, in a great neighborhood overlooking Lake Winnebago. I’ll be sharing the home with three other couples, all pilot families [ my kinda people ] that have been coming to White Swan Drive for years. With lodging so impossible to find during EAA season, this is like finding the end of the rainbow where the pot ‘o gold lies.

Now that I have flight, car and lodging reserved, I can chill about OSH for a few months before again kicking my excitement level up a few notches again in June.

Yeah right…like anyone can chill about Oshkosh.

A mark that U.S. carriers would
rather you didn’t know about

U.S. airlines last year lost about 10,000 bags a day on average, the worst performance since 1990, reports USA Today. The rate of lost suitcase reports soared 23% in 2005, according to U.S. Department of Transportation numbers. Reasons cited include a surge in the number of passengers, airline budget cuts, backed-up flights and tighter inspections of luggage.

Here’s how a few of the Bigs fared in this report:

US Airways, which exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, had the highest lost-bag rate of major carriers, while Southwest Airlines' rate of lost bags jumped nearly 27%. Southwest blames the airline's cranky new bag systems in Baltimore, Las Vegas and Phoenix. And Delta Air Lines, third-biggest airline, lost more bags than any other carrier. Its customers filed 573,419 lost bag reports.

Maybe this is why the overhead bins of every commercial flight I catch are stuffed to the breaking point with carry-ons that appear far larger than the airlines normally allow.

I have a suggestion for the airlines on how to find all those lost bags: Before anyone panics, just look where all the lost socks go…that strange, otherworldly place where things go when they vaporize. I can literally put TWO socks in the washer, and only one will ever see the dryer.

Will I continue to check bags, yes. I carry too much crap not to…will they get lost….yes. Life will go on, it just means a mad dash to Wally World on the other end for a day’s change of clothes.

But wait…there IS hope! The Powerball was not won last hump day, and is now $365 million! When my six numbers arrive in my hand, it'll be calling to order my new PC-12, and then lost luggage will be someone else’s problem.

Just wait until the numbers come in for ‘06!

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reported a record year for general aviation manufacturers recently, announcing an all-time high for billings which totaled $15.1 billion, a 27.2 percent increase over 2004. Year-end, worldwide shipments of general aviation airplanes totaled 3,580 units for 2005, up 20.8 percent over the previous year’s total of 2,963 units.

These explosive sales figures say a lot about the healthy of GA, but GAMA President & CEO Peter Bunce sums it up best:

“The outstanding 2005 shipment and billing figures demonstrate that general aviation is one of the most promising sectors of manufacturing. Our growth shows that general aviation continues to have a dramatic impact on the way the world does business. As the worldwide economy expands and becomes evermore interdependent, general aviation will play an ever increasing role in making business soar.”

One figure that is telling of things to come in ’06 is this:

Business jet shipments increased by 159 units to a total of 750 airplanes. This is a 26.9 percent increase in shipments over 2004.

Almost 27% of an increase in production and sales is HUGE in any industry, and can only be welcome news to everyone involved in GA at any level.

For those who are really young, it wasn’t always like this, lad. There was a time long, long ago when you actually couldn't buy a brand new Skyhawk, when airplane assembly lines were shut down, factories were shuttered, and the GA future was bleak beyond belief. Nobody by a courageous few were building new planes, but it appears that has all changed for good. These impressive GA increases do not include VLJ sales either, and only a handful of LSA sales, which will both spike bigtime in ’06.

Man, it is ever a great time to be a pilot…

Onward to airplane heaven

Last night, my lovely wife and best friend Julie booked my flight to EAA Airventure 2006, and I could not possibly be more excited about going back to Oshkosh!!! And getting there for frequent flyer miles and ten bucks is perfectly cool too.

For aviators, Oshkosh is the closest thing we have to the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. It is like a trip home to the mother ship, like stopping over for a few days on hallowed ground.

For non-pilots, it may look on the outside like a big honkin’ airshow, and indeed it is. But for people who fly, words cannot begin to describe the feeling one gets while touring Wittman Airport during these few prized days in July.

On any given day, if you see a nice, shiny Swift parked on the ramp in Anywhere, USA, it will be a big, big deal. Ramp rats will crowd around gawking at the shiny skin, and the plane will be the only topic of conversation at the airport coffee shop that day. But at Oshkosh, there will a row – maybe two or three rows – of bright, shiny Swifts, the finest examples of that airframe flying in North America.

Now multiply that by all the airframes out there, and you’ve got Oshkosh. Like P-51 Mustangs? How about 71 the first year I was there! DC-3’s…twelve or so, all impeccably refurbished (Basler’s are the hottest). Or how about a Ford Trimotor? See one of these at your local patch about to launch and all activity will stop until it flies off into the sunset. But at Oshkosh, the EAA Museum’s Trimotor makes endless laps, taking off on RWY 9/27 all day every day, giving rides to happy pax.

I have the flight, I have a car reserved…these are the easy parts of going to Oshkosh. Finding a hotel room in Cheese Country, USA is the tough act. Last time back, I stayed in a fleabag trucker’s motel 30 miles away…but this time I am vowing to find something a touch nicer.

This trip will be an ongoing theme in my blog during the upcoming months, so if you want to learn about the largest, most awesome Airshow in the world, stay tuned right here…

Exceptional minds come
up with amazing ideas

There have been attempts to build a flying car over the years, but none have succeeded in a mass market situation. But a group of young, very bright and highly motivated private pilots plan to change that with…the Transition:

The Transition is a Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) designed to make general aviation more practical for personal transportation. This increased practicality is accomplished by enabling the promise of a true integrated roadable aircraft at an economically compelling price. The Transition will be capable of driving at normal highway speeds, flying at speeds that approach the light sport aircraft limit, and parking in a standard garage. The freedom enabled by this aircraft will fundamentally increase the personal mobility of its owners while simultaneously improving the safety and practicality of GA travel.

Their company – Terrafugia – is the creation of these three graduates of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and incorporated in 2006:

Carl Dietrich (CEO, CTO): In 2000, shortly after patenting a new type of rocket he invented as an undergraduate, Carl was given one of only 16 commendations ever awarded "for extraordinary accomplishment" by young alumni of the department. Carl also holds his private pilot certificate.

Anna Mracek (COO, VP Business Development): Anna has spent time at both Boeing Phantom Works in Advanced Combat Aircraft and Exploration in St. Louis and at GE Aviation in Boston. She also holds her private pilot certificate.

Dr. Samuel Schweighart, Ph.D. (VP Engineering, Chief Engineer) received his Ph.D. from the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and currently is a senior member of the technical staff at Draper Laboratories in Cambridge, MA. In addition to being a paramedic, Sam also holds a private pilot certificate.

These people are serious about this too…and are taking ORDERS at this year’s Airventure:

Terrafugia will be part of the greatest aviation event of the year in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on July 24-31, 2006. Come by our booth for a chance to meet the team and our vehicle. Place your order at the show and lock in Oshkosh-only special pricing.

Specs on the Transition look interesting (all numbers are preliminary until delivery of production vehicle):

GTOW: 1320 lbs.
Max Payload: 430 lbs.
Fuel Consumption (75% power): 4 GPH
Cruise Speed (75% power): 120 mph
Gas Mileage: 30mpg (air), 40mpg (hwy), 30mpg (city)
Minimum Takeoff Distance ~ 1500 feet

Want to learn more? Here is a very cool animation showing how the wings fold up, and the Terrefugia website can be found here.

This is a good idea, but…

Angel Flight America (AFA) has appealed to State Governors to utilize our nation's Interstate Highway System as emergency air fields for future disaster relief efforts. This is a very good idea, but not the first time anyone has thought of it:

In 1956, President Eisenhower signed legislation establishing the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. The Interstate system was originally designed so that one mile in every five must be straight, usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

AFA Chief Operating Officer Ken Rusnak says they’ve been given the cold shoulder by most everyone at the state and Federal levels:

”When we contacted those in charge during Katrina with this idea, we were summarily dismissed and our ability to deliver aid was severely hindered because airports were flooded and aircraft were unable to land,” Rusnak said.

AFA is the largest charitable air transportation organization in the world and the primary coordinator of the nation's general aviation response to Hurricane Katrina. In fact, as today’s scathing report rips the Bush White House a new one over their poor handling of the disaster, it appears AFA was one of the few organizations who were doing things right. But as we all know, they had to fight with FEMA over every inch of progress, a sad state of affairs indeed.

I do not own a plane these days, and do not have the quality time to devote to AFA, or I’d be an AFA pilot tomorrow. But tonight’s Powerball jackpot is $300 million, so maybe just maybe I’ll hold the right quick pick and can order my Pilatus PC-12 early Thursday AM.

Oh heck, there’s
room for ONE
more VLJ, right?

Having trouble keeping up with the VLJ horse race? Well, this isn’t going to make things any easier:

JetSet Inc. of Canada is set to introduce its Very Light Jet fractional ownership program. The program features the MS760x, a 4 seat, twin-engine pressurized personal jet aircraft offering cruise speeds of 400mph. A one-sixteenth ownership can be purchased for as little as US$60,000. This entitles the owner to a minimum of 25 hours per year.

A total of 20 aircraft have already been ordered, with initial deliveries scheduled for March 2006. Designed, manufactured and certified in France in the 1960's, the MS760 was introduced as the “first business jet in North America” by Beech Aircraft Corporation. While the four-place, twin engine jet was fast and easy to fly, the high purchase price at the time appealed to only a few wealthy buyers such as the Shah of Persia and Morocco's Prince Hassan. The MS760 was said to be decades ahead of its time.

This is the first I have ever heard of this airframe, so maybe I am late to the party on this one. But I have a stupid question: Are these NEW aircraft, or previously flown 1960s models that are being retrofitted?

Keep an eye on the Jet Set Fractions website for more details.

Sipping fuel
the UPS way

With about 265 heavies in the air on a given day, United Parcel Service is hoping to save $1 million a month soon by utilizing continuous descent approaches, or CDAs.

CDAs are an alternative to the normal aviation practice of stepping down altitudes as you approach an airport for landing. With CDA, planes use idle power to glide down, which makes less noise, burns less fuel and creates fewer emissions.

Testing is underway at Louisville, KY and Sacramento, CA, and UPS expects to obtain operational approval from the FAA to implement CDA for several flights into Louisville by the end of the year. The airlines are watching this program closely, and if successful, expect CDAs to begin showing up across the nation.

UPS is also the first U.S.-based carrier to use a computerized flight planning system developed by German carrier Lufthansa that calculates the most efficient route between two points based on weather, winds, terrain and other factors.

What can Brown do for you? How about setting the bar really high on saving fuel. Now that’s an idea that's long overdue.

Very cool new map

There is an awesome GoogleMap posted at myflightblog.com! Anyone interested in the story of the first woman to fly solo around the world should go check this out.

The person who runs this blog says he is "captivated" by the story, and to that I say GREAT! I hope that soon millions of people will also be interested in America's Forgotten Pioneer.

UPDATE: On 02-14-06, GoogleMaps Mania, a very popular blog, featured this map by myflightblog.com.

Netjets on a roll in 2006

This is more significant proof that business aviation is a very healthy sector right now:

NetJets Aviation, on Monday said it plans to hire 450 pilots in 2006, a 19 percent increase over its current pilot base, to meet rising demand for its services.

A lot of people know that NetJets operates more than 420 aircraft…but what they don’t know is that the company was founded by General O.F. "Dick" Lassiter way back in 1964, as the civilian version of the U.S. Air Force's Special Air Missions Squadron, devised to transport civilians.

2006 looks to be a banner year for business and general aviation. With the certification of numerous Light Sport and VLJ aircraft, combined with the continuous floundering of the Big Three commercial airlines, this year may turn out to be one of the most important in the history of aviation, marking the point in which private air transportation leaps far forwards as the legacy lines drop farther into a sea of red ink.

The last logbook you’ll ever need

One of the best ideas I’ve discovered in a long time is the FlyWrite Pilot Logbook & Journal, available from Master CFI Dorothy Schick’s Flying D Enterprises. This inexpensive logbook takes logging your flights to a completely new level as it offers not only space for the flight details, but space to write “journal” entries such as who, what, when, where, etc.

I have always been displeased with the tiny spaces in my current logbook, which is crammed with itsy-bitsy scribbles about who I took up, and where I took them. Schick’s logbook fixes that, and I’m looking forward to taking delivery of mine very soon.

Schick makes a great point:

When you are old and have lost your medical, you’ll be able to look back inside your Flywrite Logbook and Journal and relive those many flights because all the details will be there, preserved for all time.

That alone is worth the $24.95 price. Author & Columnist, Captain Barry Schiff, sums it up well:

"As one who does enjoy logging memories as well as the statistics of flight, I can only say I wish that I had had your book with my first lesson. I anguish over all the memories lost that otherwise could have been dutifully recorded in your journal."

Schick runs one of the coolest flying clubs around, at the Creswell Airport, just a few NM south of Eugene, OR. It is the kind of place where you find benches out in front where pilots and wannnabes can just sit and watch the planes takeoff and land. It's the kind of place where all who enter has a keen love of aviation – the place just feels like a flight school ought to feel. It's the kind of place where nobody cares if your hands smell like Avgas.

It's my kind of place, and I believe I have found a new home.

Not really a greaser, but he made it down

World of Flying congratulates Steve Fossett for his 76:45:00, 26,389 mile flight solo around the world. But while he technically set the record, it was not with the pretty ending might have liked.

Just miles from his destination at Kent International Airport, Fossett’s generator failed, which meant a total electrical breakdown, and he was forced to make an emergency Mayday landing at Bournemouth Airport.

Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic, Steve Ridgeway said:

If we didn’t get him down in fifteen minutes, he would have had to ditch the plane. On landing, Steve burst two tires, and his windscreen was so iced up he couldn't see even a few meters in front of him. And he had only 200 lbs of fuel left; which if he had continued may well have turned into another emergency!

Whew. This trip started with a takeoff from hell in which Fossett had to horse GlobalFlyer off the KSC runway as he neared its end, before smacking down two gulls. So by making an emergency landing with two blown tires and a frozen windscreen, it sounds like the trip ended the way it began.

So what’s next for Fossett? Well, as you know, he’s backed by Sir Richard Branson, so expect the VirginGalactic Airlines Flyer to launch soon, with Fossett at the helm trying to set the first mark ever for solo flight to the moon.

Sweet.

American Airlines is getting serious about their high-end business customers.

Starting March 13, 2006, you can catch a Sikorsky S76 between the Downtown Manhattan or East 34th Street Heliports (starting in April ‘06) and JFK Airport in only eight minutes flight time, saving as much as 82 minutes over the same trip by car. For $139, it’s being called “the ultimate taxi ride” in New York City.

Under contract with US Helicopter, the flights will land at American Airlines’ new terminal at JFK, Terminal 9, gate C43, right outside the Admirals Club. But what's completely cool is this:

Travelers who take the helicopter to the airport will save additional time by going through a security checkpoint and checking their bags at the heliport, bypassing lines at the airport

One has to wonder if American (and also United and Delta) are feeling the pressure of the success of business aviation as it steamrolls forward in 2005/2006. As more and more Top Bananas choose a Gulfstream, Citation or (coming soon) Eclipse over a Boeing or Airbus, the Big Three must continually come up with more and more ways to cater to their very elite flyers.

The $139 fare is called “limited, introductory” on U.S. Helicopters site, so we can only assume this will go up soon. To that I say this: If the Big Three really want this top end business, why charge them anything? Offer a limo or chopper ride gratis and see how fast a CEO can run your way.

I’ll wait for the warm WX testing in Kauai, thank you.

A group of 55 Airbus engineers and one enormous airplane have descended on Iqaluit Airport in the Nunavut capital [Inuit territory] opposite Greenland. They were there to make sure no important glitches developed with the 555-passenger A380 when the temperatures fall well below freezing. With a takeoff weight of 155 metric tons (171 U.S. tons) and a wingspan of 262 feet, the A380’s eight-story-high tail fin is now one of the tallest structures in Iqaluit.

How cold is cold to Airbus? They were thrilled that a predicted “warm spell” of -15C was eclipsed by even cooler temps of –29C. Once the Big Bus passes cold WX testing, its future appears bright:

The Airbus A380 has an average list price of $292 million, and there have been at least 159 orders already for the super jumbos capable of flying nearly 8,700 miles. Singapore Airlines is to take the first deliveries late this year.

Cold-weather testing is a significant part of Canada’s $18.9 billion aerospace industry. In addition to an abundance of cold weather, the northern capital also boasts uncluttered airspace and vast expanses of runway.

You’ll think you’ve died and went to [really old] biplane heaven

There are a few places in our country that we aviators MUST consider as hallowed ground. Oshkosh and Kitty Hawk are two that come to mind. But I believe that the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (ORA) in Rhinebeck, NY ought to be in that class.

ORA keeps one of – if not the – finest collection of old biplanes in the world. Yes, there are many old biplanes on display in other “museums”, but at Rhinebeck, these museum pieces FLY. And I don’t mean once around the patch once a year just to say they fly ‘em either. No, this is a real aerodrome, and from June 17 through October 15, 2006, on Saturday and Sunday beginning at 2:00 PM, you can see the most awesome sight that any pilot can imagine.

Aircraft Preservationist and ORA founder Cole Palen collected aircraft spanning from the period of the birth of aviation up to the start of World War II, restoring them and flying them regularly. He passed away in 1993, but those who knew Cole said he never could stand to see a parked airplane. He presented his first air show at ORA in 1960 to an audience of 25 people on a farm he purchased near the picturesque village of Rhinebeck.

Do yourself and any small children you now a favor and plan a trip to ORA. I am not affiliated with them, and this is not a paid commercial…just one pilot passing along a tip. My late buddy Lee Hansen took me up on this and visited Rhinebeck a few years ago, and never stopped talking about the place.

Old biplanes…radial engines…want are you WAITING for? Their contact info is at the end of this post, and here is a great Quicktime movie showing some of what you’ll see at ORA. The list of airplanes in their collection is mind-blowing:

Aeromarine 39B - 1917 • Aeromarine Klemm - 1930 • Aeronca C-3 - 1936 • Albatros D.Va - 1917 • Albree Pigeon Frazier - 1917 • American Eagle - 1929 • Ansaldo “Ballila” A.I - 1917 • Avro 504K - 1914 • Bird, Model CK - 1931 • Bleriot XI - 1909 • Bleriot XI “Cross-Country” - 1911 • Breguet - 1911 • Caudron G.III - 1914 • Chanute Glider - 1896 • Curtiss “A” Pusher - 1909 • Curtiss “D” Pusher - 1911 • Curtiss Fledgling – 1929 • Curtiss JN-4H “Jenny” - 1917 • Curtiss Wright Junior CW-1 - 1931 • Davis D1W - 1932 • DeHavilland “Puss Moth” - 1932 • DeHavilland “Tiger Moth” - 1934 • Demoiselle - 1909 • Deperdussin - 1913 • Dickson Primary Glider - 1930 • Fairchild 24-C8F - 1937 • Fleet Finch 16-B - 1942 • Fokker D.VII - 1918 • Fokker Dr.I - 1917 • Fokker Dr.I • Fokker E.III - 1914 • Great Lakes T2-1MS - 1931 • Great Lakes 2T-1R - 1931 • Hanriot - 1910 • Heath Parasol LNA-40 - 1932 • Monocoupe 113 - 1929 • Monocoupe 90 - 1931 • Morane Saulnier A-1 - 1917 • Morane Saulnier MS.130 - 1927 • Morane Saulnier N - 1914 • New Standard D-25 - 1929 • Nicholas Beazley NB-8G - 1931 • Nieuport 10 - 1915 • Nieuport 11 - 1915 • Nieuport II N - 1911 • Passat Ornithopter - 1910 • Pitcairn Mailwing PA-7 - 1929 • R.A.F. F.E.8 - 1915 • R.A.F. S.E.5a - 1917 • Raab-Katzenstein Glider - 1921 • Ryan NYP-Spirit of St.Louis - 1927 • Short S-29 - 1910 • Siemens Schuckert D.III - 1918 • Sopwith Camel - 1917 • Sopwith Dolphin - 1917 • SPAD VII - 1917 • Spartan C-3 - 1929 • Taylor J-2 Cub - 1931 • Thomas Morse S4.B - 1918 • Thomas Pusher, Model E - 1912 • Voisin - 1908 • Waco 10 - 1927 • Wright EX “Vin Fiz” - 1911 • Wright Flyer - 1903 • Wright Glider - 1902

Wow, that is one impressive list. Did you see the model years of these vintage airplanes? They do not get any better than this. And as we all know, nothing is forever. I'm sure ORA will be around for years to come, as I have future grandkids that MUST attend with their Poo-pah, Doo-Dah, Dad-doo, or whatever other name they come up with for me. So go there now, this summer, so you can say you did.

Contact:
Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome
PO Box 229 Rhinebeck, NY 12572
Phone: 845-752-3200
Fax: 845-758-6481
E-mail: info@oldrhinebeck.org
www.oldrhinebeck.org

Thud.

Steve Fossett's flight did not get off to a smooth start, to say the very least.

His fuel-laden GlobalFlyer needed nearly all of the Kennedy Space Center's three mile long runway to take off. Then, seconds after lift-off, two seabirds smashed into the plane. Meanwhile, temperatures inside the GF's tiny cockpit soared to 130° Fahrenheit (49° Celsius), causing some of the instruments to momentarily blink out.

"Take off was a bit scary to say the least," Fossett told his ground control team in London. With the plane traveling 140 mph down the runway, Fossett said he had no choice but to attempt takeoff, as there was not enough pavement left to stop. "I couldn't have aborted even if I had wanted to," Fossett said.

Kinda sounds like Lindy's departure from Roosevelt Field, Long Island.

You just gotta hate that awful thudding sound when Jonathan Livingstone SeaGull vaporizes himself on your airframe. I have a friend who's C182 and a Canadian Snow Goose met unexpectedly on very short final. What the hell a CSG was doing inbound to Reedley Muni in Central California is anyone's guess – probably coming back from a nice winter holiday in Cancun. But Don Siler did the one thing you can do to save your ass...FLY THE PLANE!

Made Nagasaki, next stop, Kent, U.K

Steve Fossett and GlobalFlyer were happily cruising over Japan at 23:38 UTC today, but the loss of some fuel on ascent from Kennedy Spaace Center has complicated the mission:

There are still concerns about the 750 lb of fuel that the VA GlobalFlyer lost during ascent from Kennedy Space Centre. Jon Karkow and the team calculated that the VA GlobalFlyer would reach Kent International Airport with between 500 lbs and 1,000 lbs of fuel left, but there is now no margin for error.

Crews at Virgin Atlantic Mission Control are assessing deminished winds over the Atlantic, trying to chart the best course for Fossett on his mega-inbound leg to England.

Keep track of the rest of the flight here.

This will sell a lot of papers

Sometimes the sensationalization of GA accidents in the print media is downright laughable. Here is today’s best example, an actual headline and pull quote from a Philippines newspaper presenting the news of a downed Duke B60:

6 cheat death in plane crash

Six passengers and crew cheated death yesterday after their aircraft crash-landed along an airstrip in the northeastern province of Aurora.

Cheat death? I thought that’s just a term we pilots use just for yucks out on the ramp after we’ve greased in a good one. But for a real newspaper to use it suggests the pilot and his souls on board looked the Grim Reaper square in the eyes before kneeing him in the nuts.

From the paper’s point of view, man-o-man, these flying machines seem pretty dangerous. Death’s door is just a few nautical miles away, waiting to suck you in and vaporize your passengers without a trace.

Oh, but there is still tomorrow, and as sure as the sun will rise, another fish wrapper will try to blast one out of the park with another powerful headline like this. I was in the real media once or twice, and there is some sort of weird aura that comes over a newsroom when the scanner screams that there is an “airplane crash” somewhere in the vicinity. The place explodes with activity, the kind of excitement that “SUV rollover” just cannot possibly generate.

Maybe there IS a reason I'm no longer a man-on-the-streets beat reporter.

O.K., now this is really, really insane

Let’s see if I am missing something here. The State of Nebraska convicts a guy of vehicular HOMICIDE and throws him in the slammer four years ago after drinking, driving and killing a man. So far, I understand...do the crime...do the time.

But in an effort to “rehabilitate” this guy, while he was still in jail, local corrections officials and the FAA allowed Barry Greg Caughlin to climb in an airplane by himself and head off into the wild blue yonder for flight training, according to a report by local NBC news.

A Corrections spokesman said inmates taking part in educational release programs are carefully screened and constantly monitored. And in case [Caughlin] gets the urge to “fly the coop”, they noted that he's under the watchful eye of an instructor and, when flying solo, he's being tracked on radar.

As this felon builds time toward his private pilot certificate, there is another twist that will boggle your mind. Caughlin can't get a driver's license until 2011!! But the FAA says there's "nothing stopping him" from being a pilot.

NOTHING STOPPIN HIM??? What about the freakin’ prison cell door, hmmm?

As a guy who was run off the road and damn near killed years ago by a drunk driver, I have zero pity for these clowns when they get caught. And to give one the keys to an airplane and let him enjoy the same freedom as all of us other law-abiding licensed pilots is well beyond any possible level of my comprehension.

I’m all for trying to reform some of these guys, and I believe there are people out there that made a terrible choice one night and now has to pay society back. According to the NDCS website, Caughlin is slated for release 3-1-2006, so why the hell couldn’t they wait until he’s again a free bird and let him drop his own dime for flight training on his own accord?

Here is the NDCS contact if you wish to write them a letter. Wouldn’t bother calling them, you’ll get nowhere fast in their phone maze.

Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
P.O. Box 94661
Lincoln, NE 68509-4661
(402) 471-2654

GlobalFlyer launch attempt grounded for today

Steve Fossett’s around-the-world attempt in GlobalFlyer has been grounded today due to a “popup” mechanical glitch. Jon Karkow of Scaled Composites explained the problem:

"Unfortunately for today a small mechanical issue called a halt to the flight. We have discovered a small fuel leak which happens to be an element of the fuel system which we changed last flight. This new element has never been tested with a full fuel load before. We learned once it was fully fuelled that we had a small leak in that system. The leak is a fairly simple thing to fix but it will take around 24 hours because it requires fuel sealant material.

Stay tuned to the GlobalFlyer website for further developments.

Yeah, but the pretzels are still pretty good…

Air Transport World is reporting that in the US Dept. of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report, domestic airline delays, mishandled baggage and customer complaints worsened in 2005.

But anyone who has stuffed their butt into 25A recently already knew that:

The 20 reporting US carriers posted an ontime arrival rate of 77.4% last year, down from 78.1% in 2004. Reports of mishandled baggage rose to 6.04 per 1,000 passengers compared to 4.91 in the previous year. Consumer complaints rose 17.2% to 8,735.

As usual, Hawaiian Airlines led the way with a brilliant 94.2% on time arrival rate, while JetBlue Airways was on time only 63.7% of the time. And Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) may have set a record with their Flight 4148 from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Salt Lake City, arriving late to the gate at SLC an astonishing 100% of the time.

You have to wonder if there is any correlation between these kinds of numbers and the airlines bleeding red ink. I read this stuff and have to envy the VLJ makers right now...their future is bright, and the big carriers are their best salesman.

Around the world...again

Steve Fossett and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer plan to attempt a launch on February 7 at first light, 6:42 AM local time, 12:42UTC, from the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, FL.

The website for this flight is awesome…especially the flight tracking page. Check it out here.

Will Toyota Ever Build Their GA Plane?

This is by no means breaking news, in fact the link goes to a story dated 2002. But it is a topic that is always there in my head demanding attention.

Through the late 90s and early 2000s, Toyota of Japan dabbled in aviation, testing the waters to see if there was a market in Yankeeland for Flying Corollas. They even worked with Burt Rutan down in Mojave to test fly a prototype, which looked like a Cirrus/Lancair Columbia hybrid. A composite bird, it did have a promising powerplant:

Most of what we know about Japanese GA activity has come through brief glimpses, rumor and speculation. We do know that between 1992 and 1995, Toyota funded an engine research project to explore the conversion of its sophisticated Lexus V-8 engine to aircraft use. This became the FV4000, a 360-hp watercooled powerplant complete with fuel injection and full-authority digital engine controls (FADEC) that pioneered the current round of engine-control products just finding their way to market. According to those familiar with the project, the FV4000 was a promising engine and was actually certified by the FAA, including type and production certificates.

But as we all know, the Japanese have never moved forward with a launch into the American aviation market. Honda has moved forward with the HondaJet, but as of 05.29.09, there are STILL no HondaJets in a showroom near you.

I have always driven Toyota trucks for their supreme reliability. My current version, a ’95 T100, has – and I am not lying – 220,000 miles on the original brakes. Each time I get a new set of tires, I ask that they inspect the brakes, and each time they say my wear levels are well within tolerance. This vehicle is freakishly durable.

So how come Toyota and/or Honda hasn’t launched a Lexus with wings? The basic fuselage is there (sort of), already has GPS, already has great leather seats and a wonderful air-bag safety system. And the powerplant is smooth, reliable and very, very powerful. Are we to be surprised that Tokyo hasn’t welded wings and a tail to a SC 430?

I am guessing that if the Japanese wanted to build the equivalent to a SR 22, they could do so easily. I’ll lay money they already have the plans stashed away too.

Do I want this to happen? Yes, bring it on! I might buy one, if they could prove to be as good a value as the Toyota trucks I have driven since 1974. But Average Joes and Janes cannot afford new airplanes that hoveer around the $500,000 mark today, so if the Japanese produced a decent bird for about the price of an Escalade, it certainly would be a great thing for general aviation.

All this might not be great for Independence or Duluth, but then again what has brought down modern day Detroit was internal Board Room stupidity and union greed, not competition from the Nippon Motors dealership across from every GM store in America.

And they’re not kidding either…

ABC News is reporting of a “Presidential-sized” TFR this Sunday around Ford Field in Detroit during the Super Bowl, encircling the stadium out to 30 nautical miles and up to 18,000 feet. Inside that is a 10-nm no-fly zone that will be patrolled by Air Force fighters.

No doubt about it, they're really, really serious about security this time:

"We're the last line of defense," United States Air Force Lt. Col. Bill Hargrove told ABC News Wednesday. When Correspondent Pierre Thomas asked if he was prepared to take the order to shoot down a non-responsive civilian aircraft entering the inner ring, he answered, "Absolutely!

The joint U.S.-Canadian TFR prohibits most GA flights within 10 nm of Detroit's Ford Field from 4 p.m. until midnight on February 5. That will shut down Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport (DET), and Windsor Airport (CYQG) across the border in the Canadian province of Ontario, to GA traffic.

AOPA urges pilots to exercise extreme caution, unless they want 50mm of lead up their six o’clock. When one of the Big Three TV networks is reporting this, it is the real deal, guys. So please, PLEASE, just buy a 12-pack, order Domino’s and sit home and watch the Seahawks win, instead of fulfilling that urge you have to go shoot aerials of the game with your new digital camera.

If you want to get down and dirty with all the official FAA 411, here is the link.

Yes, it is an awesome book

One of the better flight blogs out there just posted a great review of Jerrie’s book, Three-Eight Charlie after actually finding a copy in a library! That is a rare occurance, I promise you. Hope the Librarian didn’t hear that collectors are offering up to $500 now for copies.

Take a minute and check out myflightblog.com. It is a great collection of all kinds of flight stuff that aviators enjoy.

Darkest days at NASA?

Some old story every morning. Now, The Washington Post is reporting this A.M. that another of W’s appointees is under investigation for a laundry list of crap that would easily get them FIRED in the real world.

In this go-round, written complaints and supporting documents from at least 16 people have been given to investigators at an FBI-led watchdog agency alleging that NASA Inspector General Robert Cobb, appointed by President Bush in 2002, suppressed investigations of wrongdoing within NASA, and abused and penalized his own investigators when they persisted in raising concerns.

The paper trail may be there:

WaPo says they have documents and interviews with NASA employees and former employees to show that Cobb's actions had contributed to a lack of attention to safety problems at NASA.

The “Integrity Committee” of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency is also looking into the complaints. What is on the wire today describe efforts by Cobb to “shut down or ignore” investigations on issues like the malfunctioning self-destruct procedure during a space shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Center, and the theft of an estimated $1.9 billion worth of data on rocket engines from NASA computers.

Nice. So who could possible use $1.9B in sweet NASA rocket engine data? I could think of a dozen members of the real “Axis of Evil” that would kill – quite literally – for that data. Of course, Cobb has no comment, and as expected, W thinks he’s doin’ “a heckuva job” down there in Houston.

NASA has never fully recovered from the Challenger accident on January 28, 1986. The Shuttle program has floundered and is nearing the end of it’s useful life. And there is nothing wildly new from NASA is on the horizon except a mega-expensive sightseeing trip to MARS, which is about the most foolish idea I have ever heard in today’s economy.

I long for the good ol’ days of the Space Race, when the Yanks and Reds were blasting monkeys into orbit with crossed fingers, and when Armstrong (for Generation X, Y and Z that would be Neil, not Lance) was hitting Titlists dead, solid, perfect on the moon.

A headline to get anyone’s attention

I almost fell off my office chair when I read this headline today on Yahoo news:

Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner Certified to Carry Passengers Around the World

Who-hoo! Sign me up! I’ll take two tix please, around the freakin’ world, thank you. And guys, can you bring along something other than peanuts and stale pretzels…this is going to be a pretty long ride.

Of course, the headline writers at Yahoo might have been just a tad overzealous. The –200LR is not really certified for around the world, but this is not bad nonetheless:

The 777-200LR is capable of connecting virtually any two cities in the world nonstop. In service it can carry 301 passengers up to 9,420 nautical miles (17,445 kilometers).

Just think how easy Jerrie Mock’s solo flight around the world would have been back in ’64 had she been able to book a seat on a –200LR. And if you know anything about Aviation’s Forgotten Pioneer, I’ll bet that would have been a first-class ticket, cloth napkins, candlelight, champagne and some exotic food.

User fees: The Tug-o-War continues

The never-ending battle over who should pay for the costs of FAA Air Traffic Control entered yet another round last week, with ATA President/CEO James May and EAA vice president of industry and regulatory affairs, Earl Lawrence both launching barbs across bows.

In a speech to the National Aeronautic Association in Washington, D.C., May repeated the call for aviation user fees to bolster FAA's budget, a move that would offload millions of dollars of fees paid by the airlines onto general aviation users. He repeated the airlines' hard-line stand that business aviation and the emerging very light jet market are not paying their fair share of fees to operate the air traffic management system.

But EAA’s Lawrence wasn’t about to stand back and take it, returning this:

"While we are pleased the head of ATA agrees that GA pilots operating from uncontrolled fields, in VFR conditions, have minimum use of the system and should be exempt from any user fees, he is missing the major point. The air carriers are engaged in a coordinated effort to displace their economic problems and failing business model on everybody else. A main scapegoat is general aviation, which the carriers allege is not paying its fair share. In particular, the airlines are targeting business aviation and the promising new very light jet industry in an effort to increase the cost of operating those aircraft and reduce the competition they pose to the airlines' business traveler market."

Ouch.

It is no secret that revenues generated by the airline ticket tax have dropped about 20 percent because of market-driven low fares. And, as the airlines continue to sell tickets below the cost of providing service, the revenue into the trust fund continues to decline. With lower revenues flowing into the trust fund, combined with it being robbed for general operations by the Feds, the FAA will not be adequately funded in the future, this we know.

But user fees, however, will not the fix for this problem. Maybe someone should seriously ask the people in Washington who handle our money, WHERE THE HELL DOES ALL THE GASOLINE TAX MONEY GO???? I’ve always been told that money is supposed to go directly to FAA, but wait, I guess it can’t when it is being spent in Iraq.

Or, maybe someone decided to give Big Oil another phat tax break and let them keep the gazillions of dollars we pilots and the airlines pay in gas tax to further fatten their bloated coffers. Wouldn't surprise me – it was most likely stuffed into the Save the Whales Act of 2005 as a rider bill, one of those God-awful windfall breaks that our sneaky Congress likes to slide into completely unrelated bills in the middle of the night when they think nobody is watching. Newsflash to the clowns in D.C...we HAVE been watching, and this IS an election year.

Eclipse Aviation Breaks Ground On New Production Facility


With an eye on expected future growth, Eclipse Aviation broke ground in January on Sunport 11, a new 52,000 square foot space that will house a state-of-the-art assembly and manufacturing center, and will serve as a central hub for Eclipse 500 production.

"We set out to change aviation, and we are accomplishing this goal with the help of Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico," said Eclipse President and CEO Vern Rayburn. "As we move into aircraft manufacturing and delivery, we will continue to rapidly expand our physical infrastructure, growing from three buildings to six by June of this year. This growth will allow us to ramp production to four aircraft per day, and deliver on our order log of more than 2,360 jets."

Currently, Eclipse has three buildings in operation throughout Albuquerque, representing nearly 200,000 square feet of space. These include the company's Sunport 1 headquarters, its Sunport 2 final assembly building and the Sunport 10 friction stir weld center, located off-field. The company plans to expand its facilities to encompass six buildings totaling more than 350,000 square feet by June 2006.

Nice to see this. Kudos to any bureaucrats at the local and state levels who are playing this smart and have either helped big time, or stepped out of the way. Onward and upward for EA…is there room in that order book for my –500?

Oops, caught dreaming again…

O.K., now this hurts.

Jetblue, the one airline that is always right there at the top of the profit food chain due to their wise management style and exemplary customer service, is now reporting a fourth-quarter net loss of $42.4 million, and do we have to guess what is causing it:

As high fuel costs and competition squeezed earnings, the discount airline forecast losses for the coming year, sending its shares down more than 11 percent. The carrier said its aircraft fuel expense increased 89.5 percent to about $152 million, as average fuel costs surged 50.3 percent to $1.87 per gallon in the quarter.

Competition I can understand. All the low-cost guys battling it out for your butt, now that makes good business sense from the passenger’s perspective. But high fuel costs? Here we go again, George.

It is no coincidence that on the very day of W’s [Sad] State of the Union speech, Exxon reports they have earned $36 BILLION in profits during 2005. Until we can fix the problem at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, expect more losses in aviation as well as in just about any other industry that uses refined fossilized dinosaurs for energy. (Quick aside: just how many dead dinosaurs are left down there anyway? You'd think it has to be a finite number, and when all the dead dinosaurs have been refined into AeroShell, what comes next? Just pondering out loud...)

O.K., that was my political rant…now back to aviation…