Like Watching a Prize Fight.

Tonight in my nightly scour of the Internets, I came across this wonderful headline:


Jump for joy! It's about time. I was giddy with excitement, getting ready to write a very positive post about how – finally – Eclipse's problems are fading away, and soon they will be cranking out -500s at a record pace, followed by dozens of deliveries to happy position holders who have been more then patient for too long.

I was prepared to write that I have always been praying that Eclipse will pull it all together, put their well-publicized issues behind them, and get on with their mighty task of starting the VLJ revolution. I was getting set to launch a big post saying the VLJ movement is officially underway when I read the following on ANN:

Grievance Accuses FAA Of 'Rushing'
Eclipse 500 Type-Certification

The union representing the FAA's inspectors and test pilots says the process of issuing the Eclipse 500 type certificate was rushed, and that its members were not allowed time to do their jobs properly. A grievance has been filed against two FAA inspectors, days after Eclipse announced it received an FAA production certificate for the 500. It was originally filed in October of last year, according to Tomaso DiPaolo of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

But Avweb is reporting that DiPaolo also said he was “not aware of any influence on Eclipse's part.” Instead, it's reported that he believes the FAA's push might have had something to do with the FAA's new "pay for performance" mandate.

Now I have been going back and forth with my feelings about the many trials and tribulations that Eclipse has had to endure on their way to a full production and delivery schedule. One day, I am over the moon about their chances for success, and the next I am trying to chase away negative thoughts that they may not be able to stay alive. Watching this company give birth to their -500 has been like watching a prize fight, with Eclipse bobbing and weaving, punching and then getting punched, over and over again. Each time they take one in the face, this company shows their grit by sucking it up and landing more body blows.

This latest NATCA grievance and the allegations that it has brought to light might slow down Eclipse yet again, but I believe they will eventually sort it all out and win what many perceive to be a battle for survival. But I say this as an outsider, not as a position holder with a dog in the hunt. If I had been mailing off deposit checks to New Mexico and pacing the floor waiting for my jet, this latest news might really tick me off.

Or not. This grievance may be nothing more then union b.s., or it might be the tip of the iceberg exposing much greater problems. Like everything out of Eclipse these days, we'll really never know, so all we can do is wish them well and wait for their fleet to start racking up hours and creating a safety record that as of today does not exist as a production fleet. Because once several hundred -500s start becoming daily drivers for the Dayjets of the world, only then will we see if any chickens will be coming home to roost.

One of Aviation's
“Urban Myths” Proven?

For a while now, there have been stories circulating on the Internets about an evacuation test that Airbus ran on their A380 which “proved” that over eight hundred souls could evacuate their behemoth airliner in under the FAA-mandated time limit of 90 seconds. To receive the certification, the evac had to take place in total darkness.

The story goes that on March, 2006, the test was completed when 873 "passengers" and 20 crew performed the task in 77 seconds. Many have always been suspicious of this tale, but now a video of the demonstration has surfaced on youtube. The video plays in black and white because it was shot with infrared cameras inside the total darkness of the hangar.

Critics who have seen the video found here are already throwing up major red flags. From the footage shown, I have to say I mostly agree with their logic:

Via ANN, one critic posting online said “(The evacuation video is) totally unrealistic. Where were the children, the old, crippled, or the dumb? These people were all in shape." Another posted as saying "Of course you notice every passenger is fit (not overweight), emotionally composed, reacts to instructions, waits their turn, and is not afraid of the slide. I think real-life might be a bit different."

When you view this video, these two posters have valid points. Where are the drunk, freaked-out nutjobs? Where are the fat slobs who refuse to part with their laptop bags? How about the barely mobile elderly, or the scared, crying children? This test – as shown in the video – does not show reality as I know it.

I dare Airbus to go to O'Hare and pick the first 873 pax that walks past any spot in the airport, load them into a full-motion simulator of the entire A380, and simulate the frightening experience of the plane suffering fatal mechanical problems (like maybe a engine on fire?) followed by a crash landing that slams that airliner into total darkness. THEN start the stopwatch and ask those same humans to evacuate in under ninety seconds.

It'll never happen.

A new low-fare playa' may be just your ticket.

I am a big advocate for low fare airlines like Jetblue, Southwest and Airtran. These bargain carriers have a way of slashing prices below those of the legacy carriers, but if you live in certain cities (like Eugene, Oregon), cashing in on a fare that the price chopper has trimmed is impossible. Having said that, I love the whole business model of the low fare guys, it really keeps everyone on the commercial air travel playing field honest.

But about the time you think Jetblue is the lowest fare thing going, along comes Skybus Airlines, set to fly under an “extreme low-fare” model beginning May 22 with four leased 144-pax Airbus 319s. The wire services are reporting they have “an agreement” with Airbus to acquire as many as 65 planes starting in late 2008 for deliveries through about 2012.

And when they say “low-fare”, they mean it:

Skybus’s top walk-up fare will be $330 one way, before taxes. But it has many very low fares — $40, $50, $75 — one way, before taxes. Initially, Skybus will connect Columbus (Ohio) to Burbank, Portsmouth, Bellingham, Kansas City, Richmond, VA, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, NC. In June, flights are planned to Oakland. But they are also promising at least 10 seats on every flight priced at $10 one-way, before taxes. TEN BUCKS.

They are not going to gig you as you buy your tickets online, because that is the ONLY way to get onboard a Skybus:

The airline will sell tickets only through its web site, avoiding the expense of maintaining a reservations call center or paying a sales commission to travel agents. Skybus is also outsourcing its maintenance, the staffing of ticket counters at airports and its baggage handling, all to keep costs low. “Don’t call us,” the Web site explains. “We don’t have a phone number.”

So if they aren't going to get their revenue at the ticket counter through fares, just how are they going to keep the lights on and the Jet A bill paid? The answers are hiding in their “Skybus Rules of Flying” on their website:

1. On Skybus, you pay only for what you check. The first two bags are 5 bucks apiece. After that, it’s $50 a bag.

2. Hungry? Thirsty? Bring cash.

3. We’re not big fans of fancy in-flight entertainment systems, so bring a book.

4. Don’t call us, we don’t have a phone number. Seriously.

5. Please arrive no later than 30 minutes before takeoff, or we’ll leave without you. Really.

6. Don’t expect an army of gate agents.

7. Yeah, we’ve got preferred seats. Sort of. You can pay $10 bucks extra to board our airplanes before anyone else.

8. Refunding a ticket costs everyone, so we don’t allow it.

9. Big airports can be a big pain, so we choose less crowded and more convenient secondary airports for better punctuality and, of course, lower prices.

10. No spontaneous dancing in the aisle. We realize you might be excited about paying a ridiculously low fare, but please refrain from any unbridled dancing onboard. This includes jumping for joy, disruptive cheering, and celebratory break dancing.

You have to hand it to this startup, they sure have a sense of humor. But when checking out their new site, you can select a number of cities to fly FROM, but they all go through Columbus. Nothing against Columbus, mind you, lots of great aviators like Jerrie Mock have called it home. But if you wish to save a bundle and fly Skybus SEA to LAX, do you REALLY want to first go east to Ohio and then back west again to L.A?

It seems to me that this ELF (extreme low fare) model may work, but using Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) as a hub may turn out to be a big miscalculation. I sincerely wish Skybus the very best, and think the ELF idea is a solid marketing concept. Will the public buy what they are selling? Check back next fall and we'll take another look at Skybus. If they can fill the seats and charge for everything except the lavatory, then maybe they can make it and throw out their silly CMH hub idea to go head to head with JetBlue and SWA.

Not Skyworst, not today.

Over the many years that I flew out of Fresno, I usually flew United, and each trip usually included a short 40-minute hop up to SFO inside a Skywest EMB-120 Brasilia. The carrier's growing pains caused regular delays, and coupled with the cramped quarters and poor ride quality of their aging Brasilia fleet, the line became know to the Fresno traveler as SkyWORST.

It's been a long time since the good old days when a little upstart airline began hauling people up to the Bay out of Fresno Air Terminal, known affectionately as FAT:

That identifier has been part of Fresno lore as long as airplanes have coming been in and out of the patch formerly known as Hammer Field. The story goes that many, many overweight people have lost their cool when a Ticket Agent bent down and tied a big red F - A - T tag on their Samsonite. Oh, and don't ever try to get a WX briefing for FYI, even though the official name of the field is now Fresno-Yosemite International Airport. It's still FAT to the FAA, but many of the Ugly Americans who pass through there can easily qualify for that supersized nickname these days due to their addiction to Krispy Kremes and Budweiser.

Skywest today is a huge, successful line, and they have spread their wings across much of the USA. But out of FAT, fuggetaboutit, you still have to ride their “Vibroliners” to South SanFran. It's always a gas to board from FAT's giant new terminal building, at a gate with a jetway that seems rarely used, because you board the Brasilias after a walk down stairs and out across the tarmac.

But after my flight home yesterday from a couple of days shooting photos in Fresno, I am happy to give Skywest major league kudos. You know I bang pretty hard on the airlines in this blog, but today, the crew of flight 6195 did an amazing job.

After boarding 20 minutes late because of lack of airplane syndrome, I could see my connection to Eugene was going to be tight. But when the Cabin Attendant jumped on the horn and told us there was a “mechanical problem” and we were waiting for the A & P to arrive, it looked like my day was deteriorating fast. From 4A of the tiny “airliner”, I could hear the wrench tell the pilot, Amber Ridgeway, that “this was going to take a while.”

Down the tubes was the only place this flight looked to be headed.

After we watched the United mechanic talk a moment on the radio, we joked about hoping he wasn't ordering parts. But he quickly returned to sign off whatever squawk was found, and in a flash, we were rolling briskly to two niner left.

Once airborne, the attendant came up to my seat with a printout showing every passenger name and their connecting flight. She told me since my gate dash was the tightest, she'd “see what she could do.” My reaction – to myself – was to wonder what she could really do but maybe make excuses. Silly me...I underestimated the power of this attendant and this crew:

Soon she again got on the horn and told the other 20 souls in the Brasilia that they would have to sit tight when we arrived at the gate so the gentleman in 4A (me) could dash off first. She also said the Captain was calling ahead and asking them to hold MY plane! MY Plane! That is freakin' unheard of in airline land. Maybe this crew never got that memo.

After Captain Ridgeway greased the smoothest landing I've ever seen from the back of a Brasilia (say what you want, but I find lady pilots to have a much more graceful hand on the yoke), we hit the gate with 7 minutes before the schedule departure of my Eugene flight. I grabbed the 'puter and camera bags and dashed, and arrived at gate 77A just as they were checking in a standby soul to occupy 10D. The gate agent shouted to the ticket clerk “Wait, this guy has a boarding pass!” and the ticket clerk replied “oh yeah, he's they guy we were holding for - they called in about him!”

Damn straights they did...because they were holding MY plane. I made the seat before the cabin doors closed, and arrived back in paradise an hour later. But with only SEVEN MINUTES between planes, there was no way my baggage would be in Eugene. No way.

You could have picked me up off the floor when I saw my Samsonite on the carousel. How the HELL did they perform that magic?

So major kudos to everyone up and down the chain of command at SkyWEST...I promise to retire the Skyworst name forever, because today, you won me over, big time.

It was Virgin.

As I blogged last week, Boeing recently booked a USD $4.6 Billion order for 30 787-8s, but did not disclose the buyer. We noted that through 4.10.07, there were actually 67 Dreamliners with buyers who wished to remain anonymous. In trying to figure this out, I predicted the following:

It is Richard Branson and Virgin America, planning a mondo-push to get his airline going on this side of the pond. Nothing would say “Here we are, deal with us” quite like a shiny new fleet of 30 Dreamliners.

And today, Boeing and Virgin Atlantic announced this, via AP:

CHICAGO - Boeing Co. announced Tuesday that Virgin Atlantic ordered 15 of its 787 Dreamliners. The 787 order, which Boeing previously disclosed but did not identify as coming from Virgin, is worth $2.8 billion at list prices. It is the largest European order to date for the Dreamliner, which is due to enter service in 2008. Virgin also took options for eight 787s and purchase rights for 20 more of the aircraft, which Boeing is touting for its increased fuel efficiency — a deal potentially worth $8 billion.

I speculated that maybe this huge buy-in from Sir Richard Branson was to build a fleet for his Virgin America project, and time will tell if that indeed is what he is planning. One thing for sure is that when an airline drops this kind of money for new heavy iron, they've got big plans to fly...somewhere.

But there was also a hint at some rather interesting news buried in this AP story that will make Al Gore smile:

Boeing executives and Branson said at a news conference that they hope to launch a test flight of a biofuel-powered 747 in the next year. Branson said he hopes the new fuel will reduce the overall pollution generated by the airline industry. “We all have a responsibility ... to reduce the carbon footprint. Doing nothing should not be an option,” he said. “The environment has become the most important issue facing the world right now.”

That last blockquote ought to make the corn growers of America happy...which is one of the very positive by-products of our push to develop biofuels. A few years ago, you couldn't give away a corn farm in Iowa, and now they are growing the stuff at record levels, or so I'm told by friends from the “Corn Belt” who know these things.

Just some
of today's
oddities
found at
FL 300

Just about the time you thought you've seen all the crazy sites out there on the web, along comes Av8rdan with a few that ought to provide a few pristine moments of enjoyment.

I found these while surfing around thirtythousandfeet.com, one of my favorite aviation directories. A require stop at FL 300 is their new sites page, listing the freshest of their content.

Here are a few doozies from yesterday, found in their “other” category...

Do you often find yourself in Transylvania with too much time on your hands? Then maybe you need to take a helicopter ride over Dracula's Castle:

Rent a helicopter when you are in Brasov, or near by, will prove to be a fantastic opportunity to see the splendour and beauty of Bran Castle, also called Dracula Castle, the old Rasnov Citadel and the picturesque Brasov city from a bird's eye view.

Or maybe you are really lonely and all the girls at the bar slap you when you ask them if they want to go out to the airport and look at your pitot tube. If that's the case, you need this site:

Love Air is a dating and friendship service designed for air crew, cabin crew, airline staff, private pilots, military pilots, flight operations staff, ATC, aircraft & aerospace engineers, general aviation staff and all supporting services. Love Air is not only about romance and flirtation, but also friendship. Many of our members use this site to meet up to fly or just to socialise. Register here to share your cabin crew pics, to talk about cabin crew jobs, and to discuss any aspect of airline life and general aviation.

And if you want to sound like a Rhodes Scholar, you can drop a few of these classic aviation quotes from Skygod.com on the guys down at the coffee shop the next time you are waiting for the scud to lift:

"That is the trouble with flying: We always have to return to airports. Think of how much fun flying would be if we didn't have to return to airports." – Henry Minizburg

"It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill." – Wilbur Wright

Or last, and definitely least, when you have searched and read every other aviation website out there on any of the Internets, you can still go to the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum. From their site:

Air Sickness Bags are art! One can tell a lot about an airline's image from their Air Sickness Bags. Some barf bags are no more than a baggie with a twist tie, while other sickbags could win international design competitions. Are they art? You decide.

Uuugggrrrhhh.

This is never easy.

The United States Navy has released the name of the Blue Angel pilot killed this past Saturday in a crash at Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, in South Carolina. He is identified as Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Visitors to EAA Airventure in 2006 will remember Davis as “Kojak”, his Navy call sign.

Anytime we lose even one aviator, it is one too many. Sometimes it is just some hamburger chaser out buzzing the ranch and piling his Baron 58 into a barn, or maybe it is a 200-hour stick with more confidence then brains who flies right into IMC weather and gets his Skyhawk torched by lightning. Either way, I always have to question why some guys and gals go down. Sometimes it is broken airplane syndrome, but in too many GA accidents, “pilot error” is unfortunately the cause.

But when the best of the very best goes down, I'm sure I'm not alone by stating the obvious...that it seems almost inconceivable that any sort of pilot error is to blame for this accident. Blue Angel pilots redefine what flying tight formation is all about, and they do it 18-inches apart at 500 miles an hour, climbing through a 360-degree circle while performing a barrel roll, all with one hand tied behind their backs. They do this stunt flying week after week, looking the aviation Gods square in the eye before cranking and banking into yet another maneuver that blows everyone on the ground away.

When I watch formation teams like the Angels, the Thunderbirds and Canada's Snowbirds, I marvel at how easy they make it look. But as the speeds climb and the tricks get crazier, the margin of error shrinks to zero tolerance. At 500 KIAS or more with wingmen at either side, I always seriously wonder how they manage to keep from trading paint. But they do it without errors – they have to – because if they make even one tiny error, they'd have the Beaufort incident at each show. The last crash of a Blue Angels teammate was 1999, and they've flown dozens of shows in those eight years. What does that record tell you about their skill level?

So World of Flying sends our condolences out to the Davis family, who reportedly was on hand and witnessed the crash. While I'm sure they might have heard this frequently in the past few days, I'll go on record as saying that if you'd have asked Lt. Cmdr. Davis last week how he'd prefer to leave this world, it would be at the controls of a Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet, flying tight formation at an airshow, dazzling the kids.

Airline insider tells a different tale.

The support from the airlines for the FAA's proposed funding reauthorization scheme has always been suspect, smelling much like a deal between a couple of old cronies made in the secrecy of the cloak room at their Country Club, when they thought nobody else was looking.

When the air carriers jumped in bed with the administration so quickly and so fully in their attempt to screw GA to the floor, it reaked so bad that every pilot in the land that doesn't board their flying machine through a jetway took off their gloves and declared war on Washington's elite. It has always been a slippery slope that the airline's were trying to climb, and now it appears there may be cracks in the airline's strategery. The respected publication The Hill is now reporting that an anonymous industry source has told them this:

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) erred when it made a controversial proposal to increase taxes on small aircraft to pay for a modernized air-traffic control system, a representative of the commercial airline industry told The Hill. Pointing to an outcry from the general aviation community – which last week announced it was forming a new coalition to fight the FAA plan – the commercial aviation source who spoke with The Hill said he expected propeller and piston-engine planes to be excluded from any tax increases approved by Congress in FAA reauthorization legislation.

Whoa.

Even if this is an anonymous deep throat from the airline world, at least he/she is saying the right things...for our side of this catfight. The article quoted the source as suggesting that while GA piston planes with propellers might dodge this threat, the same does not apply to turbine power aircraft:

[He] suggested this change would undermine the argument that small communities would be unfairly impacted by a tax shift, and would put a greater emphasis on increasing the cost burden for the air-traffic control system on corporate jets, a fast-growing segment of the aviation industry. The commercial aviation source insisted there is traction in Congress for arguments that corporate jets should pay more of the system’s costs. “The piston thing is not going to happen” the source said. “I do think there’s significant traction on the whole issue of corporate aircraft.”

So how does that make you feel? I can hear a few of you saying that all those fatcats flying bizjets can afford a few user fees, and can absorb half a buck a gallon more in fuel taxes. That is just nuts, and here's why (my .02 cents worth):

There is a world of difference between a King Air C90, a Pilatus PC-12 or TBM 850 and the larger Gulfstreams, Falcons and Citations capable of flying across oceans. Maybe the cutoff for who pays the extra taxes and user fees ought to be determined by your destination airport. The whole POINT of owning a Pilatus is to drop into 3,000-foot runways at rural airports just five minutes from the contruction site or afternoon meeting. Many of these flights are flown VFR, and there is no difference between a PC-12 landing at the little field at the edge of town, and a Cessna 150 doing likewise. But when a GV needs to thread the needle through congested class bravo airspace and land at our larger hub airports, then maybe they ought to be considered to be flying in the same world as the big iron of the airlines.

Bottom line: Nobody should have to pay a dime in user fees or more fuel taxes if the airlines are exempt from any of it, because if they are exempt, then that ought to be proof positive that this FAA scheme was really just a back door deal to punish GA while padding the pockets of the airlines.

Be Proud of Your Dreamliner!

There is no other airliner in the world that gets my heart racing like Boeing's awesome 787 Dreamliner. I say that even before the first one leaves a runway, and base my assumptions of anticipated brilliance on the many published interior, exterior and cockpit photos on boeing.com. When I analyze the almost unbelievable specifications that the -87 is designed to deliver, it makes me believe Boeing's “Next Big Thing” will really redefine what an efficient airliner should be.

If I won about three Powerball drawings simultaneously, I'd love to order my very own 787...who wouldn't? When that happened, you could bet your farm I'd be shouting the news of that acquisition from the rooftops to all who'd listen. I'd be so giddy about being in line to get the keys to my Dreamliner, I'd think of nothing else, day and night. I'd eat, sleep and breathe Dreamliner.

So it is with great confusion that I read this news out of Seattle, courtesy of the Post-Intelligencer:

Boeing Co. has quietly added 30 fuel-efficient 787 jets to its order book, but it's not identifying the customer. The order, added to Boeing's Web site last week, was for 30 787-8s worth an estimated $4.6 billion at list prices, Peter Conte, a spokesman at Boeing's Seattle-based commercial airplane headquarters, said Wednesday. Conte said the latest company to buy the hot-selling 787 asked to remain unidentified, at least for now.

So just what would be the motivation for a buyer to drop a $4.6 billion USD order into Boeing's books, and then want to keep it a secret? I've dissected this story every which way, and I can only think of these three reasons why any airline would be that tight lipped on getting in line for the next airliner to change commercial aviation in a big way:

(1) It is one of the big legacy carriers that have currently been scraping themselves up off the bankruptcy court floor, and don't want to ruffle their creditor's feathers by placing such a large order this week when they were crying about not being able to pay the pretzel bill last week.

(2) It is one of the low-cost guys like Jetblue, AirTran or Southwest, who is planning to make a big media splash with the announcement of new routes (like Europe?), and don't want Boeing to let the cat out of the bag just yet.

(3) It is Richard Branson and Virgin America, planning a mondo-push to get his airline going on this side of the pond. Nothing would say “Here we are, deal with us” quite like a shiny new fleet of 30 Dreamliners.

But if you are thinking this 30 plane mystery order is sort of weird, you are not alone. But in looking at boeing.com's online order book, I saw this:

787 orders through April 10, 2007
Air New Zealand 4
ALAFCO 6
Azerbaijan Airlines 3
Continental Airlines 5
First Choice Airways 4
JAL International 5
LOT Polish Airlines 1
Travel Service 1
Unidentified 67

We are just now hearing about this one big mystery order, but what about the other 37 Dreamliner positions booked by people in 2007 who want to remain anonymous? What ARE they thinking? The 787 has the opportunity to push airliner technology forward in the same way Boeing venerable 747 jumbo did back on 9 February, 1969 when it made it's first test flight.

This will all certainly shake out in due time, but for now, it is just odd.

Putting the 'Space' in Cyberspace.
(Ed. note - This post is technically not about flying, but it is about space, which sorta kinda is in the same realm - dan)

Way back in the late sixties, a group of communications technicians began playing with a really “out there” concept, a new way of communication over telephone lines that they thought would rock our world big time.

Looking at the Hobbes' Internet Timeline v8.2 published here by Robert H'obbes' Zakon, we see the following as what looks to many to be the birth of the Internets:

1965 - ARPA sponsors study on "cooperative network of time-sharing computers" and TX-2 at MIT and AN/FSQ-32 at System Development Corporation in California are directly linked via a dedicated 1,200bps phone line; Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer at ARPA later added to form "The Experimental Network".

From those baby steps, the Internets have grown up substantially, so much so that is was estimated that in February, 2007, over 90 billion spam emails each DAY were transferred over that 'Experimental Network' that morphed into the world wide web. I doubt that was the founder's intention, but spammers are like cockroaches now, you kill one and five more appear from under the sink.

While we all live (and die) on the web these days, one frustrating thing that has always been part of the experience was connectivity. First, we had to suffer through the molasses-like speeds of dial-up, and today, we think DSL is not fast enough. And with the invention of wireless laptop technology, you can sit damned near anywhere and “surf” that experimental network, so long as you are in range of your home or office wireless router or sipping really spendy java at a coffee house equipped with a hot spot.

But now that I own a new wireless Macbook Pro, I am still finding connectivity to be a bitch. Sure, I can pay $75/month to get a wireless PC card that delivers almost useless dial-up speeds on the road, but each time I travel, I find myself asking this question: Is there a better way for all of us to log on and pound away on the web from anywhere on the crust of this rock we live on?

Turns out, the answer may be yes:

From TechNewsWorld - The Department of Defense is partnering with Cisco and satellite provider Intelsat General to launch an Internet router into space (IRIS). The result will be a "computer processor in the sky," Intelsat officials said, merging communications received on various frequency bands and transmitting them to multiple users based on data instructions embedded in the uplink. "IRIS extends the Internet into space for warfighters, first responders and others who need seamless and instant communications," said Bill Shernit, president and CEO of Intelsat General. "IRIS will enable U.S. and allied military forces with diverse satellite equipment to seamlessly communicate over the Internet from the most remote regions of the world."

I know, I know, it looks like this might be only for government use...now. But that was the original intent of the www in the first place, and eventually it went public, for better or worse. So I say let's launch a whole fleet of IRIS satellite routers into orbit, which will prompt a new evolution of computing technology allowing the masses to use these space routers anywhere, anytime for anything. Except spam. In that “perfect world”, there would be no more “hot spots”...because the whole PLANET would be one.

Now that, my friends, is serious wireless. All that stands in the way of this becoming reality is for Big Telecomm to figure out a way to make a buck off of IRIS.

Don't buy
what they
are selling.

You don't need a Master's Degree in Calculus to discover some very large holes in the ATA/FAA/Airline's Next Generation Air Transportation System Financing Reform Act of 2007, a.k.a. the biggest threat to GA ever. No, to determine just how crazy this scheme is, we need to do two things, look at this weekend's headlines, and run the numbers.

Saturday, in headlines shouting from every large and small newspaper in the land, it was painfully clear that the ATA and the airlines have now succeeded in polluting the minds of all America via their cronies in the mainstream media. Here's a couple of prime examples:

Ticket taxes fund corporate jets

Passengers in Boston pay for
corporate jet landings in Berkshires

Based on what these widely-distributed wire service stories are spewing, the public is led to believe that those fat and happy CEO's lounging in the back of all those Gulfstreams, Citations and Falcons are getting a free ride. Their logic is quite the stretch, but now that these writer's opinions have caught ink nationwide, let's break down that concept, shall we?

They say we've been getting a free ride, but according to this article on forbes.com, that gravy train is about to reach it's last stop. You see, the administration's plan calls for the elimination of ticket taxes as the primary means of funding FAA, being replaced by user fees for aircraft operating inside Class Bravo airspace, and 50 cents a gallon additional fuel taxes.

Forbes says the revenue from ticket taxes last year brought in $11.1 billion to the FAA's trust fund. So all right, we give in to the airlines and eliminate that, so Average Joe no longer has to pay the bills for private air travel. Looking at the balance sheet, FAA is now $11.1 BILLION in the hole. Great.

Now let's calculate what a typical airline flight in a Boeing 737 from LAX to JFK will cost the airlines under their new plan:

Based on Boeing data, the 737-800 burns about 800 gallons per hour, and at 530 mph cruise, the 2,144nm trip will use up about 3,200 gallons. Under the old system – with 21.9 cents in tax per gallon of Jet A and no user fees – this flight would cost the airline roughly $700 in fuel taxes. And the cattle in back would have all paid 7.5% to the FAA in ticket taxes, which by the way costs the airlines nada.

But in their new scheme, the public pays nothing, the airline still pays $700 in fuel taxes because they are EXEMPT from the new tax increase, [see below], and will have to now pay the new user fees for ops into and out of class bravo. The FAA loses all the ticket tax money, and the airlines have to shell out several hundred more dollars each flight for terminal airspace transition, en route handling, WX briefings, etc. All so the ATA/FAA/airline coalition can penalize the relatively few bizjet owners who are allegedly skating through the sky now without paying their fair share.

Under the current system, the airlines are the ones getting off cheap, not private jet owners. That's because the public is paying the majority of FAA costs. Those ticket taxes the airline collects gets transferred 100 percent to the government, costing the airline not one dime.

This new FAA funding proposal looks to me to have major flaws, and without the ticket tax revenues in the trust fund pipeline, where will that $11.1 billion come from? I'd love to say it will come from the airlines now paying .50 cents a gallon in additional fuel tax for each of the millions of gallons of Jet A they burn, but according to AOPA, the airlines are EXEMPT from these new taxes:

On February 14, the Administration released its proposal for changing the funding mechanism for the Federal Aviation Administration. In short, here's what the administration proposal would do: It would raise general aviation gasoline taxes 366 percent to 70.1 cents per gallon (jet fuel is increased from 21.9 to 70.1 cents per gallon).

Notice there is no mention of the airlines paying any more in fuel tax.

Friends, we are being hoodwinked, bamboozled, screwed and cheated, all in the name of airline profits.

Don't buy it.

Cirrus SR22, version 3.0

Over the years, I've became a “master level” Googler, and if there is anything about anything out there on any of the Internets, I'll find it. If there is dirt on you out there, it is mine. If someone gave you sweet kudos somewhere in your past, I'll find that too:

So I was really shocked this morning when I Googled the new Cirrus SR22-G3 that they'll be introducing to the GA community April 17-23 at Sun 'N Fun in Lakeland. I had received a mailer touting the excitement of this new model, but the teaser cleverly omitted any juicy details that would hint at what improvements Cirrus has added to their venerable SR design.

Off to the www I raced, only to be skunked. I searched for “Cirrus SR22-G3” with the quotes (it fine-tunes the search when you add quotes. That forces Google's system to look for that exact term in the same exact order).

I tried cirrusdesign.com...nada. They've apparently made quite an effort to keep this version of the SR under tight wraps. No press releases, no specs, no pictures...as if the G3 lived only in my imagination.

I went to the Sun 'N Fun site to maybe find pre-show clues. Zilch.

So back to 'The Google' I went, trying every conceivable way I could to search Cirrus SR22-G3 by twisting the letters around with and without quotes. Big fat zero.

I went to every GA forum I could find, hoping to find some insider who spilled the beans and dropped a few clues. Nope.

It is very rare that any major product launch goes unnoticed on the billions of pages out there in cyberspace. But try as I might, I just couldn't find the goods on the SR22 G3. This all goes to show me that there might be something really cool about this version of my favorite aircraft.

If you want to be some of the first aviators to put an eyeball on this generation of SR22, make your way to Florida for the show that officially opens the GA flying season. I have never been to Sun 'N Fun, and cannot get there this year. But as a Cirrus single-engine fan, this sounds like a “must see” show.

UPDATE @1010A on 041607: A commenter tipped me off that Cirrus has lifted the veil on the G3...a new section of their website on the new model is available here. I haven't had a chance to look it over, but will in time and post my thoughts, which you KNOW will be over the top positive.

When the going
gets tough, the
tough band together.

The FAA and the administration have thrown down their gauntlet, and now it's war, baby.

The Administration would like their “User Fees” tax proposal to slip through Congress unnoticed, so their airline cronies can reap the benefit of shifting much of the FAA funding burden off of their backs and onto ours. Trouble with that plan is that we're watching this time.

To fight this fight, a large number of rural, agricultural, and charitable organizations, local governments, small business, and aviation groups and professionals have banded together, calling itself the Alliance for Aviation Across America. The fight they are fighting is meant to eliminate this threat:

From AOPA.org: The coalition was formed to fight the legislation proposed by FAA and the airlines that would dramatically increase general aviation fuel taxes, charge user fees to most aviation segments, and significantly reduce the airlines' financial contribution toward the FAA's costs.

That last line ought to tell you all you need to know about this issue.

Gene Wright, Mayor of Quinwood, West Virginia, pilot and a coalition member had this to say:

“Our coalition is here to send a clear message to lawmakers that we stand united against a radical “user fees” proposal which would decimate businesses and communities around our country through a huge tax hike. This special interest legislation would benefit no one but the big commercial airlines. The “user fees” proposal was introduced as part of the Administration’s plan for FAA reauthorization, and would directly offset a multi-billion dollar tax break for the airlines by imposing a new tax hike on general aviation -- the businesses, organizations and farmers and ranchers that use small planes.

The list of groups that make up the coalition include the expected aviation players:

Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association
General Aviation Manufacturers Association
Angel Flight
National Business Aviation Association
Aircraft Electronics Association
Helicopter Association International
National Aircraft Resale Association
International Council of Air Shows
Experimental Aircraft Association
National Air Transportation Association
National Association of Aviation Officials

But the rest of the list might surprise you...it did me:

National Agricultural Aviation Association
Mississippi Livestock Marketing Association
National Farmers Union
League of Rural Voters

It's those last four that should tell the FAA that they've finally gone too far. The proud farmers and ranchers of this country are some of the hardest working, honest people in the land, and I have nothing but respect for them. But when someone tries to stab them in the back, their toughness shows through and they fight back hard.

This coalition is a very good idea, and I plan on joining ASAP. We need to muster every conceivable idea and tactic we can to fight off what could be GA's biggest threat ever. Even if you are living in the reddest of red states, this user fee tax scheme will screw you to the ground if you are a pilot, a flight school, FBO, airframe maker, or manufacturer of anything pilots buy.

So please go visit the coalition's website here, email them your questions here, or call them at the number below:

Alliance for Aviation Across America
1100 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 223-9523

UPDATE @925P on 041207: When I began this post this afternoon, the AAAA site showed a fairly short list of corporate, organization and individual members. I just went back in there to join myself, and the list seems to have grown to maybe a MILE long! You have to scroll forever to find the end. This is great news. Also, when you join, use their super-easy mail system to send your Reps. and Senators a quick easy formatted email with your name attached.

A True Pioneer.

Way back in 1906, a couple of bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio obtained United States Patent #821,393 for some sort of wild, out there invention called a Flying Machine. It was actually their 1903 Wright Flyer design, but the patent office took three years to finally issue one of this country's most important patents ever.

But on March 27, 2007, United States Patent #7,195,207 was issued to some guy out in Mojave who wants to fly people into space on commercial ships starting possibly as early as 2009. He's been around aviation a while, building some pretty “out there” flying machines that seem to go farther, fly higher and do more extraordinary things then anyone else's designs.

That guy is Burt Rutan.

Aero-News Network is reporting this, which I believe is a breakthrough development in the history of U.S. commercial aviation:

According to the US Patent Office, Rutan now has the rights to a spacecraft design including "...a fuselage, right and left wings extending from the fuselage, the wings having hinged aft sections with outer ends supporting rearwardly extending tail booms with vertical and horizontal tails with rudders and elevons, and an elevating system coupled between the fuselage and the aft wing sections for moving the sections from a normal airfoil shape to an elevated position producing high drag for slowing the spacecraft during atmospheric reentry after space flight, the elevating system thereafter retracting the aft wing sections to the normal airfoil shape for a controlled generally horizontal runway landing."

Rutan's design of SpaceShipOne is – in my opinion – legendary, and might just be about as important to commercial space travel as the Wright Flyer was to fixed wing aviation. What Rutan's design does is astounding:

Atmospheric reentry of a returning spacecraft is a critical flight phase due to high structural and thermal-heating loads. Horizontal-landing modern spacecraft intended for runway landing require three-axis control and more lift as compared to early blunt-body spacecraft (Mercury, Gemini, etc.), which were lowered by parachute during landing. Rutan's "shuttlecock," or "feathering" wing system rotates its empennage to orient the spacecraft in an optimal attitude for atmospheric reentry. This invention relates to a winged spacecraft which is reconfigurable during reentry to a stable high-drag mode, and then returned to a regular flight condition for runway landing.

Wow.

I remember a lecture Rutan gave at the University of Oregon in Eugene right after winning the X-Prize with SpaceShipOne. Long story short, he described how there have been only a few “breakthrough” times in commercial aviation. The first was the DC-3, which brought airline travel to the masses, followed by the dawn of the jet airliner age, which bumped up cruise speeds and allowed much longer domestic routes. The Boeing 747 again kicked commercial aviation up to a new height, but since then, Rutan says, there hasn't been anything that could be called a 'breakthrough'.

So he is doing something about that. Rutan spoke of a day not too far off in our future when a craft could blast off and reach orbital altitudes, shut off the engines and basically coast around the globe, and then drop back into the atmosphere on the other side of the globe to perform a normal runway landing. A sample trip say from London/Heathrow to Tokyo would be far faster and more efficient because while the ship is gliding along in orbit through space at warp speeds, no engines are running.

This was presented only as theory...or was it? Maybe Ol' Burt knows something about commercial space flight that we mere mortals aren't even able to grasp yet.

I will go on record as saying this: There have been only a handful of really important aviation design pioneers, and Burt Rutan deserves to be on that very short list. When my grandkids are old enough to have kids, I predict that going off into space will be run of the mill, just strap in, place your tray table in its upright and locked position, and fling thyself into orbit, no biggie. When that happens, people can look back to 03.27.07 and Rutan's receipt of Patent #7,195,207 as the one that started it all.

I feel lucky to have met this man a time or two, and to have lived in his era. Maybe the next Burt Rutan is some eight-year-old math whiz living in Wichita that likes airplanes...but for now, Rutan has no equal.

Where the
Deer and the
Antelope play.

You stumble out of bed, drag a comb across your head, pour a large amount of coffee down your throat, and call Flight Service for a WX briefing. It looks clear and a million along your entire route, and today's flight is a GO.

But instead of driving all the way to the airport, you slip out the kitchen door and into your...hangar. In the spot where most people keep their Chevy is your aircraft, fueled and ready for you to depart from your airpark home.

This is about as good as flying gets.

For the few (and very lucky) pilots who get to live in one of the residential airparks scattered around the country, “living with your plane” makes it easy to pre-flight and depart almost from your living room. That location of your hangar – right there next to the kitchen – also makes those late night arrivals a non-issue as you taxi right up your driveway, put the plane to bed next to the lawn mower, and slip quickly into the sack only minutes after wheels down.

I have been around a few airpark homes, but only in passing. That was, until this weekend when I got an up-close and personal look at a new airpark development tucked away in the scenic Star Valley in Wyoming. I traveled to Afton to tour and photograph Afton Airpark, which is offering fully-developed home sites adjacent to Afton Municipal Airport (KAFO), about 50 minutes south of Jackson Hole. The proximity of the airpark next to AFO is important, because of the airport's 7,200' runway...long enough for any size single piston, light twin, bizjet or turboprop:

In my research for this photo shoot, I found out that there are hundreds of fine residential airparks in the country, but very few with runways long enough to safely land a Gulfstream, Falcon or high-end Cessna Citation. There are even fewer that would allow those types of airframes to take back off again in high/hot conditions. This may be precisely the reason why the developers of Afton Airpark are reporting brisk sales. But the real reason people are buying up these home sites in Afton is the location. It's Wyoming, need I say more?

Within a few minutes drive from AFO is the Salt River, known around the world as one of the hot spots to hook a trophy Cutthroat trout. There are mega-homes on large ranches all over the Star Valley area owned by people who come there for the quiet, the fishing, the skiing in Jackson, and the lack of people, cars and headaches. Mixed in with the hometown families that ranch the Star Valley are CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, actors and celebrities, and sports figures like golf legend Johnny Miller. In fact, as I loaded up the car Monday to drive south to SLC for the flight home, Miller himself was unloading a few things from his Ford pickup into the condo he owns...the unit next to the one we stayed in:

And yes, part of Miller's payload was a golf bag. As we loaded and he unloaded, he just nodded a friendly howdy, much the way everyone in the Star Valley will greet you. I respected his privacy and let him have his peace and quiet, but honestly, I would have loved to take a peek into that Calloway bag.

While this is not meant to be a sales pitch, it IS my blog, so here goes: If you know anyone with the means to build a nice second home and who also owns just about any aircraft – but especially a business jet – then do them a favor and aim them at Afton Airpark. The area where the airpark is located is ripe to explode with new construction and excitement, anchored by a new 18-hole signature Johnny Miller (same guy) golf course across the street from the airport. For a second home, this place just rocks, and presents a very good value considering the soon-to-be upmarket location. But for the investor who wants to sit on some dirt and watch the market move, there are quite a few like minds who have scooped up lots and are waiting for the Star Valley real estate market to move in the same upwards direction as Jackson Hole.

Bottom Line: I shared Easter dinner with a couple of the main financial interests behind this Airpark, and can say without reservation that these are some very cool pilots, married to simply wonderful aviation-friendly wives. One principal flies an L-39 jet just for fun (yes, it lives in his hangar next to his beautiful home at the airpark), and the other is a retired American Airlines Captain with nearly 500 Atlantic crossings in his logbook. If these are the quality of people who would be your neighbors as you live with your plane up in Afton, I can see no way that the situation could be anything less then awesome.