Our 235 Speaks Out (and she's NOT happy)

My regular readers will already know that our family Piper Cherokee 235 is nicknamed "Katy"...but what you didn't know is that like myself, she prefers to read AOPA Pilot Magazine above all other publications.

So today I stopped by the hangar to visit her, and she was just plain miffed...you could see it in the way her wing tips drooped, a look of sadness on her cowl. I asked what had the old girl so down, and she tossed AOPA Pilot's beautiful 50th anniversary issue across the hangar at me, open to this:

In AOPA President Phil Boyer's column, he was making a very good point that while so much has changed in general aviation, in many ways, not much has changed. In talking about these constants, he wrote "Thrust still has to exceed drag and lift must exceed weight in order for you to take off. Other laws may not be so well grounded in hard science, but are nevertheless just as true. You can fill all of the seats and baggage areas, or you can fill the tanks, but you can’t do both.

It was that last line that had Katy in a tizzy. She instructed me to get out her original Pilot's Operating manual for a fixed pitch 235, and read back the specifications for weights:

USEFUL LOAD (Standard) (lbs)..........1,490

She proceeded to tell it like it is:

"Dano," Katy said, "here's the deal. I carry 84 gallons of dead dinosaurs in my four wing tanks, which weighs 504 lbs. Add you and a 200-pound right seater and that total jumps to 904 lbs. Add two more two hundred pounders in the back seat, and that is only 1,304 lbs. worth of people and gas. So you can tell the honorable Mr. Boyer I can STILL carry 185 pounds of baggage and be legally under my certificated useful load of 1,490 lbs.

"Whew, girl, take a chill pill," I replied before explaining to her that in writing his column, I'm sure my real president just forgot about the abnormally high useful load of the Piper 235. He must not have remembered that Piper designed this load hauler by mating a mammoth Cherokee Six Hershey Bar wing to a 180 fuselage, creating a Frankenplane that is one of the very few birds that can lift more then its empty weight of 1,410 lbs.

I talked Katy down, and brought the usual smile back to her cowl. She's a happy gal these days – fresh engine and all – and is still very, very glad to be owned and flown by someone who is AOPA all the way. That way, Katy knows her pilot will be staying up on the very latest issues facing GA, and she is thankful for that.

And if you are not AOPA, what the %$#@!*& is your problem? Join now by clicking here.

When Jumping Out
of a Perfectly Good
Airplane Isn't Enough

We've all heard that one before, eh? It usually comes up when we pilots discuss the sport of skydiving, and while not exactly true, I have yet to meet many fixed-wing pilots who really WANT to shoot towards the ground like a dart.

Not that I've thought once or twice about it. But the closest I have ever actually come to skydiving was getting cut off in the pattern by a worn Cessna that was returning from dumping a load of divers into the sky. Yes, that was close, but not as close as this:

As I departed Fresno Air Terminal (FAT) for a quick little practice flight over the grapevines to Madera, I switched as requested to Fresno departure for the short 20 minute jaunt. Since MAE was a popular spot for divers, it was not uncommon to hear ATC calling out attention to all pilots in the vicinity of MAE that jumping would commence in 10 minutes, followed by the same call at five minutes, and again at one minute before those dudes would drop from the jump plane. But on this day, I heard nothing about jumpers, period. So it was with great surprise to see the windscreen of my rented C150 fill with the multi-colored rainbow of a skydiver's chute. I chopped the throttle and veered HARD right, and got the hell out of there. I immediately jumped back on departure to ask if I had missed their calls. Negative, they replied, they were adamant that there was NO skydivers in the vicinity of MAE. Oh yeah, then the one I almost sliced and diced must have been a hallucination from my "adventurous" 70s.

Usually skydivers do their thing from somewhere south of the flight levels, so as not to get that sucked in feeling when they cross paths with a triple seven on short final. I am not exactly sure as to what altitude they prefer to launch themselves into the slipstream of a battered Skylane or Caravan, but I am pretty sure it is lower then this...found today on space.com:

"Frenchman Michel Fournier is readying himself and equipment to attempt a record-setting free fall from the stratosphere. Dubbed "The Big Jump", Fournier is eyeing next month for his supersonic free fall from about 130,000 feet – roughly 25 miles above the Earth. The dive from a balloon-carried gondola is slated to take place above the plains of Saskatchewan, Canada. The Jump equipment is principally composed of a huge Russian-supplied stratospheric balloon and the specially crafted gondola. To ascend to jump height will take some 3 hours. The gondola shelters Fournier during ascent. It also is loaded with flight instruments: navigation equipment, oxygen bottles, radio gear, video recorders and Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite tracking device."

I wish only good luck to this guy, and have my money on him making it back in one chunk – that is if he doesn't become the hood ornament on a 747 coming west over the pole from Heathrow inbound to SEA.

Do I have a problem with skydivers? No, except when their chauffeurs rudely push their way into the pattern in front of me, trying to beat the rest of us to the runway to pick up another load of darts. Would I every try it myself? Considering the abrupt nature that comes from arriving back on this planet after a parachute ride, I'd choose to stay in the plane, leave diving to the young and the fearless.

A Genderless Sky

It is this time of the year when Women In Aviation, International kicks everything in their world into high gear and heads to their annual conference. This year, they are headed to sunny SoCal:

The 19th Annual International Women in Aviation Conference will be held from March 13-15 2008, in San Diego, California. This year's Conference will take place at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center.

Yes, San Diego is a few flight hours away from WAI's home in quiet little West Alexandria, Ohio, which is just close enough to Dayton to still be in the shadow of where those two Wright Brothers first fiddled with a flying contraption called the Wright Flyer. But holding the WAI conference in San Diego is a brilliant move, from an organization that seems to do lots of things right. By being down in SoCal, they can draw from an enormous population of girls and women to help fix this:

"According to the Federal Aviation Administration, of the nearly 700,000 active pilots in the United States, less than six percent are women and only slightly more than two percent ATP rated. Women account for only 2.13 percent of the more than 540,000 non-pilot aviation jobs in the United States."

Six percent, that is just pathetic. As my regular readers know, I am a huge advocate for enticing females to learn to fly, for a number of reasons. But since my day-to-day ad agency duties revolves primarily around aviation business, here is the best reason for all of us to try and get the ladies to earn a place in the left seat:

If women make up roughly fifty percent of our country's population, but just six lousy percent of the pilot population, that means there is HUGE potential for growth just asking to be captured by the 1,000s of GA businesses out there. See, women pilots need pilot supplies just as much as the guys, but this goes way deeper then yoke clips. In this business world, women increasingly are breaking through that class ceiling, earning wages closer to what their male colleagues earn. More and more women are upper managers, CEOs, corporation owners, major real estate investors...these women have serious dollars to spend. And trust me, Cirrus won't blink when a woman writes a half-million-dollar check for a new turbo SR22 GTS.

At the core of this movement to recruit women to the skies is Women in Aviation, International, a nonprofit organization "dedicated to the encouragement and advancement of women in all aviation career fields and interests" so says their web site. They have membership that tops 14,000 and includes astronauts, corporate pilots, maintenance technicians, air traffic controllers, business owners, educators, journalists, flight attendants, high school and university students, air show performers, airport managers and many others.

If you think this is some little fringe group, think again. A quick look at their membership list shows they are respected by the biggest and the best in all of aviation:

U.S. Air Force Reserve
Airbus North America Holdings, Inc.
Alpha Flying, Inc.
American Airlines
Bombardier Aerospace
Cessna Aircraft Company
Cirrus Design Corporation
Delta Air Lines
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
General Aviation Manufacturers Association
Gulfstream Aerospace
JetBlue Airways
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
United Airlines
Pratt & Whitney
The Boeing Company

So listen up: When someone at the airport grumbles that there are just not enough students showing up at our flight schools, look them in the eye and tell them you know a solution to that problem. Tell them that recruiting women who aspire to join us in the sky is the answer to just about ALL of the issues facing general aviation. More female flight students = more ticketed women pilots = more airplanes sold = more fuel sold = more revenue for the FAA = more money in the FBO cash register...filtering down to everyone else on the GA money tree.

Do our aviation community a favor. If you know any 'tween age girls, get them to turn off Miley Cyrus long enough to go for an airplane ride. Nothing against Miley, her clean lifestyle makes her a role model for these girls. But you really need to take them up and tell them about how Eileen Collins became an astronaut, about how Jeana Yeager flew around the world with Dick Rutan and especially about Jerrie Mock, who also flew around this rock we live upon, with only her plane Charlie to help connect the dots on her chart. Tell them to keep a closed ear to any clown who says it's a mans world up there where the eagles dance with the clouds, because we all know those young ladies are the future of GA.

Because gender inequality is so last century.

This is a City
that "Gets It"

In our day and age, it is not uncommon to see greedy developers either building their McMansions under the approach to an existing GA airport, or even worse, going after the very dirt the airport sits upon. We hear stories all the time about airport closures or neighborhood groups bitching about the noise, and city management doing just about nothing to help keep their city's GA community alive and well.

With that in mind, I am thrilled to bring you this:

St. Petersburg, Florida Mayor Rick Baker and members of the local aviation community recently dedicated Albert Whitted Park, the largest addition of public parkland to St. Petersburg's waterfront in nearly one hundred years. Amenities of the new park include an aviation-themed playground and great views of aircraft landing and taking off at adjacent Albert Whitted Airport. Visitors are also able to hear control tower communications at several shelters overlooking runway 6-24.

That is seriously some of the best news I have heard in some time – a rare dose of positive news in this continuous battle waging between municipalities and our airports. While many cities have no clue to the value of that little patch at the edge of town, apparently the people who run St. Petersburg got that memo. Not only did they simply dedicate this new park with the traditional ribbon cutting, they made it into a fun family event:

Festivities also include aircraft displays, an Angel Flight exhibit, control tower tours, free Young Eagles flights, simulator rides, aviation activities and crafts for kids.

As anyone with a brain knows, kids are GA's future...this is not news. But what IS news is someone using public funds to improve a park with the concept that kids will actually get excited about flying. While I applaud this monumental stroke of genius, Fresno was way ahead of them, in theory but certainly not in substance:

Back in 1966 when I used to ride my Sting Ray bike over to Fresno Air Terminal (FAT), they had a small parking lot off McKinley Avenue where people could park their cars and watch the inbound arrivals to 29R/L. As a 10-year-old kid, that boring little lot was a draw to this fence hanger, and as a student pilot 32 years later, I returned there to study the GA flying machines slipping by overhead as they slid into 29L. I could see first-hand what the pilot was doing with his/her rudder pedals to compensate for wind, and could hear small throttle corrections to maintain airspeed.

AOPA's Alyssa J. Miller gives us a little backstory to explain why this new airport park in Florida is such a significant turn of events:

"AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer Jack Tunstill and local airport supporters were fighting to keep the airport open in 2003. A group wanted to close the airport so that part of the land could be turned into a waterfront park. AOPA worked with Tunstill and local pilots to educate the community of the value of the airport, and when the issue came up for a vote during the 2003 elections, residents voted three to one to keep the airport open in perpetuity. Now, the airport is thriving and has a new terminal building."

This is yet another reason to become an AOPA member if for some ridiculous reason you are not already.

And please PLEASE make sure the next time you are in the vicinity of the Florida mid-Gulf shores-Tampa area, make a stop at KSPG and somehow find a way to say "thank you" to the first St. Petersburg people you see. If you have a minute, you might also want to shoot their Parks Department an email, phone call or fax at the numbers below and tell them they are a serious contender for Aviation Friends of the Century.

St. Petersburg Parks Department
1400 19th Street North
St. Petersburg, FL 33713
Phone: 727-893-7335
FAX: 727-892-5103

Orteig Would
Be Impressed

We all remember Raymond Orteig, the wealthy French hotelier who ponied up twenty-five large for the first chap who could successfully complete a nonstop flight between New York City and Paris. The year was 1919, and the idea of such an aerial mission sounded pretty far out at the time.

The idea languished for a few years, until a gutsy airmail stick named Charles Lindbergh won the prize in a modified single-engine Ryan aircraft called the Spirit of St. Louis. The impact this prize had on aviation cannot be understated, so says the X-Prize Foundation:

"It is difficult today to fully appreciate the impact of Lindbergh’s flight but the following facts provide a small indication about how a single prize changed the way people thought about flight, and about the world itself. There was an increase in U.S. airline passengers from 5,782 to 173,405 in three years (1926-1929) and a 300% increase in applications for pilot’s licenses, 400% increase of licensed aircraft in the United States in one year (1927). The Spirit of St. Louis was personally viewed by a quarter of all Americans within one year of Lindbergh’s historic flight, and today, the global aviation industry is estimated at more than $300 billion."

If you've heard of the X-prize Foundation before, they're the people who brought us the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for Suborbital Spaceflight, That check was awarded to Mojave Aerospace Ventures on October 4, 2004, marking what the foundation called "the beginning of the personal spaceflight revolution and signifying a radical breakthrough in prize philanthropy."

So how do you top that? Ten million is a lot of spare change, so what could possibly raise that already high bar? Here is your answer:

"The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded and the first team to land on the Moon and complete the mission objectives will be awarded $20 million."

Just where do they come up with this kind of money? A hint is the second word of that last pull quote...Google. We all know they have $30 million in spare change stuck between the cushions of the couches at their Mountain View, CA HQ, and it is refreshing to see them put this generous prize out there to be won by our hard-working scientific community.

Today, the X-prize organizers listed the first 10 registered teams who want a piece of that phat paycheck...here's the line-up from their site:

Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA): They are based in Valcea, Romania

Astrobotic: Team Astrobotic, led by Dr. William “Red” Whittaker, was formed to coordinate the efforts of Carnegie Mellon University, Raytheon Company and additional institutions.

Chandah: Chandah, meaning “Moon” in Sanskrit, was founded by Adil Jafry, an energy industry entrepreneur.

FREDNET: Headed by Fred J. Bourgeois III, this multi-national team is comprised of systems, software, and hardware developers who lead an international group of Open Source developers, engineers, and scientists. Their goal is to bring the same successful approach used in developing major software systems (such as the Internet, and Linux) to bear on the problems associated with Space Exploration and Research.

LunaTrex: Led by Pete Bitar, LunaTrex is comprised of several individuals, companies, and universities from all over the United States, some of whom were also competitors for the Ansari X PRIZE.

Micro-Space: Helmed by Richard Speck and based in Colorado. Micro-Space has been a competitor in the Ansari X PRIZE as well as the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.

Odyssey Moon: Odyssey Moon is a commercial lunar enterprise headquartered in the Isle of Man. Their business plans actively in development are for a series of missions to the Moon during the International Lunar Decade in support of science, exploration and commerce.

Quantum3: A U.S.-based team, Quantum3 is led by Paul Carliner, a senior executive in the aerospace industry. They propose to field a small spacecraft launched from an East Coast range using launch-coast-burn trajectory for a propulsive soft landing on the surface of the Moon at the Sea of Tranquility.

Southern California Selene Group: The architecture for their “Spirit of Southern California” spacecraft will combine the control and communication systems used in some of the earliest communications satellites with the latest in electronic and sensor technology.

Team Italia: Based in Italy, their architecture of the robotic system is under study: a single big rover or a colony of many robots, light and mobile, with many legs and wheels, able to be compacted in the lander and distributed quickly on the Moon's surface with cameras and sensory support.

Good luck to all. And does anyone want to bet me which search engine will be the biggest and baddest one on the moon in about a decade?

Didn't think so.

Poof.

Tonight – under the cover of darkness from the lunar eclipse – the U.S. Navy ship Lake Erie has finished off USA 193...this coming from All Headlines News:

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Defense Department officials confirm that the United States has successfully destroyed a spy satellite that never reached orbit successfully. Pentagon officials say a U.S. Navy vessel fired a cruise missile at the satellite once the NASA space shuttle Atlantis made it back to Earth.

Glad to see it. And since this turd of a satellite failed right after it launched, I am just asking out loud if we taxpayers can demand that the DoD find the receipt for that piece of high-tech garbage and ask for a refund. No, they just don't make spy satellites like they used to. Makes one wonder how much of that worthless thing was outsourced to China.

But wait, maybe all this time while "they" were telling us it was, um, "broken"...maybe it wasn't really broken at all. Maybe...it...was, um, shooting pictures of my license plate from space. Could it have been counting the freckles on my dog's butt...No, oh God, wait, there's that chopping sound again... over the house... black... helicopters must... find... foil... hat...

Plenty of Weirdness
Surrounding the Shootdown
of Satellite USA 193

Okay, call me crazy, but I have little faith in this far-fetched plan hatched by the United States Military to blast a broken spy satellite out of space in a couple of days. I sure hope the same folks who brought us the Katrina response, the mortgage meltdown and the endless Iraq war aren't the same people who are aiming at the defunct spy satellite.

Here is what CNN has reported:

The U.S. Navy will likely attempt to shoot down a faulty spy satellite Thursday, the day after the space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to land, two officials told CNN Monday. Because the 5,000-pound satellite malfunctioned immediately after launch in December 2006, it has a full tank of fuel. It would likely survive re-entry and disperse potentially deadly fumes over an area the size of two football fields, officials have said. The Navy plans to fire at the satellite as it enters Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of about 150 miles. The Missile Defense Agency estimated the cost of a sea-based attempted intercept at $40 million to $60 million.

An interesting twist has been spreading around the Internets today, talking about a NOTAM (unconfirmed) near Hawaii which might be close to the target zone. This is from various sources including this one:

An anonymous reader writes "Amateur satellite watcher Ted Molczan notes that a "Notice to Airmen" (NOTAM) has been issued announcing restricted airspace for February 21, between 02:30 and 05:00 UTC, in a region near Hawaii. Stricken satellite USA 193, which the US has announced plans to shoot down, will pass over this area at about 03:30. Interestingly, this is during the totality of Wednesday's lunar eclipse, which may or may not make debris easier to observe."

The conspiracy theorists are in hyper-drive on this one, and everything is being said about the "real reasons" President Bush wants to shoot down a spy satellite the size of a bus. But because "they" are watching me from the black helicopters hovering over my house, I cannot say what I think might be inside USA 193 that "they" don't want the world to see.

It will be interesting to see if the Navy scores a direct hit. One sidebar to a successful intercept would be a clear message sent to those people across the Pacific that makes all the plastic crap sold in our Big Box Stores...don't EVEN think about lobbing missiles at California, because we have perfected the technology to blast your pathetic excuse for a weapon out of the sky before it leaves Shanghai County.

Which may really be the reason "they" are shooting this thing down...so it had better work. There really is no debating this fact: The last thing our country's street cred needs around the world right now is the embarrassment that will come from missing.

Forget Old School, This Time I'm Trying New Media

Many of my readers may already know about my eight years of work trying to bring to the world the fantastic tale of Jerrie Mock's solo around the world flight in 1964. She accomplished this enormous feat to become the first female pilot to complete that mission:

The great news is that Jerrie is being inducted into the Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame at their annual conference in San Diego on March 15th, 2008. But unfortunately, the national maintream media has still not yet discovered this story. It is very frustrating because as my regular readers know, I feel Jerrie Mock ought to be considered to be as important to aviation history a Charles Lindbergh or Amelia Earhart.

In order to try and bring national exposure to my project, I have produced a short YouTube video that will explain a little bit about her flight and tell why I've pushed so hard for so many years to get this story told.

The video is below, enjoy and pass this link around to your friends:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxOJ1NXCVdk

Virtually
Wonderful

If you haven't seen some of the awesome Quicktime VR 360 degree panorama technology that is out there these days, here are a few samples. The first few ae of course, of airplanes, but there are also a few surprises:

Check out this crystal clear 360VR tour
of an A380 flight deck | View

This is a beautiful tour of an Avro Lancaster
cockpit at IWM Duxford in the UK | View

Here's a very cool 747 cockpit at Heathrow | View

You'll love this Space Shuttle Flight deck VR tour,
not full screen like the others, but still cool | View

A virtual tour of something called a Pipistrel Sinus | View

Ever wondered what the view looks like
from the top of Mt. Everest...here it is | View

This is a gorgeous virtual tour of Yosemite Valley | View

And lastly, the infamous "Red Light District"
in Amsterdam | View

No Recession
in GAMA Land

With every trip to any store or the gas station, and every time we open the morning paper, there are clear signals that we are in a recession in this country. Yesterday, GM said they lost $38.7 billion in 2007 – the largest annual loss in the history of the auto industry – which has prompted a new round of buyouts to 74,000 U.S. hourly workers in hopes of replacing them with lower-paid employees.

But when you look at the latest news below from a General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) press release, 2007 was again another seriously hot year for airframe makers:

"Today, GAMA announced that the 2007 year-end shipment figures for the general aviation industry have led to another record high in industry billings. Record industry billings totaled $21.9 billion, eclipsing last years’ figure by 16.5 percent. Year-end, worldwide shipments of general aviation airplanes totaled 4,272 units, the most in more than a quarter century and up 5.4 percent over the previous year's total of 4,053 units."

When you break out the GAMA numbers [download the whole report here as PDF], they really are amazing:

"Aside from the record set for year-end billings, the industry also experienced an all-time high in business jet shipments, delivering over one thousand units for the first time in history. The piston airplane segment was down 2.9 percent in 2007, but still posted the second best year in over two decades. Total units decreased from 2,755 in 2006 to 2,675 in 2007. Shipments of turboprops increased 11.4 percent, up from 412 units in 2006 to 459 units in 2007. Business jet shipments reached an all-time high of 1,138 units, up 28.4 percent over last year’s figure of 886 airplanes."

One person who should be considered to be at the very heart of this record-busting manufacturing era we live in, had some explanation for the increases:

"Speaking at GAMA’s Annual Industry Review and Market Outlook Briefing, GAMA Chairman and Chairman and CEO of Cirrus Design Corporation, Alan Klapmeier, reported that a strong worldwide market, especially outside of North America, was a driving factor for general aviation in 2007. “As these economies continue to expand, we expect general aviation to play an ever increasing role in these regions.” Klapmeier added, “Manufacturer backlogs are strong and we think this bodes well for 2008 and the years beyond.”

So major league kudos to anyone who was responsible for setting these 2007 GAMA records. Apparently, the buyers who can afford new airplanes might not be all that worried about a recession, because if you can afford a sparkling new Cirrus SR22 Turbo GTS priced "from" $542,900, my guess is you aren't all that troubled by the high cost of milk and bread.

Caveat emptor.

The news just began to spread around the Internets today that one of my favorite airframe makers looks like they are throwing in the towel, according to this press release on their web site:

In a difficult but necessary move, Adam Aircraft Industries suspended operations today at its facilities in Colorado. This measure was required due to the inability of the company to come to terms with their lender for funding necessary to maintain business operations. The company is currently exploring all of its alternatives and will provide further guidance when decisions are made, which is expected to be later this week.

According to this story in Aviation Week, the company is going to give their position holders more information very soon:

"The Englewood, Colo.-based aircraft manufacturer is looking at alternatives and expects to provide further guidance by Feb. 15. The manufacturer had obtained the type certificate for its A500 twin-piston aircraft and had hoped to start production this summer."

There is not much out there that I can find today that explains what happened to Adam, but as of last summer, it appeared they were on track, according to the Fran Fiorino article in Aviation Week:

"In June 2007, Adam finalized a $105-million round of financing. In January this year, however, Adam Aircraft announced a "strategic adjustment" in operations--aiming to streamline production processes and manage cash expenditures to allow time to secure long-term financing. The company outlined two main goals: Obtain the type certificate on the A700 twin-engine jet design and complete the Make Production Fly (MPF) program, which was designed to reach high-rate production. The strategic adjustment, however, also meant cost-cutting and a reduction in labor--and, now, a suspension of operations."

I have always loved the Adam design, and hoped they would do great things. But I must say that the day I heard they were so aggressively chasing the jet dream by introducing the A700 without fully launching their piston A500, I immediately thought they were moving way to fast. Had they just focused on the wonderful and popular design of the A500 until they achieved a high rate of production and THEN started developing their jet line, maybe the cash flow problems they have experienced would never have happened.

Which makes me think about any position holders who have money down on an A500 or A700. What happens to them – that is always the question in these kinds of situations. I can only hope that this new "further guidance" the company will be releasing this week addresses that issue.

The general aviation business community needs to make sure this kind of thing does not become standard operating procedure with new GA airframe makers. I guess it is the same old rule we must always follow...let the buyer beware. If you write a check on the hopes that a new maker with an exciting but untested new design will stay afloat long enough to receive their type certificate and deliver your bird, you had better know that it is always a crap shoot.

Me, I would never gamble on a new company until their design receives the TC and the fleet has amassed serious flight hours and a good safety record. For instance, would I have bought into the Eclipse excitement two years ago...never. But now that their planes are starting to find their way to ramps across America and build some tach time, sure, I would consider one if the right six Powerball numbers are ever chosen.

Another Installment of
'Last Airline Standing'

There's tons of talk out there on the Internets this weekend describing the marital bliss coming at us between all sorts of suitors in the Big Airline world. It's such a confused mess, I'm not sure if I can sort it out, but I'll try:

According to numerous published reports, there's an announcement possibly coming next week that Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines officially plan to merge. If that happens, many industry insiders think other Bigs such as US Airways will seek full-scale mergers or other types of alliances with competitors. Of course, this news has ramped up the rumor mill that a merger between Continental Airlines and United Airlines might be in our future. If THAT happens, American Airlines – the nation's largest carrier – will have their work cut out trying to compete with these new larger carriers.

Jeez Louise, anyone keeping score on THAT? I am not a fan of the mega-conglomerate airlines that will be the offspring of these mergers once the airlines consummate their marriages. The reasons are plentiful, but my main fear is this:

So where does airline merger mania end? Let me throw out a scenario that if nothing else, is fun to write: Delta and Northwest become DeltaWest Airlines, and Continental and United become Unitinental Airlines. Southwest and JetBlue feel left out of all the fun, and merge to become BlueWestJetSouth Airlines. American, seeing all this competition coming at them, scoops up Alaska/Horizon to become Amerilaskarizon Airlines. Newcomer Virgin America's owner Richard Branson watches from afar before writing a check to acquire AirTran, Frontier, Air Wisconsin, Mesaba and Spirit, to become VirgiFrontAirTranWisconsabirit Airlines.

But after all these mergers, they do not lead to profits, because passenger service deteriorates even further now that the merged lines feel even more powerful and care even less about providing great customer service. To offset the bleeding, more marriages are consummated:

DeltaWest acquires Unitinental to become DelWestUnitinental Airlines, and BlueWestJetSouth buys up Amerilaskarizon and VirgiFrontAirTranWisconsabirit creating BlueWestAVirgimerilaskarizon Airlines. Then when the flying public has had about enough of this merger garbage and revolt by staying home which drives profits into the tank, these two remaining mammath carriers – you guessed it – merge into WeOwnTheSkyAndYouHave2FlyUs Airlines.

O.K., let me come back to Earth and get serious. I say, let United, Northwest, Continental and Delta merge all they want! Let them run their fares up and eliminate routes. And we can watch as they go into a management tailspin when hundreds of egomaniac upper managers fight it out to the death for the corner office, each one not willing to give up even a square foot of turf as their lines merge with a carrier that yesterday was the enemy.

Meanwhile, JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America sit back and wait for the new merged lines to implode from within. Once that happens, they can then begin swooping in to fill their rapidly-expanding fleets with happy passengers who are thrilled to avoid the monopolistic mega-carriers that have merged their way into the rubbish pile of aviation history.

Or, we can forget all this merger hogwash altogether, which sounds just fine to me.

Real Pilot Stories

In searching the Internets tonight for something juicy, I headed over to AOPA to drill down and see what gems I could come up with. As with most content-rich sites like AOPA, you will be astonished at what is buried deep within those links:

The AOPA Air Safety Foundation's Real Pilot Stories are true accounts of a good flight gone bad. Listen to pilots who really have “been there, done that” (and survived) tell their harrowing tales in hopes of helping the rest of us become better pilots. All presentations contain audio. In order to view the presentations, a Flash plug-in is required.

Let's take a look at what they are offering:

Toddler Overboard!...A three-year-old accidentally opened the door at 10,000 feet.
Aircraft: Cessna 401

Three Seconds, Three Choices...Relinquishing PIC authority is never a good idea.
Aircraft: Vans RV

Power Loss on Takeoff...When the engine quits at 200 feet, there’s not much time to decide.
Aircraft: Piper Lance

VFR in a Snowstorm...Emergency landing on a snowy, muddy road near Wooster, Ohio.
Aircraft: Cessna 172

Iceman...In-flight icing encounter near Bedford, Pennsylvania.
Aircraft: Cessna 172

Cemetary Crash...A catastrophic engine failure near Knoxville, Tennessee.
Aircraft: Beechcraft Bonanza

Snake in the Airplane...In-flight distraction near Gallipolis, Ohio.
Aircraft: Piper Cherokee (PA 28-140)

Mountain Crash...Density altitude accident in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
Aircraft: Cessna 172

Prop Attack!...A hand-propping accident near Swansboro, North Carolina.
Aircraft: Cessna Cardinal (C177)

So pop open a cool one, put yer' feet up on the desk and enjoy a bit of good ol' fashioned hangar flying, courtesy of AOPA.

The Right CFI Makes
all the Difference

As most of my readers know, I am head and heels into earning my instrument rating, and anyone who has been down that road knows the complexities of learning to fly with that level of precision in a system that is as unforgiving as it is difficult.

When I decided to go for this rating, I knew I needed to find just the perfect Certified Flight Instructor, because I have a history of less then wonderful experiences with CFIs:

There was the kid in Ithaca, New York fresh out of CFI school who had a point to prove. I had about 100 hours at that point, with about 70 of that in Cessna 150 and 172 aircraft. All I wanted to do was rent the flight school's 172 for a quick joyride Upstate to see the Finger Lakes from the air. But this kid had to prove me wrong at every turn, wringing me out like a damp washcloth trying to get me to beg for his mercy. Didn't happen. He failed to ruffle enough feathers to make me screw up too bad, so he cleared me to rent the plane and off I went in search of Skaneateles Lake.

At least that outing with a questionable CFI went better then this one:

I was trying to get an insurance clearance to rent one of the spiff new Cessna 172SPs at a flight school at Fresno Air Terminal, or FAT. As we returned from a check ride that did not go well, I set up for a nice approach to 29L. As I turned base to final, the CFI would not shut up, correcting every move I made...like I had never successfully landed a Cessna before. In between her chastising me, I barely made out what sounded like Tower telling me to initiate an "immediate" go around, as the National Guard SHORTS cargo plane was still on 29L. I saw the SHORTS, but was waiting for her to close her pie hole long enough for me to make sure I heard them right and acknowledge the go-around. As my hand was pushing the throttle to MAX, she screamed...GO AROUND, GO AROUND!!!! Of course, I had already started the maneuver, but when we returned to the FBO, she nailed me for this dangerous flying and refuse to sign me off.

Which brings me to my current CFI situation. My instructor, Jim Hunt from Eugene, has been great to work with, for three very important reasons.

First, he lets me know if I do something right. Not that I am looking for flowers on every flight, but it is always great to hear you nailed it if you thought you nailed it. Hearing a compliment now and then builds a student's confidence, and it is a very rare occurrence among the CFIs that I have flown with, the exception to that being Dorothy Schick out of Creswell, who "gets" this part of teaching very well, and Steve Murray, who got me to my private ticket at FAT.

Second, Jim is not out to prove who is smarter, he or I. Well, DUH, is it any surprise that a guy who flies helicopters for the Sheriff's Squadron and right seat in a Citation 550 while holding an ATP rating has forgotten more then I'll ever know? But while he knows this stuff every which way, he never acts like he does. Two words for that: Class. Act.

But the most important fact about this particular CFI is that he is not rigid...today was a perfect example:

The email assignment I received for today's training flight included two different ILS landings, one to a missed approach, and the VOR Alpha at Eugene, which I had not flown before. After staying up until midnight trying to figure it all out, I did not feel prepared, and told him so as we taxied out. So without missing a beat, he changed up the lesson to include three identical approaches, two ILSs to 16R followed by a missed and the same ILS to a full stop. He pushed me to minimums, but he instinctively realized this was my style of learning. So the day was a huge success because Jim was not the kind of CFI that lives by that flawed "my way or the highway" mentality.

Things are going well during my training, and credit goes to both student and teacher. This stuff in incredibly hard, but is being made easier by a patient instructor. Too bad all CFIs can't follow that same code of conduct.

Once in a
Lifetime Chance

I can still remember those wonderful bicycle trips I took over to the Fresno Air Terminal back in 1966, to hang on the fence and fall in love with flying. As I headed east along Ashlan Avenue towards the airport, my Schwinn Sting Ray – yes, it did have ape hanger handlebars and a Banana seat – could not go fast enough:

Sometimes when I was almost there, I'd see a couple of California Air National Guard F-106 "Delta Dart" fighters rocketing off the departure end of 29R, and my 10-year-old heart would race. Once I got to the fence and assumed the hanging position, I'd just about go nuts when one of United's beautiful 707s would blast off right over my head.

Kids and airplanes somehow were made for each other, and if you've people-watched at air shows like I have, you see smiles on the faces of just about every child there. And each time I see their big eyes widen when a P-51 fires up or an aerial act does something spectacular, I realize that inside I have been waiting patiently for my chance to be that old guy hanging on to that little arm. Well guess what, the wait is over:

This week, we received word from son Michael and his adorable wife JJ that "they" are pregnant! The word joy cannot even begin to describe how Julie and I feel, because as this world turns, we lose people we love, it is inevitable. And while a newborn might not be able to replace a sensational brother-in-law that has gone off to fly with Lindbergh and Papa Louie, these new little humans coming into our lives will in their own special way complete a circle of humanity.

So while our entire family has gone into "baby" mode, all for different reasons, I might be the only one looking forward to this:

There will come a time in the next five years or so, when this new grandkid will meet me and Katy (our 235) out at the hangar one clear spring morning. I'll take a minute to get down on my knees and speak to him/her at eye level, explaining just what an airplane is, making sure the little tike knows airplanes are nothing to be scared of. Then, I'll carefully buckle him/her in the right seat atop a pillow, and smile inside as I watch his/her eyes brighten with amazement. They will ask me silly questions that coming from an adult would be crazy. But when that little voice next to me asks "what makes us fly?", I will be in heaven. I will soon pull back on the yoke and force my gear to part ways with the rock we live upon, and in the next few minutes of airborne bliss, I will hopefully spark a lifelong fire in this child's heart and offer up my personal invitation to fall madly in love with flying machines.

Maybe it won't take on the first flight. But there will be others. I won't force the issue, one has to fall in love with airplanes on their own terms. Being one with the sky is either in your blood or it is not, becoming an natural aviator is not an acquired skill, it seems to be part of our inherited DNA.

And when I look at the way this child's daddy – Michael – has demonstrated to me an uncanny ability to fly our Cherokee 235 to near-IFR practical test standards for altitude and heading on his very first trip up in that plane, I believe there is enough aviator's DNA in there somewhere to at least give his son or daughter a fighting chance to soar with Eagles if they so choose. I will do everything in my power to coax that aviator's soul out into the open, hoping along the way that my devotion to flying will rub off on Junior. In my crystal ball I see air shows and aviation museums in our future, and of course many, many outings in the family airplane to picnic at Cape Blanco, lunch in Sun River or hike in British Columbia.

Which makes me think about the number of seats in Katy...four. You put Marmey and Doo Dah (my assigned grandpa name) along with Mike and JJ in the plane, and add a young child and all the stuff that goes with him/her, and that makes five people and just four seats. And don't get me wrong, the last thing I want to do is to replace our wonderful 235 – I'd be happy if that never happens – but doing the math on a growing family makes me begin to possibly see a Saratoga far off on the horizon.

But wait, that's five people and six seats in a 'Toga...so one seat would still be empty, right? I guess we'd then be covered if the Connolly's have twins.