One of Our Best Has Passed

I have never met pilot and legendary film director Sydney Pollack, who passed away this past week at 73 to cancer. But a have always felt this distant kinship to him, a man I am told is known for just hanging out with other pilots, even though he owned and flew a Cessna Citation, FAA N138SP and was one of Hollywood's major players.

This post is not about his film career, which was off-the-charts successful. How great a director was he? Here's AOPA's Woody McClendon in a "Pilots" column from 1998:

"In 1975, Pollack formed his own production company, Mirage Productions, and produced several highly successful films, including world-famous titles such as Out of Africa, Tootsie, and The Firm. His films have won 46 Academy Award nominations and seven Oscars, as well as many other prestigious awards throughout the world. Most powerhouses of Hollywood ride in the back of their jets, working on scripts and movie deals. But this man is different. He is a type-rated jet pilot, an accomplishment as important to him as a major film award."

While I have seen most of Pollack's films, one stands out above all others, because of one particular brilliant filmmaking moment only an aviator could dream up. Each time I watch it, tears still nearly fill my eyes:

In Out of Africa, the moment Denys Finch Hatton's de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth came into the frame, Director Pollack knew he would have the full attention of any pilot in the audience. As Denys lifts Karen Blixen into the plane, John Barry's voluptuous score comes up in symphony with the Gipsy I engine as it taxis away...and their romantic journey begins. For the next few minutes, Barry's music builds to a roaring crescendo as Redford takes Streep on a magical flight over sweeping Kenyan vistas photographed with perfection by Pollack's crew. The scene exemplifies what it is like to soar on fragile fabric wings and FLY! I can think of no better scene in any cinematic effort that displays the joy of flight with such emotion, captured in an way that a non-pilot director could never imagine. IMHO, this was Pollack's finest moment.

As many of my readers know, I acquired the movie rights to Jerrie Mock's life story back in 2004, to try and bring to the big screen the fantastic story of the first woman to fly solo around the world. On many nights as I sat at the computer wrestling with the screenplay, I wore headphones listening to Barry's score for Out of Africa.

And when Cut #7 "Flying Over Africa" came on, each time I had to stop and imagine what wonderful things a director like Sydney Pollack could do with such an emotional story like "Three-Eight Charlie". As Barry's music grew more powerful, I became overwhelmed and would have to stop typing, because telling Jerrie Mock's story has been my life's work for over eight years now. The screenplay means so much to me, and when I let my mind imagine Jerrie alone in her 1953 Cessna 180 "Charlie" heading out over the Atlantic, I envision a strong orchestral score filling the theater, and think about how much emotion a director like Pollack could have brought to my project.

I always held out hope that through the magic of manifestation, I could somehow attract the attention of Mr. Pollack, who would fall in love with Mock's story as I had, and be eager to join me in telling the greatest aviation story that has yet to be told. Maybe he could get John Barry attached to the project, and we could all earn a fistful of Oscars.

But this dream will never be. I can now offer only sincere condolences to the Pollack family for their loss, and hope that one day, I can sit down with Papa Louie, Jimmy Doolittle Lindbergh, and now Sydney Pollack at the big hangar party in the sky.

Can the U.S. Airline
Industry Stop
the Bleeding?

In a recent story on aviationweek.com, writer Joseph C. Anselmo squarely hits nail on head when describing the current state of financial affairs in our airline sector:

"It's turning into carnage."

There can be no disputing the fact that the worldwide oil barons that refine Jet A are screwing the airlines – and the public – for all they can get. With the possible exception of the Amish buggy drivers, not one single American is exempt from this brutalization. While we GA airplane owners are being hit hard, it is impossible for us to comprehend what the airlines must be going through. Aviationweek's Anselmo again:

"To grasp the magnitude of the impact high oil prices are having on the airline industry, consider two numbers: $3.8 billion and $18 billion. The first figure is the collective profit turned by U.S. carriers in 2007. The second is the increased fuel bill those airlines will face this year. The latest spike in jet fuel prices from $2.50 a gallon in February to nearly $4 has airlines hunkered down in survival mode and resorting to desperate measures; American Airlines announced this week it will begin charging $15 to check a bag. US Airways is eliminating free snacks from its domestic flights. But those moves are symbolic drops in the bucket compared with the billions of dollars needed to cover higher fuel costs."

I have a newsflash that the airlines already know: Eliminating the stale pretzels won't save you. But what might save you is the following, something that erupted tonight from the meadow of fertility I find lurking in the right side of my brain:

There is not much that the airlines can do about $130 a barrel crude. As long as the airlines are being robbed at gunpoint by Big Oil who seem to have no ethical problem at all reaping record profits, we will continue to see the carriers teeter on the brink of extinction. So what the airlines need to do is eliminate the "middle man" and thus eliminate their hefty price mark-up. To do that, the airlines need to start brewing up their own Jet A in an airline/GA-owned refinery system operated by a collective of airline managers and business aviation representatives.

A crazy idea? Yes, of course it is, or they would have done it by now. I do not claim to be a Petrochemical Engineer, so I have no clue how much money it takes to build a refinery or how many gallons of Jet A you can squeeze from a barrel of crude. If you're taking me seriously on this, you must not read this blog very often. All I do here is throw things out there in theory to get people talking.

If the oil companies were also just scraping along like the rest of us, we could blame this near-catastrophic collapse of our airline fuel supply on OPEC, the Saudis or even Bushie. But the very fact that the current refiners of Jet A are wallowing in a sea of cash ought to suggest to even a first-year business student that they are buying low and selling as high as they can until someone with sufficient balls comes along and tells them otherwise.

Will we see a day when the airlines make their own fuel? I doubt it, since I could find no mention of any such fantasy idea out there. But if crude prices keep climbing the way they have in 2008 towards what some predict will be $200 a barrel, it will mean the airlines as we know them today will have to find a different fuel for their jets or risk disappearing altogether from our skies:

Could the saviour of the airlines be biofuel? To stay alive in a world gone mad on its oil addiction, maybe the Bigs need to seriously consider rounding up a gaggle of engineers tasked with developing a jet fuel made from something we have lots of, but is not food. That substance needs to be in such plentiful supply to produce the millions of gallons of Jet A we need. And trust me, if I knew what that substance was, I'd be wealthy beyond belief.

Without question though, the one constant we all know to be true deep in our gut is this: The days of burning fossilized dinosaurs is coming to an end. The sooner this planet gets that memo, the better.

America[n] Has Been
Pushed Over the Edge

As the oil thugs succeed at slowly killing off the American Dream, crude oil has now gone off the charts at $135 a barrel with no signs of that insanity abating any time soon. This worldwide theft of our money by the oil producing countries and the Big Oil cronies smells more and more like an organized plot to steal what little wealth the middle class has left so the greedy one percenters here and in the Middle East can afford to buy diesel fuel for their mega-yachts and BBJs.

If the American Big Oil companies weren't making record profits, I might actually have believed one word of the testimony from their Executives on Capitol Hill yesterday. But profit is not a hard concept to grasp, you buy low, sell high and pocket the difference. Its the same for gasoline or tomatoes. So if the oil companies were being honest with us, they would be charging us a fair amount to make a fair profit, and regular gas would not be $4.00 a gallon. But the minute they bank those record profits and then try to blame it on the Saudis, it is all the evidence anyone with a brain needs to see that Bushie's oil buddies are simply raising the price as high as they can as fast as they can before his lame duck term ends, the investigation begins and Big Oil heads begin to roll.

None of this is making it any easier to be a scheduled airline today in the U.S., and recently, American pushed us all straight over the edge with this, reported everywhere including msnbc.com:

"American Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier, will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off possibly thousands of workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices. American said Wednesday the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags. The other fees will mostly range from $5 to $50 per service, the airline said. Its proposed fee for a first checked bag would exempt people who belong to elite levels of its frequent flyer programs, those who bought full-fare tickets and those traveling overseas."

It's that "raise other fees for services" line in the above pull quote that should scare any air traveler. With the carriers on the ropes, here are a few other things we might soon see as possible revenue generation streams from U.S. domestic carriers if this trend continues:

Use of the lavatory: There will be a credit card swiping device outside the bathroom door so you can quickly pay for leaving your "deposit" with the airlines. Press 1 for "#1" and pay a paltry $2.99, but press 2 for "#2" and expect a $7.99 debit to your card. Oh, you want toilet tissue, press "yes" at that prompt and add $1.00 for 10 sheets (for the ladies) or $12.95 for the whole roll for the men.

A cup of lukewarm soda: See that beverage cart...think "revenue stream". Soda: $3.00, cup, .50 cents, and ice, $1.25. Coffee? Fuggitabowdit, the Starbucks that was free last flight is $5.75 for black, add .50 cents for "cream" and .39 cents for your choice of sweeteners.

A pillow for your aching head: To try and get some sort of rest in steerage, you might opt for the "pillow-like" device, $4.00 with fresh paper cover, or for a little warmth, choose the "blanket" made of the world's thinnest fibers at $9.99.

Listening to the in-flight audio: Whoa, big revenue available here. Try $5.99 for the flimsy headsets that were free on the last flight, and $3.99/hour to listen to canned music from the 80s. And on United, you could listen to ATC on channel 9, after you would pay the "ATC availability fee" of $9.95.

A magazine full of crazy stuff: Who doesn't love to pass the time on a boring flight by perusing Skymall Magazine? I never knew people needed a remote control dog washer or an automatic martini shaker that looks like a '50s diner-themed juke box. But don't pick that book up unless you want to add $3.95 to your flight total for a "publication rental" fee.

Web check-in: In the next version of airline Bizarro World, they may tack on $12.50 for checking in via your computer. And scanning that paper e-ticket at the gate, prepare to have $2.79 ready to give the gate agent, exact change preferred.

Safety is never free: Don't know how to fasten a seat belt? What a moron. But there still must be some of you out there because the carriers force the seat belt instructions down our throat on every flight. So expect to soon pay $39.99 for the deluxe safety briefing, complete with your very own tacky, poorly illustrated safety briefing card. Why IS that guy bending over and grabbing his ankles anyway?

Does your kid STILL want to be an airline pilot? Face it, the best part of any flight for a kid is that brief moment when you get to walk by the open cockpit door and grab a fleeting glimpse inside as you exit the pressurized tube. If the pilot is a chum, he'll be at the exit door waiting for you to tell him/her that his/her landing was a greaser. This pilot meeting has always been free, but in the future, will you have to swipe that card again and shell out $14.99 to meet the Captain? And why spend that much dough when you can schmooze with the FO who still looks a lot like an airline pilot for $1.98.

Of course, this is just an exercise in imagination, a jaunt through Fantasy Land. But with no immediate relief from Big Oil, the airlines – just like you, me, the truckers and the working poor of this country – have no choice but to emulate that guy on the safety briefing card.

Today's new GOP slogan: Got Vaseline?

What Surprises Will
Team Duluth Have for
Us This Summer?

There are many, many reasons we aviators and wannabes flock to Oshkosh, Wisconsin every summer for Airventure. There's the acres upon acres of every make/model of airplane known to man, and there's the World's Largest Grill cooking tons of bratwurst. There's the afternoon airshow featuring the best aerobatic pilots on this planet bringing their "A" game to show center at Wittman Regional Airport, and there's the camaraderie that comes from surrounding yourself with 75,000 other pilots, all breathing air injected with the sweet smell of burnt avgas while their ears bask in the symphony of 1,000 radial engines singing the one note song we all crave.

But the best reason to attend Airventure is the announcements that airframe, engine and avionics manufacturers make at the precise time when the entire aviation world is watching. They all save their very best for this show, releasing their new models and taking the wraps off anything their skunk works has dreamt up throughout the year.

So it is a little surprising to me that Cirrus Design just announced their optional Garmin Perspective panel. This post is not about the very cool features of this wonderful avionics suite, but if you want a really great look at the Perspective, check out Max Trescott's blog post here. Max was chosen as 2008 National CFI of the Year, and has authored books on the G1000 suite, so he knows a few things about glass cockpits.

No, this post is not about the new Cirrus panel. What is about though, is this:

In my mind, there can be no disputing the fact that Cirrus Design is the "bar setter" of all general aviation. While other companies may make more models of business jets and dabble in legacy lines of high-wing birds, when it comes to forward thinking people designing the industry's coolest composite fixed gear planes, nobody does it better than Cirrus. So with the cat out of the bag about their new Garmin suite, what can the Duluth Design Bureau have up their sleeves for Oshkosh?

Let's take a look now at their current line-up. They've already told us about their Light Sport, no big news there. The SR-20 is selling well, and no other single-engine model can touch the sales numbers racked up by the SR-22. The The Jet (that name is STILL hard to spit out) is coming right along, but is it close enough to have a prototype fly in and land at OSH?

Oh what a fantasy land the mind can create when left alone to think about flying machines:

The one thing I would LOVE to see Cirrus announce is a SR-22 based light twin. How far of a stretch would it be to take their current airframe, give it a very sexy new pointy nose, and hang a Continental IO-550-N off each wing? The only competition would be the G58 Baron and Diamond's DA-42 Twinstar. And with the brand recognition Cirrus would bring to the light twin market, it would not be hard to quickly see them ascend to be the King of that hill.

Now let's really go on on a limb and ponder a Cirrus turboprop. Take their proven SR-22 airframe and hang a PT6 engine by Pratt & Whitney off the nose. Give it retractable gear, and suddenly you have a serious step-up model to bridge the gap between SR-22 and the The Jet. Think Lancair Evolution Propjet, only the Cirrus would be delivered already bolted (glued?) together.

And lastly, maybe they will take the sleek SR-22 fuselage, make it a little wider and stretch it out to fit in two more of those gorgeous leather seats. They can call it a SR-22 Six, like Piper did with their Cherokee line in 1965 when they made a stretch limo version of the 235 to give birth to the PA-32-260.

Whatever Cirrus debuts at Airventure this year, it will be two things if nothing else: (a) Groovy and (b) Beautiful.

Is Austria Powering
the Future of GA?

I have only known one person in my life from Austria, but she is a person well worth knowing. This woman is driven, she is wildly funny in a good way, and is a joy to be around, in all her energetic glory. Her love for the country in which she grew up is evident – all it takes to get her going is to ask her about Austria and then sit back and take a verbal tour that would make Rick Steves smile.

I mention this because after spending many evenings with her recently at arts performances and backyard bar-b-ques, I can better understand how the engineers at Austro Engine in Weiner Neustadt, Austria might operate. I can more easily see them going into work early, pushing the slide rule hard until after dinner, and then rushing off to down a few pints of whatever "beverage" they drink at the pubs over there. It is this devotion to their work that may be behind the ascent of Austro Engines as the possible next King-of-the-Hill in general aviation diesel powerplants.

And I am not the only one noticing this either. No, another important GA manufacturer in Weiner Neustadt has jumped the Austro Engines bandwagon too, according to this on aviationweek.com:

"Diamond Aircraft Industries has begun flight testing its DA50 Magnum four-seat, all-composite light aircraft. The 3,263 lb. gross-weight DA50 is powered by a new, four-cylinder, 170-hp. diesel-cycle piston powerplant called the AE 300 from Austro Engine. The first flight took place on May 14 from Diamond's plant at Weiner Neustadt in Austria with company CEO and owner Christian Dries as pilot in command, assisted by chief test pilot Soeren Pedersen."

The aviationweek.com story reports that the Magnum is not the only Diamond to receive the AE 300, reporting that Diamond's DA40 TDi Diamond Star and DA42 TDi Twin Star will also get the engine. This news appears to let us know precisely how fast Diamond is running away from Thielert's powerplants.

As environmental pressures continue to hammer away at 100LL, these new smaller Jet A diesel engines look very attractive. I predict we will be hearing lots more from Austro Engines, so here is a little about the company from their web site:

"Austro Engine GmbH, an independent and privately held company, develops and manufactures rotary and Jet A1 piston engines for various original equipment manufacturers of small aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles. The company was founded in 2007 and inherited the engine business from Diamond Aircraft Industries GmbH, a world-class designer and manufacturer of a wide range of innovative and modern General Aviation aircraft. Their brand new 7,600 sq. meter facility is located in the Civitas Nova industrial area in Wiener Neustadt, Austria."

So we will watch this rising star in the engine biz carefully, and cheer them on as they move towards profitability and possible greatness. Would I fly behind a Jet A-burning diesel, hell yes...you'd have to be a fool not to. Magnetos, we don't need no stinkin' magnetos! Forget about fouled spark plugs or a mixture control knob, no, with a FADEC power quadrant and a couple of tanks of Jet A hanging off your wings, you just firewall the throttle and vanish into thin air, simple as that.

There are many reasons why the 18-wheelers pounding our highways into submission all run monstrous diesel engines. Yes they make lots of torque, and yes, they are economical considering the power they produce. But the serious juicy trait of any diesel engine is dependability:

When you are at FL120 over the Rockies at night in IMC, you want a nice dependable diesel cranking away out there in front of your firewall. And if you really think about it, when was the last time you saw a big rig stranded on the side of the road due to engine failure? Sure, they pop plenty of tires, and the drivers occasionally do fall fast asleep at the wheel, but those diesel engines just keep on cranking out the ponies no matter how hard you push them. I know this because in my other life I spent a total of about 10 years driving those beasts, delivering bananas in the 80s and tortillas in the 90s...hating every second of it.

And the last time I stepped down out of the cabover Kenworth I called "home", I vowed never to set foot inside another one, ever. So far, so good on that promise...but that doesn't mean I won't use their engine technology to someday power my airplane.

Now THAT would be sweet revenge on the Diesel Gods that tried to kill me.

Another Crazy
Smokescreen

I spend sufficient time on this blog raking the airlines over the coals, and for the most part, they deserve the raking. But if I were in the top echelon of airline management tonight, I would be livid about this article from Reuters:

"The U.S. government proposed on Friday to auction some takeoff and landing rights at the New York area's two international airports, as a way to boost competition, a plan that drew sharp criticism from airlines. Transportation officials are this spring capping the number of flights airlines can offer at peak times at Newark and JFK to reduce congestion. To ensure caps do not favor entrenched major carriers, regulators want to skim some access rights -- or slots -- and offer them at auction."

So the FAA's scheme du jour to fix a broken air traffic control system is to now AUCTION slots into airports? I can see why the airlines are crying foul, this is just another example of a shallow attempt to make it look like they are actually doing something about a huge problem. The only glitch though is like so much of present day Washington D.C., we the people are watching every silly move they make.

See, if they were completely re-vamping the slot system after serious negotiations with airline and airport brass, maybe at least they could then replace our current impeded system with one that actually works. But of course, they are just scratching the same surface BushCo usually scratches with they try to fix anything. Again, from Reuters:

"The agency is proposing to shift ownership rights for JFK and Newark slots from the FAA to the airlines for 10 years. Airlines would be required to give back a percentage of slots for auction. Depending on the give-back formula, between 91 and 179 slots of 1,245 would be sold at JFK and roughly 96 of 1,219 slots would be auctioned at Newark."

So when they say up to 275 of the 2,464 slots are going on the auction block, that represents just nine percent of total slots. Maybe I am to much of a realist, but nine percent of anything is nothing, period.

Lots of stories across the web tonight are reporting that massive litigation by the airlines are going to have to sort this out. One of the most complex questions to answer in this slot auction scheme is who actually OWNS the landing slots, the FAA, the airlines, the Department of Transportation or the airports. When I tried to think about this tonight, my head nearly exploded:

While it would be easy to say the airlines or the airports "owns" the slots, I believe that since the final responsibility of keeping airliners full of tourists from trading paint over Teterboro falls on the shoulders of the FAA, it seems logical that it is they who have the final word on how many planeloads of souls gets pushed into JFK, LGA or EWR during rush hour.

All fine and good, but if the FAA owns the slots, are they consulting NATCA's controllers to discuss how many slots get assigned to which airport? Since FAA is screwing NATCA's people so bad right now on working conditons, it seems no stretch at all to think that the last people to be invited to any table discussion of air safety by Bushie's FAA would be NATCA.

And that – if true – would be a fatal mistake.

You, With the Pen,
Stop and Listen...

If you can tell me what the AP Stylebook is for, chances are you have had some journalism training in your life. If you know that you are supposed to spell out numbers one through nine and use numerals for 10 or more, and if you – like all aviators – crave Bratwurst and airplane fumes towards the end of July, then this post is for you:

Aero-News Network is once again accept applications for stringer positions, for their coverage of EAA Airventure Oshkosh 2008. If you have a background in college journalism, a pilot's license or a strong will to get one, and a thirst for knowledge, ANN is inviting you to see Airventure "from the inside" if you can write and are handy with a camera.

If this sounds like a great way to experience the finest air show in the world, ANN wants you:

"This year, we're looking for print writers, of course, as well as photographers...but we're especially seeking people with broadcasting skills, in either radio OR television/video production -- including people with experience in shooting and/or producing video segments. At events like Oshkosh, we work in shifts to cover the most ground, have time to write it all up, and to digest the work in an efficient flow. There'll be plenty of fun to go around, as we cover hundreds of vendors and thousands of aircraft, pilots, and builders."

And if you do great work for ANN, you might just become a part of their "A" team:

"While we're eager to speak with all people who apply for special events coverage, we're also looking for people who may be interested, down the road, in becoming a full-or-part-time ANN staffer. Events like Oshkosh (and NBAA, and AOPA Expo, and AEA, and Copperstate, and Reno...) provide fantastic on-the-job experience and training for what the ANN staff does every single day of the week. We're looking for a real "team" player...someone who thinks outside the cockpit, as it were, and isn't afraid to share new ideas... no matter how crazy they may seem."

So you say journalism is not your thing? If you have boundless energy and want to help one of the finest aviation news sites in Wisconsin this summer, they may have you in their sights:

"We also need a high-energy "gopher" for Oshkosh -- someone who can be counted on to run the numerous errands, arrange some meetings, and keep us up to date on whatever we may be missing."

If any of this sounds interesting, email ANN's Editors here and send them story and photo samples, a little background and what your spring summer 2008 availability will be. If you have audio or video skills, send them clips of your work and also a list of the software and equipment that you're comfortable working with.

I have been a paid journalist and freelance writer for 30 years, and have worked in just about every part of the journalism food chain, from Sports Editor to photographer to magazine designer to Public Information Officer. I know good journalism when I see it, and ANN is the real deal. The people that put this site out are real reporters, a far cry from many blogs – including my own – that just comment on the aviation world at large instead of burning virtual shoe leather chasing down a story.

Pay for Aviation
Industry Jobs Are
All Over the Map

It would be safe to say that the majority of World of Flying's readers grew up wanting to be airline pilots, I know I did. I also wanted to be a garbage man, so the fable goes. I guess as an impressionable three-year-old, watching burly dudes hoist large drums of stinky refuse up on their shoulder as they carried it down my driveway to a big and very interesting truck was super groovy for a toddler.

When we think of working in the airline industry, the glamour jobs always come to mind. But today I visited avjobs.com, which looks to be the cream of the crop in airline employment sites. If one is out there that has more information, I could not find it.

Avjobs publishes a very thorough listing of what everyone makes in the sector, updated daily it seems. Today's listings – compiled as of 5.14.08 – shows the following national highlights:

Both an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic and Avionics Specialist will earn $40,000 on the low end, but the A & P can make $90,000 on the high end while the avionics tech's annual paycheck maxxes out at $72,000. A Flight Attendant's salary ranges from $55,000 - $60,000, higher then I would have expected. But it is still more then the Ground/Ramp workers who pull down $32,954 - $48,092. And as you might expect, Management brass make an average of $75,451 but can easily hit $200,000 even when their airline delivers poor service.

Hourly wages for various "behind-the-scenes" positions were surprisingly low. Dispatchers can barely exist on their $10.00 - $16.00/hr. pay, and the guy who plans the loads for a mighty 747 headed off over the pole only makes a maximum reported salary of $15/hr. That cranky reservations clerk only pulls in between $8.88 and $10.14 per hour, which makes me wonder if that is in USD or Indian Rupees. Contrast that with the completely nuts salary of an Aerospace Engineer, who can earn a low of $13.00/hr. and a high of – get this – $2,600/hr.! That last wage HAS to be for a government contractor with a fat Pentagon no-bid contract.

Pilots who drive jets make considerably more then those who don't, as you might expect. A Cessna 208 pilot can earn $32,760 a year, while a PA-31 Navajo Captain in Dallas might fetch only $12.50/hr. Occupy the left seat of a B737NG and expect as much as $150,000 a year, far better than the Citation Ultra Captain at $57,000 a year. But what is completely bizarre is this: According to this Avjobs data, a Eclipse 500 Captain would do better on payday if flipping burgers, since his pay is listed at only $5.15/hr.! Someone please tell me this is a typo.

Like I said...all over the map. Do I still want to be an airline pilot? Since my age is a little north of fifty, no carrier would waste a dime on training me, and the constant discontent of your union fighting with management to fend off this week's pay cut would make me crazy. But flying for a living will always be the dream job for any pilot, and if I win the Powerball, expect Av8rdan to buy a Pilatus PC-12 and spend eternity making Angel Flights. What better way to finish out this life then to help sick kids and cancer patients get the treatment they deserve?

All that stands in my way of that lofty dream are six stupid little numbers, none of which ever seem to come up.

I Still Love my
Lawn Mower
[editors note - this is a recycled post from last year
because tonight I've got nuttin' - dan]

Over the years, I have owned many, many lawn mowers, from damned near every maker. Good ones, sucky ones, manual drive, front-wheel drive, rear bagger, no bagger, mulcher and belcher.

Now I know what you're thinking...DAN...this is an AVIATION blog, not one about yard care products! Just hang with me a second...

So recently when I was out on my hilly one-acre yard in the forest mowing up and down the numerous steep inclines with my brand new Honda HRX mower, and had a revelation of sorts:

Years ago – in my teens – I owned a motorcycle that was indestructible, the Honda SL100 Motosport. It was the world's most awesome street/dirt bike, and was literally impossible to disable. I crashed hard on that bike more times then I could count, and watched it careen down gullies, sand dunes and into creeks while suffering treatment that would have surely sidelined a mere Yamaha, Kawasaki or Suzuki. To this day, I regret selling that bike, and I know for sure it is still running somewhere.

Back to my yard. I am blown away by my new Honda mower's features. Can you believe it has a 10-speed transmission that works flawlessly? You can slow this wonderful machine to a crawl, and it will climb a steep, slick, grassy embankment like a little red Sherman Tank. It starts on one pull every time, cuts the grass as smooth as a pool table, and runs forever on one tiny tank of gas. It is truly a masterwork of brilliant Honda engineering, much like the SL100 was back in the day.

As I chugged along happily marveling at the quality of this mower, my mind drifted to a couple of summers ago when I watch the Hondajet depart Wittman Regional Airport on the last day of EAA Airventure Oshkosh. I was front row center with my binoculars, and could see even from a distance that this airplane was a work of art. As it powered up, the whine of the engines was almost spaceship-like. When the hired gun (a big burly guy that was definitely NOT Asian) in the left seat slammed the throttle home, the Hondajet blasted off in about half the runway I expected. I could see that yet again, the famed Honda engineers had hit one out of the park.

Yes, it truly was a “mouth-dropping” experience, as I was quoted to have said about witnessing the launch in USA Today. With the flood of new turbine hardware coming at us, the HondaJet rates very near the top of the food chain for sheer drop-dead gorgeous looks and hot, steamy, sexy ramp appeal. You show up anywhere in this jet, and your stock will go way up, I guarantee that. If you're single and any member of the opposite sex sees you saunter down the airstair of your HondaJet, chances are very good that as the coolest Rock Star on the ramp, you might get way more then just lucky tonight.

.

If You Had
Any Doubts...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GAMA 1Q 08:
Nothing Can
Stop This
Train

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't Lose Control

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

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



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

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

We Live in
Tumultuous Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ouch, Vern, that one hurt a little.

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

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

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

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

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

IFR Progress Report: Yikes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Diesels in Our Future?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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