Much to the surprise of no one, the mayors in towns affected by President Obama's attacks on business aircraft have reacted poorly and are urging the President to speak out to counter the negative press generated against general aviation.

Much like the mayor of Las Vegas, words have meanings, and those hurtful words from Congress against the use of business jets has hurt many cities whose major employer manufactures those very same aircraft. It seems that government can solve everything, but not everyone is happy about how it is going about it.

For those of us in aviation we need support, not criticism. We are not the enemy, and aviation does serve a very useful role in providing an exceptional standard of living for all Americans. Why there is this class warfare going on in this country is beyond me. After all, there is plenty of blame to go around for our economic woes, why don't we all work together to solve them instead of spending so much time blaming the Bush administration and the captains of industry.

Given the $ 9 Trillion dollar debt Obama has set us on course to expect it would seem to me that we need to all work together to solve this mess rather than use it for personal gain.  Why attack the very people who create businesses and commerce that provides jobs?  I don't get it.

Perhaps some are not aware of the value of aviation to various state budgets. Well consider this: according to the State of Kansas aviation accounts for fully one third of its budget revenue, most of it coming from Wichita. Just like Las Vegas Kansas got whacked for producing business jet aircraft that the leaders of Chrysler, Ford and GM used to get to Washington to feed at the trough.

Let's hope sanity returns to our leaders soon, and that we all get on the same page and build businesses, not tear them down. We need aviation.  After all, aviation has provided the research and development that has led to many discoveries which have improved American lives.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

Truly superior pilots are those who use their superior judgment to avoid those situations where they might have to use their superior skills.

Cessna Aircraft, a division of Textron, continues to drag earnings for Textron down as the company continues its efforts to restructure.  So far over 4,600 of the 6,200 persons laid off by Textron have been at Cessna Aircraft as demand for its aircraft continues to decline.

If memory serves me right general aviation has usually been the last to feel the effects of an economic slowdown, and the last to recover.  I would guess that this is because of the long lead time between aircraft sales and aircraft deliveries. Aircraft manufacturers are not able to produce vehicles as quickly as say an automobile manufacturer.

Sales at Cessna have fallen by some 38% while the Bell helicopter unit of Textron continues to experience growth, in large part because of military helicopter acquisitions. 

In the meantime the CEO for Piper Aircraft, James Bass, said the effect of the U.S. government’s “assault” on general aviation will linger much longer. His remarks, made Tuesday at the Sun ’n’ Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Fla., were a biting criticism of government officials and media outlets that are spreading the off-base message that “private aircraft equal corporate excess…that’s the new equation, and Washington has made it a sound bite that no politician seems able to resist.

Given the excesses by our government and its leaders it is difficult to swallow the criticism of a critical part of our transportation system. Political retoric to curry favor with an unsuspecting public to carry out the redistribution of wealth in the United States by an out of control administration is leading our country down a path which many believe will result in the United States losing its leading role in the world economy.

Just last night President Obama stated again that this is "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression", a statement which is completely false.  Unemployment is no where near where it was in the Great Depression, and while economic growth is negative interest rates are no where near where they were under Carter.

It is time for more conversation about facts and less false statements to further frighten an already frightened public.  Someone please stand up and tell the truth!  We need general aviation, and so do the airlines. There are not enought pilots in the military to replace all of the retirements coming, so don't be surprised if the new wave of pilots for the airlines are not Americans.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

Pilots, as everyone knows, are an interesting group of people. They walk with a certain swagger, usually eyes covered with teardrop sunglasses, and a certain mystery surrounds them.  Notice as they lean on the counter in the airport, talking to the ticket agent, looking through a long sheet of paper and making notes.

Meanwhile, the number two saunters out through the jetway onto the ramp to do a quick ground check of the aircraft prior to departure.  The first to board and last to leave, airline pilots enjoy the admiration and trust of all who travel with them.

But where to these aviators go to vacation?  Do they go home and fly some little airplane around an empty blue sky?  You bet they do.  Aviation is their heart and soul, it is their reason for living and they revel in the thrill of pushing the throttles forward never knowing what adventure awaits them on their journey.

In order to cater to this group of individuals, some creative souls have devised a hotel built just for airline pilots. So the Hotel Costa Verde in Costa Rica has designed this unique and totally impressive two bedroom suite made from a refurbished 1965 Boeing 727 fuselage.

Ah what a great nights sleep!

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

Lady, you want me to answer you if this old airplane is safe to fly? Just how in the world do you think it got to be this old?

— Anon

The pilot of the Cessna 172 which flew from southern Canada to Missouri in the United States and landed on a highway was actually trying to be shot down and killed.  It didn't work, thanks to great work on the part of the F-16 pilots, and he is presently in custody.  Born in Turkey and now a Canadian citizen, Adam Dylan Leon age 31, has been arrested and charged with illegal entry and transportation of stolen property.

At least this incident resulted in no harm to anyone, and Mr. Leon will learn a hard lesson.

On a personal note, my father in law passed away and the family is busy with arrangements for the funeral, so I may not be posting for a few days.  My wife is also a pilot, and she is having a hard time dealing with the death of her father.

Lastly, I will be moving my blog to a Word Press platform in the near future, which means the RSS Feed and url will change.  When I am ready to make the change I will let you all know.  There will be some very interesting additions which I am sure everyone will find interesting and informative.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

A friend of mine from my college days works in the aviation business, and he buys and sells airline parts.  We both did a lot flying together at Michigan State University (sob - we lost to UNC) at the Winged Spartans flying club. Our careers took different paths as I went into the aviation insurance business after a stint as a chief pilot, and he went into the airline parts business after a stint selling Cessna Citation trade-ins.

Recently he sent me the two photographs you see in this post.

   
Generally speaking lightning strikes are no big deal. I recall having a lightning strike on the radome of a DC-3 I was flying, and watched a blue ball shoot down the center aisle of the airplane exiting at the vertical stabilizer. Upon examination we finally found the exit point which was pinhole sized.  The radome, however, suffered a lot more damage, along with the radar antenna.

An article on how an airplane is protected from lightning strikes says "Since the outer skin of most airplanes is primarily aluminum, which is a very good conductor of electricity; the secret to safe lightning hits is to allow the current to flow through the skin from the point of impact to some other point without interruption or diversion to the interior of the aircraft.

Estimates show that each commercial airliner averages one lighting hit per year but the last crash that was attributed to lightning was in 1967 when the fuel tank exploded, causing the plane to crash. Generally, the first contact with lightning is at an extremity...the nose or a wingtip. As the plane continues to fly through the areas of opposite charges, the lightning transits through the aircraft skin and exits through another extremity point, frequently the tail (as shown by Gauss's Law)."

The lightning strike to this ASA regional jet for Delta Airlines certainly had a different experience than we are all used to.  Moral of the post - flying can be dangerous - never forget!

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

While overall aviation accidents and fatalities have been down since 1994, the NTSB has noted an increase in general aviation accidents, and in particular Part 135 charter operations.  Within that category med evac helicopters have shown a sharp increase in both accidents and deaths, causing concern for these operators.

NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker, commenting on Part 135 fatalities, stated that "There's a lot of room for improvement in this area."  The interesting thing is, though, that rearely does the FAA take action on the NTSB recommendations, relying instead on its own internal facts to determine what and how it should enforce the regs.

Accidents on air taxi Part 135 flights killed 66 people in the United States last year, the highest total since 2000, transportation safety officials said yesterday. The air charter category includes medical helicopters, tour flights and Part 135 "on demand" air taxi operators.

Airlines in the United States had been having an uncommonly quiet period, as measured by aviation deaths, for the past two years, but that ended with two high-profile accidents this year. In February, a commuter turboprop crashed into a home outside Buffalo, killing 50 people. Last month, a small plane crashed in Butte, Mont., resulting in 14 deaths, including several children.

All of this proves that aviation is still a dangerous business, and as pilots we need to always be alert and aware of what is happening in the aircraft we fly.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

The Aeroplane

I sweep the skies with fire and steel
My highway is the cloud
I swoop, I soar, aloft I wheel
My engine laughing loud
I fight with gleaming blades the wind
That dares dispute my path
I leave the howling storm behind
I ride upon it's wrath.

I laugh to see your tiny world
Your toys of ships, your cars
I rove an endless road unfurled
Where the mile stones are the stars
And far below, men wait and peer
For what my coming brings
I fill their quaking hearts with fear
For death...is in my wings.

— Gordon Boshell, written after watching Battle of Britain dogfights

E- Weapons, ELECTROMAGNETIC pulse weapons, apparently can be easily built using current technology and information currently available on the world wide web.  Components are also widely available on the net, and all it would take to bring a plane down would be a single but highly energetic microwave radio pulse. This could be accomplished either from a device inside a plane, or a weapon on the ground and trained at a landing aircraft.

All of us have heard of green lasers being aimed at the cockpits of aircraft, imagining that the culprits were attempting to blind the pilots. A pulse weapon is different, the radio pulse creates an electric field of  hundreds of thousands volts per meter, which then induces a current that burns out electrical systems such as microchips found in car and aircraft electronics.

As a result some aviation safety groups feel that with more and more composite structures in aircraft it is important to protect the wiring from emp (electro magnetic pulse) weapons.  For the time being the risk may be minimal.

Douglas Beason, a director at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, says it may be straightforward to build a do-it-yourself EMP weapon, but more difficult to make one that can be stowed in an aircraft. "A lot of work would need to go into dramatically decreasing the weight, shrinking the power supply and antenna," he says.

In any case governments are aware of the risks and are working to make sure these weapons are not used against civilian aircraft.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came,
and he pushed,
and they flew.

— Christopher Logu

Yesterday was an incredible day here in the United States.  The government decided that the head of GM, Rick Wagner, had to go before the government would agree to give GM an additional 60 days to come up with a restructuring plan.  So, after forcing one of the oldest flight departments in the US to close because Congress was pissed that the execs used business jets to come to Washington to plead their case, now the government is going to tell GM how to restructure itself.

One question - can anyone out there tell me anything that the government runs well (other than the military)? What in the name of heaven gives these people in Washington that they have the knowledge to fix these companies? But there is more, read on.

AIG, American International Group, has a subsidiary called International Lease Finance Corporation, which is one of the world's largest purchasers of airliners.  The parent unit has been loaning this company millions of dollars, and yesterday the New York Federal Reserve approved yet another $ 900 million dollar loan to this aircraft leasing unit, and AIG states it will continue to do so until March of 2010 or until the unit is sold.

I don't know about you, but these are scary times.  If Obama is right the economy will recover, but Big Brother will truly be here in our lives.  If he is wrong, we still wind up with Big Brother but a sick economy. 

It always bothers me when someone thinks they are so smart they are the only one with the answers to a problem.  I don't know what a young man whose claim to fame was being a community organizer has acquired in his lifetime that gives him such great insight into business. 

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

    There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying.
    The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
    Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it.
    The first part is easy.
    All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt.
    That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
    Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
    Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.

— Douglas Adams, 'The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy,'

Sparky Imeson used to always say "Happiness is an airplane on a clear day - and the time to go flying."  Unfortunately, on March 17th, 2009 he died in an aircraft accident near Bozeman, MT and his flying days (at least here) are sadly over.

Imeson was born and raised in Wyoming, and grew up in the mountains where he learned to fly in his father's J-3 Cub.  In 1968 he and his parents started Imeson Aviation at the Jackson Hole, WY airport.  The FBO offered flight training, on-demand charter, aerial application, aerobatic training and much much more.

Concerned about the number of accidents occuring in the mountains by general aviation pilots, he looked for books on the subject of mountain flying and found none.  That being the case he wrote his own, the first of which - Mountain Flying - was written in 1970. In 1998 he wrote the Mountain Flying Bible followed in 2003 by The Shirt Pocket Mountain Flying Guide and Taildragger Tactics in 2004.

All of these books are for sale in my eBay store at Aviation Sources.

Imeson and a friend had crashed in June of 2007 in the Elkhorn Mountains but survived; this time he died 18 miles north of Bozeman after departing Bozeman for a one hour flight to Helena, MT. Imeson had logged over 20,000 hours of fling time in all kinds of aircraft over his career.

Friends say he was headed to the site of his previous accident, and witnesses saw his aircraft flying so low that he spooked a herd of elk.  Weather may have been a factor.

It is a sad day for aviation when we lose someone like Sparky, and he will be sorely missed.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

By now most of you know I am a pilot, but perhaps you did not know that my son is an A&P mechanic.  I guess I should use the correct terminology - An Aviation Maintenance Technician, or AMT.  Chad went to Lansing Community College in Lansing, MI, and took the extra courses to get his Associates Degree as well.

Chad works on mainly DC-8 aircraft, but has been trained on Boeing 767s and is rebuilding a 1939 Piper J-3 Cub.  It is interesting to talk with Chad because he is always encountering new problems with these older aircraft, and it takes a lot of ingenuity to figure it all out.

I was reading on the web site "Alliance for Aviation Across America" and came across an article about a young woman (She has been married for 26 years and has two grown children) who lost her job at a local car dealership.  Being in Alabama near some aviation facilities, she recalled reading about a new program from the local community college to train AMTs.

So she enrolled, and is doing quite well, very happy with her choice in a new career.  Starting pay is usually around $ 20/hour, and believe it or not there are still some jobs in aviation.  She hopes to get a job with BAE systems when she graduates.

Let's not give up on aviation just yet.  It is interesting that Obama loves to use the Presidential ride as often as he can while he bashes companies that use private business jets.  Go figure.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

Firewall: (1) The part of the airplane specially designed to allow all heat and exhaust to enter the cockpit. (2) The act of pulling 69 inches of manifold pressure, out of an engine designed to pull 60.

— Bob Stevens, 'There I Was.'