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."

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.'

Without taking anything away from Capt. Sullenberger you need to read this email which came through a close friend of mine who is heavily involved in the airline business. 

As you read this please do not take the negative about the US Air crew the wrong way - what this is about is the difference about the engines between a Boeing and an Airbus is true.

Here is the email in its entirety:

"What follows is an e-mail from a retired US Air Pilot who has flown the Airbus A320 just like the one that ended up in the Hudson .  It was written in response to a friend asking if he knew the pilot who did the ditching.  It is most illuminating:

 

Dear Crash,

 

I don't know him.  I've seen him in the crew room and around the system but never met him.  He was former PSA and I was former Piedmont and we never had the occasion to fly together.

 

The dumb shit press just won't leave this alone.  Most airliner ditchings aren't very successful since they take place on the open ocean with wind, rough seas, swells and rescue boats are hours or days away.  This one happened in fresh smooth water, landing with the current and the rescue boats were there picking people up while they were still climbing out of the airplane.  It also happened on a cold winter day when all the pleasure boats were parked.  Had this happened in July it would be pretty hard not to whack a couple of little boats.  Sully did a nice job but so would 95% of the other pilots in the industry.  You would have done a nice job.

 

Don't be surprised if the Airbus fly by wire computers didn't put a perfectly good airplane in the water.  In a older generation airplane like the 727 or 737 300/400 the throttles are hooked to the fuel controllers on the engine by a steel throttle cable just like a TBM or a Comanche.  On the Airbus nothing in the cockpit is real.  Everything is electronic.  The throttles, rudder and brake pedals and the side stick are hooked to rheostats who talk to a computer who talks to a electric hydraulic servo valve which in turn hopefully moves something.

 

In a older generation airplane when you hit birds the engines keep screaming or they blow up but they don't both roll back to idle simultaneously like happened to Flt.

1549. All it would take is for bird guts to plug a pressure sensor or knock the pitot probe off or plug it and the computers would roll the engines back to idle thinking they were over boosting because the computers were getting bad data.  The Airbus is a real pile of shit.  I don't like riding on them.  Google Airbus A320 Crash at the Paris Airshow in 1998.  Watch the video of an airbus A320 crash into a forest because the computers wouldn't allow a power increase following a low pass.  The computers wouldn't allow a power increase because they determined that the airspeed was too low for the increase requested so the computers didn't give them any.  Pushing the throttles forward in a Airbus does nothing more than request a power increase from the computer.  If the computer doesn't like all the airplane and engine parameters you don't get a power increase.  Airbus blamed the dead crew since they couldn't defend themselves.  A Boeing would still be flying."