Listeners of the Airplane Geeks podcast will recall our mention of Owen Zupp's around Australia charity flight (Episode 94). Owen sent the following message:

Hi All,

I’m not usually a fan of the ‘broadcast email’, but I thought I would break my rule in this instance.

I depart on Wednesday to fly around Australia in an attempt to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The trip is titled, ‘There and Back’. www.thereandback.com.au

With cheques and online donations, we have already raised over $3,000 before the wheels lift-off and to those who’ve already chipped in ‘Thank You’.

If you are able to spare a dollar or two for this great Australian service, the Flying Doctor, please visit http://www.mycause.com.au/mycause/raise_money/fundraise.php?id=4389 and contribute what you can. I am self-funding the flight, so all of these donations go straight to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Many thanks in advance, your help is greatly appreciated.

Owen Zupp
www.thereandback.com.au

Please consider supporting this worthwhile event if you can.

This blog has been moved to www.all-things-aviation.com and I will resume my daily posts next weekend.

Until then keep your wings straight and level Hersh!

JetAviator7

This blog has been moved to www.all-things-aviation.com and I will resume my daily posts next weekend.

Until then keep your wings straight and level Hersh!

JetAviator7

This blog has been moved to www.all-things-aviation.com and I will resume my daily posts next weekend.

Until then keep your wings straight and level Hersh!

JetAviator7

This blog has been moved to www.all-things-aviation.com and I will resume my daily posts next weekend.

Until then keep your wings straight and level Hersh!

JetAviator7

A Delta Airlines flight from LA to Salt Lake City was advised to make a climb and turn because of a small aircraft which had departed a local airport and was climbing towards the airliners path. Apparently the pilot of the small aircraft was not in touch with ATC, so the crew of the airliner were asked to climb and turn to avoid any possible conflict with the smaller aircraft.

Here is the strange part. I assume the turn and climb would not be interpreted by the passengers as strange or particularly unsual, but the crew felt compelled to tell the cabin that they had made the maneuver to avoid another plane.

Now I have to ask - why would they do that?  The crew did not report anything to the FAA, but a passenger on the airliner did. And no one from Air Traffic Control filed any report either.

I am left to wonder if perhaps the crew were trying to malign small aircraft and pleasure pilots once again, getting in the way of the big, bad airliner and causing them some inconvenience. Sob.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.

— Socrates

ps: This blog will be moved to http://www.all-things-aviation.com this weekend.

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.

Apparently it is not all doom and gloom in the general aviation marketplace. Cirrus Design Corp. President & CEO Brent Wouters announced that while international sales of its Cirrus aircraft were down 2% domestic deliveries of its aircraft will be in the mid-300s this year.

Cirrus manufactures the SR20 and SR22 model aircraft and has been producing them at the rate of 3-4 per week. The company recently announced plans to increase production to 6 aircraft per week to meet increased demand for its aircraft.

However, this increase in production rate will not result in laid off workers being recalled at the present time. The company says its recent efforts to improve efficiency in manufacturing have improved the bottom line through cost-cutting and increased sales.

In addition the company has stated it will continue the development of its single engine jet aircraft which has accumulated over 150 hours of flight testing.

Let's hope this trend continues, and that other manufacturers like Cessna and Piper will see the same improvement in aircraft sales.

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."

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."

While the leaders in Congress levied charges against the auto company execs for using biz jets to come to Washington asking for money, many Americans cheered. Barak Obama, while on the campaign trail and now as President, crows about how "the rich will finally pay their fair share and help middle class Americans recover from the economic crisis".

In the meantime aircraft sales slumped, many aviation related businesses and industries have laid off thousands of workers, and Nancy Pelosi requisitions a government Grumman G V to commute home to California for the weekend.  All very impressive.

The problem is, we have been here before.

Consider the following excerpt from Inside Politics:

"Starting in 1991, Washington levied a 10 percent tax on cars valued above $30,000, boats above $100,000, jewelry and furs above $10,000 and private planes above $250,000. Democrats like Ted Kennedy and then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell crowed publicly about how the rich would finally be paying their fair share and privately about convincing President George H.W. Bush to renounce his 'no new taxes' pledge," the newspaper said in an editorial.

"But it wasn't long before even those die-hard class warriors noticed they'd badly missed their mark. The taxes took in $97 million less in their first year than had been projected — for the simple reason that people were buying a lot fewer of these goods. Boat building, a key industry in Messrs. Mitchell and Kennedy's home states of Maine and Massachusetts, was particularly hard hit. Yacht retailers reported a 77 percent drop in sales that year, while boat builders estimated layoffs at 25,000. With bipartisan support, all but the car tax was repealed in 1993, and in 1996 Congress voted to phase that out too. January 1 was disappearance day.

"The end of any federal tax is such a rarity that it's well worth celebrating. And the luxury-tax lesson of economic damage is worth keeping in mind as politicians begin to wail that President Bush's new tax proposals aren't punitive enough on the rich."

It seems Washington has had lessons not well learned.

Until next time keep your wings straight and level Hersch!

JetAviator7

In the space age, man will be able to go around the world in two hours — one hour for flying and one hour to get to the airport.

— Neil McElroy, 'Look,' 1958