What’s Up
by LeRoy Cook
10-16-23
Suggested banner: The Great Balloon Race
The cool weather arrived as advertised late last week,
along with strong crosswinds that kept most flying grounded. We've had a good
run of fall flying weather up to now, and more to follow.
The week's in-and-outs included a Beech Bonanza 35, a
Cirrus SR22, an RV homebuilt, a Piper Cherokee and the usual Cessna Skyhawk
trainer. Christian Tucker flew up from Lebanon in a Mooney M-20 and Jay
McClintock's Piper Tomahawk came by from Harrisonville with a student aboard.
Of the based fleet, Jim Ferguson flew his Cessna Skylane,
Brandt Hall took his Avid Flyer out, Les Gorden had his North American T-28C
Trojan up briefly, and I exercised the Aeronca Champ. I took a Cessna 150 up to
Higginsville Sunday afternoon for dual instruction, and I also made a trip to
St. Louis in the Cessna Skyhawk during one of the cloud-free days.
The annual Albuquerque balloon fiesta was held last week,
a huge event with hot-air balloons by the hundreds filling the Valley of the
Sun from all over the world. The unique topography of ABQ lends itself to such
an event, with south-flowing air drifting the balloons down the valley at
low-level and northerly-flowing wind found at higher level, allowing the flights
to circulate back to launch point. The festival is also the launch point of the
long-distance endurance race for gas balloons, using hydrogen or helium for
lift, attracting teams from many countries. The goal is go as far as possible,
staying up for days and nights at a time. The winner was either a French or
German team; both were landing on the beach in North Carolina, after 1500 miles
and three days of ballooning.
The Polish 1 team was not so lucky. Its two pilots ran
into high-tension power lines southeast of Dallas on Monday evening, leaving
them hospitalized with burns. Fortunately, their load of hydrogen gas didn't
ignite, so they were spared a Hindenburg-style disaster. There were 17 teams
participating this year, the 66th running of the Gordon Bennett
balloon race.
In another pull-out from this week's National Business
Aircraft Association Expo in Las Vegas, the French Dassault company, builders
of Falcon business jets, declined to exhibit in the convention hall, in favor
of hosting its display at the static lineup on Henderson airport. Competitor
Gulfstream announced last week that it would not be showing at NBAA, preferring
to hold private events.
Our weekly question in the last column was about Chris
Hall's Cessna 182 that has three round ports on the side of the aft fuselage.
In 1956, those were the location of electrically-fired parachute flares that
could be deployed if one had an engine failure at night, supposed enabling a
safe forced landing. They were required for commercial flying, not private
flights. The risk of unintentional fire was greater than their benefit, so the
rule was discontinued in the late '50s. For next time, what is the voltage of a
typical light aircraft's electrical system? You can send your answers to [email protected].
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