What’s Up
by LeRoy Cook
11-6-23
Suggested banner: Skyhawk Save
With the arrival of the Dark Evenings, it’s more important
than ever to be prepared for night arrivals at the end of your flights. We knew
this was coming, but if you aren’t current, go practice before hauling
passengers, or grab an instructor to hold your hand.
Due to the gusty winds last week, not much notable traffic
came through. However, we saw a couple of Piper Archers, a Cessna Skyhawk and a
Cherokee 140 flying in the pattern. One chap in a Kansas City-based Piper
trainer bounced through two approaches on Friday morning, determined to finish
them despite the choppy air. Up at the same time, we just landed and called it
a day. Locally, Lance Dirks took a Cessna 150 out for practice and I rescued
Eric Eastland from the Clinton maintenance shop, where he left his Cessna
Skyhawk.
The weekend brought a crisis of sorts, when the power
supply to the local fuel pump went dead, leaving gas-starved airplanes having
to divert to Harrisonville to slake their thirst. Temporary repairs had to be
effected, after the fault was determined to be in an old underground electric
line. After 60-plus years, the routing of such airport infrastructure is pretty
much anybody’s guess.
In nation-wide news, a lucky or skillful too-bold pilot
survived a forced landing in the Florida Everglades when his engine quit at
three o’clock in the morning, over the inhospitable alligator-infested swamp
outside of Miami. He was flying a Cessna 172, which is probably one reason he
is alive; the slow landing speed of the venerable Skyhawk, coupled with its big
doors for egress and a high wing to perch on while awaiting rescue, tipped the
scales in his favor. I wouldn’t fly over that terrain in the dark for love nor
money, and I’ll bet he won’t do it again either.
Kansas City has a new Aviation Director, announced last
week. Mellisa Cooper is a 15-year veteran of the aviation department, she has
been the Deputy Director since 2017, and she will be responsible for overseeing
the Kansas City “airport system”, which consists only of the big MCI airline
field and The Charles B. Wheeler Downtown airport, which the city manager has
been talking about closing. The city foolishly gave away the Richards-Gebauer
airport in Grandview 30 years ago. We wish her well in her endeavors. Ms.
Cooper is a Kansas City native and a graduate of the University of Central
Missouri.
The weekly question was, “when is it officially night-time, for pilot logbook purposes?” The definitive answer is “at the end of evening civil twilight” which is roughly 30 minutes after sunset. Our quiz for next week is, what engine powered the immortal Douglas DC-3 airliner? You can send your answers to [email protected].
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