Suggested Banner: Radios—can't live without 'em
So much for the winter warnings posted in last week's column. Last week's heat was more like June or July, boosting the density altitude to degrade performance. Soon enough, we'll have a front sweeping through. Over the weekend, dust from soybean harvesters could be seen billowing up across the landscape, including the patch at the airport.
Transient traffic showed up at regular intervals, like a St. Louis-based Cirrus SR22 and a rare PiperSport light-sport airplane, built in the Czech Republic in the early 2010's. Piper Aircraft briefly tried to market a light-sport two-seater, like Cessna, but abandoned the program. A couple of Piper Warriors came in Friday, staying only long enough to entertain a group of kindergarten kids touring the airport.
Hereabouts, one of our three Piper TriPacers flew, my Aeronca Champ got some exercise, the club's Cessna Skyhawk was up and Jay McClintock's Piper Tomahawk took wing. BCS's AirTractor did some cover-crop seeding and Les Gorden's Beech King Air jump plane lofted loads of skydivers.
Pioneer modern avionics expert Ed King used to say, “Airplanes are only good for hauling a panel full of radios around.” Being that he was in the business of making avionics gear, he was prejudiced on the subject. We are required to have communications to land at controlled airports like Olathe and Columbia, so it's aggravating when our two-way won't work. Shops don't like to work on old equipment, preferring to just replace it with new stuff they have for sale, so we limp along in our penury with staticy reception. Two of the four planes I flew last week were having radio issues; maybe it's just my influence.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has picked its sixth president, Darren Pleasence, to replace retiring Mark Baker. Pleasence owns a Piper Meridian, RV-6 homebuilt and Aerodyne seaplane, so he's multi-talented, and he's a Certified Flight Instructor. His background includes a directorship at the Experimental Aircraft Association, with whom he'll be working on joint concerns.
The previous week's question wanted to know, if you were flying on an airliner into Cincinnati, what state would you be landing in? Nope, not Ohio. As old Cincinnati native Rodney Rom confirmed, airliners now land across the river in Northern Kentucky, which had better topography for the new airport. For next time, what does it mean to be told “You're behind the airplane” during training? You can send your answers to [email protected].