Soak The Rich?
With an occasional break, the flying weather was
consistently rotten last week, from fog to snow, rain to ice. There wasn’t a
lot of opportunity to get the plane out, so when the sun did break through,
cold or not, the skies filled with aircraft.
We observed a red-tail Piper Archer from ATD Flight School
from Downtown airport, a Cessna 172 and a big Piper Saratoga, making multiple
full-stop landings. From the local fleet, the Cessna 150 trainers competed for
airspace, interspersed with visitors using the VORTAC for instrument approach
practice.
Thanks to excellent work by the City street plows, the
Butler airport runway and parking ramp were uncovered the day after the
two-inch snowfall. It wasn’t a big snow, but the extensive pavement made
good-sized snowpiles. Good work.
Nationally, the FAA announced last week that, despite
overwhelming industry objection, it’s going ahead with a mandated Airworthiness
Directive requiring replacement of rudder posts on high-wing Piper
tube-and-fabric planes built in the 1940s and 50s. There were just two
non-fatal rudder failures in Alaska where the mild-steel frame collapsed, and
those were modified from factory stock. But the FAA wants them made of 4130
steel instead, and 31,000 old Pipers will have to been undergo expensive work.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company is somewhat in
competion with Elon Musk’s Space X firm, but its planning to lay off 10% of its
staff of 14,000 employees. The CEO claims the cuts will enable them to increase
product of the big New Glenn rocket and launch more frequently, which sounds
rather counterproductive.
On the international scene, France has instituted new taxes
on users of business jets that really adds a new level of punitive punishment
on charter customers. Rates will be hiked up to 300% on March 1, charging $436
per passenger inside Europe, $1054 for flights up to 3,000 miles, $2,181 beyond
that, per head. The Minister of Taxation claims gouging the charter passengers
will raise $800,000 per year, assuming the sheep will stand still for being
shorn instead of fleeing to more welcoming pastures. It’s all about fairness
and ecological justice, of course.
There’s always a lot of misunderstanding about rich people
and their flying via private jets. In reality, it’s unrealistic to expect
prominent people who can afford the alternative to stand in line to ride an
airliner. Taylor Swift would be mobbed and couldn’t keep a schedule traveling
by mass transit. Someone making tens of millions of dollars per year has to
make their time productive; if they can get home the same day, even though it
costs a few thousand to hire a private plane, it’s worth it. The logistics of
staying out overnight costs much more.
Last week wanted to know what was the biggest piston
aircraft engine ever used in a production plane. That would be the Pratt and
Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major, a 28-cylinder corncob motor producing over 3,000 hp,
built toward the end of WW-II. For next time, tell us which World War 2 U.S.
plane was flown by the most “ace” fighter pilots. You can send your answers to [email protected].
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