Talk about your roller-coaster. From 80 and 90 degree afternoons to freezing mornings, the wild swings of our spring climate last week kept a measure of uncertainty over the aviation world, as it did the farming community. From the air, the countryside was seen laying ready for planting, with green showing up in pastures and wheat.
Not too
many movements were seen on the runway recently, or over it. The usual Army
Guard Black Hawk UH60 helicopter made a pass, a Piper Archer trainer did a
touch-and-go and we were visited by various other low-wing singles, including a
Cirrus SR20 and a Piper Cherokee D.
From the
local hangars, Les Gorden’s Beech Bonanza E35 flew out and Christian Tucker’s
Mooney M20C and Jeremie Platt’s Grumman Tiger took wing. The last-Saturday
breakfast flight went off without a hitch and the SkyDive KC soft opening for
the jump season took up a few Cessna loads of parachutists.
Whenever
there’s a notable airplane accident, there’s always a “we’ve gotta DO
something” response that spawns legislation and policy pronouncements, not
always to the ultimate benefit. An ALERT bill was passed in Congress last
week, ordering the FAA to write a rule requiring ADSB-In equipment to be used
in transponder-required airspace by the end of next year. This comes from the
collision last year at Washington’s National airport between a small airliner
and an Army helicopter. There were many factors in play that night, and
requiring another gadget in the cockpits probably wouldn’t have made much
difference, but it looks like we’re going to be stuck with it.
And already
there’s hand-wringing over the lack of a transponder in the fire truck that was
hit during a landing rollout on the runway at New York LaGuardia Sunday night,
causing the death of two Canadian commuter-airliner pilots. Sadly, the unique
combination of a dark, rainy night, poor communication and split-second timing
resulted in the crash. Having every vehicle on the field squawking a code can’t
fix every contingency. Nor did taking the harried president of Air Canada to
task for giving his video condolences only in English seem worthwhile.
You can
scratch the City of Mesa, Arizona off your list of welcoming places you want to
fly into. As of May 1, it’ll cost you $24.35 to land there in your small plane;
other fees like parking and service already await you. Based aircraft will get
the first 10 1andings for free. That should cause traffic to decline, which of
course will require an increase in the landing fee, in a never-ending cycle.
In a case
of granting relief we didn’t know we needed, the U.S. House of Representatives
just passed a bill forcing the FAA to allow pilots to carry their Airman’s
certificates around on their cellphone, instead of in hard-copy form in an
oh-so-nineties wallet. So, if you get asked to present your credentials, you
can now thumb through your screen to show them. Whoopie.
Last week’s
question was about the kind of engine used to power the Sonex series of kit
airplane. Most builders use the 80-hp Aero-Vee based on the 2180cc Volkwagen
car motor. In an unrelated development, it was announced last Friday that Sonex
Aircraft is shutting down and taking bankruptcy. For next week’s quiz, tell us
which Congressman, chair of the House Aviation sub-committee, is retiring after
20 years. You can send your answers to [email protected].
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