What's Up
by LeRoy Cook
4-27-26
Suggested Banner: Change Comes Hard, If At All
Again, it was an on-again, off-again flying week, with
severe weather and low ceilings complicating activities. On Saturday, an
up-slope condition prevented visual flight westward across Kansas, thanks to an
easterly surface wind that pushed warm Gulf Air toward the Rockies. Because
Kansas is a 400-mile-long table tilted toward the Mississippi valley, cloud
bases will run into ground elevation as one flies to the west.
Some movements were observed at advantageous times; a
Piper Cherokee and a Cirrus SR-22 came in, another Piper Saratoga stopped for
fuel and business, and a Beech Bonanza V35 landed. From the local hangars,
Jeremie Platt took his Grumman Tiger out, the Air Tractor sprayplane worked on
farm fields, Randy Miller flew the club Skyhawk and the SkyDive KC Cessna
Caravan took jumpers up on Saturday.
Newsworthy happenings included a report from the National
Agricultural Aviation Assn that drone encounters by ag planes rose to one in
five reporters last year, up from one in six in 2024 and nearly double the
tally in 2023. Hitting an unmanned aerial object at 150 mph can be deadly, yet
there’s a push by drone lobbyists to allow flying anywhere, anytime. Detection
depends on fragile technology, which of course, never fails...(tic)
fails...(tic) fails...
An FAA/DOT presentation in DC last week said that
artificial intelligence will be relied upon to aid air traffic controllers in
predicting potential traffic conflicts in the near future. That will work fine
when everything flies on schedule, with no dynamic weather interruptions and
everybody landing as planned. But when an airplane on approach has to make a
go-around and re-enter the pattern for another try, as happened twice with
airliners last week, AI’s carefully-crafted plan may not work. Pilots and
controllers will always have to work out a solution on the fly, so to speak.
Cleveland, Ohio Mayor Justin Bib’s push to close historic
450-acre Burke Lakefront airport in favor or parks and marina use is still
being debated. At a public hearing last week, opinions were split on whether
abandoning a functional city asset, as Councilman Mike Polensek called Burke
airport, is a good idea. If it’s not broke, why fix it?
The Air Force’s old A-10 Thunderbolt II tank-killer
airplanes, a.k.a. the Warthog, are clinging stubbornly to life. The A-10’s will
remain in service until 2030, according to an announcement a week ago last
Monday. Nothing else can do the Warthog’s job as well, including going after
Iran’s fast attack boats in Operation Epic Fury with its 30mm rotary cannon.
Replacement programs, as they put it, “are continuing to mature,” meaning they
ain’t ready yet.
Last week’s brain-teaser asked if there was ever a
SIX-engine jet airplane produced. Yes, there was the Boeing B-47 Stratojet in
the late 1940s, with two-plus-one engines hung under each wing. They were based
at Whiteman AFB, where they practiced “toss bombing.” For next week, can you
describe that technique? You can send your answer to koc[email protected].
