What’s Up
by LeRoy Cook
October 5, 2026
Suggested Banner: Don’t Rush To Fly Until You Verify
Once the remnants of Hurricane Polo moved through the
midwest last week, fall weather has taken over. It’s time for jackets, priming
the engine for starting and watching out for fog in the mornings. The leaves
are turning and the daylight hours waning. Daylight no-savings time hangs on
until after Halloween.
The transient traffic count was depressed by three days of
rain and low ceilings last week, but a few in-and-outs were noted. A Cessna 172
came by and a Piper Cherokee was in. Local movements were Christian Tucker’s
Mooney M20, Jay McClintock’s Piper Tomahawk and my Aeronca 7AC Champ. The
Club’s Cessna Skyhawk successfully made a trip to St. Louis, two hours each
way.
Don’t plan on using the asphalt runway at El Dorado Springs
airport anytime soon. It’s being totallyha removed for replacement, from the
subsoil up. The job will be completed before winter, so meanwhile there is a
north-south turf runway; check with Jerry Shilt before using it.
The world’s aviation news last week was dominated by the
attempted crashing of a FlyDubai 737 airliner with 174 soils on board.
Fortunately, the crazed kamikaze at the controls was successfully fought off
and Boeing built the plane tough enough to withstand the dive and pullout. The
terrorist’s chief mistake was picking an airliner packed with war-experienced
Israelis anxious to get home.
Switching to private flying, a study just released by the
American Association of State Aviation officials reveals that in 2023 (the
latest numbers available) General Aviation activity generated 1.33 million jobs
and $339.2 billion in economic output. The next time anyone refers to “them
little planes” being a useless nuisance, let them know they are worth a third
of a trillion in annual funds.
When President Trump visited a Chicago golf course last
Sunday, the movement generated the usual VIP flight restriction, a 30-mile
radius around the site, one that was scheduled to expire at 4:45 pm. But the
president decided to stay an extra couple of hours, so the TFR was extended to
7 p.m. This resulted in 15 private planes violating the airspace, because the
pilots relied on the earlier notification. We presume the FAA will take the
circumstances into account when considering certificate action. When flying
after a TFR ends, it’s a good idea to verify.
On the military side, Boeing has won a $20 billion contract
for development of a next-generation fighter/attack airplane, to be built at
the St. Louis division, formerly McDonnell Aircraft, beating out competitor
Northrup Grumman. The new plane will give a boost to the St. Louis economy,
following on the USAF F-47 contract it won last year. The new planes will work
collaboratively with unmanned fighters on their wing.
The rush to install automated landing technology in every
kind of single-pilot turbine plane is resulting in adding more and more names
to the list of participants. Last month, the latest Pilatus PC-12 Pro, with a
new Honeywell avionics suite, has been certified with autoland, and the Epic
E1000 AX composite-construction turboprop, with a Garmin G1000 panel, also
joined the club. Not feeling well? Just push the button and watch your airplane
land, all by itself.
Our question from last week asked “Do airliners fly above
the tops of thunderstorms to stay clear of bad weather?” Not really. Most
airliners struggle to climb above 40,000 feet, and a frisky cumulonimbus can
grow upward faster than the jet can climb, so they’ll stay clear by 20 miles to
the side. Thunderstorms can top out above 50,000 feet. For our next
brain-teaser, why does the FAA spend $2.5 million per year on the airport at
Midway Island when hardly any airplanes land there? You can send your answers
to [email protected].
