Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Plane & Pilot

Given the unprecedented changes in the world right now—politically, economically, socially and medically—it’s tough to predict the future, really tough. Though it helps if we start with known quantities. Even then, our window to the future can only be so clear. Ask any meteorologist: The longer the forecast period, the more likely it is that unforeseen events will emerge to change the essence of what we know, or rather, what we thought we knew. In November of 2008, I was in Vegas—or was it Orlando?—Sitting in a press conference as a big aviation company presented its annual forecast about sales of airplanes over the next year, 10 years and 20 years. It’s interesting stuff only to aviation wonks, which I am, but that year, it was simply bizarre, and not…

Punctuated equilibrium, a theory that evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould popularized, holds that evolution isn’t a slow, gradual march toward change but, rather, a high-stakes series of dramatic breakthroughs that push the limits of the species toward their ultimate expression. The same is true, I’ve ventured, for the most popular aircraft configuration—the piston single. This type makes up the vast majority of the GA fleet, and for good reason. They’re less costly to make, and therefore to own, they’re relatively simple to operate, and they get the job done. Since the rise of the Piper Cub (not featured here) in the mid-1930s until the market dominance of the Cirrus SR22 today, the segment has seen no end of remarkable innovations, many of them in aircraft you’ve probably never heard of.…

If you think you’ve heard about the Diamond DA50 before, you’re right. A few times, in fact. And along the way, it’s changed configurations on several instances, and the company has serially pursued and then backburnered the program. Still, the airplane’s re-launch at Aero 2019, with a new go-to engine option and retractable gear, generated a great deal of interest, more than we’d expected, and so we got to thinking about why that might be the case. Has Diamond hit upon the secret recipe for the DA50’s success? It very well could have. It’s hard to blame Diamond for the on-again, off-again march of the DA50. The company originally launched the design late in 2006, back when the market was pretty hot. This was around the same time that Diamond…

IF YOU SHARE A PLANE, AS MANY OF US DO, it’s not important to safeguard yourself against the coronavirus: It’s critical. That’s because airplanes are the perfect devices for successfully transferring disease-carrying particles from one person to the next. The more we’ve learned about the transmission of COVID-19, the more we know that this is true. While we had advised that it was critical to carefully clean a shared plane before you went flying, and again afterward, our suggestions have changed based on updated information. If you share a plane with other pilots, you should strongly consider not flying that plane, or at least not flying it soon after someone else has been in it. So pilots who rent planes, who partner in them, who fly with friends, and who…

When I became involved in international aircraft delivery in 1975 as a supplement to magazine writing, I learned rather quickly that the two disciplines are exactly reversed. Writing about airplanes was often simpler than the task of actually flying them across oceans. I also found that there was money to be made in helping clients pilot their own airplanes to exotic locations. I called it “professional co-pilot service.” A few years into the business, I discovered that Alaska was a popular destination, but many pilots feared the 2,000- to 4,000-mile overland hop to the Far North more than a simple milk-run route through Newfoundland, Greenland and Iceland to Europe and the Mediterranean countries. I grew up in Anchorage, where I took my first flight in a Cub on skis and…

In the 1950s, the U.S. Army contracted Goodyear to design an inflatable small aircraft for surveillance, aerial reconnaissance and do-it-yourself rescues. The rescue scenario involved airdropping a deflated (containerized) plane to stranded pilots so they could pump it up and fly themselves out. The idea of an inflatable plane wasn’t entirely new. Taylor McDaniel patented his inflatable glider in 1931 to prevent crash fatalities. Confident of his design, McDaniel had his test pilot, Joe Bergling, intentionally crash the glider during a demonstration flight for the press. To the stunned amazement of the crowd, Bergling walked away unharmed with a celebratory wave of his arms. The Russians and the British also explored, and then ditched, inflatable aircraft prototypes. While novel, these designs were too wobbly and structurally unstable in flight. To…

First military aircraft in history: Wright Model A, 1909 Top speed: 42 mph Top speed of modern military aircraft: Mach 3.32 (2,455 mph) Model: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Hourly cost to operate: $85,000 Purpose: Spy on Russia Irony: Built out of Russian titanium Retired: 1999 First aircraft to officially break sound barrier: Bell X-1 Pilot: Chuck Yeager, October 14, 1947 Date Yeager repeated the feat: October 14, 1997 Age at flight: 89 Fighter that accidentally shot itself down: Grumman F11 Tiger Date of the oops: September 21, 1956 Reason for the oops: Flew faster than its own bullets Biggest military plane ever built: Hughes H-4 Hercules Aircraft material: Wood Weight: 300,000 pounds Successful flights: 1 Time airborne: 26 seconds Biggest USAF transport plane: C-5M Super Galaxy Max takeoff weight: 381 tons…

GA MANUFACTURERS AID IN FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19 The number of general aviation companies taking action to support the COVID-19 pandemic response continues to grow, with big names including Cirrus, Piper, Kodiak and others stepping up to produce much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) and transport supplies to hard-hit areas. Cirrus is lending its manufacturing expertise toward the fight against the coronavirus by producing tens of thousands of disposable face shields and partnering with Frost River Trading to make powered air purifier respirators, which are in short supply. Likewise, Piper has donated hundreds of N95 masks to local health care workers in central Florida and is also working to manufacture face shields to support the effort. Meanwhile, Kodiak Aircraft used its aircraft fleet and company staff to deliver hundreds of respiratory ventilators…

Bush Pilot Premium Crew Socks These brightly colored socks are a fun item to wear on a backwoods flying trip or just hanging around the hangar. The socks are made of jacquard fabric—meaning the image of a taildragger flying in the mountains was woven together as opposed to being printed on—so they won’t fade over time like other designs. On top of that, they are comfortable to boot. The socks come in one size, and a single pair is priced at $11.95. Learn more at pilotmall.com. HangarBot Pilot’s Bundle This package deal from HangarBot includes a handful of tools aimed at giving pilots extensive remote control over their hangars, making it easier to ensure aircraft are secure and well-maintained from afar. A central component of the bundle is a video…

As you know, the coronavirus has shaken up the world. Among the innumerable disruptions, it has drastically reduced the number of passengers flying on the airlines, and in many places even local flight schools have stopped all but solo flights. The pandemic has also affected air traffic control. Controllers are essential personnel and are keeping the National Airspace System moving to the best of their ability, but controllers and other facility personnel can and have gotten sick, and when the virus hits a facility, a lot has to happen in a short time, and that includes rerouting traffic to keep everyone safe while getting the facility back up and running. I have just such firsthand experience with the ripple effects of COVID-19.» On March 21, 2020, I was working at…

Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you flew, it was in smooth air? That would be ideal, indeed, but unless you’re willing to limit your flying to the early morning, late afternoon or evening hours, you’re destined to experience turbulence of one kind or another. It’s not all bad news, however. You don’t have to throw up your hands and say, “Oh, well! I can’t change it. So, if I’m going to fly, I’ll just have to get used to the turbulence.” The good news is you aren’t powerless. You can learn to avoid or at least mitigate the turbulence you experience while flying. To do that, you must be able to “see” the turbulence. I know that sounds crazy because turbulence, like wind, is invisible. But is it,…

BACKGROUND Shortly before sunset on May 25, 2003, air traffic control crews at the Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Angola noticed something quite peculiar. A Boeing 727-223, tail number N844AA, was taxiing erratically onto one of the runways. No attempts at contact with the tower were being made, and the aircraft departed southwest over the Atlantic Ocean with all lights off. The plane in question was unpainted silver, with red, white and blue stripes, and had recently been filled with 14,000 gallons of fuel, enough to travel up to 1,500 miles. “Some believe it was shot down by the Angolan Air Force over the Atlantic Ocean. Others contend it simply crashed somewhere shortly after takeoff.” At the time of its disappearance, 844AA was being leased to a man named…

ACROSS 1 Popular Nevada “fly-in”—2 words 6 Feet, abbr. 9 Be victorious 10 Transmission ended, expecting response (archaic) 11 Very accurate satellite navigation system 13 The time to do this in an emergency is thought to be at least three seconds 15 _____ and ball 16 What some glider pilots do for fun 19 Thing one must do after ditching 21 Direction or route taken 24 North American XB-70 ____ 26 Shrek is one 27 Home to BDR and BDL (abbr.) 28 Makers of the XCub 31 Chamomile or mint 33 What pilots do a lot 34 Roman eleven 35 The last A in AOPA, abbr. DOWN 1 _____ DGA-6 30s plane 2 Pentagon figure, abbr. 3 Cleverly named HSF procedural note 4 Watching closely 5 How one handles most…

I took my freshly laundered shirt out of the recyclable laundry bag, fastened my epaulets and wings, donned my flight jacket and bleach-wiped shoes. I gargled and swirled a nasal de-colonizer in my nose. I washed my hands for the thousandth time and slid into my nitrile disposable gloves, which I had washed after my last flight. I considered whether I would wear my highly prized, hard-to-come-by N95 mask. No, the terminals and plane I would be flying to Kauai would be almost empty. I would save it for a more treacherous situation. I brought my flight attendants and first officer a little amenity kit that I put together with a hard-to-come-by wipe, an Emergen-C and the nasal sterilizer that’s supposed to last for 12 hours. They were astonished and…

Whether you’re affected by a shelter-in-place order, or, as in some countries where pleasure flight is prohibited for the moment, there are some special considerations you might want to take—or avoid taking—for your airplane as it endures an unanticipated and longer-than-usual period of time on the ground. TURN THE PROP? This common and well-intentioned action could actually hurt your airplane. When I was a kid, there was an old-timer who would turn the props on his friends’ aircraft from time to time if they were sitting. “Don’t want their engines to seize up,” he said, opining that by turning the prop a few blades now and then, it would move oil around the engine and keep the moving parts from sticking in place. He meant well, but it didn’t help.…

In January, I landed and parked the Mooney in my friend Kelly’s hangar. Hightailing it for home, I figured I’d be back in a week or two to fly again. Between a frustratingly wet spring and the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the poor gray bird gathered dust for almost three months before Kelly sent me two words in a text that triggered an itch I had managed to suppress. “Come fly,” he said. After avoiding his his hangar for a while, I welcomed the nudge. It had been a month since I had touched the jet at work, and I was probably within days of losing landing currency in the Mooney. Having quarantined for two weeks because I shared the cabin with an infected passenger, then going straight into a shelter-in-place…