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In Flight USA Articles
Embry-Riddle Tests Robotic Security Vehicle at Daytona Beach International Airport
(Embry-Riddle University)A team of Embry-Riddle students and faculty has successfully tested a fully autonomous perimeter-patrol system at Daytona Beach International Airport, believed to be the first use in the United States of a self-guiding ground vehicle for airport security.
Without remote control or other human involvement, a Ford Escape Hybrid equipped with a GrayMatter Autonomous Vehicle System employed GPS and a scanner with 64 lasers to identify its position and its environment.
GAMA Joins Other Aviation Associations Calling For End to Government Shut-Down
FAA REGISTRY OFFICE REMAINS CLOSED DESPITE RECALL OF 800 EMPLOYEES
NATA Urges DOT to Reopen U.S. Aircraft Registry
Small Business Roundtable Focuses on Challenges to General Aviation
GAMA STATEMENT ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN’S IMPACT ON GA MANUFACTURERS
Aircraft Spruce Announces Customer Appreciation Day Oct. 5
Aircraft Spruce Announces Customer Appreciation Day Oct. 5
Legendary P-51 Mustang Strega to compete at 50th National Championship Air Races
FAA Aims to Streamline Aircraft Certification
NASA Transfers Delay-Reducing Software to FAA
By Jim Banke
NASA Aeronautics
Research Mission Directorate
Timing is everything.
In delivering the punch line to a good joke, passing the football to a receiver in the end zone or launching a new crew to the International Space Station – knowing the exact moment to go is the key to success.
Air traffic controllers face that kind of scheduling challenge every day as they work to move thousands of passengers and tons of cargo efficiently and safely through every phase of an airplane’s journey from airport gate to gate.
Take departure, for example. Controllers must smartly direct aircraft from a terminal gate, along the taxiway, onto the runway and then into the sky, allowing the airliner to join smoothly with the busy air traffic lanes overhead.
To do this, controllers must determine as best they can the precise amount of time it will take for an airliner to get from its gate to a fixed spot in the sky, and therefore be able to predict when pilots should receive clearance to push away from the terminal.
Now a new computer software tool developed by NASA’s aeronautical innovators – the Precision Departure Release Capability, or PDRC – will soon help controllers better manage that part of the airplane’s trip.
NASA officially presented the prototype software by to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during a ceremony at the FAA’s headquarters in Washington Tuesday, Aug. 6.
Proposed AD Demands Removal of Thousands of ECI Titan Cylinders
Mark Baker Named President And CEO Of The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Mark R. Baker has been named the new president and chief executive officer of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. (aopa.org)Mark R. Baker, a longtime general aviation (GA) pilot, has been named president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the world’s largest aviation association. Baker is only the fifth AOPA president since the association’s founding nearly 75 years ago.
“We are pleased to announce that Mark Baker has been selected as the next president and chief executive officer of AOPA,” said Bill Trimble, chairman of the AOPA Board of Trustees. “He has all the tools this job demands. Mark brings 35 years of involvement in the GA community as a pilot and decades of experience in leadership positions in the home improvement industry, such as Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and The Home Depot. He has an extraordinary understanding of the importance of serving our membership and advancing their needs. He is well-suited to build on the foundation established by his predecessors and move AOPA forward.
Contrails: Yesterday’s Treasures
By Steve Weaver
Beacon tower at U.S. Air Mail field at North Platte, Nebraska. (National Air and Space Museum Archives)If you’ve ever flown into the Elkins, West Virginia Airport (EKN) on a clear night you may have noticed during your approach to the airport that the rotating beacon became visible much sooner than you might expect. And if you stopped to consider that the airport is tucked into a broad valley guarded to the east and west by fifteen hundred foot ridges of the Appalachian Mountains, you might have wondered how you could see the beacon at all. The answer of course is that a beacon is located near the airport, but at the very top of the eastern mountain ridge. That in itself isn’t so unusual, but I find the origin of that beacon to be very interesting.
Aviation history has always had a great fascination for me. I love reading about it, and examining preserved items in aviation museums across the country is one of my favorite things to do. However, the thing that really fires my imagination is stumbling across the bits and pieces of yesterday’s aviation that still exist outside of museums.
Schubach Aviation Sponsors Rescued Shelter Dog “Charlie” on his Journey to Become Wingman for U.S. Military Veteran
San Diego air charter firm is funding costs to put Charlie through Shelter to Soldier’s training program to become a certified service companion dog for a U.S. veteran with PTSD
Charlie getting comfortable with his future role as co-pilot for a U.S. veteran. (Dennis Hoover Photography)For nearly all his life, he’s known only rejection and isolation. But “Charlie”, as the Schubach Aviation team has named him, is now on his way to becoming a certified service companion dog and the cherished wingman for a U.S. veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as he or she navigates the hardships of daily civilian life.
Schubach Aviation is San Diego’s premier private air charter firm, with headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. The company’s sponsorship will cover costs to specially train, house and feed Charlie, as well as pay for medical care, equipment, travel and grooming costs, as he goes through Shelter to Soldier’s three-step training program.
Editorial: Thanks, Paul
By Ed Downs
A visionary, leader and damned good pilot flew over the southern horizon for the last time on Aug. 22, 2013. Paul Poberezny, founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association, is gone.
Virtually every aviation publication in the world will comment on the passing of this remarkable man, most recounting the creation of the EAA, the incredible success of this organization and the part that Paul Poberezny played in shaping the modern world of recreational flying. To be sure, the creation of the EAA and all that it has stood for over the years is a story that needs to be told in perspective with the amazing person who fathered what we now refer to as the “homebuilt movement.” But this writer would like to take a different approach.
You see, Paul was my friend. The funny thing is that thousands of people can correctly say the same thing. To meet Paul was to become his friend. To work with Paul was to become a friend for whom he would always take time to greet and say “hello” to, when the occasion permitted, usually at AirVenture.
Flabob Airport Cafe to Open Sept. 16
From Skies to Stars - August 2013
There is No Such Thing as a “Dumb” Question
By Ed Downs
As pilots, we have all taken folks, both adults and kids, for their first airplane ride. We aviators hope that our “newbie” will thrill at the wonder of flight. As a CFI who grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California, the first reaction I saw was almost always, “wow, look at all the swimming pools!” Not exactly the wonder of flight I was hoping for.
The same can be said of those who take their first look through a telescope. One would expect wonder at the size of the universe, a thrill at seeing planets “first hand,” and amazement when stars are magnified to show magnificent color differentials. But, the actual observations of “newbies” are often quite different than one might expect. Recent events offered an opportunity to hear unexpected questions first hand. With broad media coverage of the “Super Moon” in late June, a good friend could not resist his passion for astronomy and invited this writer to attend a large family gathering, complete with great food and all the accoutrements. The catch was, “would I bring my telescope so his family and guests could see this somewhat unusual lunar event.” Pilots and amateur astronomers have a lot of common interest, one of which is food, so it was a deal!
Joseph Flint's Rescue From Innocence
A combination of aviation thrills, ripped from the headlines intrigue and romance make for a satisfactory late summer beach read.
By S. Mark Rhodes
Author Joseph Flint is one of the most experienced flight test engineers in the world. He has tested all variety of aircraft and has now added ‘author’ to his impressive resume. (Courtesy of Joseph Flint)Joseph Flint is one of the most experienced flight test engineers in the world with more than 30 years experience testing and flying experimental aircraft all over the globe. He has tested all variety of aircraft including the Chinook, Apache, as well as the Boeing 737, 777, 787 and 747. To this impressive resume Mr. Flint has just added author with the recent publication of Rescue From Innocence (Xlibris Corp.), which was inspired by Mr. Flint’s own experiences working within the realm of global politics more than two decades ago. The book reads as a satisfying thriller with some welcome romance and soap opera elements (as well as a charismatic protagonist named Walter Judge) thrown in for good measure, Mr. Flint was nice enough to check in with In Flight’s Mark Rhodes about his colorful and accomplished life and his recently published book.
Contrails: An Errant Airman
By Steve Weaver
This shot of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza was taken at the Aurora, IL airport in 1987. (Glenn E. Chatfield)In my early days in aviation, many of the errant airmen that I happened upon were WWII vets and sometimes ex Army Air Corps flyers; as a young pilot, their age and experience seemed to me to afford them a certain license to be… well, different.
One of those types that come readily to mind would be Richard. Richard B. was the owner of a Beechcraft Twin Bonanza and he and the airplane were memorable to me, since they were the only twin/pilot combo that dared to frequent our 1,600-foot sod strip. He was from Elkins, just a few miles to the east of us and he flew the mighty Twin Bo in pursuit of his business as a lumber broker. He also flew it in pursuit of a covert heart’s interest that happened to reside in our town, hence the frequent visits by the big twin.