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Contrails: Dragging Nylon
By Steve Weaver
Whether you’re a pilot or not, you’ve seen the ubiquitous tow plane, clattering along over the beach or circling the stadium, pulling the banner exhorting you to Get the Crab Special at Phil’s, or some such message. As pilots, many of us have observed the banners being picked up at an airport, but the general public and even many pilots have no idea how the process works.
I joined the stream of hard working tow pilots who for one reason or another flew the banner aircraft back in the seventies. Unlike many of these sign draggers, I didn’t need to build time, I was just trying to avoid starvation. During this era I would have taken on any flying chore that wasn’t overtly illegal or positively lethal. To keep myself fed I was already doing instructing, charter, survey flying and sightseeing rides, so it was not a big step to add one more hopeful income stream and order a banner kit from Mr. Gasser down in Tennessee and then teach myself how to use it.
Editorial: Pilot in Command
By Ed Downs
Before I launch into a variety of viewpoints and opinions, please read the following news announcement that was recently received by In Flight USA from the EAA:
EAA Declines FAA Exemption for Young Eagles, Eagle Flights Pilots
EAA has notified the FAA that it is declining a partial grant of exemption that would have allowed Young Eagles and Eagle Flights pilots to obtain reimbursement for fuel costs and logging of flight time. While EAA welcomed the time the agency spent considering and formulating the partial exemption, its mandated record-keeping, coordination, and notification requirements would cause complete restructuring of the program with enormous time and expense burdens.
Sean Elliott, EAA’s vice president of advocacy and safety, stated in a letter to John S. Duncan, FAA director of Flight Standards Service, that, “EAA sincerely appreciates the substantial efforts of the FAA in reviewing, publishing for comment, analyzing, and finally granting an exemption in response to EAA’s petition dated April 17, 2012. Unfortunately, EAA is unable to accept the exemption because of the severe requirements imposed by the FAA grant.”
Supporting Aviation's Future
This year’s Gathering of Eagles fundraising event at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh brought together the aviation industry and private aviation enthusiasts to support aviation’s future. The event raised $2.679 million, and after expenses, EAA will invest approximately $2.17 million in its youth programs. The Gathering is presented by Cessna Aircraft Company.
Cessna Celebrates First International TTx Delivery
Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, is celebrating the first international delivery of the new Cessna TTx, the world’s fastest commercially produced and certified fixed-gear single-engine aircraft, to a customer in Thailand.
The TTx was certified in July and enters the global marketplace as Cessna’s all-composite aircraft designed specifically for comfort, speed and luxury.
Kiatichai Monsereenusorn, managing director of Kiattana Transport, accepted his aircraft in a handover ceremony in Independence, Kansas, saying the TTx will allow him to quickly visit multiple business sites per day, and do so in a comfortable, luxurious aircraft that is also fun to pilot.
Copperstate Fly In, Bucking the Trend
Much has been said about sequestration and the negative effect it has had on not only aviation, but many public events. To be sure, elected representatives who serve inside the beltway seem to have gone out of their way to make sure recreational events are adversely affected, perhaps highlighting what the ruling elite consider to be “unnecessary activities.” Airshows and celebrations of our military services have been hit particularly hard, with the shutdown of military demonstration teams (like the Blue Angles and Thunderbirds), causing the cancellation of many aviation programs that have long and proud traditions. FAA political management follows the leadership of our politicians by implementing illegal service fees on programs that have used pre-paid FAA services in the past. Such fees, often running into hundreds of thousands of dollars, have caused many airshows to simply pack it in. Others fear potential liability issues (the predatory legal system), and do not proceed with an airshow in a non-towered environment. It is a disappointing trend.
Fortunately, aviation has a proud tradition of breaking trends, both in terms of technology and flight operations. It is these trend-breakers that created the remarkable aviation infrastructure America enjoys, unequaled in the world. This writer hopes the upcoming Copperstate Fly In will be recognized as the trend-breaker that demonstrated that major aviation activities can successfully take place, without the overriding control of “Big Brother.”
Commander Discusses Future of Air Force Reserve
By Col. Bob Thompson
Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs
Lt. Gen. James “JJ” Jackson speaks during the Air Force Association’s 2013 Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition Sept. 16, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Jackson is chief of the Air Force Reserve and the Air Force Reserve Command commander. (U.S. Air Force photo/Andy Morataya) Discussing the future of the Air Force, senior military and industry leaders gathered at the Air Force Association’s 2013 Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor, Md., Sept. 16-18.
More than 5,000 U.S. and allied-nation Airmen along with corporate and media representatives attended the annual event to discuss challenges and financial austerity facing the Air Force and aerospace community.
“The most important thing we have is our Airmen,” said Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson, chief of Air Force Reserve at the Pentagon and commander of Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base, Ga.
AOPA Keeps Pressure on as CBP Moves to Keep Records Secret
By Elizabeth A Tennyson (AOPA)
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has filed a request to change its record keeping system to remove some air and marine records from public disclosure under the Privacy Act. But AOPA is asking for a 90-day extension to the comment period on the request to give Congress time to investigate recent incidents in which CBP has stopped and searched general aviation flights operating entirely within U.S. borders. The extension also would allow time for interested parties to understand exactly what the record-keeping changes would mean.
In the meantime, members of AOPA’s government affairs team are meeting with members of Congress to seek support for ending stops and searches on purely domestic general aviation flights. Although the number of stops has decreased dramatically since AOPA began filing Freedom of Information Act requests, the question remains why CBP was conducting such stops in the first place and whether the agency, which is responsible for border protection, has the authority to conduct such stops on flights that never leave the United States.
FAA Opens the Arctic to Commercial Small Unmanned Aircraft
A research vessel plying the icy waters of the Chukchi Sea above the Arctic Circle seems an odd place for a Federal Aviation Administration employee. But that’s exactly where Alaskan Region inspector Jay Skaggs was on September 12. His presence aboard the Westward Wind helped ensure the first FAA-approved commercial flights by an unmanned aircraft went off safely and without a hitch.
The Westward Wind, chartered by energy giant ConocoPhillips, carried four Insitu Scan Eagle UAS to perform marine mammal and ice surveys necessary to meet environmental and safety rules before drilling on the sea floor. Skaggs and the Insitu flight crew led by Jeff Kelly watched as the first commercial ScanEagle zoomed off a catapult and into the rainy Arctic skies. After a successful 36-minute flight, the ship’s retrieval system captured the UAS and the ground-breaking mission was complete.
The ScanEagle flight really represents the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The flight is a product of efforts by dozens of people from the FAA, ConocoPhillips, UAS manufacturer Insitu, and other federal and international agencies who put in months of intense work behind the scenes to open up the Arctic for commercial UAS operations.
SAFE Asks FAA to Collect Recurrent Training Data
House General Aviation Caucus Membership Hits Magic Number of 218
Broad, bipartisan support for general aviation priorities in Congress
House General Aviation Caucus Co-Chairs Sam Graves (R-MO) and John Barrow (D-GA) on Sept. 12 announced that, for the first time in its history, more than half off the House of Representatives had joined the group. The current tally stands at 223 members. The purpose of the House General Aviation Caucus is to inform Members and staff about the importance of General Aviation (GA) to our economy and transportation system.
“Crossing the 218 mark is a great victory for general aviation,” said Congressman Graves. “Education is key to our efforts to highlight the everyday concerns of America’s pilots, so having the majority of the House participating in the caucus is important. General aviation carries 166 million passengers to around 5,000 communities over 27 million flight hours each year, and more than two-thirds of these flights are for business purposes.”
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.