The author’s airplane would carry him over 1800 miles in 8 days.

My airplane for this adventure is an Aeroprakt A20 with 100hp Rotax 912S. Some performance stats to ponder are: cruise 95 mph at 5000 rpm and 4 gph fuel burn at that speed. Day One of this adventure started on Friday, April 5. I had been invited to talk about my airplane to students from Fayette Academy at the Somerville, Tennessee (KFYE) airport. Sometimes you forget about the inquiring nature of young people but to me this was a good reminder of how we all were back then.

When it is time to head south, I am planning on good weather and tailwinds. The weather forecast is for clear sky, tailwinds of 10-15+ mph and some clouds towards the end of the day. The first leg fuel stop was planned for Bessemer, Alabama, but with the tailwinds I continued on to Alexander City, Alabama, where the fuel was cheaper at $4.89. Fuel usage was 9.9 gallons for the first 2:45 of flying. So fuel burn should hit my planned target of 4 gph or less for this entire adventure.

The sky was clear, with smooth air above 3,000 feet and that nice tailwind had me moving along the ground sometimes at 120 mph. Very uneventful, just watching things go past and not another airplane in the sky as far as I could tell.

My first day, the second leg south, had small clouds at 2500 feet but there was great smooth air above them. As this leg went on, the tops of the clouds kept getting higher until at one point I was at 7500’ to stay my required 1000’ above clearance. I had a good view of the ground through the holes with passing lakes and rivers. Nearing the Florida line, the holes started getting smaller so I made a circling descent to fly under them and the benefit of that choice was the shade, warm air and still comfortably smooth flying. The ceiling was 3500’ with good visibility.

My planned second fuel stop had been Donaldsonville, Georgia, but I was way past that and decided Perry-Foley, Florida, should work. But the ground winds there had picked up and the runway I wanted to use was closed for repairs so I continued onwards to Cross City, Florida. Upon landing I was glad I did: fuel was $4.95 for travelers headed to Sun ‘n Fun. The cloud ceiling was now down to 1500’ but with good visibility below, so after refueling I headed to the coast where I could see the sky was clear and my planned overnight stay on the island of Cedar Key was obtainable.

Cedar Key, a great fly-in destination for any pilot, and a good overnight stop on the way to Sun ‘n Fun.

Judy, the airport lady, answered the Unicom and provided me a tour of the city and located a room for me to stay. She is the keeper of the airport and the island’s only taxi service. Judy is well known to aviators and I was told to stop here to sight-see and be driven around in Judy’s old Checker Cab. This day, total moving time was 10 minutes more than 6 hours. Not bad for flying from Oakland, Tennessee to Cedar Key. Average moving speed was 112 mph and that includes climb out and descending, so you can get a good idea the tailwinds I actually had most of the way.

Day Two

After having breakfast and a free cab ride to the airport around 8 am, Judy and I visited and talked about the airport and those unfortunate times when airplanes have ended up wet. After takeoff I circled the town and airport, filming from above in a clear sun-filled sky. Then I turned east and followed the shoreline towards Tampa marveling in the Bull Redfish I could see tailing in singles and pairs throughout the shallow waters. Even from 500’ I could see they were trophies for any angler so inclined to stalk them. Much bigger than 60 pounds from my vantage point, and they looked larger than I had ever seen in pictures.

Flying into the sun that morning, the glare had me looking down into the water a lot. It was shallow for most of the way and the designs made by the water currents from tides were mesmerizing. As long as I stayed out over the water, the air was smooth as silk, always within gliding distance of shoreline which gave me the safety margin I wanted, or at least that is what I told myself. My plan today was to visit Florida Gators Flying field to visit friends.

Saying goodbye to Gator Field with a low pass.

On this beautiful Saturday morning they were having an airport club meeting so I got to meet all of them. This allowed me to express my gratefulness for the members that had welcomed me a few years ago as I was passing through. The entire group welcomed me to stay again this year but I had other plans for this day As I was departing, who can resist making a low pass–especially for friends like the Flying Gators.

The next destination is Wauchula for the Benson Days Rotorcraft Annual fly-in. I arrived there to an active pattern with many aircraft flying. They were in the middle of the egg drop contest but suspended operations for me to land. With the cross winds kicking up and the mid-day thermals popping, it was fun to watch them flying around so organized and looking so smooth.

I again was surprised at the low fuel price of $4.95 and filled it up. I then parked in the shade of an old oak tree and browsed the area filled with factory-built and homebuilt gyros.

After spending the afternoon at Wauchula, I headed west to an airport under the Tampa Class “C” airspace, Manatee (48X), a nice grass strip, home to another Aeroprakt A20 owner, Phil Stewart.

Phil’s A20 is the 38’ wing model with a Rotax 503 50hp engine. Cruises 80 and stalls 25. I will be staying with Phil for a few days and going into the show on Monday.

Day Three

Today is visiting with Phil, talking airplanes and flying around to visit some of his friends. The strong Florida thermals were kicking hard, but these airplanes handle it very well. He guided me on a low level flight along the Manatee River and then on to visit a friend of his who is building an airplane. The rest of the day was resting and getting to know Phil and his wife, and more talking airplanes.

Day Four

Since I am so close to Lockwood Aviation, I will have them service my gearbox today because a friend of mine sent me a text message that there is a serious Service Bulletin on some Rotax 912 engines and it should not be flown until checked. You can be sure that had me imagining new noises when flying. Every vibration was being felt like never before. I decided to have them replace the plugs and change the oil at the same time.

The flight to Sebring included a stop at a small lakeside turf airstrip to visit more of Phil’s friends, one of whom is quite an artist when it comes to fiberglass. Exquisite art to behold. I put a bug in his ear to make wheel pants for the Carlisle tires that are on a lot of experimental airplanes like mine, or a half-pant style. Maybe he will take me up on it. I’m tired of the mud being slung onto the bottom of the wing.

I was back in the air with just enough time to get into the show before the turf runway closed for the night. Here is my first good view of the Lakeland airport. It was early in the week so many vendors in the Paradise city area had not arrived yet, but it looks familiar just the same.

Day Five

Today things were a little slow in the morning with winds too strong for the Paraglider and Powered Parachutes so I flew around the pattern a few times. Just like me right, with all of the flying to get there and then return home I just can’t keep from flying some.

The rest of today is just wandering around the Ultralight and Light Sport turf strip area called Paradise City. Taking pictures, visiting with old friends and making new friends. It seemed like there is increased activity in this area since 2010 but it was hard to tell. This year they moved the Light Sport Mall back to Paradise City so a lot more vendors were in attendance. Some of the usual were missing but all in all it was fun. Good weather through Thursday was forecast with some rain on the weekend and a cold front passing through the center of the country.

Lakeland Linder Regional Airport becomes Sun ‘n Fun for one week each year.

I have been watching the weather and I will be leaving tomorrow, Thursday morning. With the weekend forecast here for intermittent rain and thunderstorms, and the cold front sweeping across the country, I think it best that I get moving. My thoughts are to get part way home Thursday and hole up overnight while the storms work past me and continue home Friday. As of now I should have good tailwinds Thursday most of the way.

But there were some people who wanted to see my airplane fly today so I went around the pattern a few times. If these airplanes were still being imported all indications are they could sell very well if priced right.

Today was also shopping day! I have one more project to accomplish on this airplane and that is wing tip navigation lights. The new LED style is what I have in mind and no better way to compare them than here at the exhibit hangars. I did finally decide on the Whelen since they are bright, reasonably priced and made in the USA. Now finding a way to load everything back in the airplane for tomorrow’s early start might be interesting.

One last testy evening with severe storms in the area about 10 miles south. Lightning is visible and thunder is rumbling, with PA system warnings around the grounds advising flyers to secure everything down with extra ropes because the severe storm path could come right over us. One of the fly-in campers next to me is pathetically secured but there is nothing I can do about it. The sleeping was difficult until the storms cleared the area around 10 pm.

Day Six

There was no alarm clock needed on this morning. I was up early to pack, fold the tent, and I was thankful that everything was not wet. As the sun made its way up, the clouds prevented me from getting the “crack of dawn” start that I had anticipated. Within an hour though, the clouds and fog were lifting and holes appearing. The weather north was forecast to be good with moderate tail winds and light clouds. Going out of Lakeland towards the south, I had to clear the “D” airspace.

I circled to climb above the clouds and get a look north. Everything was a go so I worked around Tampa and headed towards the coast. I would just wander the water’s edge at low level and have another look at the Gulf. Light scattered clouds at 1000 to 2000 feet for the first 100 miles kept me higher than I wanted to fly but the air was smooth, haze free and the wind was behind me.

Heading home from Sun ‘n Fun.

As I traveled north and around the bend in the Gulf, my plan was to turn west and fly until I could not continue because of the approaching storms, then turn north along the front and land for fuel where I could. I was flying above the clouds at near 5000’ over Tallahassee in the company of a Tri Pacer that had pulled up alongside. He was not having much difficulty slowing down to my airspeed and it was nice having company.

As it turned out we both were stopping for fuel at Marianna, Florida, having to descend through the cloud openings. Wow, watching him descend ahead of me I could see him hit the turbulence. It was rough down there. The last 2000’ was the worst but the wind was right down the runway at 15 knots so my landing was almost a hover at touchdown.

It looked like he had his hands full though. Fuel price here was the highest of the trip at $6.29, but I did not want to chance there not being enough in the tanks to fly my plan so I filled her up. The two men in the Tri-Pacer were headed west towards New Orleans so he was stopping for the radar image as much as for fuel, just like me. We both studied the radar in the FBO and grabbed a snack.

The weather west was closing down and he decided to stay there for the night. My track northwest from here looks fair on the radar so my plan was to go back up above the clouds for smooth air and get a look. Once on top at altitude, I did not see enough holes ahead to feel safe, or to descend through the cloud layer farther north, so I just dropped down now and lived in the turbulence below. If this airplane was any less capable, I would have turned back and stayed where I was. I was able to travel mostly north northwest with the storms at a safe distance to the west.

But I was getting tired flying in that turbulence after another 1.5 hours and the cloud ceiling was getting uncomfortably low. Alexander City, Alabama, was going to be my stop for the night. The airport manager there was a light flyer himself (Ercoupe) and more than accommodated me. I filled up with $4.89 fuel, (as I had on the first day headed south). When fueling behind a Bonanza that was at the pump when I arrived, the passengers told me I was making the correct move as they had just endured some heavy rain and bumps just 50 miles west. The pilot had picked his way through with the help of radar at 9000’ and I assure you they had at least one mess they were trying to clean up before they continued eastward.

I borrowed one of the airport crew cars, drove around town just relaxing and waiting for some place that seemed appetizing for supper. The forecast for the storms to hit was at 5 pm so I had several hours to decide on a hotel. This is one of those times where the forecast was correct and exactly at 5 pm it started to rain.

Almost home after seven days and 1900 miles.

Day Seven

By morning the sky was clear, very few clouds and strong headwind from the northwest. Smooth air at less than 1000’ but ground speeds in the 60s with airspeed of 100. This was looking to be a long day. GPS calculation was over 4.5 hours at that speed. So I commenced climbing, hoping to get a more favorable wind. I was at almost 9000’ and decided it was no use. There had been a shallow seam around 5000’ that had me near the 80s so I went back down to find it. That worked out well, as I flew the rest of the day in a 200’ slot that had me averaging “almost” 80. I used the clouds as a guide to stay in the seam. Twenty-plus mph difference in airspeed to ground speed. But this was the best I could do today.

Kept fuel burn to less than 4 gallons per hour by dropping back on the RPM some, and this leg was almost four hours in flight time. Once I got close to home I started wandering off course so some of that was my fault.

I landed back at McNabb airstrip after over 1880 miles, and 21.02 hours of flying time. It has been a great adventure and I hope it prompts you to take some adventures of your own.

–

Editor’s note: As Dennis’ story shows, pilots can find adventure no matter what they fly. If you have a story to share about a memorable trip, email us: editor@airfactsjournal.com

Relaxing, but also isolated – makes you miss your cell phone.

After a relaxing week of vacation in the Out Islands of the Bahamas, it’s now time to head home. The good news is your Cirrus SR22 is a capable machine, and you should be landing in Ft. Pierce to clear customs about an hour and a half after takeoff. The bad news is your secluded beachfront villa is totally disconnected from the outside world. While that was ideal for getting away from the stresses of work, it means your cell phone doesn’t work and the landline isn’t very reliable. You did manage to get a fax with the raw briefing text, though, so you’ll have to make the call based on that and your eyes.

Your proposed departure time is 1330Z on the 2nd of May. You’ll be taking off from a private strip but landing at North Eleuthera Airport (MYEH) to clear customs on the way out of the Bahamas. From there, your intended arrival airport in the US is Ft. Pierce (KPFR).

Read the briefing below, then tell us if you’re flying or staying another night at the beach.

AIRMETs

"AIRMETS - Miami Forecast Center" 
Updated 1245 UTC 02 May - 13 

MIAT WA 020845
AIRMET TANGO UPDT 1 FOR TURB VALID UNTIL 021500
.
AIRMET TURB...SC GA AND CSTL WTRS
FROM LGC TO CHS TO 20SSE SAV TO CRG TO 30WNW TLH TO LGC
MOD TURB BLW 080. CONDS ENDG 12-15Z.
....

MIAS WA 020845
AIRMET SIERRA UPDT 1 FOR IFR AND MTN OBSCN VALID UNTIL 021500
.
AIRMET IFR...NC SC GA FL AND CSTL WTRS
FROM 20ENE HMV TO 20NE ECG TO 70SSE ECG TO 40S SAV TO 30W TRV TO
30S RSW TO 20W CTY TO 100SSE SJI TO 40W CEW TO 50SW PZD TO GQO
TO 20ENE HMV
CIG BLW 010/VIS BLW 3SM PCPN/BR. CONDS CONTG BYD 15Z ENDG 15-18Z.
.
AIRMET MTN OBSCN...NC SC GA
FROM 40SE PSK TO CLT TO ATL TO GQO TO HMV TO 40SE PSK
MTNS OBSC BY CLDS/PCPN/BR. CONDS CONTG BYD 15Z THRU 21Z.
....

MIAZ WA 020845
AIRMET ZULU UPDT 1 FOR ICE AND FRZLVL VALID UNTIL 021500
.
AIRMET ICE...GA FL AND CSTL WTRS
FROM LGC TO 30S SAV TO 140ENE OMN TO 130ENE PBI TO 20E TRV TO
20SE PIE TO 70W PIE TO 90SSW TLH TO 60SSW CEW TO 40W CEW TO 50SW
PZD TO LGC
MOD ICE BTN 120 AND FL240. CONDS CONTG BYD 15Z ENDG 15-18Z.
.
OTLK VALID 1500-2100Z...ICE GA FL AND CSTL WTRS
BOUNDED BY LGC-50ESE MCN-50S SAV-200ENE TRV-170ENE PBI-80SW
CTY-80SW TLH-20ENE CEW-40WNW TLH-LGC
MOD ICE BTN 120 AND FL240. CONDS DVLPG 15-18Z. CONDS CONTG THRU
21Z.
.
FRZLVL...RANGING FROM 100-130 ACRS AREA
   120 ALG 90WSW PIE-50S CTY-20NNW ORL-30NE TRV-80ESE PBI
   120 ALG 40SSE PSK-20WNW GSO-40S SPA-30WNW IRQ-20N ATL-40S GQO
....

Convective SIGMETs

"Eastern Region Convective SIGMETs" Updated 1225 UTC 02 May - 
13 MKCE WST 021155 CONVECTIVE SIGMET 13E VALID UNTIL 1355Z FL AND CSTL WTRS 
FROM 70E TRV-40SW TRV DVLPG LINE TS 30 NM WIDE MOV FROM 27010KT. 
TOPS TO FL450. OUTLOOK VALID 021355-021755 AREA 1...
FROM AMG-70SE SAV-200ENE TRV-170E PBI-70E PBI-150SE MIA-80WSW EYW-60WSW 
PIE-50E SRQ-AMG WST ISSUANCES EXPD. 
REFER TO MOST RECENT ACUS01 KWNS FROM STORM PREDICTION CENTER FOR SYNOPSIS 
AND METEOROLOGICAL DETAILS. AREA 2...FROM CEW-80WNW PIE-60WSW PIE-170S 
CEW-CEW WST ISSUANCES EXPD. REFER TO MOST RECENT ACUS01 KWNS 
FROM STORM PREDICTION CENTER FOR SYNOPSIS AND METEOROLOGICAL DETAILS.

Winds Aloft

"6 Hour Wind/Temp Aloft Forecast - Florida" Updated 0505 UTC 02 May - 13 
DATA BASED ON 020000Z VALID 020600Z FOR USE 0200-0900Z. 
TEMPS NEG ABV 24000 FT 
    3000 6000 9000 12000 18000 24000 30000 34000 39000 
EYW 1709 2412+13 2315+08 2220+02 2425-09 2536-20 233236 264745 265755 
JAX 0827 1015+10 1308+06 1312-01 1226-11 1620-21 171537 192548 232860 
MIA 1615 2215+12 2321+07 2324+01 2730-10 2638-20 244836 244946 263956 
MLB 1214 1512+11 2114+06 2216+01 2318-11 2521-21 242336 242247 262258 
PFN 1230 1417+10 1510+05 1507+00 1908-12 1620-23 182739 183549 232856 
PIE 1414 1914+11 2012+06 2107+01 2214-10 2320-21 232438 202247 232555 
TLH 1126 1016+10 1214+05 1116-01 0907-12 1721-23 192538 192749 222358

Pilot Reports

"Florida PILOT Reports past 3 hours" 
Updated 1240 UTC 02 May - 13 

CTY UA /OV 50SW CTY/TM 1215/FL230/TP B737/IC LT RIME/RM CWSU ZJX =
CTY UA /OV 50SW CTY/TM 1215/FL230/TP B737/IC LT RIME/RM CWSU
    ZJX=
FLL UUA /OV FLL /TM 0952 /FLUNKN /TP A320 /RM LLWS +10KT 50 FT AGL
 DURD 1/2 MI FAP RWY 10L FLL=
FMY UA /OV FMY /TM 1203 /FLUNKN /TP M20P /SK OVC003-TOP010=
GNV UA /OV GNV /TM 1142 /FLUNKN /TP SF34 /SK OVC005-TOP050 /RM
    DURC=
HST UA /OV ZQA150130 /TM 1157 /FL370 /TP LJ35 /TB LGT-MOD=
HST UA /OV ZQA240100 /TM 1140 /FL320 /TP B763 /TB MOD 320-330 /RM
    OVER URSUS INTXN=
ORL UA /OV ORL /TM 1217 /FLUNKN /TP LJ35 /SK BKN006-TOP014 /RM
    DURD RWY7 /SK HYR LYR ABV=

Convective Outlook

"Convective Outlook" 
Updated 0655 UTC 02 May - 13 

ACUS01 KWNS 020509
SWODY1
SPC AC 020506

DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1206 AM CDT THU MAY 02 2013

VALID 021200Z - 031200Z

...NO SVR TSTM AREAS FORECAST...

...SYNOPSIS/DISCUSSION...
AN ATYPICAL PATTERN FOR EARLY MAY WILL ENVELOP THE CONUS AND RENDER
MINIMAL SEVERE POTENTIAL TODAY. A COLD UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH WILL
REMAIN ANCHORED ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS. STRONG LOW-LEVEL FLOW WILL
STAY COMPLETELY CONFINED TO THE COOL SIDE OF THE ASSOCIATED COLD
FRONT...WHICH AT THE SURFACE WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY DIVORCED FROM
THE LOCATION OF THE BOUNDARY AT 850 MB. THE NET RESULT WILL BE A
COMBINATION OF BOTH WEAK BUOYANCY AND VERTICAL SHEAR ALONG THE
SURFACE FRONT WHERE ISOLATED AFTERNOON TSTMS ARE EXPECTED FROM WRN
LOWER MI TO AR/LA.

PERSISTENT MID-LEVEL LOW CENTERED OVER THE LOWER MS VALLEY WILL
GRADUALLY DISSIPATE BY EARLY FRI AS IT SHIFTS SLOWLY EWD ALONG THE
GULF COAST. ABUNDANT CONVECTIVE OVERTURNING ON WED ALONG WITH
RENEWED TSTM DEVELOPMENT IN OFFSHORE AREAS INTO EARLY THU WILL
RESULT IN LARGELY MEAGER BUOYANCY EXCEPT PERHAPS IN PARTS OF SRN FL.
BUT PROSPECTS FOR ORGANIZED SEVERE TSTMS APPEAR LOW HERE AS
WELL...AS MID-LEVEL WLYS DIMINISH COMPARED TO WED AND VERTICAL SHEAR
BECOMES WEAK."Area Forecast - Miami Forecast Center" Updated 1245 UTC 
02 May - 13 MIAZ WA 020845 AIRMET ZULU UPDT 1 FOR ICE AND FRZLVL VALID 
UNTIL 021500 AIRMET ICE...GA FL AND CSTL WTRS FROM LGC TO 30S SAV TO 
140ENE OMN TO 130ENE PBI TO 20E TRV TO 20SE PIE TO 70W PIE TO 90SSW 
TLH TO 60SSW CEW TO 40W CEW TO 50SW PZD TO LGC MOD ICE BTN 120 AND FL240. 
CONDS CONTG BYD 15Z ENDG 15-18Z. . OTLK VALID 1500-2100Z...ICE GA FL AND 
CSTL WTRS BOUNDED BY LGC-50ESE MCN-50S SAV-200ENE TRV-170ENE PBI-80SW 
CTY-80SW TLH-20ENE CEW-40WNW TLH-LGC MOD ICE BTN 120 AND FL240. CONDS 
DVLPG 15-18Z. CONDS CONTG THRU 21Z. . FRZLVL...RANGING FROM 100-130 
ACRS AREA 120 ALG 90WSW PIE-50S CTY-20NNW ORL-30NE TRV-80ESE PBI 120 
ALG 40SSE PSK-20WNW GSO-40S SPA-30WNW IRQ-20N ATL-40S GQO .... 
MIAS WA 020845 AIRMET SIERRA UPDT 1 FOR IFR AND MTN OBSCN VALID UNTIL 
021500 AIRMET IFR...NC SC GA FL AND CSTL WTRS FROM 20ENE HMV TO 20NE 
ECG TO 70SSE ECG TO 40S SAV TO 30W TRV TO 30S RSW TO 20W CTY TO 100SSE 
SJI TO 40W CEW TO 50SW PZD TO GQO TO 20ENE HMV CIG BLW 010/VIS BLW 
3SM PCPN/BR. CONDS CONTG BYD 15Z ENDG 15-18Z. . AIRMET MTN OBSCN...
NC SC GA FROM 40SE PSK TO CLT TO ATL TO GQO TO HMV TO 40SE PSK MTNS 
OBSC BY CLDS/PCPN/BR. CONDS CONTG BYD 15Z THRU 21Z. .... MIAT WA 020845 
AIRMET TANGO UPDT 1 FOR TURB VALID UNTIL 021500 AIRMET TURB...SC GA 
AND CSTL WTRS FROM LGC TO CHS TO 20SSE SAV TO CRG TO 30WNW TLH TO 
LGC MOD TURB BLW 080. CONDS ENDG 12-15Z. .... MIAC FA 021036 COR 
SYNOPSIS AND VFR CLDS/WX SYNOPSIS VALID UNTIL 030300 CLDS/WX VALID 
UNTIL 022100...OTLK VALID 022100-030300 NC SC GA FL AND CSTL WTRS E 
OF 85W . SEE AIRMET SIERRA FOR IFR CONDS AND MTN OBSCN. TS IMPLY SEV 
OR GTR TURB SEV ICE LLWS AND IFR CONDS. NON MSL HGTS DENOTED BY AGL 
OR CIG. . SYNOPSIS...UPR LVL TROF FAR NE US CSTL WTRS THRU OTLK. HI 
PRES RIDGE NRN APPALACHIANS THRU PD. OTRW..CLDS UPR LOW S CNTRL DEEP 
S THRU PD WILL APCH SE DEEP S-NE GULF MEX DURG OTLK. NLY FLOW NE 
PTN..ANTI CYCLONIC FLOW NW PTN..WSW FLOW S CNTRL PTN..WLY FLOW RMNDR 
SRN PTN. LOW PRES N CNTRL GULF MEX WILL APCH SW FL DURG OTLK. OTRW..
HI PRES RIDGE NE US-CNTRL APPALACHIANS WILL DMNT RMNDR. . NC MTNS...
BKN-OVC015-025 TOPS 060. OCNL VIS 3-5SM BR. BECMG 1417 BKN-OVC025 
TOPS 100. ISOL -SHRA. OTLK...MVFR CIG SHRA. PIEDMONT...BKN-OVC010-020 
TOPS 080. OCNL VIS 3-5SM BR. ISOL -SHRA. BECMG 1719 SCT020 BKN035. 
ISOL -SHRA. OTLK...VFR. CSTL PLAINS...BKN-OVC010-015 TOPS 070. OCNL 
VIS 3-5SM BR. ISOL -SHRA. BECMG 1618 SCT020 SCT-BKN035 TOPS 050. 
OTLK...VFR. . SC MTNS...BKN-OVC015-020 TOPS 040. OCNL VIS 3-5SM BR. 
BECMG 1416 BKN-OVC020-025 TOPS 080. ISOL -SHRA. OTLK...MVFR CIG 
SHRA. PIEDMONT...OVC010-020 TOPS 035. OCNL VIS 3-5SM -RA BR. BECMG 
1719 SCT020 BKN040 TOPS 100. ISOL -SHRA. OTLK...VFR. CSTL PLAINS...
BKN010-015 TOPS 030. OCNL VIS 3-5SM -RA BR. BECMG 1619 SCT025 BKN040 
TOPS 060. OTLK...VFR. . GA N HLF...BKN-OVC010-020 TOPS 040. OCNL 
VIS 3-5SM BR. BECMG 1618 SCT020 BKN035 TOPS 060. ISOL -SHRA. WND E 
G25KT. OTLK...VFR. S HLF...OVC010-015 TOPS 080. OCNL VIS 3-5SM BR. 
WDLY SCT -SHRA/ISOL -TSRA. CB TOP FL280. BECMG 1618 BKN-OVC020-025 
OVC040 LYRD FL240. OCNL VIS 3-5SM BR. WDLY SCT -SHRA/ISOL -TSRA. 
CB TOP FL300. OTLK...MVFR CIG SHRA BR. . FL...UPDT PNHDL...OVC015-025 
LYRD FL240. OCNL VIS 3-5SM BR. WDLY SCT -SHRA/-TSRA. CB TOP FL340. 
OTLK...MVFR CIG SHRA TSRA BR. NRN-CNTRL FL PEN...BKN-OVC010-020 
OVC040 LYRD FL260. OCNL VIS 3-5SM BR. WDLY SCT -SHRA/ISOL -TSRA. 
CB TOP FL320. BECMG 1618 BKN-OVC015-025 OVC050. WDLY SCT -SHRA/ISOL 
-TSRA. CB TOP FL340. WND E G25KT. OTLK...MVFR CIG SHRA TSRA. SRN FL 
PEN...SCT025 BKN040 LYRD FL250. WDLY SCT -SHRA/-TSRA. CB TOP FL380. 
BECMG 1618 SCT030 BKN050 TOPS 120 BKN CI. ISOL -SHRA/-TSRA. CB TOP 
FL380. OTLK...VFR SHRA TSRA. . CSTL WTRS ATLC WTRS... NC WTRS...
SCT-BKN025-030 TOPS 040. ISOL -SHRA. BECMG 1517 SCT035 BKN CI. 
OTLK...VFR. SC-GA WTRS...BKN025 TOPS 050. ISOL -SHRA. WND E G25KT. 
BECMG 1416 BKN035 TOPS 060. ISOL -SHRA. WND E G25KT. OTLK...VFR WND. 
FL WTRS...SCT025 BKN-OVC060 LYRD FL270. WDLY SCT -SHRA/-TSRA. CB TOP 
FL400. OTLK...VFR SHRA TSRA. GULF WTRS E OF 85W... PIE-NWD...BKN015-025 
BKN120 LYRD FL260. ISOL -SHRA/-TSRA. CB TOP FL360. BECMG 1416 BKN020 
BKN140. ISOL -SHRA/-TSRA. OTLK...MVFR CIG SHRA TSRA. S PIE...SCT025 
BKN100-120 LYRD FL240. ISOL -SHRA/-TSRA. CB TOP FL400. OTLK...VFR 
SHRA TSRA.

METARs and TAFs

KFPR 021241Z 07007KT 1 1/4SM VCTS +RA BR BKN034 BKN044 OVC055 21/20
    A2994 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT ALQDS TSE23B41 P0062= (SPECI)
KFPR 021224Z 07004KT 1SM +RA BR FEW005 OVC028 21/20 A2994 RMK AO2 LTG
    DSNT E-SW TSE23 P0047= (SPECI)
KFPR 021210Z 05004KT 3/4SM +TSRA BR FEW009 BKN015 OVC030 21/20 A2994
    RMK AO2 LTG DSNT E-SW P0025= (SPECI)
KFPR 021153Z 00000KT 1SM +TSRA BR FEW009 SCT014 OVC022 21/19 A2994
    RMK AO2 LTG DSNT E-SW RAB1055 SLP138 P0018 60084 70153 T02060194 10239
    20206 53015=
KFPR 021147Z 36005KT 2 1/2SM +TSRA BR SCT009 BKN014 OVC020 21/19
    A2994 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT E-SW RAB1055 P0010= (SPECI)
KFPR 021142Z AUTO 02003KT 4SM -TSRA BR FEW009 SCT014 OVC020 21/19
    A2993 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT E-SW RAB1055 P0006= (SPECI)

TAF KFPR 021132Z 0212/0312 VRB03KT P6SM VCTS BKN015CB OVC040 TEMPO
     0212/0214 2SM TSRA BKN010CB OVC020
     FM021400 09010KT P6SM VCSH SCT020 BKN100 TEMPO 0214/0218
     3SM SHRA BKN020
     FM021800 10012KT P6SM -SHRA VCTS SCT020CB BKN035 OVC080
     TEMPO 0218/0222 3SM TSRA BKN025CB
     FM030100 10008KT P6SM BKN035 BKN080=

Decision time

So are you going or canceling? The weather on the island is pretty good VFR from what you can see, with just a few puffy cumulus clouds. Your Cirrus does have XM Weather on board, which should work not too long after takeoff. One option would be to “go take a look,” but there is the hassle of Customs notification if you can’t make it.

Add your comments below. In a few days, we’ll share the actual radar picture from this flight.

The Stearman Field Bar & Grill has a fantastic patio right by the airplanes.

Restaurant name: The Stearman Field Bar & Grill

Airport: Lloyd Stearman Field (1K1), Benton, Kansas (just a few miles east of Wichita)

Famous for:  A really great on-field, aviation-themed restaurant

Restaurant tips: The cafe offers plenty of inside seating and a wonderful open air patio that can be enclosed during inclement weather. The cafe is open 7 am to 10 pm, seven days a week, and not only offers great hamburgers, it has a full breakfast menu, luncheon menu with a daily special and several steak choices. For the non-flyers in the group, it has a full service bar.

The food and surroundings are always great and Saturday and Sunday breakfast are especially fun because many times the locally-based customers are out with their Stearmans, Pitts, Extras, etc. and the airplane activity is fun to watch. Try it sometime–you won’t be disappointed.

Airport tips: Stearman Field is a super fuel stop on a cross-country or a great place to stop in when out flying around.  It offers a 5000′ runway with a GPS approach, self-serve fuel and parking right in front of the café. Lloyd Stearman Field has seen the rapid development of condo/live-in hangars and the occupants are frequent visitors to the cafe.

The doomed 747 pitched up dramatically before stalling and crashing.

The B-52 was to be flown in some sort of demonstration and the pilots were really throwing the big airplane around. In that steep turn, the angle-of-attack was apparently not minded and the airplane did what any airplane, large or small, will do when AOA (or alpha) is allowed to reach the stalling point.

The 747, on the other hand, was on a routine mission to fly military equipment to another air base. Certainly nothing unusual was planned but something unusual certainly happened.

As pilots will do, after watching the video I came up with an idea on what I thought might have happened. If the center of gravity moves aft, stability deteriorates. Far enough aft, there is no pitch stability and it can finally reach an aft point where the airplane will stall regardless of what the pilots do with the controls.

The 747 had a loadmaster as a crewmember and with a lot of eyes on the weight and balance, I doubt seriously if the airplane was loaded with the center of gravity beyond the aft limit. This would mean, in this scenario, that the heavy load of vehicles could have shifted aft. To do so, it would have had to be improperly secured and that has certainly been known to happen.

Apparently this subject had come up because in a statement, National Air Cargo, operator of the 747, said that the airplane was loaded at another base and stopped at Bagram only to refuel. After the original loading, the statement said the cargo was inspected and was found to be properly loaded and secured and had passed all the necessary inspections. The cargo was again inspected prior to departure from Bagram.

The NTSB is investigating and someday we will learn the probable cause. For now, for me, it raises an important question. Most pilots know that overloading an airplane is bad but a lot of pilots do it anyway. They know that some performance and a little structural integrity is sacrificed when an airplane is flown overweight and they are willing to risk that. What I don’t think many pilots fully understand is that a transgression in the balance of an airplane can be lethal, especially if the aft limit of the CG range is exceeded.

This got a lot of attention a number of years ago, in 1977. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania leased and then crashed one of the first turboprop Piper Cheyennes. Control of the airplane was lost shortly after a departure in instrument meteorological conditions. The investigation revealed that the CG was as much as 3.2 inches aft of the limit. There were eight adults on board which could explain this. Two would have had to be seated aft of the standard club arrangement.

Pitch stability had been a big question in the certification of the Cheyenne. In fact, to meet the regulations, Piper had to include an active stability augmentation system (SAS). Manufacturers had long used downsprings and bobweights in pitch systems to buttress longitudinal stability but the Cheyenne’s SAS was a first in light general aviation airplanes. Some pointed to it as a weakness in the design.

Piper’s turboprop Cheyenne required a Stability Augmentation System (SAS) for certification.

The Cheyenne was basically a piston-powered Navajo converted to a turboprop with a lot more horsepower. Horsepower is destabilizing in pitch, thus the problem.

The Cheyenne SAS kicks in when the airspeed drops below 125 knots. Then it starts applying forward pressure on the control wheel through a spring and at 100 knots it reaches the maximum push. The effect of this is to provide artificial control feel.

The stability requirements call for an airplane to always seek a trim speed and to return to that speed when disturbed. To go progressively slower or faster than the trim speed requires more pull or push.

At some point an aft CG condition can cause an airplane to reach what is called the stick-free neutral point where there is no feel in pitch. You don’t have to exert force to go slower or faster, you just have to move the elevator control. As you would expect, the aft CG limit is set ahead of the stick-free neutral point. It would be possible to control an airplane with the CG aft of the stick-free neutral point but it is difficult.

I have flown both a simulator and a variable-stability Navion operated by Princeton University and looked at both possible and impossible aft loadings and at best it will make you sweat and at worse control will be lost. It is a bad feeling, one you surely would not want to replicate without a way out.

After some original controversy about the SAS, the Cheyenne flew on. The pilots flying the airplanes apparently understood there was no margin in the aft CG limit and most kept it forward of that limit. Many disabled the SAS system because they didn’t like the way it messed with the controls when the airspeed dropped below 125 knots. I don’t think that ever contributed to an accident.

All stayed quiet until December 15, 1983, when The Wall Street Journal published a sensationalist, paper-peddling article that implied that the Cheyenne was unsafe because it lacked longitudinal stability. The report cast doubt on the FAA certification process for all airplanes.

There was so much wrong with the article that we at FLYING worked to set the record straight. Mac McClellan and I traveled to Florida, where the Cheyenne was produced at the time, and flew the FAA-mandated stability tests in each model of the airplane. It was an interesting exercise and I learned a lot about the stability characteristics of the airplane.

The hardest test to pass comes in a climb with the airplane trimmed for the best-rate-of-climb speed, with takeoff flaps, and with full power. Here the airplane must have a stable stick force curve, meaning pull for slower and push for faster, it must seek the trim speed when away from it and the controls are slowly released, and any change is speed must result in a stick force that is clear to the pilot.

At the time we flew, the Cheyenne IA was the basic airplane. It differed from the original, with 500 hp per side as opposed to 620 and with an aft CG limit two inches farther forward. In the full power climb test, this airplane had light stick forces but it had acceptable control feel and was easily controllable.

Next up was the Cheyenne II, which was the current name for the original with 620 hp per side. With the SAS operative it met the requirements though not quite as well as the Cheyenne I. With the SAS inoperative, it was at the stick-free neutral point in that full power climb and was flyable only if you knew what to expect and how to deal with it.

At the time, Piper was also building a Cheyenne IIXL with a longer fuselage than the basic Cheyennes and to keep from using an SAS system the company decided instead to limit the 620 hp engines to 500 hp for climb. Even at that, in the 500 hp per side climb the airplane was close to the stick-free neutral point and the return to a trim speed was not strong. It was the weakest of the Cheyennes that we flew.

Piper was also building the even longer-body Cheyennes III and IV and the WSJ article suggested they also had longitudinal stability problems. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. The original prototype did have problems and Piper addressed them with a new design that included a huge tail. When one of these airplanes is viewed from behind the tail almost looks bigger than the airplane.

Pilots usually watch the weight–but what about the balance?

What this means to pilots in every day flying is that any airplane will be less stable with the CG aft. A pilot who learns in a Skyhawk might find it a much different airplane after he gets a certificate and starts taking friends and relatives for an airplane ride.

The wider the CG range, the more pronounced this can become. The V-tail Bonanza had a narrow range and had to be loaded with care but the handling qualities didn’t change a lot within the CG range. The P210 that I flew for 28 years had a wide CG range and went from an airplane with strong longitudinal stability to one that was honestly hard to fly accurately when the CG moved aft. It was so bad that I arbitrarily limited loading to two inches ahead of the aft limit, or, 50 inches aft of datum. In flight testing for supplemental type certificate mods to the airplane, the last time I looked nobody had been able to certify to the 52 inches aft that Cessna had certified. I know that one, and possibly two, P210s were lost in testing at that 52 inch aft limit.

There is one other thing to consider on the 747 in Afghanistan. There are bad guys with guns there so most operators climb to gain altitude as quickly as possible. The result is less airspeed margin above a stall than would be found in a normal climb. One report said there were thunderstorms in the area and the possibility that wind shear caused that loss of control has to be considered.

In a word, no.

While there’s no doubt the industry is weak (yes, my eyes are open), I think it’s going overboard to say we’re doomed. Much like the US economy as a whole, general aviation is going through a major transition–one we’ve probably put off for too long. The legacy of the 1970s and early 1980s aviation boom is finally starting to fade, and aviation companies are confronting a new reality. This new reality includes a smaller, more niche market and some fundamental technological changes.

Transitions like this have always been challenging, from the automobile replacing horse-drawn carriages to robots replacing manual labor assembly lines. But with smart decisions and good leadership, transitions can also lay the groundwork for a stronger future. Whether you call it new growth after a forest fire or creative destruction, it’s a necessary process.

So what does general aviation need to make it through this time of change? Better politicians and good luck would help a lot. But since we can’t control those things, it’s best to focus on more practical concerns. Here are five areas that need attention:

1. Inspiring industry leadership.

Certain organizations are general aviation’s unofficial leaders, and they set the agenda.

Five years ago, general aviation was packed with charismatic, well-known leaders, including Phil Boyer at AOPA, Tom Poberezny at EAA, Jack Pelton at Cessna and Alan Klapmeier at Cirrus. While none of these men were perfect, they did offer positive, compelling visions of general aviation’s future. Whether it was championing GPS, creating the Light Sport Aircraft market or pushing the envelope on aircraft design, these leaders knew what pilots wanted and worked to deliver it.

Today all four of those leaders are gone or in new places, and many of their previous roles are in flux: AOPA and EAA are looking for new leaders, while Cessna and Cirrus have chosen more operations-focused executives. Businesses have to do what they have to do, and there’s no doubt that brutal business conditions may dictate a different style of leadership. But many pilots take their cues from the unofficial leaders in aviation, and right now, there isn’t much of a unified voice to help pilots navigate the dizzying changes ahead. Pilots are looking for inspiration, or at the very least hope. Current industry leaders need to offer that.

2. A new approach to certification.

There’s a lot of talk about reforming the Part 23 certification process that seems hopelessly broken. That’s a good start, since the rules’ main effect seems to be to discourage any new airplane designs. But we need a more fundamental review of the whole idea of certification, including type certificates, production certificates and aftermarket STCs. And we need to consider not just airframes, but engines and avionics as well–look at the spread between portable and certified avionics for a glaring example of just how bad things have gotten.

The core question is this: how much safety is enough? Since 100% safety is impossible to achieve, some tradeoff between utility/cost and safety is always required. And since the FAA’s only focus is safety, it’s natural that certification has become more complex and demanding. Now it’s time for industry to pull on the other end of this rope and emphasize the costs of pursuing impossibly high standards. As the Part 23 ARC group has pointed out, a simpler certification process that encourages the rapid adoption of new safety features can both reduce costs and improve safety. This won’t happen overnight, but a cultural change is needed.

3. Straight talk on avgas.

Remember when 100LL was $2.49? It’s not coming back, and it’s time to plan for the future.

Avgas isn’t going away next month or next year (don’t believe the doomsday scenarios). But it’s also foolish to ignore the overwhelming evidence that 100LL will eventually be history–piston airplanes are the last machines left that use this boutique fuel. Obviously, changing something as fundamental as the type of fuel used in airplanes is sure to be a long, difficult process, but the current situation is both confusing and discouraging for the average pilot. Is the future Jet A or high octane unleaded gasoline (or neither)? Will engine modifications be required? Will performance be lost? Should I buy a new airplane now or wait to see what happens? Who’s in charge anyway?

Engine companies, airframe manufacturers and association leaders need to clearly communicate what the plan is for the next 5 and 10 years when it comes to avgas. If that plan involves difficult choices and big expenses for owners, they need to be up front about that. Fuel is one of those critical transition points that could make or break general aviation. Done well, we could end up with a more readily-available, less expensive replacement (look at Jet A  or Mogas prices vs. 100LL right now). Done poorly, this transition could permanently ground a large chunk of airplanes overnight.

4. Clarity about NextGen.

Pilots are not convinced that NextGen benefits them.

Talk about a transition–the FAA’s massive program to replace the current ground-based radar system with a new national airspace system driven by ADS-B is one of the most sweeping, expensive infrastructure projects ever undertaken. But just like the debate about avgas, there’s a startling lack of clarity when it comes to NextGen. The FAA deserves a lot of blame here, as they’ve combined a number of seemingly separate programs under the NextGen name without telling pilots what it all means. The program is also years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, which only adds to the sense of confusion. NextGen shouldn’t be abandoned, but it should be slimmed down dramatically and its core message clarified.

Pilots are at least starting to learn about the technology, with the soaring popularity of portable receivers for ADS-B weather. But many are still skeptical of the FAA’s motivations, unclear on what is required and unconvinced that it will be worth it. The history of GPS and WAAS proves that pilots will spend money to upgrade avionics if there’s an easy-to-understand benefit for doing so. That case has not been made–not even close–for NextGen.

5. Less complaining, more encouraging.

It’s not all about industry leaders or the FAA–this final issue is on us as pilots. Sometimes our greatest enemy is our own attitude, as complaining and negative thinking become self-fulfilling prophecies. Charles Lindbergh certainly would not have crossed the Atlantic if he had focused on how long his odds were, but that seems to be the approach that some pilots take toward our current problems. That doesn’t mean we should naively ignore the challenges we face, but it does mean we shouldn’t dwell on them. There are good things happening in aviation today (here’s my short list).

We also need to reconsider our attitude towards those rarest of people–new pilots. To put it bluntly, we need to get over ourselves. Instead of acting like a fraternity where pledges have to prove themselves, we should act like a family where everyone is welcomed as they are. Earning a pilot’s license is a great accomplishment, but that does not give us the right to look down on others.

What do you think? Can any of this be achieved? What’s on your list? Add your comment below.

Always Check the Weather – Always

By Chuck Feeman

A good day to fly – just a few puffy clouds. Or is it?

Growing up in Ohio, the phrase, “if you don’t like the weather, wait a while and it’ll change,” is quite common. Having lived in a few other states, I have discovered the phrase is not unique to the Buckeye State. As pilots venturing to new places, we may want to pay extra attention whenever we hear locals chatting about weird or sudden weather changes they have witnessed.

I learned my lesson very early in my flying career. With hours barely into the teens, I soloed as a 20 year-old back in the early 1970s. I spent the next several hours practicing the maneuvers my flight instructor Bob taught me thus far. The beautiful farm land north of Shelby Community Airport offered plenty of interesting ground markers to hone my skills. You could even perform pylon turns around a cow if she stood still long enough. I was accustomed to taking the “iron compass” northeast out of Shelby for about 15 minutes, then turn west a few miles to reach this area.

That was my plan on a particular day in late spring.  My wife and I made the short, pleasant drive from Mansfield (hometown) to the airport. After parking, we made a brief exchange of pleasantries to others in the pilot lounge. I gave my wife a “see ya in an hour” kiss, then made my way for a thorough check and walk-around of the red and white Cessna. I was ready to hit the skies.

Just before entering the aircraft, Bob, my instructor, came outside and yelled across the parking lot, “Hey Chuck, keep an eye on the weather.” I nodded, waved, and did a quick 360. Beautiful blue sky with some cumulus clouds, light winds from the south – what a day to fly. And, hey, I had almost 20 hours, a few brief sprinkles may be a good learning experience.

Taking off on 18, nothing appeared unusual–I climbed out and turned the 150 to follow the railroad tracks. Level off at 3500, check of the gauges–now let’s practice some slow flight, some s-turns, maybe add some VOR work heading back–yeah that would be good. As I was clearing for my turn west, I noticed a flash in the rear view mirror. Gosh, what was that? About two seconds of focus on the mirror revealed some serious lightning off in the southwest, below Shelby.

The logical action would have been to fly a few minutes further to Willard Airport, or any of the other small airports around, and set down in good weather, but that thought never entered my mind. My inexperience surfaced and instead, I made a quick 180 and set my sights on getting back to Shelby. Although the lightning still seemed to be far off, the sky was starting to change; but in ten or so minutes I’d be back to home base, so I pressed on, not sparing any cruise speed. I was heading towards those dark clouds and they were heading towards me, and as I edged closer to the airport I felt the change.

Light rain began to fall and I grabbed the microphone: “Shelby Unicom, Cessna 22875 heading back in.” Bob was on the other end and told me to use 18, and that they would turn on the lights for me. I saw the lights come on in the direction of 1:00 and then lost sight of everything off the nose–the heavy rain had reached me and I was still about 5 miles away. I checked straight down to make sure I was still following the railroad tracks, but looking straight ahead saw nothing but the rain hammering the windshield. If it was still lightning, I didn’t notice the flashes, nor did I feel threatened by any strong turbulence.

The Cessna 150 is a great airplane, but it’s no match for a thunderstorm.

Mmmm . . . moisture being sucked into the engine. I pulled a little carb heat. Bob and I practiced some hood time and I knew enough to keep the wings level and maintain course. Decreasing some airspeed and altitude seemed logical–didn’t want to fly past my intended destination. A minute or so passed, and the rain stopped–and there was the airport. What a beautiful sight and my trainer instinctively banked in that direction. The lighted yellow wind tee glowed like a giant lightning bug sitting along the right side of 18. I stayed fixed on the wind tee and don’t remember ever checking the skies again. Reporting that the field was in sight; Bob responded by saying, “22875 come straight in.”

What? Straight-in? How do ya do that? Bob, you taught me a lot thus far bud, but we never even discussed straight-ins! “Roger, will come straight-in” like I did ‘em everyday. OK, I can do this. Just fly towards 18 at an angle with pattern altitude and line her up like it’s a long final.  As I flew closer, the rain began again–but not heavy.

A slight turn to the left and the runway began to slowly line-up. Having throttled back to 70 mph, I added power to get me there quicker–I was still a couple of miles out. The power started to increase my altitude, and then Bob’s words came back to me. “Control airspeed with the yoke, altitude with the throttle.” A little forward pressure and the airspeed picked-up. Then the vertical speed indicator began to point down–oops, too much pressure. Finally getting the right adjustments, the approached stabilized and I focused on my landing spot–just after the numbers.

Amazingly, the rain stopped again and everything felt good. Adjusting the power, adding some flaps, and now this final felt as comfortable as any other. More flaps, less power. Wanting to get down as quickly as I could, instead of waiting until the threshold, I cut the power as soon as I crossed Route 39, a state highway that ran across the top of 18. Still the 150 floated further than desired and I lowered the nose.  This of course increased my speed and for the first time, I landed without a peep of the stall warning (I was taught full-stall landings).

As I prepared to turn to back taxi, Bob’s car was down the runway. That indicated I wasn’t out of the woods yet. He flashed his headlights and waved to follow him as he buzzed around me. Leading me to the 150’s hangar, we tucked her safely away and a heavier rain started as we hustled into the car. Driving back to the lounge, he mentioned that in situations like this, it is important get the aircraft on the ground; “anywhere you can,” and he never mentioned my situation again. He didn’t need to.

We parked at the lounge door and the heavy stuff really started. Inside we joined the few others who were waiting out the storm near the weather gauges mounted on the wall. The anemometer indicated peak gusts of 60 mph. All I said was “wow” and turned and caught my wife’s gaze. I’m not sure if it was her anger, fear, or relief, but we didn’t talk much for a while.

The storm had not even lasted another 15 minutes and when we left the airport, the sky was again blue, winds calm. Reflecting on that flight, I felt good about keeping my wits and getting the aircraft and myself back in one piece, but it was my arrogance, stupidity, or whatever, that put me in that situation. I was blessed; a guardian angel was definitely by my side in the right seat; the rain had let up just at the right times, the most severe weather did not hit until after the landing, and . . . oh that rearview mirror.

Since that day, I have never forgotten how rapidly the sky can change. It also makes sense to plan every flight with a way out–take a fire drill “what if” approach. And with today’s multitude of sources to weather (channels, sites, phone calls, personal stations, pireps, WX), even if you are going up for just a short local flight, always check the weather . . . always.

Chuck Feeman is a private pilot who lives and flies in Florida. He got hit with the flying bug at age six when his uncle took him up in a Cessna 172 so, of course, he loves to fly Cessnas.

What’s With Flying Automobiles?

It has been a long quest.

By M. B. (Molt) Taylor

The Aerocar could cruise at about 100 m.p.h. in airplane mode.

Ever since the introduction of the airplane, men have sought to make the machine more practical for the routine travel of daily life by making it possible to use the aircraft for the whole trip from doorstep to doorstep. The trouble has always been that it has required another vehicle to take you to the airplane, it required still a third vehicle to take you to the doorstep of your destination.The development of the helicopter was a hoped-for solution to this dilemma, but it too has proven to have limitations which prevent its use as a doorstep to doorstep transportation medium. While it might be possible to land a helicopter on the roof of a few buildings, and in the back yards of a few people, it would be highly impractical to use one for the daily routine personal travel engaged in by most individuals. Accordingly, the air has remained the travel media of only a few who tolerate the limitations of the vehicles presently available for air travel.

As early as 1913 aircraft designers began thinking and experimenting with what appeared to be a more practical solution to the problem of a single vehicle which would serve the needs of doorstep to doorstep travel via the air, and the obvious mating of the automobile to the airplane was attempted at that time. It was obvious that both types of vehicle had much in common and such a dual-use type machine would be practical. For instance, both had engines, seats, wheels, windshields, etc. However, this early trial was doomed to failure due to the state of the aeronautical art and the great weight of the various automotive components then available for such an experiment. The machine barely got off the ground and was highly impractical.

After this, there were few attempts in the late 1920′s, however the idea was more or less left alone and little was heard of “Roadable Aircraft” or “Flying Automobiles” for many years. During the 30′s a couple of bold experiments tried to again achieve a successful mating, but their attempts were similarly plagued with over-weight components, limited engineering skill, and insufficient finance.

Right after WW-II everyone was talking about having an airplane in their garage, and the light aircraft industry was grinding out lightplanes as never before. The huge Consolidated-Vultee organization gathered together all of the talent they could find that had ever experimented with roadable aircraft or flying automobiles and set about to develop an aircraft that could be put in the garage of the average family and provide both air and road transportation in a single vehicle. This program was unhampered by lack of finance or talent, in fact it probably suffered from “too many cooks.”

The resulting aircraft proved to be too complicated and costly, and had inherent limitations due to its use of two separate engines and its inability to take its flight component with it during road operations. However, the machine did fly and resulted in considerable progress towards the development of lightweight components which were required for such a vehicle.

Similarly, the Fulton Airphibian which received widespread publicity all over the world resulted in further acceptance of the “Roadable Aircraft” concept. This project also suffered from financial limitations although it did progress to the state of CAA Certification before its builders were forced to retire from further progress. There were others who laid the finest plans, and some even progressed to the stage of hardware. However, so far as is known by the writer none ever solved the problem of true doorstep to doorstep mobility and practical usefulness for routine daily travel.

The author, Molt Taylor, was the most successful flying car entrepreneur of the 20th century.

This gets us to the AEROCARs with which I have had intimate experience over the past ten years. The AEROCAR project is the result of extensive personal experience with light aircraft by the writer during the 1930-1940 period and the conviction that mass use of the air as a medium of travel only awaited the development of a truly practical personal flying machine. Everyone has dreamed of being able to drive his automobile out to a wide place in the road, pressing a button on the dash to convert it to an airplane, and flying off into the blue. The air would be filled with such machines if they were available.Study of the technical aspects of the problem showed that there were two main difficulties to be overcome. First was the original problem of weight which had licked the earliest experimenters. The other was the matter of a suitable power plant. Until the engines of the post WW-II period were available (100 h.p. and over) there had never been a practical power plant for use in such a machine.

A further fact was apparent, and that was the need of such a machine to be able to fly from point A to point B, then drive to point C and be able to fly back to point A from point C. This meant taking its wings with it during road operations. This capacity lets its owner fly or drive as the situation dictates and does not require that he go back to the point where he stopped flying to retrieve his wings. It permits landing and driving through areas of bad weather and to then fly again when the weather improves. And, it also permits the owner to land and continue on to his destination when it gets dark.

With these requirements of complete road mobility, one other most important fact was obvious and that was the absolute need that such a machine must be as practical for the trip down to the corner drug store as it is for the flight to some distant destination. Thus the machine could not be a “roadable aircraft” which was primarily designed for flying; but rather, it had to be a complete practical automobile that was just as much at home on the highway for weeks on end as it was in the air.

This latter requirement posed some real problems. If the owner was to get the full utility out of this single vehicle he had to have a machine which not only met the safety requirements of a CAA Approved Aircraft, but it had to be one which would go out and operate on the road without excessive maintenance, at a relatively low cost and with the complete flexibility which we have come to expect from a modern motorcar.

This meant that during “car” operation it would have to be capable of moving along with the high speed traffic of today’s freeways, travel in bad weather on rough roads, and embody every known feature of comfort, appointments, ease of driving, etc., of a modern automobile. It had to meet the various requirements of the State Vehicle Codes so that its operation as a complete machine on the highways was legal. And it had to be a good aircraft.

There was obviously little room for compromise. These requirements created tough technical problems and it is now obvious that the lengthy development period of the AEROCAR was largely dictated by the fact that practical solutions necessary for the complete development of the vehicle did not become available until recently. These have included such items as lightweight components (like nickel-cadmium batteries), well developed fibreglas techniques, and resins (which permit light, inexpensive construction), and power plant developments in the light aircraft field so that an aircraft field so that an aircraft engine could be operated in the auto configuration satisfactorily.

The Aerocar wings could be removed in about 5 minutes for driving.

The latter problem has necessitated the special development of a suitable generator, starter, and ignition system for the AEROCAR so that auto-like operation was practical. The resulting components have proven so successful that the special starters developed for the AEROCARs are now standard equipment on the Lycoming engines, and the magnetos, with automatic spark advance (like automobile), should soon become standard lightplane equipment. These permit auto-like engine starting and smooth low-speed engine performance without the excessive vibration now apparent in the operation of so many lightplanes. These were just a few of the many technical problems which the AEROCAR designers had to overcome before the vehicle was actually perfected.Probably the most interesting problems which had to be overcome in the design and development of a “Flying Automobile” were the imagined problems which didn’t really exist at all. Among these was the idea that some sort of lever would be included which would permit the owner to convert the car to an aircraft whenever the lever was operated. It was also presumed that something had to be used to convert the engine from flying to driving.

Actually this problem did not exist. The car drive is merely left in “neutral” when you fly. When you attach the wing-tail component it automatically hooks the engine to the propeller. Nothing could be easier.

Similarly, it was imagined that the controls would have to be “hooked-up” for flying and vice versa. Here again the engineers were able to devise simple, fool-proof mechanisms which permit the same steering wheel to be used for flying or driving.

The rudder pedals drop to the floor out of the way for road operations and come up into flying position when the wing-tail is attached. This attachment also results in the steering wheel shaft becoming free for elevator motion of the steering wheel for flying and the entire flight control system engages automatically without any rigging or adjustment. Here again, nothing could be easier or more practical.

Probably the most concerning problem was the matter of the wings being adequately attached so that they couldn’t come off in flight. This too was merely an imagined problem. Tapered attaching pins which are physically impossible to move in flight are driven with a little hand crank. The engine will not start until all of the attaching pins are driven completely. Fail-safe switches at each attachment point, linked with the starter solenoid, provide this feature.

The Lycoming engine turned out to be well-suited to road use, said Taylor.

There is one imaginary problem which seems to bother aviation people more than any other. This is the matter of the engine and its dual use for both flying and driving. Many people ask if there are any problems of engine cooling while operating on the ground. Just the reverse is true. This is due to the fact that road operation of the engine requires so little power that the problem is to get the engine to run warm enough for good efficient operation. This has necessitated use of a thermostatic oil radiator control and baffle arrangements together with a cooling fan installation so arranged as to permit completely routine auto operation in either extreme hot or cold weather. The resulting installation is more than adequate to meet the CAA cooling requirements for protracted full throttle running as an aircraft, even on the ground on a 100 degree day.The daily routine auto operation of the engine has proven to be beneficial to the life of the engine. With the thermostatic controls, moisture which normally forms in an engine when it cools after running is evaporated every time the engine is started and does not get a chance to form acids and attack the cylinder walls and exposed internal metal surfaces as it does in an aircraft-only operation where the engine may only be used every week or so.

The usual occasional aircraft-type operation results in microscopic rust forming on the cylinder walls, only to be wiped off by the pistons and circulated with the oil through the bearings and gears when the engine is started. This is entirely eliminated in the flying automobile operation where the engine is started as a matter of routine probably three or four times every day. After ten years of experience and several complete teardowns of engines which have had “Flying Automobile” use, we have ample evidence that the dual use of the engine is actually beneficial for these reasons.

Another imagined problem is the matter of “using up” the life of the aircraft engine for road operations. Here again the beneficial use of the engine for daily road travel enters into consideration. However, many people feel that some sort of set period of life for the aircraft engine is established. This is not true, of course, and many flight operators run their engines up to 1200 hours between complete overhauls. This is common in training activities where the engine is being used every day (as with the flying auto). Other owners find that their engine requires major overhaul at as low as 400-500 hours. These are usually the weekend only flyers.

In AEROCAR operation, where the same engine is used for flying and driving, some sort of accurate determination of how much time is actually put on the engine is required. It would be totally impractical to try to use a written log as one does for flying. The result has been the standard installation of a recording tachometer in each AEROCAR. Similarly, the AEROCARs include a standard automobile type speedometer with recording odometer to show mileage traveled. The gearing of the engine to the wheels of the AEROCARs is such that if one were to go out on the highway and run at 2350 cruise r.p.m. for one hour he would find that he had traveled 50 miles on the road. Accordingly, since the recording tachometer is set to indicate one engine hour for an hour of operation at 2350, it is very easy to use the recording tachometer and odometer together, to determine the flight hours.

For instance, if the odometer shows 500 miles, this is easily transposed into 10 hours of engine time on the recording tachometer. If the tachometer shows 25 hours of total engine time, then one can assume that he has also accomplished 15 hours of flight. Since an AEROCAR will cruise approximately 100 m.p.h. in flight at 2350 and go approximately 50 miles on the road at 2350 in one hour, it is reasonable to figure that the 25 hours shown on the recording tachometer has resulted in approximately 1500 miles of air travel and 500 miles of road travel, for a total distance of 2000 miles.

Molt Taylor went on to design other aircraft, including the Coot.

As a general average, it has been found that a person will drive an AEROCAR about 10 times to every use of the machine as an aircraft. However, records also show that air trips average about 10 times longer than road trips. A recent check of one of the newer AEROCARs shows that with a total of 500 hours on the recording tachometer and about 9000 miles on the odometer, it is reasonable to assume that the machine has provided approximately 41,000 miles of travel. This particular AEROCAR was given a 500 hour inspection at the time and it was found that the engine would still turn within a few r.p.m. of its original power when it was new. AEROCAR propellers are set to turn 2300 r.p.m. full throttle on the ground.As long as the engine will turn this r.p.m. or within a few r.p.m. of this level it is considered that the engine is OK. As the engine begins to near time for an overhaul, the r.p.m. it will turn will drop off slowly, and while there is no real time limit, it is our recommendation that the engine should probably best be overhauled at between 700-800 hours. Thus, you can see that the aircraft engine is not being “used up” to any great degree by the routine road operation, and after all, what you are interested in is miles of transportation provided by the vehicle. Engine teardowns of AEROCAR power plants with 700-800 hours have shown that the reduced wear and less costly overhauls due to the daily use more than make up for any use loss resulting from road operations.

Another problem which is largely imaginary is that of road mileage. We have found that the reduced power requirement for road travel permits you to lean the mixture as far as it will go and still take the throttle smoothly for passing and normal road acceleration. The result is a good healthy 18 miles per gallon fuel economy as contrasted with approximately 12-13 miles per gallon if the mixture is not leaned out. Leaning has the additional beneficial effect of increasing the road operation temperatures and since full lean still does not result in anything more than a good “warm” engine even on a very hot day, we operate all AEROCARs in the full lean condition while on the road. With 100 m.p.h. cruise and 8 gallons per hour fuel consumption at cruise, fuel economy in flight is thus just a bit over 12 m.p.g.

Although experience has shown that automobile fuel is not acceptable for use in the aircraft engine used in the AEROCAR for flight operation, we have used it for road-operation only on numerous occasions when aviation fuel was not available. We then confine operation to driving. These intervals are kept as short as possible and usually only far enough to permit travel to the nearest airport where 80/87 octane aviation fuel is available.

While aircraft type fuel is required for flying, it also works out that its use on the road is no more costly than automobile type fuel since most states sell aviation fuel ex-road taxes. Whenever flying cars get into widespread use, this advantage will disappear. However, it will probably then be possible to get State Highway Authorities to build wide places along the highways for the use of flying automobiles with the road taxes paid on the fuel they use.

When you consider that an AEROCAR will permit you to make a 200 mile trip from downtown to downtown in less than two and a half hours, including time to put on the wings and take them off again and to drive to and from the airport, then the approximately 90 miles an hour average speed for the trip between exact doorstep destinations really makes good economics. This becomes especially apparent when you consider that the national average auto speed for such a trip is only a bit over 40 m.p.h. if you drive. Thus AEROCAR is the only single vehicle that can make the trip between the two points and average a higher speed than an automobile.

While the helicopter can make the trip between special selected destinations, it does not have the flexibility required for the trip between just any two points, and it too suffers from weather, night, and other terminal limitations.

The Terrafugia Transition is the latest flying car design, and is in flight testing now.

Yes, a “Flying Automobile” does provide the sort of day to day personal transportation we would all like to have. It is truly the airplane at home in the garage. While the present AEROCAR is a long way from the “push button” type we can now visualize for the future, its five minute requirement for taking the wings off or putting them on is not prohibitive. The lengthy development period of the vehicle has permitted engineers to not only perfect its mechanical features, but has also allowed its developers to embody qualities which now make it equal to the dual job it must perform.It remains to be seen whether the public, in its quest for a means of getting from one place to another faster, will now accept this new form of personal transport. If they do, they will fill the sky with vehicles which can truly use the free highways of the air and thus provide thousands of people with a faster mode of personal transport.

The AEROCARs are now fully CAA Certificated and they are available. While the present $15,000 price [$117,000 in 2013 dollars--Ed.] is higher than desired, the utility as well as the point to point transportation capacity of the machine makes even the present price practical. The superb flight characteristics of the AEROCARs make flying as much like driving as is physically possible. This, and CAA approval, eliminates any considerations regarding difficulty of operation or lack of safety.

It now appears that the development of a four passenger version of the AEROCAR would be very desirable. However, a recent study of available engines of the necessary power (approximately 250 h.p.) indicates that none of them lend themselves to the dual flight-road operation conditions. This is due to the problem of engine torsional vibration and balance which are inherent whenever the inertia load of the propeller is removed as it would be for road travel. It appears that a four passenger AEROCAR is going to have to await further development in the engine field. This puts any possibilities a long way in the future.

The present situation for “Flying Automobiles” seems to resolve itself into finding a solution to the problem of making the vehicles available to the public at a reasonable cost. The cars cannot be produced inexpensively unless they are produced in quantity. Quantity production is not warranted until volume demand is indicated. Capital for volume production is not going to be available until the potential market is a proven fact. Thus the old “hen vs. the egg” situation seems to be the only problem at the moment. Only public acceptance will determine the solution.

* * *

Public acceptance never came for the AEROCAR. While Taylor did win some orders, it wasn’t enough to enter full production and the AEROCAR remained a novelty. A total of six were built, and the original one now sits in the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, WI. Taylor did design some other airplanes, including the Taylor Coot, before his death in 1995.

A Fresh Private Pilot’s Story on the Trials and Adventure of Flight Training (Part 1 of 3)

It wasn’t something that I would describe as easy.

But worth it? Absolutely.

The author says learning to fly in high school wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.

What I mean is being a senior in high school, managing the work load of AP classes, getting college applications in, studying for finals, and trying to maintain a semblance of a social life, while training for my private ticket. Have people been through more adverse conditions? Sure, and I’m not knocking those, but I never expected the work that a Private Pilot’s license could take in conjunction with everything else.

As pilots, we’ve all been asked that question, “What’s it like to fly?” I normally have trouble putting it into words, as it is something that can rarely be described until you experience it; this is even more true for those who haven’t been in a smaller aircraft before. How do you transfer the feeling of being able to go almost anywhere when you want? (Weather and TFRs permitting of course) The feeling of squeaking that landing after a long cross country? Or that feeling of rapid fire communication and terminology with ATC that goes flawless? A lot of them are abstract concepts that require the dive into flight training to get fully immersed.

I was gifted with the funds to go ahead with my training, and I realized two things. One, how grateful I am to my family and how much they really care about my dreams. Second, I understood how lucky I was, and how I was obligated to share and give back where I could to other aspiring pilots or people just interested in aviation. I’ve found that some of my favorite flights are those where I take someone new up and try to show them what we experience. It isn’t a bad way to ask a girl to prom either.

Late 2011 is when I started in general aviation with ground school, offered for free to a few of our mutual friends by my friend’s father, a CFI named Gary. I went wanting to learn to fly, though not even remotely expecting to begin the in-air stuff. I was 16 at the time, and had an understanding with my mom and dad that getting my PPL was just something the parental budget committee could not put through. I understood, really, I mean look at prices these days, but I figured I could at least get free ground school, save money there, and get my foot in the GA door.

The airport which would become my home field is Apple Valley Airport, KAPV. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Apple Valley is about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It’s a dusty, fairly small place, one I lovingly describe as a small town trying to be a big one. With a population of a bit less than 70,000, our area’s claim to fame is a house on a hill where a James Bond scene had been filmed, the fact that the Roy Rogers museum used to be nearby, and Route 66.

I reserve the right to poke fun at my home in the Mojave Desert, as I do so with pride. Growing up in this area, I had a lot of aviation influences in my life. We had the Mojave Spaceport, Edwards Air Force Base, China Lake, and airways in the area that would make me always want to glance at the low flying C-17 or Cessna passing overhead while talking with someone. For some reason, non-pilots didn’t appreciate that.

Apple Valley Airport (KAPV), where the author learned to fly.

The FBO I would be using amounted to a building attached to a large hangar. The building was older, worn down, and nothing like the FBOs I would visit later on. Later though, I learned that I could appreciate and even prefer the humble office, as it made for more intimate discussion and lessons. It made me feel more like a student, and less like a client or customer, something I think some FBOs need to reconsider, especially with younger students.

The first time I went to ground school at the FBO I remember driving my Jeep past the lit up blue taxi lights and getting a feeling of excitement and slight trepidation because I honestly didn’t know where I was supposed to go, or if I was on a runway. I figured that’s what the blue lights, which I later learned were taxi lights, indicated.

That night ended with my getting introduced formally to the field of aviation, walking out with my first logbook and written test prep guide. As time progressed, and our little class of seven or so high school students advanced, I found myself longing to actually get in an airplane. When ground school was over, I was gifted with two hours of flight training from my family. Finally I was going to be able to get the wheels rolling and the prop spinning.

The first takeoff roll was probably more memorable than my solo. The feeling of firewalling the throttle and putting in right rudder as the plane begins its roll is something I never get tired of, but the first time I wasn’t sure what to expect. That first lesson, the first time I left the ground in a private aircraft, is when it all clicked. I could feel the airplane rise and me with it! I could see the ground steadily fall away and shrink as the altimeter did its little circular dance upwards. I think it’s a more vivid memory than my solo because, let’s be honest, the solo is just more pattern work.

Once my family realized that I had gotten the flying bug, we agreed on twice a month. It wasn’t until I was around 15 hours that I realized I could, in fact, get this done before I turned 18, but that comes later.

Stalls were probably the first time I can honestly say I was worried.

“Alright then, Kyle, note to self: the plane can stop flying; this is how to know when it is coming.”

“If a spin happens, power off, aileron neutral, rudder opposite, recover.”

“What is that? Ah, the stall horn, OK, now what? Oh wow, OK didn’t expect that.”

“OK so that’s what it looks and feels like.”

It’s those lessons of practicality that make experience so much more valuable than just book knowledge. It was lessons like this, along with stories, recordings and NTSB reports I would read about accidents and mishaps that I purposely search out, just to learn from them. It was haunting and graphic yes, but at my young age I forced my ego down whenever I flew, and still do. I had to realize that once I take someone up, I am responsible for our lives. That it isn’t the time to get all macho, pull a “watch this,” or push my personal minimums.

For example, I cancelled a night flight today with some friends. The METAR shows 19G23, mostly crosswind. These are some questions I asked myself, ones that I encourage student and low hour pilots alike to do as well: Could I do it? Maybe. Am I comfortable with it? Not really, no. Should I go when I know that I’ve been entrusted with three lives? Absolutely not.

Yes, impressing people is awesome, fun, and honestly, easy with a pilot’s license. What isn’t awesome is having to explain to their parents that their kid has been killed or injured because I was too eager to show off and tried to handle a crosswind beyond my comfort, or that I took off into MVFR and got into a tricky situation. Older and more experienced readers will know this, but I write this now for the students, for the low hours, for those who might think they know all there is.

Flight training has taught me responsibility and situational awareness unlike anything else, and it is essential that it does so. When we get into the GA world with a PPL, we have a license to learn, and need to be careful and responsible that we do just that; learn and not become the lesson.

I moved forward in my training, soloing around ten hours. Now I had to get into the more complex parts of flying. With navigation, cross countries, instrument flying, and communications coming up, I was extremely eager to keep going, to push on for my PPL and to learn more about the world of aviation at a young age.

In Part Two of License to Learn, Kyle moves on to the next part of his flight training, learning about navigation, cross-country flying, and dead reckoning, which comes in handy when he gets off course on his long solo cross country.

I will use one project that I watched closely for a while to begin the discussion.

Back in the 1970s, I heard that there was a futuristic light twin in Mississippi that already had FAA Part 23 certification and that would soon be in production. That news surprised me because in the magazine business we usually learned of new airplanes as soon as they were drawn on a napkin in the bar.

The Burns BA-42 got certified, but could never be built in any number.

The Burns BA-42 was a conventional mid-wing light twin. The only break with tradition was its t-tail. That had not yet become a rage in general aviation design.

The BA-42 had a pair of Continental engines similar to those that power the Cessna 337 Skymaster. I think they were rated for the same 210 horsepower as those in the 337.

Sam Burns had big dreams for the BA-42 and I spent quite a bit of time at his modest facility in Starkville, Mississippi, also home of Mississippi State University.

Sam had done the development and certification of the BA-42 on a shoestring though he never did divulge how much money was invested in the project through certification. He never said, but I always guessed he had informal help from Mississippi State’s legendary aeronautical engineering department.

The project was begun in the 1960s and lasted into the 1970s. Two airframes were built but I don’t remember that both were actually flying. One was, for sure, because Jack Olcott of FLYING flew it and gave a good report on its flying qualities.

The next step after certification is production and I think Sam Burns thought he could smell the roses at one point. Another town in Mississippi had floated revenue bonds to build a factory and I visited that factory. There was nothing in the plant other than one BA-42. No tooling. No nothing.

Sam and I drew numbers in the dust on the floor and the conclusion was that there was no way he could achieve a positive cash flow unless a lot of money was poured into the project. Sam did not have that kind of money and had failed to find a backer who was willing to gamble on the project.  It would have been a gamble, too, because the light twin market was well-populated with products from existing manufacturers and his BA-42 did not offer any clear advantages.

The Windecker Eagle was the first composite airplane to be certified.

The difficulty of certification has often been cited as the reason more new airplanes are not developed. This did not deter Sam and his small band of workers. What did was a lack of capital, something that has doomed many an airplane project. The best way to lose a sum of money on something like this is to start out with just a little less money than you need. In the end, it always seems to cost more, sometimes much more, than any original estimate. Maybe it is better to start with at least twice as much money as it is estimated to cost.

The Windecker Eagle was the first composite airplane certified. I flew it once and it was just okay. I learned quickly that being inside a composite airplane with a big engine out front was a lot like being in a bass drum while the band is playing. It seemed like there was no way for the sound to get out. The project died before it really got started. Perhaps they could have quieted the cabin if they had been able to continue.

The pressurized Mooney M30 flew but was not certified. It was a big airplane and when watching it first fly, I was struck by the apparent struggle it had getting off the ground. Mooney had previously certified the pressurized Mooney Mustang single but it didn’t find much market. I never flew that airplane but, by all accounts, it was quite a slug.

A recent piston airplane that didn’t make it was the composite Adam 500 push-pull twin. A proof-of-concept airplane was built by Scaled Composites and then a full-size 500 was built by Adam.

Adam sunk millions into the A500, but never really finished the airplane.

I flew the Adam 500 with my friend Glenn Maben and found it good but not exceptional. They were projecting certification at an early date but the airplane I flew wasn’t pressurized, didn’t have any heat in it, and entry was by a ladder after which the ground crew fitted the door in place and latched it. In other words, there was still a lot of work to be done. It also didn’t meet the cruise speed projections but Adam said they would be installing gear doors and that would fix the speed. I don’t know whether they ever did this but I doubt if the speed would have gotten up to what was projected.

This is a good place to look at factors that can doom new designs.

The Adam and the certified and produced Beech Starship had things in common. The Adam weighed well over 1,000 pounds more than its projected empty weight. The Starship weighed an extra ton or more.

In that both were composite airplanes, with proof of concept airframes built by Scaled Composites, the first conclusion might be that designers using this method of construction have extra sets of rose-colored glasses. There are successful composite airplanes, such as the Cirrus, but I have never seen a composite that weighs less than a like metal airplane and I have seen at least two that weigh a lot more.

The simple fact is that composites are not magic and in the best of cases have not offered either weight or cost advantages.

Beech’s Starship, the supposed King Air successor, was thousands of pounds overweight and never caught on.

Another thing that makes it tough for new designs is competition. Is it a better airplane? Will it have equal or better reliability? Will the available service and support be as good as for other airplanes? Both the Adam 500 and the Starship fell short of being better airplanes.

There have been a lot of turbine airplane projects that barely got off the ground while some did.

In the early 1960s, Beech built a full-scale mockup of a Model 120 turboprop. It was to be a fairly large airplane, to take the place of the twin Beech, Model 18. The proposed powerplant was from Turbomeca in Europe and was to develop almost 1,000 shaft horsepower per side, compared with 450 for the Model 18.

It would have been an expensive project for Beech and Olive Ann Beech, and her nephew Frank Hedrick, were talented but fiscally conservative managers. For a less expensive airplane, they mated the Army U-21, an unpressurized turboprop Queen Air derivative with PT-6 engines, with the airframe of a piston-powered pressurized Queen Air Model 88, and, presto, an almost instant King Air, a design that will celebrate 50 years of production in 2014 and is the only turboprop twin left standing except, perhaps, for the Piaggio Avanti which shipped five airplanes in 2012.

The King Air is especially remarkable when you consider that it outlasted the Cheyenne family, two Cessna turboprop twins, the turboprop Commanders, the Mitsubishi MU-2, the Merlin twin turboprops, and the Starship, all of which were certified and produced and all of which have faded away.

The Avtek 400 was certainly an unconventional design.

The Avtek 400, Beech Lightning and OMAC-1 (later Laser 300) were turboprop designs that never made it to production. The Avtek was a twin, the other two were singles. The Avtek and OMAC were unusual in appearance, to say the least, and while the designers were probably proud of their handiwork, many observers looked at the airplanes, scratched their heads, and thought, “Why did they do that?”

Other turboprop singles are in the development stage and time will tell whether or not they work out.

Pure jets are the sexiest airplanes of all and there has been no shortage of new design proposals there, both single-engine and twin.

The Eclipse 500 twinjet was the vehicle for what has accurately been called the largest financial failure in the history of general aviation. Everybody — suppliers, customers, depositors, investors (including Bill Gates), got screwed, for lack of a better word. The down-the-drain total was close to a billion dollars. That is a lot of money to bleed out of a small (and, right now, struggling) activity. Worse, it provides an object lesson that will deter investment in aviation products for decades to come.

The Eclipse 500 holds the record for the most money wasted–close to $1 billion.

The Eclipse 500 was certified and produced with 259 airplanes delivered. Like everything else about the project, the certification was controversial. There were suggestions of FAA favoritism toward Eclipse, if you can believe that. The first airplanes delivered were short of what had been promised and in the end, the airplanes that were delivered were sold at a price far short of the actual cost of building those airplanes.

A charter operator, DayJet, had a business plan that was just as bad when it ordered 1,400 Eclipse 500s, or, over half the order book. That company folded after it took delivery of a handful of the jets and operated them for a short while.

The Eclipse promise was to deliver a lot of jets at a low price, even lower than the piston twin unpressurized Beech Baron. It was a false promise from day one and when investors decided to quit shoveling money into a bottomless pit, that was the end. A lot of us said from the beginning that the project could not work as planned but the true believers stayed loyal right up to the bankruptcy.

Another company bought the Eclipse assets and plans to put the airplane back into production in 2013 and to sell it for a realistic price. How that will go remains to be seen. Right now the entry-level jet market is so soft that Cessna has “paused” production of all its more basic jets.

The Swearingen SJ-30 twin jet made it through certification and into limited production though not much is going on there at present. It might be another case of a designer coming up with an airplane he thought people should have as opposed to an airplane that people might actually care to buy.

The Spectrum S-33 Independence looked great, but never made it into production.

A lot of other twin jets have been proposed and a few have actually flown. The Spectrum S-33 Independence was in a flight test program when it was lost because the ailerons were hooked up backwards after some maintenance. The pilot I flew with in the Adam 500, Glen Maben, was lost in that accident.

There is a bright spot in the jet business. Embraer is a new entrant in the basic twinjet market with the Phenom 100 and that airplane has been successful and has an excellent reputation.

There are also the single-engine jets that have gotten publicity out of all proportion to their progress toward certification and production. I would imagine the one thing that deters investors from putting money into a single jet would be the minuscule market size that might exist for this product. To me, a total of 50 airplanes a year would be quite optimistic.

So, there have been a lot of broken dreams, one of which might constitute the end of such for a long time to come if people look at the history of the Eclipse before deciding to roll the dice on a project. It was, purely and simply, a travesty. We might also be learning that all-new airplanes are also risky for the folks who build airliners. Who knows what additional evils lurk in the shadows of the 787?

Tip #1: Get a “big picture” weather briefing

A good weather briefing should include a look at the big picture: fronts, low pressure systems and even winds aloft.

Checking the weather is one of the few constants in aviation. All pilots do it, whether it’s a trip around the pattern in a Cub or a trip across the Atlantic in a Gulfstream. But merely getting a weather briefing isn’t enough; it has to be a good weather briefing to make the flight safer. So what exactly does a “good briefing” involve?

Many pilots base the go/no go decision on little more than the latest radar image and some METAR reports. While these are important, a good weather briefing goes much deeper than this. Flying with only current observations is like performing surgery with only a list of reported symptoms. You know the what, but you don’t know the why.

That’s why a real weather briefing has to include a good understanding of the big picture. Specifically:

• Where are the lows? Dick Collins calls low pressure systems “weather makers,” and for good reason. Lows are responsible for more bad weather than anything else, from low ceilings to in-flight icing. If you know where the low is, you can make a pretty good guess at what the weather will be over the next 24 hours. That’s especially true if you follow the trend–is the low strengthening or weakening? If the weather is forecast to be good VFR but a strengthening low is moving in from the west, it’s unlikely that will hold.
• Where are the fronts and what are they doing? Fronts are prominent on prognostic charts, and for good reason. Next to lows, fronts are the most important weather feature for pilots to consider. A fast-moving cold front sweeping down into warm, moist air should have you thinking about thunderstorms–regardless of what the TAF says. Just remember that fronts don’t go straight up from the surface, so it may be a hundred miles west of its location on the surface analysis by the time you fly through it. Don’t take its position too literally.
• What does the upper air analysis show? If lows and fronts are the weather makers, the upper air wind patterns are the highways that direct them. A glance at the 500mb chart (about 18,000 ft.) can give you a great idea of where and how fast a weather system is moving. Professional meteorologists use these charts for some sophisticated analysis, but even a basic understanding of these charts can provide a lot of insights about where the troughs and ridges are and how strong a low might be.

A look at the 500mb chart can tell you a lot about the weather.

This big picture weather briefing doesn’t have to be time-consuming–in spite of what some flight instructors might say, there’s no virtue in a two hour weather briefing. If anything, with a good overview in mind, the rest of your weather review should go faster. The radar picture and METARs should simply fill in the details of the picture you already know.

And once you have this overview in mind, you’ll be much more informed as you fly a trip. You’ll be able to read Mother Nature’s signs and understand where your airplane is in relation to that surface analysis chart. Most importantly, you’ll know when to be suspicious of a forecast and where your escape routes are.

So take a moment to review those lows and fronts during your next weather briefing. Far from being an academic exercise, a thorough understanding of the big picture can lead to easier go/no go decisions, fewer surprises en route and more comfortable flights.