THIS AND THAT

THIS AND THAT

OSHKOSH AIR ADVENTURE

I was not able to attend Air Adventure this year but have talked to several friends that did. Here are their opinions.

Not having a military presence this year did not hurt OSH. It brought the show and event back to it’s roots.

The most exciting product was the NavWorx TSO’d ADS B IN and OUT unit for around $3500 installed. This would make any aircraft compliant with 2020 ADS B OUT requirements. Traffic would show on IPad with wireless adapter and proper IPad APP. Unfortunately ForeFlight and Garmin are not allowing this on their APP. Now legacy aircraft can be compliant without spending $25,000.

Food offerings were more diverse and less expensive with a bottle of water costing $2 this year instead the the $4 I used to pay.

All said this was the best run event in years. A big thank you to Jack Pelton for this who will serve 3 more years as EAA Chairman.

EAA sued the FAA for illegal user fees for controllers in the amount 0f $497,000. I’m hoping that the EAA wins suit and request damages against the FAA.

PODCAST

In an earlier column I wrote about podcasts stating they are basically a radio show on the internet. If there is one podcast you must listen to it is the AIRPLANE GEEKS. AirplaneGeeks.com offers intelligent information covering all aspects of aviation inflecting humor when needed.

AIRLINE ACCIDENTS AND INCOMPETENT PILOTS

Two events in the news were #214 at SFO and SWA at LaGuardia. It looks to be that 214 pilot flew a perfectly good 777 right into the sea wall. SWA took a 737 and landed nose wheel first and it collapsed skidding down the runway. 

The problem we have in airline flying is the automation. Even though these pilots have thousands of hours in their log books I wonder how much of it is hand flying the airplane. Being that I do not have an auto pilot, I wonder if I have more hours hand flying than these pilots did.

AUTOMATION

Flying an older airplane the most automated piece of equipment I own is an IPad with WingX and ADS B IN. On a recent trip from San Diego (MFY) to Scottsdale (SDL) the weather was horrible. You can read about this trip in my column on the Dang Monsoon. ADS B weather showed I would have encountered thunderstorms and heavy rain if I stayed on my flight plan. I was able to work out a rerouting with ATC that took me into Phoenix (DVT). After copying the new route I went to the 3 new waypoints on my IPAD, touched each waypoint and hit add to route. This took about 10 seconds. I wonder how many are familiar enough with their IFR GPS’s to change their route in flight in IMC which will take a lot longer. Safety demands that you be very familiar with your IFR GPS’s.

AV FUEL

I have talked to a lot of pilots who are flying less. The cost of Av fuel in Souther CA is over $6 a gallon. My friends who would have flown their own planes to OSH took the airlines this year. Av Fuel used to be about $1 over the cost of regular auto fuel. Now it is over $2+ more. No reasoning for this.