WINGX PRO APP A DISASTER...AGAIN!

WINGX PRO

FAILS

TWICE THIS WEEK

There have been two leaders in the Aviation Apps for IPad, WingX Pro and ForeFlight. I have written about these two apps on several occasions.

I have stated if you want quality that works right every time then buy ForeFlight. To this day I believe that WingX Pro has surpassed ForeFlight in features and ForeFlight has been playing catch up. However ForeFlight is quickly catching up to WingX in features. However if you want quality over quantity I recommend ForeFlight. I do not like that ForeFlight only works with Stratus ADS-B In. It is a closed shop. WingX works with several different manufacture’s ADS-B In units, so you have a choice.

Here is the problem with WingX. They continue to put out updates that do not work right the first time. I have a major trip in 2 days that took a lot of planing with several user waypoints to circumnavigate MOA’s, Restricted Airspace and Terrain. 

WingX previous update has half the screen darker that the other half. The only way to eliminate this is to turn the IPad to full brightness. FAIL!

WingX update of today to fix the above problem crashes. I can not open the program. The only recourse I have is to delete the App, reload it and then plan my route all over again. Why, because by deleting the app and reloading, I will loose all my stored routes over the years. This is unacceptable.

I am stuck with WingX because I bought an ADS-B In unit when they first came out that does not work with Foreflight. I hate to pay another $850 for a new ADS-B unit to change to ForeFlight. I also bought a 3 year subscription to WingX that has another 11/2 years to go.

I had hoped that WingX had put all their problems behind them, but evidently the quality is still not there.

Buyer beware!

WINGX GRADE...MAJOR FAILURE!

YOU ARE GOING TO BUY AN AIRPLANE...WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY!

Before I get into airplane ownership I would like to give you a little bit of my aviation history. My first flight was in a Cessna 172 when I was 12 years old. My neighbor, Charlie Dolson, was a founder and 3rd chairman of Delta Airlines. I did not know what to expect flying in a small airplane, but I was excited. My only flying back then was as a passenger on the DC3. I remember when we went up it was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I decided then that I wanted to fly for the Air Force. I was drafted by the first lottery held with a number of 69 and was graduating from college when told to report for my physical. This was during the Viet Nam era, and I did not want to go into the army. I called Maxwell Air Force Base, which was close to Auburn University, to enlist. I had to take my physical during final exams which was a mess. I reported to Maxwell, and I flunked my physical having a knee injury playing football the year before. Back then knee surgery kept you walking, but physical activities were out of the question.

Being married at the time I decided to continue my education and went into business. My dream flying for the Air Force came to an end, and I raised a family. Having really missed flying I decided to get my private rating. I think it cost me under $2,000. After obtaining my private ticket I decided to fly to San Diego. When I talked to my FBO I was told that I could not take one of his planes out of state due to insurance requirements. After examining my options, I decided to buy an airplane. A 1966 Cherokee 180 came on the market locally. It was loaded with every option available. It was owned by one of the FBO’s who was a Piper dealer, and the plane was pristine with new paint.

As soon as the deal was finished I started my instrument training and finished it in the Cherokee. I enjoyed flying so much I also took up glider flying purchasing a Glasflugel Carbon Hornet. I flew gliders a couple of years but enjoyed power being able to travel. I also had a Mooney 201 after selling the Cherokee, and today I fly a 1954 V Tail Bonanza which I have owned for over 15 years. 

In the winter we did not leave Scottsdale much because it was so beautiful. I had a group that went snow skiing every Wednesday and that put on some hours. In the summer we travelled anywhere we could to get out of the heat. I no longer ski so most of my winter flying is local for the $150 hamburger along with one trip to Las Vegas in April.  In the summer we still fly to get out of the heat traveling primarily to San Diego which is a 1 hour 50 minute flight. Our longest trip was to San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria, Portland, back to San Francisco, LA and home. The beauty of having one’s own airplane is; if we liked a place we would stay longer, and if we did not we would leave earlier.

I was putting 150 hours a year on the airplane and enjoyed every minute. Gas prices started to climb several years ago. I was paying $.99 a gallon for 100 LL when I started flying. I told my wife when fuel prices started to climb I was selling the airplane if fuel ever got to $2 a gallon. Well here it is 2014, and I am paying $5.50 to $6.50 a gallon and still flying although my hours are running between 50 to 60 a year now.

This brings us to airplane ownership. I do not write off any expenses for my airplane even when I travel to write a column. Therefore all costs come out of my pocket. It would be cheaper to fly the airlines anywhere we go. Flying one’s own plane is a lifestyle that I am not ready to give up. When we fly to San Diego, we carry our beach chairs, beach umbrella and cooler in the airplane. We certainly could not do this on the airlines. It takes me 4 hours to fly to Palo Alto to visit my daughter and her family and 4 hours to visit my sister in Colorado Springs. I could do either trip on the airlines in 1.5 hours at less money. 

The question is am I crazy to fly my own plane paying for maintenance, insurance, hangar and fuel. The answer is probably, but I love flying. The IPad along with an aviation app and ADS-B In makes things easier than ever for me in the cockpit with no more folding charts. I receive free weather versus paying XM $50 a month which I used to do and traffic when a plane is flying nearby with ADS-B Out. I do not do drugs and flying to me is a natural high. If I ever have thoughts of selling the airplane, they are relinquished after having to fly the airlines.

Can I justify the cost of airplane ownership...no way! Can I justify the enjoyment I get from flying with my wife and charity flying...you better believe it. There are ways to cut costs by being in a partnership or flying club, but this is not for me. I know every time how my plane is landed and flown. I maintain my airplane to the highest standards with no questions asked. I also like being able to leave everything in the airplane after a trip.

I plan to fly as long as I am healthy and the money I have budgeted for flying holds out. I figure I will be done flying before the 2020 deadline for ADS-B Out, so I have not installed it in my airplane. The lowest cost I have seen is $8,500 installed for a mode C transponder no IFR GPS airplane. This is 20% of the value of my airplane. I am hoping the cost will come down in the next few years, but I am not holding my breath.

I love flying, and it is part of my life. Even if I fly just 50 hours a year it is worth it to me.

FLYING THE WACO AT RED ROCK AVIATION SEDONA ARIZONA

SEDONA ARIZONA

FLYING THE WACO

SEDONA AIR TOURS

RED ROCK AVIATION

Sedona Arizona (SEZ) is one of the most beautiful cities in the US. It is a tourist destination located 70 miles north of Phoenix and 70 miles south of the Grand Canyon. Sedona is truly an eclectic city surrounded by red rock formations on 3 sides. The people are laid back, spiritual  and extremely courteous. Sedona is also home to the famous Pink Jeep tours, which in itself is an amazing excursion.

SEZ sits on a 500 foot mesa. It is like landing on an aircraft carrier that is not moving. When flying into SEZ the calm wind runway is 3 landing uphill and departing 21 downhill. One has to be careful landing at SEZ, if windy there is a lot of sink at the beginning of the runway. It is best not to land on the numbers but stay a little high on approach. The elevation is 4800 feet but you have to be aware of density altitude as Sedona is a high desert, and it gets hot during the day but cools off at night.

The facilities at SEZ are way above normal for a small city. SEZ has a beautiful terminal building, a restaurant that has glass walls that allow you to look at the red rock formations and planes arriving and departing and just north of the restaurant is Red Rock Aviation/Sedona Air tours.

Red Rock is an fantastic entity. They offer Grand Canyon tours in light twins and jet helicopters. There are multiple tours available including a dinner tour and wine tour. In addition Red Rock offers open cockpit tours of Sedona in their 2 WACO biplanes. Each WACO’s flies about 8 to 12 missions a day. In the summer when it is hotter, only one WACO runs Monday through Friday as the other pilot flies for the forrest service. During Red Rock’s main season, 2 WACO’s fly 7 days a week.

When I arrived on May 16 to fly the WACO, Red Rock’s office was full of tourist to fly to the Grand Canyon and for the WACO ride. I arrived on Friday at 8:30AM and met my pilot at 9AM. Scott Sibson lives not far from Sedona in Prescott, AZ. He drives from Prescott to Cottonwood (P52) where the main operation is housed, and then flies the WACO on a short trip to SEZ. When Scott and I sat down to talk, we knew a lot of the same people in aviation, as I lived in Prescott hearing juvenile criminal cases for 4 years and was chairman of the aviation commission. Scott became an A&P flying for the forest service. He learned how to fly tailwheel in Prescott (PRC) having started by helping to rebuild a Piper Cub and was very handy at recovering a cloth airplane. I do not know which I enjoyed more talking to Scott or flying the WACO.

                                                              Scott Sibson...pilot 

I have been fortunate enough to fly gliders, fixed wing, helicopter, seaplane (see my blog on flying the Grumman Widgeon) and jets (see blog on transitioning from pistons to jets) . Until yesterday, I had never flown in an open cockpit biplane. I have flown with a lot of pilots over the years, and found that the best pilots I have flown with are airline pilots that also own their own GA airplane. I now have to add Scott to that list. He is a consummate professional. I have not enjoyed flying with someone more than with Scott in a long time.

The WACO we flew is a 1997 YMF 5-C Super. This WACO has more hours on it than any other WACO in the county clocking in at over 7500 hours. I was giving a pre-briefing by Scott which included entry into the front seat and how to operate the door which only opens and closes from the outside. Scott entered my seat to show me the best way to enter the cockpit. The front seat holds 1 or 2 people. After entering I was sitting low in a hole. My instrument in the front only included an airspeed indicator. Along with that I had stick, rudders, brakes, trim and throttle. My seat was under the wing and Scott’s was in the open behind the wing. He wore a baseball cap to keep the sun off of him. I had no forward vision and Scott does not either sitting in the back seat.

I donned my leather helmet, after entering the cockpit, that was attached to an over the ear headset. Scott primed the Jacobs 275 radial about 7 times and hit the starter. The radial came to life, and we taxied out doing S turns all the way to the active runway as there is no forward visibility in the WACO. SEZ is a Unicom field. Having finished our pre-flight runup we checked on the radio that no one was in the traffic pattern and took the active. After being perfectly straight down the runway Scott locked the tailwheel, and we were ready to go. Upon reaching 60mph the tailwheel came up, and we lifted off at 80mph. It was smooth as silk. Top speed is about 110mph, and we cruised at 100mph. There was no wind in the cockpit as the windshield does a great job of blocking the wind. I had on jeans and a light jacket and could have flown in my shorts and a polo shirt. In flight I pulled the headset away from my ears, and the noise was very loud. With the headsets on it was quiet as flying my Bonanza. Upon departing the runway we climbed to 7500 feet. This altitude kept us above the helicopter tours. We were only going to fly for about 15 minutes but were having so much fun we stayed up longer. Scott asked me if it was okay to do a wingover, and I said go for it. With one wing down about 90 degrees we turned on a pin head. Then we did one to the other side. After that I did some dutch rolls realizing how much rudder push is need to fly this big bird. All the time flying I had to look out 45 degrees to see where we going. The only time I could see directly over the cowl was on descent. There was a King Air on final so we crossed over the runway and then landed. Airspeed in the WACO is very important on landing. There is so much drag that airspeed had to be at 80mph to keep us flying. Pilots are always judged on their landings, and Scott outdid himself. We landed on the mains and kept the tail up until we ran out of airspeed. When stopped Scott unlocked the tailwheel to taxi back into Red Rock ramp. He let the engine run for about 2 minutes to prevent the engine from hydro locking. This is where excess oil drains down to the bottom 2 cylinders.

After the flight was over we could not talk long as there was a couple ready to go and take their WACO ride. 

I rate Red Rock/Sedona Air tours operation as a 10 out of 10 and enjoyed meeting John, James and others that work at the operation. Hats and t-shirts are available for sale in the Red Rock building. My thanks go out to Larry Bruner, owner of Red Rock, for for a wonderful day. 

AVIATION & CHARITY

AVIATION & CHARITY

2 WORDS THAT GO TOGETHER

PARTE UNO

I have been involved flying physically and mentally challenged children and their parents for 5 years. Our mission statement is to give the opportunity to these kids to get a taste of flying that they might not normally have. Originally we dealt with a company Challenge Air (CA) who did this on a national basis. The problem with CA was that they had a lot of employees which led to a high overhead. The third year that wanted us to raise $20,000 for them to sponsor the event. We just did not have that kind of money. We looked into partnering with a company from Cleveland but things did not work out with them either due to finances. Finally we decided to form our own non profit 501(c) (3) corporation, and Sky Kids AZ was formed 3 years ago. Our 3rd event was completed at Goodyear Airport (GYR) last Saturday, flying 118 kids and 185 of their parents, and we have added an event for November 8 in Scottsdale (SDL).

It takes a lot of money and volunteers to put on an event like this. First the money. Total cost is approximately $12,000. At Sky Kids we do not have any paid employees. Every one on our board are volunteers, and there are no salaries. All money collected is used to put on the event. The largest expense is insurance which runs around $3,000 per event. A volunteer group provides everyone with a complimentary breakfast. Hot dogs and hamburgers are cooked by retired firefighters for lunch. T shirts are purchased for all volunteers, pilots and of course the Kids. The pilots donate their planes and pay for their own fuel. The FBO sells fuel at their cost. Port A Potties are rented along with tables and chairs. Without donations the event could not proceed.

Volunteers are the backbone of the event. Of course you have the pilots, 24 airplanes and 2 helicopters, along with 2 people per plane to help load the children and their parents. A ground school is taught to all participants. Volunteers are assigned to each family to stay with them throughout the day. Celebrities such as the Phoenix Suns mascot and Miss Arizona spend the day with us. The fire department has some of their trucks there that the kids can play on. A pilots briefing is held early in the morning to go over any last minute questions. The routing had been e mailed to all pilots along with latitudes and longitudes. We have 2 routes, one for slower planes and 1 for faster planes. Each ride lasts 20 minutes. White boards are set up listing each pilot and their plane along with who they are flying. Volunteers are there until the day is complete. When the flight is over the loaders bring out a certificate that the pilot signs and the kids are given their wings. They are then taken to a red carpet where there are volunteers applauding them. A lot of tears are shed at these events. Volunteers arrive early to set up the hangar with tables and preflight areas. All in all these events would not be successful without the volunteers.

Flying starts promptly at 8AM until finished around 2PM. Then the loaders are given a ride at the end of the day. 

There you have it and hoping you might set up an event like this in your city.

PILOT BRIEF

WHITE BOARDS WITH PILOTS AND PLANES

THE RED CARPET

POST FLIGHT AWARD

PARTE SECONDA

Two weeks ago Scottsdale Air Center at Scottsdale Airport had a suitcase party with the proceeds going to charity. Everyone attending had a packed suitcase with them, and the winning couple were flown by private jet to Las Vegas for an all expenses paid weekend. They were then picked up on Sunday by private jet to return to SDL. Everything was donated. We had over 2,000 attend the event at $100 per ticket. This event raised $200,000 for charity. All enjoyed the food and music in the hangar.

FLYING GLIDERS IN ARIZONA

I have been fortunate to fly for a long time. I have flown pistons and jets, and if things go right I will have my first WACO ride next month but there is nothing like flying a glider. 

My first glider ride was in a Schweitzer 2-33 trainer. My pilot was not very good and he came in way high on approach and had to do a full slip to land. If I was not a pilot I would have been very scared of his approach. I went on to take my ticket, and my instructor was ex air force and national aerobatic champion in gliders. I can still hear his voice behind me when I am flying to this day.

There are three major glider ports in Arizona, one in north Phoenix, one in south Phoenix and one in Tucson. I took my lessons in the winter, and we could only stay up for about 30 minutes. All our tows were aero tow behind a Piper Pawnee. Arizona is known for great soaring in the summer when the thermals are working. I was amazed how we could glide for hours in the summer.

I learned more about weather flying a glider than I ever did flying an airplane. This was very important for staying aloft. When I purchased my high performance glider I was required to take spin training. When flying in a thermal we are at minimum air speed to get the best lift. It is very easy to stall and spin a glider if you get too slow circling in a thermal to get the best lift.

The Air Force Academy and Israeli Air Force start all their recruits flying gliders. The Air Force Academy out of Colorado Springs always has some great pilots competing in our contests in AZ.

In 1990 I was elected President of the Arizona Soaring Association (ASA), which is a subsidiary of the Soaring Society of America. One of my responsibilities was to arrange local and regional soaring contests. I loved doing this and meeting other glider pilots from around the western US. Glider pilots are a unique bunch of people. The thing I loved most was the knowledge glider pilots were willing to impart to other pilots of lesser experience. In a contest or just gliding for fun they would say stick with me and teach me how to fly cross country. It is not unheard of to fly at 15,000 feet in AZ. When flying a glider you go from point A to B and so on. You do not leave for point B until you have the altitude to get there. In all my time flying gliders I only had to land off field once. I landed on a private strip and the owners came out to meet me with water and anything else I needed that day. The strip was owned by the first President of the ASA and he had a pristine Piper Cub in his hanger. I made a call to my crew and they brought my trailer to pack me up and take me back to my base field. We all made new friends that day. When flying a glider you always have to have an out if you can not make your next waypoint. That day I hit a lot of sink and could not make it home.

When I first started flying gliders there was no GPS. When GPS came out we were not allowed to use it for our contest. Now GPS is allowed in all contest. My glider would fly for 12 miles for each 1000 feet of altitude. We used this on a chart to figure if we could get to the next waypoint. Glider flying is so quiet that at 15,000 feet I felt I could get out of the cockpit and walk alongside of my ship. The trainers are loud as there are not good seals in the ship, and it is loud inside.

There are several kinds of tows for gliders. I used aero tow. There are also winch tows that take you to 1000 feet agl and create their own thermal at release. Some people use car tows. With aero tow I would drop off at 2000 to 3000 feet agl when I found a good thermal. The first part of my flight is to stay in a thermal and gain altitude before going on course. One never flies a glider straight and level. We are always looking to gain altitude to go to the next point. When on a course we are always losing altitude until we find the next thermal and start the process over again. When I got high I can fly 180 miles without stoping to grab a thermal. There are super ships that can fly 50 miles per every 1000 feet of altitude.

If you ever get a chance go take a glider ride. I guarantee that you will be hooked!

THIS IS CNN!

AVIATION TALKING HEADS AND AIRLINE CRASHES

AIRLINE CRASHES 

AND 

TALKING HEADS

I represent two TV stations in Phoenix as an aviation expert. When an event occurs I want to have facts at hand, or I will not go on the air.

When the Asiana 777 crashed on approach in San Francisco (SFO) I was called to give my opinion, but I did not have any facts and declined. I heard talking heads giving their explanation for the crash from everything to terrorism and mechanical issues. When the facts came out it was the crew that flew a perfectly good 777 into the ground in severe blue skies. The ILS was out of service, and all the pilots had to do was fly a visual approach in perfect weather. Facts came out that these pilots flew with the autopilot after taking off and turning it on several hundred feet above the runway until they arrived at SFO, and then they turned the auto pilot off several hundred feet above the runway environment to hand fly the approach. GA pilots, like myself, hand fly the airplane if they do not have an auto pilot. If not in IMC I fly a visual approach to the airport. Lack of hand flying caused this accident.

Over the weekend a Maylasia 777 disappeared over the water in SE Asia. The talking heads came out of the woodwork. First thing I heard was the plane ran out of fuel. Then I heard the plane had wing repairs and the wing fell off in flight. Then I heard there were two aboard with fake passports and it was terrorism. The next thing that came out was that 370 was highjacked and taken below radar levels. Then I heard the plane was shot down. The last thing I heard was it must have been a pilot committing suicide.

At the time I am writing this column no wreckage has been recovered from flight 370, and no one knows for sure what has happened to this plane. Until we find out what really happened I wish that all the talking heads would go back under the covers as they have nothing relevant to say. One day we will find out what happened to 370. Until then everyone please keep their mouths shut!