Quick strip check

The sun was shining, at least between the showers, and the visibility was excellent. Sadly the waterlogged ground and some more rain means no swift return to the strip, not even for a quick visit or touch-and-go.

I'm not complaining. The floods currently hitting Haiti and the storm deaths in Portugal, Spain and France put things into perspective somewhat.

A move indoors

With the strip wet, some avionics work and a few little bits of airframe fettling the C182 has been living at Henstridge. Although it was inside for the work and quite a bit of time afterwards, eventually the space was needed and the aeroplane moved outside.

It may have been sheltered from the wind, and it may have been safe, but it was often wet. So today, thanks to the generosity of Jez Hopkinson, the C182 temporarily moved into the Yakovlevs' hangar where it'll be nice and dry.

Thanks Jez.

Sterling crisis?

I need to make it clear that I'm not an economist, a currency trader or anything else to do with money (apart from being a user that is), but I've been hearing lots of talk about a sterling crisis.

This morning's BBC news put the political and economic uncertainty together as causes of a potential uber weakening of the £. According to the BBC report, some are predicting £/$ parity and that €1 will be worth more than £1.

If that ever happens (and a friend of mine has been predicting parity with the US dollar for quite a while) it's bound to make GA more expensive. Oil is priced in dollars, and so is almost anything else in aviation from avionics to engines, to parts. The bits that aren't priced in dollars are priced in euro (Rotax for example), so that doesn't help either.

With a bit of luck the 'experts' have been exaggerating the situation for dramatic effect and screen time, but thoughts of returning to a £1/$2 exchange rate seem premature.

Here's a more eloquent version of the above from the Daily Telegraph

Distance learning

When I think of distance learning it's the Internet that comes to mind. I'm sure there must be some Open University stuff on TV these days, but I never seem to stumble across it, or its seventies style lecturers.

So what's this? This DC-6 was operated by Purdue University, it took off, lowered its TV transmission antenna and loitered at 23,000' while broadcasting educational programmes. The DC6 was operated from Purdue's very own airfield.

I'm told the crew had access to parachutes, just in case the antenna failed to retract for landing!

There's a great Popular Science article from January 1961 here.

As an aside, Purdue has recently ordered some more aircrfat for its Flight Training program - they'll soon be taking delivery of nine new SR20s and a Phenom 100 jet. Not a bad fleet!

I took the picture below from the entrance of the Niswonger building, which 'honours' the old aviation department. The hangar the other side of the brick wall is where Amelia Earhart's Electra was prepared.

Sunshine and rain

Great news, Saturday's weather looks good. Well, when I say good I mean not too bad with perhaps a little sunshine, at least for the south of the country, up north it doesn't look quite so good.

Sunday of course there's rain forecast. No flying and a the country's grass strips and runways won't be doing much drying.

Onwards and upwards…

Bye bye Sport Cruiser kit?

Once upon a time there was a Sport Cruiser. Now there's the Piper Sport. That should be a good thing. There will be good support, good parts service and at a stroke (well almost) the USA will have a network of engineers who understand the Rotax 912. The Piper Sport will also get a few small improvements that will make it an even better aircraft.

Of course where there's an upside there's often a downside or two. Let's start with the price. The Piper Sport is more expensive that the Sport Cruiser. The mid-range model (There are three versions Basic, LT and LTD) will set you back $129,900, plus delivery, plus tax. That's right around £100,000. Then there's the fact that Piper is an aeroplane manufacturer and as such has no real interest in selling kits. Nothing is official yet, but my understanding is that the factory has no great interest in kits either, so the Sport Cruiser kit is pretty much a thing of the past.

Looking at the good and bad together I think aviation is a winner. What was a great aeroplane gets the support of a major manufacturer, and people looking to replace much of the worldwide training fleet now have even more choice.

Rough (wet) diamond

The drive to Henstridge was February grim. Low clouds, grey skies, horizontal wet snow and lots of puddles full of brown, muddy water. The runway was quiet, but there was lots of actvity in the hangars - spanners, pliers, air tools and rags all working hard. There's some (justifiably) big bills heading someone's way...

Although there was no flying, there was plenty of evidence of ongoing development. All of the hangars on the airfield are new, one of the large hangars north of the taxiway has been completed and the other is well on the way. The Air Ambulance crew look to be enjoying their modern, purpose-built facility and work on the new (much needed) clubhouse appears to have started. The field is home to a new maintenance organisation, the Yakovlevs display team and I believe that a new helicopter company is also on site.

It's great to see a GA facility that is adding to its facilities and infrastructure, and although Henstridge still has a few rough edges (or more precisely access roads) it's really good to see things moving forwards.

Ah, the joy of a Cub…

I've only ever flown two Piper Cubs (I think). One was on floats at Jack Brown's Seaplane Base, and I can remember it being a lot of fun. The other a couple of years ago was a Super Cub in France. I expected it to be as brilliant as everyone said it would be, but, to be blunt it was one of the worst-handling aeroplanes that I've flown.

I've taken a bit of stick since then. It seems that criticising a Cub is a bit like telling someone that their daughter is ugly, and perhaps my view was influenced by the praise heaped on the Cub by others.

Anyway, I got an email a day or so ago announcing a fly-in to Southern Sweden that's going to honour the Cub.

The event takes place between 2nd and 4th July - I might even go if I can find a Cub to borrow, perhaps I ought to give it another chance?

Here's the press release in full…


This year we'll celebrate Cubs of all kinds! It's 80 years since the E-2 flew and 75 years since the J-2 flew for the first time. Because of this, Cub owners in several European countries will receive a special fly-in invitation by mail.

This year's South Swedish Vintage Fly-in takes place the first weekend of June with the airshow during Saturday. Final schedule is still to be announced but previously the airshow included Spitfire, Mustang, T-28 and several types of aerobatic displays.
The South Swedish Vintage Fly-in 2009 established a new visitors record and in 2010 we are preparing for even more flying guests and spectators. Eslöv (ESME) is located in the very south of Sweden making it easily accessible for north-European pilots.
For more info please visit www.flyin.se for updates. Or Matts Behrens +46 - 734 120 392 (media) or Sten Svensson +46 - 705 547 000 (event)
South Swedish Vintage Fly-in in is arranged in co-operation with the Municipality of Eslöv.

The runway is wet wet wet

Took the dog for a walk today. We walked up 08 and back down 26. There were parts that were OK to use, but there were more parts that weren't.

In extremis it would be possible to operate in and out of the strip when it is in this condition, but there'd be a fair amount of ground damage caused.

It doesn't look like it is about to get any better either, here's Lyneham's TAF

TAF EGDL 211931Z 2121/2215 09004KT 9999 SCT025 BECMG 2121/2124 6000 -RA OVC012 BECMG 2200/2203 BKN005 TEMPO 2202/2211 3000 RADZ BKN003=

KY Jelly sales in USA set to grow?

Three things happened last week.

The first was a tragic accident. A Cessna 310 crashed just after departure in Palo Alto, California. The three poeple on board, all senior employees of the electric car company Tesla, were killed. The accident took out the power supply to the town for a while and that resulted in a lot of media coverage, most of which was written by people who don't understand aviation, here's one small example.

The second incident involved Joe Stack, a software developer who had reportedly been battling with the IRS. Stack apparently objected to the tax status of the Catholic Church and had been fighting his corner for the last 30 years. Stack apparently set fire to his house (with his wife and daughter inside) before heading to the airport. He then flew his PA28-236 (Piper Dakota) into the IRS building, starting a huge fire, killing himself and one worker inside. This is a recording of Stack's r/tT on the day.

The third incident happened when 23-year-old Skye Turner, who has a lapsed student pilot certificate, stole a Cirrus SR22 from Montgomery Field San Diego. He flew to Palm Springs, took on some fuel, and took off again. His flight ended when he landed at Los Angeles International (yup, LAX) at 3am yesterday. He was arrested.

As you can imagine, these incidents have been widely covered in the US media. They are being widely debated by pilots, the public, politicians and various US Government agencies. As one US pilot put it: "Brace yourselves, I think we're all about to get screwed."

Let's hope not.

Only varieties of bad...

I've taken a slightly more in depth look at the GAMA figures. A quick comparison with 2008 (which in itself was significantly worse than 2007) reveals the manufacturers who have seen big declines and those that have seen enormous declines.

Cessna maintains its position at the head of the delivery table with 355 deliveries (down 52% on 2008) while the Cirrus SR22 remains the world's best-selling piston aircraft with 240 delivered (down 44% on 2008). Mooney, Maule and Piper saw the largest declines with 71% 75% and 72% respectively, while Diamond, Gippsland and Hawker Beechcraft saw the smallest drop with 'only' 47%, 42% and 48% respectively.

So there you go - it's been ugly out there and it is too early to tell if 2010 is going to be any better. Most conservative insiders are hoping that the decline has stopped and that we've reached the bottom.

Today is GAMA day

Later today we'll know the shipment figures for 2009, and there's unlikely to be an after-show party.

Last year was very tough for piston deliveries and plain ugly for jets, the figures for the first three quarters have been known for a while, so it is just Q4, traditionally a good one, that remains to be seen.

Happy Valentine

Spotted outside Western Michigan University's Battle Creek facility.

SkyCatcher delays

As Piper announced the PiperSport, Cessna whispered news of delivery delays for the the SkyCatcher. It seems there are some tooling changes required in China in order to incorporate the design changes made following the spin accidents. These changes will delay any significant deliveries by six to twelve months.

In the meantime a small number will be delivered and the modifications will be made in the US by Yingling Aviation.

Some are asking why these changes aren't being done in China - after all, labour is cheap and it would get deliveries (and a bit of cash) flowing. There are of course rumours. Is Cessna having quality issues in China? Are the aircraft coming off the line a little heavy? Is the local training taking longer than originally thought?

The official line remains that the delay is due to changed tooling requirements…

Clearing the snow...

Whichever way you look at it, Clermont County airfield is smaller than Cranfield. There's no ILS, no ATC and there are fewer movements. The area only gets occasional snow, but when it does snow, Sporty's, who run this small, friendly airfield, roll out the snowploughs and keep the runway open. It's not a cheap operation, but surely an airfield like Cranfield that has many rent-paying businesses who rely on the runway could invest in a snowplough or two?

Numbers…

Had a drink in a bar in Wichita today. The waitress was talking about her two jobs. During the day, she sells print advertising in a business-to-business magazine aimed at new and used car dealers. Three nights a week she pours beer and serves burgers. In her words, she's "…sucking up this recession twice".

When things were good, about thirty shift workers from Cessna called in for a drink. Now only two turn up. Depending on your source for the numbers, Cessna has reduced its workforce by either 50% or 57%. Either number is frightening. Hawker Beechcraft, also based in Wichita, has been hit even harder.

The waitress says that she's down $600 a month in tips; Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft, Learjet and many other aviation companies in the area are down a lot more.

Next week, the GAMA figures for 2009 are out, it's a sort of end of year health report for aviation, and no-one is expecting it to be pretty.

Stuck in Wichita

Wichita Mid-Continent is a small airport. With a flight at 17.00 there was no real need to arrive any earlier than 16.00, and to be honest 16.30 would have probably been fine. I'd just pulled over to snap this sign when I heard that hundreds of flights in and out of Chicago (my planned destination for tonight) have been cancelled.

My other hire car is in the long-term parking at Midway and I need to retrieve it. I tried to check in, but found as expected that the flight had been cancelled. I'm now booked on the 05.42 flight tomorrow, and can look forward to another night in a cheap motel without a hire car. Oh the sheer luxury of transatlantic business travel.

A short video diary

It's OK, I'm not in the videos…







Sadly this trip has been more about video three than videos one and two.