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Plane & Pilot October 1st, 2023 Digital Back Issue Cover

Plane & Pilot October 2023 (Digital)

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18 Articles

Welcome in Wisconsin

I’ve had a few weeks to process and reflect on my first EAA AirVenture experience, and I continue to be amazed by the community that is aviation. I don’t think there’s another industry in which the members are quite so passionate about their craft and so supportive of one another, including novices. Even as a beginner, I felt so welcomed at Oshkosh. I met some new people, from NASA pilots and engineers to social media acquaintances (I will follow anything with a propeller on Instagram) and many of the writers for FLYING and Plane & Pilot I hadn’t seen in person yet. I have to thank senior editors LeRoy Cook, Frank Ayers, and Jeremy King, and FLYING technical editor Meg Godlewski in particular for their kindness in taking me under…

Welcome in Wisconsin

The Clock Is Ticking

Pilots tend toward self-reliance, and a healthy mix of curiosity and skepticism to guide our flying. But those of us—that’s most of us here—flying behind piston power regularly stake our lives on a liquid we may take for granted—until now. Whether we fly using aviation gasoline or “mogas” from the auto world, the fuel we put in our tanks meets a standard few of us know much about. Most pilots recognize the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) from its involvement in the acceptance of light sport aircraft, if they’re aware of the group at all. Turns out ASTM sets standards for a lot of household and industrial goods, and for fuel as well as aircraft in the aviation world. And it is by the grace of adhering to…

The Clock Is Ticking

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Our GOAT Flying Boat I was pleasantly surprised to see the photo my wife, Ann Talbot, took of me unloading our seaplane at Vancouver International Airport [CYVR], British Columbia, in 1978, published in [Plane & Pilot’s] July 2023 [issue]. She is an iStock contributor, and I assume that is how [contributing editor] LeRoy [Cook] found it. We had just returned from a wilderness camping trip in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. Our Lake [Buccaneer] flying boat’s useful load (fuel, two adults, and gear) without the rear seat is 1,080 pounds, giving us plenty of room for our inflatable boat. We used our 1965 Volvo wagon to tow the Lake flying boat (no retractable wheels) to the seaplane ramp on the Fraser River. It is the only seaplane Lake ever built and is…

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

FAA to ID Runway Risks

FAA PLANS RUNWAY SAFETY MEETINGS ACROSS THE U.S. Amid numerous reports of runway incursions and other problems with aircraft separation at airports, the FAA has announced it will hold runway safety meetings at roughly 90 airports across the U.S. The list of airports includes many Class C and D fields with extensive GA operations. Known as Runway Safety Action Team (RSAT) meetings, the events are designed to bring together representatives from the FAA’s air traffic organization, Part 121 and 135 operators, pilots, airport vehicle drivers, and others at each airport to identify safety risks and develop mitigation strategies. The meetings are to take place through the end of September. The meetings, conducted annually at airports with control towers, serve as forums for addressing airport-specific safety issues in the surface environment. Participants…

Across 1 Early stunt pilots7 The E in ELT10 Small drop in altitude12 Shape of some flight formations13 Evaluations for pilots, for example15 Try out for again18 ____ drag: aerodynamic drag produced by an airfoil as the inevitable byproduct of producing lift21 Records23 World clock std., abbr.24 Took off25 Aviation watch brand29 Reduce friction between surfaces30 Friend32 Media handler33 Device used to raise or lower the angle of the horizontal part of the plane’s tail Down 1 952 ____ Navitimer watch2 Coral areas3 Temporary downturn4 Person who holds title5 Month of the 2024 Vero Beach Air Show6 Part of an engine8 Electric vehicle, for short9 Middle grade11 Write a check for14 Small time increments16 Scheduled each year, like inspections17 Device measuring airspeed aboard aircraft in flight, 2 words19 Completely clean…

Oshkosh Goodies

It seems like you can get anything you want at EAA AirVenture. Or at least anything from a new airplane, old airplane, or toy airplane to a plethora of trinkets, books, T-shirts, and even aviation-themed skivvies (there’s a booth for that). NEW CESSNA INTERIORS Aircraft manufacturers also get a chance to show off their new toys, and Textron Aviation was on the scene showing off its newly designed Cessna 172 Skyhawk interior. The airplane is a “scout,” as Chris Crow, vice president of piston aircraft sales for Textron Aviation, put it in a video interview with sister publication AVweb. Crow added that the company expects the upgraded 172s to be available on the market sometime in 2024. The airplane from the outside is the classic 172 body we all know…

Oshkosh Goodies

TO HELL YOU FLY

IT IS RUMORED that the town of Telluride, Colorado, got its name in the 1800s from the phrase “to hell you ride,” alluding to the treacherous journey required to reach the remote mountain destination by horseback. When flying into this high-altitude airport, the name is as fitting now as it was then. Situated at a breathtaking 9,078 feet msl with the density altitude frequently gracing the high 11,000s, it’s no surprise Telluride Regional Airport (KTEX) has the distinction of being the highest-altitude commercial facility in the United States. Although I’ve been flying for more than 20 years, I only recently received my commercial certificate, and shortly thereafter, my very first assignment to fly a family from San Antonio to Telluride in a beautiful Piper Turbo Saratoga, a PA-32-301T. The aircraft…

TO HELL YOU FLY

A NEW LIGHTER SIDE of OSHKOSH

It’s all over—EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the world’s largest-attendance airshow and convention. It’s a delicious, if somewhat overwhelming, drink out of a firehose for an entire week at the end of July. Oshkosh offers something for every pilot and more than any one person can see. I’ll mention this news briefly as I wish to pay respect to fellow pilots. Two accidents on the weekend after we departed resulted in four fatalities, reportedly including one passenger. My sincere condolences to the surviving families. Oshkosh has enjoyed safe years with no loss of life, but when so many airplanes assemble, mathematical odds suggest that something is going to happen despite incredible efforts to make the event as safe as possible. In the heat of Oshkosh 2023, people proved adept at finding shade…

A NEW LIGHTER SIDE of OSHKOSH

FLYING TO THE END of CAPE COD

My conflicted relationship with Cape Cod dates to the 1970s when my family spent a series of summer vacations there. Mom and Dad would cram me, my two older sisters, the dog, and all manner of beach toys into the family car and drive for hours upon hours to the Cape in Massachusetts. And, yes, it was fun. My sisters and I still share fond recollections of meeting up with kids from other vacationing families and the resulting grade-school crushes, plucking clams and mussels from sandbars at low tide for appetizers, and listening to the local radio station, WRKO, which convinced us that FM was destined to rule over AM. The interminable nature of the road trip was a clear downside, though, and the stay never was long enough. While…

FLYING TO THE END of CAPE COD

SKETCHES of AIRVENTURE

I thought I was prepared for my first EAA AirVenture experience in Wisconsin. By mid-July, I had a dance card filled, with interviews and media events blocked for every one of the seven days I would be in attendance. I had read everything I could about what to pack and wear to stay comfortable walking from one end of the venue to another in search of the next story. I had talked to my sister and other friends who had been there. I was ready. I knew I would have some time between events and interviews, so I planned to take in the daily air shows and spend some time visiting the museum to get out of the heat. I had starry-eyed visions of leisurely conversations with the owners of…

SKETCHES of AIRVENTURE

You were proud once. And why not? All eyes were focused on your pride and joy while it rested comfortably on the ramp in all its glory. Yes, your bird was once shiny and brightly colored with accent stripes that would cause those passing by to take a deep breath and sigh with envy. Now even the requisite resident mouse-hunting cat at your FBO won’t give it a second look. If the paint on your airplane is duller than a roomful of mathematicians, then maybe it’s time to think about getting some new feathers for your bird with a professional paint job to restore your aircraft to its, as Bruce Springsteen once sang, glory days. So as not to let it pass you by, let’s look at what it really…

FLYING IN THE ROUGH

No one likes flying in turbulent air. It’s an annoyance to the pilot, requiring constant attention at the controls, and a concern for passengers, tossing to and fro in their strapped-in seats and beginning to debate the wisdom of air travel. As much as possible, avoidance of turbulence should be the goal, rather than stoic endurance. In my days as a purveyor of air taxi services, our sales brochure stated the company’s philosophy as “Safety, Comfort, Speed,” ranking a smooth, uneventful flight right behind the primary objective of a safe arrival. We tried our best to avoid turbulent air—dozing passengers meant we were meeting our goal. The rare occasions of inescapable bouncing risked an onset of mal de l’air and redecoration of the cabin interior. Staying in the smooth starts…

FLYING IN THE ROUGH

“PRACTICALLY ON THE GROUND NOW,” radioed one of the pilots of a Cessna 441 after acknowledging its approach clearance. It was inbound on the RNAV GPS Runway 36 instrument approach at Winchester Municipal Airport (KBGF) in Tennessee. Radar and ADS-B data showed the plane crossing the intermediate approach fix on course and at the correct altitude. It started a descent but did not level out at the final approach fix altitude. Instead, it continued downward, crashing into woods about 5 miles short of the runway. Both pilots aboard were killed. The accident occurred on a cloudy, cold February afternoon in 2021. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report, and it contains some clues to the pilot’s thinking. There are no surprising mechanical or meteorological findings. No…

The storyteller’s hands fly about, energetically reenacting a disaster aloft. “Wind was whipping all around, and the visibility went to zero! Honest to goodness, I couldn’t see outside for a long moment—it felt like forever!” It’s a story I’ve heard told in any number of FBOs with minor variations, recollections of when a favor went terribly wrong. “I was laughing and crying and worried I would hit the trees because my buddy’s ashes were all in my eyes. The ashes washed out of my clothes, but a little bit of Don goes along for the ride whenever I fly now. I’ll never get all the ashes out of the nooks and crannies of my Cherokee!” A friend of my family reached out to ask if I could help him find…

Traffic Pattern MANNERS & ETIQUETTE

Etiquette is defined as a “customary code of polite behavior among members of a particular profession or group.” Pilots understand that adherence to professional standards is nowhere more critical than during approach to the airport and landing. Fighter pilots instinctively understand this. When they return to the airfield or aircraft carrier, the formation gets a little tighter and the radio calls are more concise. They follow the rules partly because they understand the cost of making a mistake is high, and they know everyone is watching. The Super Bowl of traffic pattern operations is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (KATL) during rush hour. Hundreds of flights coordinated into an aerial ballet, a series of machine-gun-like radio instructions, carrying thousands of passengers safely to their terminal just in time so they can…

Traffic Pattern MANNERS & ETIQUETTE

ACCIDENT BRIEFS

Rans S-14 Airaile Bonaire, Georgia Injuries: 1 Serious The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was flight testing a newly installed propeller. During ground static testing, the pilot found the propeller rpm to be acceptable. After liftoff, the engine rpm increased to a nonacceptable range. The pilot responded by reducing the throttle and retracting the flaps. [According to the pilot,] the airplane’s flight controls felt like a “…mushy precursor to a stall,” [so] the pilot increased engine power to full and lowered the nose of the airplane to increase airspeed. The airport was surrounded by housing developments, and the pilot turned left in an attempt to return to the airport, but the airplane would not maintain altitude. [The pilot] guided the airplane toward trees in order to avoid the houses.…

Mooney Porsche M20L PFM

The history of automotive-based powerplants in general aviation is not a great one. However, in the late 1980s, if anyone was determined to make it work, it was the engineering talent at Porsche and Mooney. Porsche, riding high on the sales success of its classic 911 and its domination of sports car racing, including the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans, was looking to make a return to the aviation business. Mooney, which had much success marketing its Roy LoPresti-inspired 200-plus mph Mooney 201 and 231 models, was looking to create another marketing success. Just maybe the combination of these two speed kings might produce the high-end product line anchor that Mooney needed and create the same kind of mystique that driving a Porsche 911 bestowed upon its owner. Well,…

Mooney Porsche M20L PFM

Charles Carpenter

There are countless stories of heroics stemming from World War II. The “Greatest Generation” fought battles both in the Pacific and Europe. Many never came home. But thanks to one man with a crazy idea, many men that would have otherwise never made it to see the end of the war did, in fact, return home. That would be the one and only Charles Carpenter, but history remembers him as “Bazooka Charlie.” Carpenter was born in the small town of Edgington, Illinois, in 1912. If such a thing can be predetermined, then it was likely that Carpenter was destined for the skies. On the day he was born, the local newspaper headline read, “Aviation Events Big Fair Feature.” Yet aviation was a long way off for Carpenter. His parents divorced…

Charles Carpenter

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