What's Up
by LeRoy Cook
September 7, 2026
Suggested Banner: No More BenFin Form
Flying early and late were the best options all of last
week, as the unbroken heat wave continued. Many non-urgent flights were
canceled out of motivational lethargy. Just dragging the old bird out of its
shed and getting it ready for flight was too much effort. Holiday travels still
went off as planned; at least the weather conditions were stable.
We often get asked “how hot is too hot to fly?” There's
really no limit, but it's a question of performance degradation and abuse to
all participants. It does cool off at altitude, but it takes a while to climb
up to 8000 feet or so, and the air-cooled engine takes a beating. Cylinder head
temperatures are redlined at 420 degrees F. normally, and we like to keep them
around 380 or 390. That calls for faster airspeed during the climb, which drops
the rate of ascent, prolonging the agony at full power.
Visitors last week included a Piper Aerostar twin, making
multiple passes over town on Wednesday, and a 1952 Cessna 170B, refueling on
its way to Nevada. A Diamond DA-62 diesel-engine twin was in, as was a Piper
Archer. Locally, a Piper TriPacer and a Cessna 172 were pulled out of their
hangars for short flights.
The results of the World Aerobatic flying competition at
Mason City, Iowa, held last week, wasn't good for the U.S. France dominated the
individual standings, taking first and third places, and the France team racked
up the most judging points. The best U.S. pilot narrowly slipped down into
fourth place.
In world-wide coverage, fighter jets were scrambled in
Hungary a week-ago Saturday, as an errant Cessna Skyhawk appeared to be heading
for a nuclear power plant. However, it crashed landed in a field before
reaching the nuke plant and a very drunk non-pilot was taken into custody. It's
doubtful that a 2,000-pound Cessna would do much serious damage to a
highly-fortified nuclear plant.
The U.S. Treasury Department has rescinded its requirement
for U.S. owners of Limited Liability Companies to file a yearly Beneficial
Financial Ownership report. LLC's are often used to provide ownership of
private pilot aircraft, as well as other purposes. The BenFin form, originally
designed to catch money laundering, has served no purpose, and now ordinary
citizens can forget keeping track of that one more annual requirement.
Even the high-and-mighty suffer equipment failures; Homeland
Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen was among 14 people aboard a Coast Guard
Gulfstream V business jet flying from Atlanta to Washington last Wednesday when
the right engine failed. The powerful G-V had plenty of thrust remaining with
its left engine, so it successfully diverted to DCA airport for an uneventful
landing. I'm sure the event will be thoroughly investigated.
For us commoners who need to fly into the highly-restricted
moat-guarded airspace around Washington, D.C., the most-used outlying airport
is Manassas, VA. Now Manassas may be opening up to airline service, mixed into
its 420 based private airplanes. The field recently received Part 139
certification for commercial passenger service, although no airline has
announced plans to use it as of now.
In an interesting turn of events, an occasional airline
departure is delayed from oil fumes stinking up the cabin, coming from the
auxiliary power unit in the airplane's tail. To eliminate the nuisance, Eastman
Chemical Co. has developed a new APU oil that doesn't give off the foul odor,
but now flight attendants and other crews have lodged concern that leaks may go
undetected because they can't smell them. One thing leads to another.
Our previous column asked for the origin of Nashville, TN,
airport’s ICAO code of “BNA”, which may soon be renamed “Dolly Parton
International.” It was because it was Berry Nashville Airport, named for its
developer, Col. Harry S. Berry, back in 1936. For next week's quiz, what kind
of airplane was built by the U.S. Naval Aircraft Factory in the early 1940s?
You can send your answers to [email protected].
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