Aviators avoided the scorching heat most of last week, preferring to have the plane back in the hangar by noon, when the ground temp topped 100 F. We found 80-degreea flight at 4000 feet on Monday, but we couldn’t stay there because it was a training sortie and landing circuits were on the agenda. The welcome cooling over the weekend bode well for August flying.
Among the transient travelers were a nicely-restored 1947
Globe Swift, a Cessna Skylane and a Piper Archer.. Locally, the Koehn Skyhawk
was out and I flew in a Cessna 182.
ere was some flying done last week, by getting out early.
From the local hangars, Jim Ferguson had his Cessna Skylane up, Jeremie Platt
flew his Grumman Tiger, Randy Miller exercised the club Skyhawk and Jon
Laughlin came through with his Piper Cherokee 180C. The BCS AirTractor was out
doing spraying early and late, and Chris Hall brought his Beech King Air E90
home from the shop.
We received word over the weekend of the passing of
long-time pilot and Merwin resident Leslie “Buster” Chambers. I was proud to
call Buster one of my pilot graduates, although he was mostly taught to fly by
WW-II instructor Bob Leuthart. He’s now gone on to fly higher than ever. We’ll
miss him here but hope to see him later on. At ease, Colonel Chambers.
Now that the FAA released the final guidelines for new
aircraft certification under the MOSAIC rules, permitted in a new FAR Part 22,
the first such airplanes are being delivered. The first one was turned over to
its new owner at Oshkosh last week, a Van’s RV-12is that’s being put to work at
a Tennessee flight school. Once known as light sport certification, MOSAIC
replaces the LSA with no weight limitations, only stall speed limits. To move
from Experimental to Part 22 certification, the RV-12 had to incorporate
turnover structure, a canopy breaker and a standby alternator.
There continues to be confusion about the Sport Pilot
rules, compared to Light Sport Aircraft certification, now replaced by MOSAIC.
First, the pilot rules: There is a Sport Pilot license, that can be earned with
lighter training requirements and no need for an FAA medical certificate. It
allows the holder to fly aircraft meeting MOSAIC standards, including those
already flying under earlier certifications. However, if a pilot already holds
a higher grade of license (Private Pilot or higher), he or she can operate such
aircraft as a Sport Pilot, under sport-pilot restrictions.
Now, the aircraft rules: What used to be Light Sport
Airplanes, with a gross weight of 1320 pounds (600 kilograms) or less, are now
covered by MOSAIC certification standards, set by ASTM consensus instead of FAA
supervision. MOSAIC has no weight restriction, just low stall speed standards,
and older aircraft certified under FAA Part 23 rules can also be flown by Sport
Pilots or higher pilot certifications, as long as Sport Pilot restrictions are
followed, such as one passenger only, with no more than four seats. But if you
want to build and sell a new aircraft, you now have the choice of certifying it
under Part 23 or the less-rigorous MOSAIC standards.
Companies from the third-world cheap-labor countries are
salivating over the chance to make plastic planes powered by non-traditional
engines, certified under MOSAIC, which they can sell to the gold-mine U.S.
market. Problem is, by the time they get them equipped like American buyers
want, the price climbs to $250,000 or more, so the envisioned sales aren’t
there. We’d rather fix up good old used planes for less money.
From last week’s column, our question was “What’s the
Republic/Fairchild A-10 attack plane’s official name?” As Dennis Jacobs knew,
the old Warthog is officially the Thunderbolt II, named from Republic’s P-47
Thunderbolt fighter. For next week, what airline did Howard Hughes fly for in
1932? You can send your answers to
[email protected].
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