What’s Upby LeRoy Cook
The arrival of seasonal cool, crisp fall weather brought
reality to an unnatural warm autumn over the weekend. Airplanes perform better
in the cool air, as it puts a spring in their step, due to the increased air
density.
The usual traffic was in and out last week, including
several Piper Archer touch-and-goes plus arrivals by a Mooney M20, a Civil Air
Patrol Cessna 182, and a Piper Aztec twin. Hunter Christophersen flew down from
New Century in the family Piper Cherokee Archer.
Locally, Jeremie Platt flew approaches in his Grumman
Tiger, Randy Miller did some currency flying in a Cessna 150, Eric Eastland
uncharacteristically flew twice in his Cessna Skyhawk and I aborted a photo mission
in a Cessna 150, later completed in the Cessna 172.
A spate of accidents, nationwide and nearby, sadly reduced
the legacy airplane count last week. Over at Johnson County Executive airport
last week, a pilot from Newton, KS came up short of the runway in his Cessna
182, causing the airplane to flip over on its back at the threshold. He's okay
but the airplane is badly bent. A Piper Cherokee out at Newburg, Oregon came
down on the roof of a house last Wednesday, poking inside below crashing into
the yard. The airplane occupants survived, but two people in the house died.
And in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, a parks-and-rec worker running a lawn mower
adjacent to the runway was fatally injured when a Beech Bonanza's wing clipped
her during landing.
In the tragedy-averted department, a FedEx Boeing 757 made
a belly landing at Chattanooga, TN Thursday night, when the landing gear
wouldn't extend. It slid to a halt uneventfully on its engine pylons and nose,
all three crew members emerging unhurt. Sometimes, your package can't get there
absolutely, positively on-time.
Next week marks the annual convention of the National
Business Aircraft Association in Las Vegas, NV, where those from the upper end
of general aviation assemble, from aircraft builders to maintenance providers
to training and parts purveyors. The NBAA meeting is big business, where lots
of new equipment is first shown and many orders are taken. It alternates
between Orlando and Lost Wages, who are about the only convention towns with
halls big enough for it. This year, Gulfstream Aviation is not exhibiting,
forgoing its usual display for private events targeted at its prospects.
Embraer, Textron and Bombardier will take its space.
The question from last week wanted know why 18,000 feet is
the altitude at which a standard (29.92 inches of mercury) altimeter setting is
to be used in the U.S. It's because that's enough to clear all terrain in the
lower 48, so any barometric pressure changes are irrelevant. Now, can anyone
tell us why Chris Hall's 1956 Cessna 182 has a row of three round covered ports
on the side of its fuselage? You can send your answers to [email protected].
