Small Aircraft Transportation System

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Mac

At one time NASA promoted SATS – What happened?

In the mid-1990s NASA created a program to revive general aviation and transform piston airplanes into reliable transportation machines that could be safely operated by pilots without thousands of hours of experience. The hope was to create a small aircraft transportation system (SATS) that would allow people to travel with convenience and predictability between the thousands of airports in the country that are not served by scheduled airlines.

The general aviation industry applauded. Richard Collins and I scratched our heads. We, and many thousands of other pilots, had been SATS participants for decades and didn’t even know it. We used our airplanes for transportation and essentially matched the schedule reliability of the major airlines, which was a bit of a challenge then, but not that difficult now. What would SATS do that we didn’t?  Continue reading →

Posted in Industry & Government, Mac Clellan's Left Seat Blog, Safety | 46 Comments

When Dual Can Equal Disaster

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Mac

TruTrak Auto Trim module on an RV. Courtesy: Ivan and Dianne Kristensen

Every well-trained crew, or any competent instructor, always makes it absolutely clear who has the controls. Even pilots who have flown together for hundreds or thousands of hours always announce aloud, “You have the controls,” and the other pilot responds, “I have the controls.”

These procedures come from the hard-learned lessons that somebody must always be in control, but two can never be in control effectively and safely at the same time.  Continue reading →

Posted in Aircraft, Airmanship, Technology | 6 Comments

The Continuing Tragedy of Continued VFR

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Mac

Courtesy: Donna Arnott

All aviation accidents are, of course, tragedies for those involved and their families and friends. But the deaths caused by pilots who fly into weather conditions that they and their airplane are not equipped to handle strike me as the most sad because they are totally avoidable.

The VFR pilot who presses on into IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) is invariably trying to reach some destination, and that sets the stage for carrying passengers to that destination, and so often the death toll for a continued flight into IMC accident is high. Holidays add to the urgency to be someplace with an airplane full of passengers. As we saw over the Thanksgiving period poor weather and VFR flying can lead to disaster.  Continue reading →

Posted in Airmanship, Safety | 38 Comments

Too Old to Fly?

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Mac

Courtesy: Lifehack.org

How old is too old to fly? The question is in the news again because the pilot flying the Piper Cherokee 180 that crashed in Arkansas last week killing two popular women’s basketball coaches from Oklahoma State University was 82 years old.

Almost nothing is known about the circumstances of the accident. The weather was good VFR, the pilot had decades’ worth of total experience and extensive time in the accident airplane, and preliminary reports do not indicate any distress calls to controllers. The pilot was certified for the flight, and had a current medical certificate.  Continue reading →

Posted in Airmanship, Flying for Fun, Mac Clellan's Left Seat Blog, Safety | 40 Comments

The Ultimate Homebuilder – Frank Robinson

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Mac

People build their own aircraft for all sorts of reasons, but high on the list is a desire for a machine you just can’t buy from a factory. And that’s exactly why Frank Robinson built his own helicopter. And that was 10,000 Robinson helicopters ago.

Frank worked for several helicopter manufacturers, including the biggies of Bell, Hughes, and Kaman. He was also at Cessna when the company created the Skyhook, a helicopter of unprecedented performance and flying qualities. The Skyhook was so stable that it earned single-pilot IFR approval without an autopilot or artificial stability system, which was a first, and as far as I know, is the only helicopter so approved.  Continue reading →

Posted in Aircraft, Industry & Government | 9 Comments

Are Composite Structures Too Tough?

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Mac

Spotting damage on a homebuilt is relatively easy. This wingtip damage is ready for repair. Courtesy: Mansbergeraircraft.com

Using composite materials to build an airplane has many advantages. Composites – particularly advanced materials such as carbon fiber – can weigh significantly less than aluminum. Composites can be shaped to meet any designer’s whim, and the finished surface can be extremely smooth and free of lap joints and rivet heads.

But, can composite materials be too tough for their own good? The answer is maybe.  Continue reading →

Posted in Aircraft, Technology | 44 Comments

GPWS – Innovation That Has Saved Lives

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Mac

Instrument flying was pretty crude in the late 1960s when Don Bateman began developing what would become the ground proximity warning system (GPWS). If pilots followed all procedures correctly every time, there was no danger of hitting the ground. But if pilots made a mistake, there was nothing to warn them of the danger. Pilots, believing they were correctly following an instrument procedure but were not, flew into the ground way too often.  Continue reading →

Posted in Aircraft, Safety, Technology | 8 Comments

Education Can Replace Third-Class Medical

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Mac

The petition asks the FAA to allow pilots to fly fixed-gear single-engine airplanes of 180 hp or less under daylight VFR using a driver’s license as an alternative to the FAA third-class medical. Four-seat aircraft can be flown but with only one passenger.

The petition by EAA and AOPA to allow required medical education to replace the third-class medical for recreational flying is the first proposal that I think actually can improve safety and be approved by the FAA.

The petition asks the FAA to allow pilots to fly fixed-gear single-engine airplanes of 180 hp or less under daylight VFR using a driver’s license as an alternative to the FAA third-class medical. The airplane could have four seats, but pilots opting for the driver’s license option would be restricted to carrying a single passenger.

This type of petition has been made many times by various groups and even individuals in the past with no success. What’s different this time is that pilots using the driver’s license would be required to complete an online aeromedical awareness training course, including a test to be sure they correctly and completely absorbed the information.

Continue reading →

Posted in Airmanship, Industry & Government, Safety | 100 Comments

The Over-Banking Tendency

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Mac

Courtesy Retroyou.org

Several Sport Aviation magazine readers commented on the “What Went Wrong” article in the October issue. The article is a review of the NTSB accident report of a Lancair ES pilot who lost control of his airplane while flying in the clouds downwind of Mount Rainier.

The accident itself – a loss of control in IMC – was not, unfortunately, a rare occurrence for general aviation pilots, but what was unusual is that the airplane had a recording system embedded in its flat glass avionics system the preserved key parameters of the flight. What got readers’ attention was that a descent rate of 10,500 fpm  was recorded after the Lancair pilot lost control. How can an airplane descend that fast?  Continue reading →

Posted in Airmanship, Safety, Technology | 27 Comments

Tougher Than the Weather

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Mac

A forecast that has proven tougher to make, and certainly less accurate than the weather, is how new airplane sales will go in the future. But that doesn’t stop some companies from trying to see over the edge into the next decade.

The reason airplane engine and airframe manufacturers make forecasts, and rely on those forecasts, is that development of new models takes many years.

We all know that a new airplane requires at least four or five years from concept to first delivery, and many development programs recently have taken much longer. Depending on how you count, even the vaunted Boeing needed an extra three years beyond the proposed schedule to deliver the first 787. And many general aviation airplane development programs have not come much closer to their originally announced schedule. Continue reading →

Posted in Aircraft, Industry & Government | 25 Comments