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Unforgettable: What were your best flights?

John Zimmerman has recently written an article for Air Facts that recounted some of his best flights and also mentioned a recent book written by Flying magazine editor Lane Wallace entitled: “Unforgettable: My 10 Best Flights.” Lane has flown plenty of interesting flights from the Swiss Alps to Key West and she has flown these flights in just about everything from a Piper Cub to a U-2 spy plane.

With that book in mind, John was looking through his logbook one day for his insurance renewal and what should have taken twenty minutes took three hours. Hence, he’s actually glad that the FAA makes him write everything down.

John’s rather lengthy list of best flights included the following:

Flying to the Bahamas
Taking a ride in a Waco at dawn (and at Oshkosh!)
First turboprop PIC flight
Flying a seaplane in Florida

Apparently that’s just the start of John’s list but then again, he is a Vice President at Sporty’s Pilot Shop or he’s just plain lucky to have plenty of time to fly!

With John’s list in mind, we want to ask you our readers, especially those based in the UK or on the continent: What were your best flights? Feel free to tell us in the comments section below.

More laser pen attacks on UK aircraft

The Wales Air Forum has reported more laser pen attacks on aircraft arriving and departing from Cardiff Airport. Specifically on August 14, a laser was shone at an airbus A320 that seats up to 180 passengers while on August 20, the South and East Wales Air Support Unit posted a Tweet that they were looking for someone who was shining a laser at aircraft.

Last year, there were 1,900 reported laser attacks on aircraft in the UK with major hotspots being Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leads Bradford and Heathrow while 28 incidents were reported on flights arriving or departing out of Cardiff Airport (1.47% of all incidents reported). So far this year, there have only been 10 laser attacks at Cardiff Airport – suggesting that total numbers will be down this year but still far too high.

At the end of August, we noted four separate laser pen attacks on passenger aircraft near Leeds Bradford Airport at Yeadon in West Yorkshire and we also pointed out that a quick search on Amazon.co.uk reveals plenty of laser pens available for just £1 to £5.

We did note good news in that the number of laser pen attacks on aircraft flying into Leeds-Bradford Airport had fallen after a law was passed to make shining lasers at aircraft a criminal offence (but that particular airport remains one of the worst-hit airports in the UK with 22 incidents up until June verses 80 during the whole of 2011).

On the legal side of things, Article 222 of the Air Navigation Order now states that:

A person must not in the United Kingdom direct or shine any light at any aircraft in flight so as to dazzle of distract the pilot of an aircraft.

Offenders can also be charged under Article 137 of the Air Navigation Order for the more general offence of recklessly endangering an aircraft.

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Obviously its dangerous to shine a laser pen at any aircraft during the most critical phases of the flight as the laser can illuminate the entire flight deck and blind a pilot for up to 10 seconds followed by over a minute or up to several minutes of impaired vision. If an aircraft is on final approach at 1,000ft, it has just one minute before reaching the threshold of the runway to touch down. Hence, the dangers of laser pen attacks are all to obvious.

If you are ever the subject of a laser pen attack, be sure to quickly report the incident to air traffic controllers right then and there along with the general direction of where you think the laser was shone from so that they can notify police to search for the culprits.

Cat fish on the taxiway

We have mentioned stories about emus, dogs, rabbits, wild pigs, turtles and a bull running across or shutting down runways but Thomas A. Horne, the Editor At Large of AOPA Pilot Blog reported seeing catfish taxiing at the Vero Beach, Florida airport. Apparently it had rained heavily the day before as well as on and off for several hours before he arrived. The rain had overwhelmed the airport’s storm drains (or rather grass ditches the water runs into) so when he came down a taxiway, there were a few catfish flopping around on the airport ramp. Apparently, the catfish had washed out of ditches and were trying to walk or flop their way to somewhere.

After snapping a few pictures, Thomas went to check on them later but they were gone. He was told that an airport employee had snatched them to put in a pond at his home or another likely possibly – to enjoy a nice catfish dinner that night!.

Deteriorated parts (and too many modifications) blamed for the Reno Air Races crash

With the Reno Air Races underway, its worth mentioning that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had recently determined that the official cause of the September 16, 2011 crash of “The Galloping Ghost” (which killed the pilot along with 10 spectators plus injured more than sixty others) were deteriorated locknut inserts which allowed the trim tab attachment screws to become loose and initiated fatigue cracking in one screw. With the reduced stiffness in the elevator trim system, aerodynamic flutter (at racing speed) broke the trim tab linkages and caused a loss of control.

However, that’s only part of the story as it was also noted that the nearly 70-year-old airplane had undergone numerous and undocumented modifications intended to increase its speed. Some of the (known) modifications included:

Shortening of the wings.
The installation of a boil-off cooling system for the engine.
Increasing the elevator counterweights.
A modification of the pitch trim system.
Changing the incidence of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

And while the FAA is required to be notified (in writing) of major changes like the ones mentioned above, only the installation of the boil-off cooling system had been documented with the rest of the modifications being identified by looking at the wreckage examinations, examining photographs of the aircraft and interviewing the ground crewmembers.

Its worth noting that Paul Bertorelli’s lengthy commentary about the crash investigation results that he wrote for AVWeb is well worth a read because he began by writing:

It’s not much of an exaggeration, in my estimation, to assert that before it even took off, Galloping Ghost’s survival in the race was in question. The NTSB found that it was flying at the very edge of its structural and performance envelope, if not well beyond it

Paul added that the accident could have been avoided if the owners had examined the risks critically as well as conducted more flight testing plus (and as the NTSB suggested) the Reno Air Racing Association needs better technical oversight of the aircraft flying in the event (which it has already agreed to).

In addition, there is still some questions about the accident that will always remain a mystery. For example: Paul wrote that in lap two of the accident race, imagery showed deformation in the aircraft’s skin which is indicative of overloading along with a visible crack or gap opened in the canopy that should have been visible to the pilot. Likewise, the exact cause of the flutter will never be known as it could have been triggered by wake turbulence from the proceeding aircraft or simply caused the structure of the aircraft already being on its last legs.

Meanwhile, Organizers of the Reno National Championship Air Races have also established a $77 million fund that will be distributed based on the same system used to compensate 9/11 victims to those who suffered injuries or lost family members as a result of the tragedy. Compensation will be based on categories of injuries, including:

$15,000 for bruises and cuts.
$45,000 for moderate injuries (e.g broken bones, torn tendons etc.).
$75,000 for major injuries (e.g. surgery required, third-degree burns etc.).

Finally, if you want to read the full NTSB statement about the crash, click here (or here for the synopsis).

Aviation enthusiasts allegedly intimidated at RAF St Athan

The Wales Air Forum has posted a story on its website about aviation enthusiasts being intimidated on the Old Llantwit Major road alongside the Southern Boundary of RAF St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan but of course there are always two sides to every story. Apparently a local farmer or someone connected to a local farm who is not happy about aviation enthusiasts parking along the road or using it or land that is considered to be a public right of way. That individual has also allegedly been making life difficult for the aviation enthusiasts.

On the other hand and in the comments page, someone has pointed out that its not the farmer but the farmer’s son who is the culprit. Anther commenter has also pointed out to a rash of thefts and other crime in the area plus the track is not big enough to safely move farm equipment around without kicking up stones and other objects which could damage the cars parked along it.

What ever the real situation is, there are a few lessons for aviation enthusiasts everywhere – namely to make sure that you respect the local community when taking part in aviation activities. Perhaps the local farmer or his son or whoever the culprit is the one out of line but so could the aviation enthusiasts parking along side the road. Hence, perhaps the local community and the airport or representatives of the aviation enthusiasts need to sit down and have a chat (rather than posting articles and comments on websites and Facebook pages).

Videos: Dutch politics lead to a mid-air collision (literally…)

Politics can be a contact sport but in the Netherlands over the weekend, it led to a mid-air collision between two single-engine planes carrying banners from rival political parties over a beach in Wassenaar. In fact and not only did the aircraft collide, they became stuck together in an unplanned and unwanted coalition!

Apparently, the light aircraft pulling an ad for the Christian Democrats got too close to the single-engine Cessna with members of the Socialist Party whose landing gear got stuck on the wing other aircraft. The aircraft were able to shake free with the plane carrying the Christian Democrats banner forced to make an emergency landing on the beach (with a damaged wing) while the socialists landed safely at Rotterdam airport. No-one was hurt in the unfortunate incident.

There are two videos of the incident with this first video shot by a cameraman being posted on DutchNational.NL:

This second video appears to be from a cockpit recorder in one of the aircraft:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TvikTVUzYU&w=480]

Now we would like to ask our readers, especially any based in the Netherlands a simple question: Which party is to blame for the mess (as in the aircraft collision and not any other messes…), the Christian Democrats or the Socialist Party?!! Feel free to tells us in the comments section…