ADS-B, ADS-C, FANS, CPDLC, MNPS ARE ALL COMING SOON
The rules and the equipment are changing
ICE
How Much is Too Much?
THE PRIVATE JET MAGAZINE
CIRRUS JET
SURVIVING THE DOWNBURST
SPRING 2 015
FIRST LOOK
ALMOST HERE!
An insidious risk that can drive you into the ground
DO YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND MACH? FIND TAF AMENDMENTS TO MAKE YOU SAFER
FAA Type Ratings & Recurrent Flight Training
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contents 04.15
Read the First Look review on the Cirrus Vision SF50 starting on Page 14
FEATURES 14 20 24 30 38 48 THE CIRRUS VISION SF50
The era of the ‘personal’ jet finally arrives
TERMINAL FORECAST AMENDMENTS
BY SCOTT C. BY JAMES WYNBRANDT DENNSTAEDT
A HAIR’S BREADTH
How much ice is too much?
BY THOMAS P. TURNER
UNDERSTANDING THE NEW DOWNBURSTS: MACH INTERNATIONAL STILL A REAL Yeager became IFR PROTOCOLS THREAT? famous back in For all American 1947 for busting the Mach, but what does Mach mean to you nearly 70 years later?
BY DOUGLAS COLBY
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turboprop and jet pilots, the rules — and the equipment — are changing overseas.
BY BUD CORBAN
A downburst is an insidious risk that can undercut your airspeed and drive you into the ground.
BY BILL COX
contents 04.15 DEPARTMENTS 8 PUBLISHER’S LETTER
This may be best time ever to be a jet pilot
10 LIFESTYLES
The best new gadgets available to pilots on display.
12 COMPANION’S PAGE
Must-have products to make those cross-country trips more pleasant.
34 TAX TALK
44
Big Changes for 2015 Taxes
BY HARRY DANIELS, CPA, CFP, PFS, CVA
44 MIPAD
Changing Places.
BY WAYNE RASH
54 CENTERLINE
LOAs, LOAs, Get Your LOAs.
BY NEIL SINGER
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SPRING 2015 VOLUME 2/ NUMBER 1
AJ PUBLICATIONS STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Lyn Freeman MANAGING EDITOR
Michelle Carter SENIOR EDITOR
Bill Cox ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Hans Lubke EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS
William Henrys CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Nina Harris, Paul Simington, Katrina Bradelaw, Paul Sanchez, Wayne Rash Jr. ART DIRECTOR
Robbie Destocki PHOTOGRAPHY
Paul Bowen, Mary Schwinn, James Lawrence, Lyn Freeman, Jodi Butler, Gregory L. Harris PUBLISHER
Thierry Pouille ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Sophie Pouille PRODUCTION MANAGER, U.S.
Guillaume Fabry ADVERTISING SALES
Thierry Pouille, 561.452.1225 AD SALES COORDINATOR
Anais Pouille, 561.841.1551 CORPORATE OFFICES
1931 Commerce Lane, Suite 5 Jupiter, FL 33458 Telephone: 561.841.1551 Fax: 954.252.3935 FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS, REPRINTS, BACK ISSUES
please log onto www.ContrailsMag.com
CONTACT THE EDITOR:
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Thierry@AJPublications.com ©2014 CONTRAILS Magazine is published quarterly. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. Please send comments to the attention of the publisher. PRINTED IN THE USA.
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Publisher’s Letter
THIS MAY BE BEST TIME EVER TO BE A JET PILOT By Thierry Pouille
F
or most of us, 2014 was a great year for flying. There seems to be a continuous bonanza of new technologies, as well as some new jets headed our way. This just may be the best time ever to be a jet pilot. I just returned from a seminar offered by Dr. Paul Buza at the Southern AeroMedical Institute’s hyperbaric chamber in Melbourne, Fla. The program teaches pilots to recognize the first signs of hypoxia. Pilots fly simulators in a high-altitude chamber, and the session is videotaped. Wow, what an eye-opener! All of us have been trained for an explosive decompression, but slow cabin decompressions are equally if not more troublesome. Participants get a high-altitude chamber training certificate, along with the FAA accepted Scenario Based Physiology Training completion form. To date, more than 2,500 pilots have gone through the program, and I recommend it enthusiastically. After the recent real or suspected slow-decompression accidents, plan a flight down to Florida and take the training. I also got the chance recently to try out a remarkable new gadget from Iridium, the satellite phone folks who maintain a staggering number of satellites in orbit around the globe. Their new GO connects to the Iridium antenna you likely already have in your jet (or you can also use a portable antenna that attaches to your windshield) and then uses Bluetooth technology to connect to up to five different smartphones or tablets. Use GO to make voice calls, send quick GPS or check-in messages and Twitter posts, set up Wi-Fi data calls or activate emergency SOS signals virtually anywhere in the world. A number of third-party companies are busy developing a variety of apps for the new Iridium unit, further enhancing GO. I had a great time checking it all out and sent a number of lengthy text messages from the flight levels. I also urge you to read our exclusive feature article on the new Vision SF50 jet from Cirrus. Pretty exciting stuff! As you may remember, the jet was the “vision” of former Cirrus CEO Alan Klapmeier and his brother Dale. Though Alan is now developing the new Kestral turboprop, work on the small five-
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plus-two place jet (two people up front, three in the middle and two child seats in the back) is moving along at a dizzying pace. The brothers’ SR20 and SR22 aircraft absolutely revolutionized General Aviation, with carbon-fiber construction, an airframe parachute and full-glass cockpits. The single-engine Vision SF50 also pushes the envelope. The new jet will feature Garmin’s new Cirrus Perspective avionics system, a CAPS airframe parachute, air conditioning, three-axis autopilot, XM radio, audio and phone inputs and comfortable reclining crew and passenger seats. The Duluth, Minn.-based company is already test-flying several prototype aircraft. Get a complete update of this exciting new jet from this issue of Contrails. Some other changes are also coming down the pike for 2015. One — and not a particularly pleasant one — relates to changes in the tax code, which could greatly impact your return for 2014. The others involve a series of new technologies destined for your cockpit in the very near future. We all know that ADS-B is headed our way, but did you know about: FANS (Future Air Navigation System), which eliminates voice communications between cockpit crews and ATC? Air traffic control clearances, pilot requests and position reporting will all be automatic, without a word spoken. CPDLC (Controller Pilot Datalink Communication), which provides two-way, digital communication between a pilot and controller when an aircraft is out of range of traditional analog HF or VHF radio communication. Think text messaging with ATC. MNPS (Minimum Navigation Performance Specifications Airspace), which has been established between FL285 and FL420. MNPS requires a minimum separation between aircraft of 50.5 nm or one degree of latitude, whichever is greater. These new separation minima apply in the North Atlantic MNPS Airspace as far south as the Southern California to the New York OCA and as far north as the Reykjavik OCA. Learn more about these new acronyms and more in this issue of Contrails. See you in the sky! Thierry Thierry Pouille, Publisher
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LifeStyles
Put a Washing Machine in Your Cockpit 2015 Warbird Calendar The aviation world rightfully considers Paul Bowen to be a god. In addition to the great images he provides for POPA magazine, Paul is credited with more than 1,000 magazine covers. In 2008 Business and Commercial Aviation Magazine honored him as only one of three recipients of its Vision Award. ISAP, the International Society for Aviation Photography, awarded Paul The Award of Excellence, their highest honor, for a “lifetime of outstanding contributions to aviation photography.” Paul Bowen was also inducted into the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s International Hall of Fame. His much awaited 2015 Air To Air Warbird calendar is now available at AirToAir.net.
LS See More with Long Wave Infrared Images The Max-Viz 1400 Enhanced Vision System provides pilots with an unprecedented level of situational awareness and safety by enabling them to see more clearly and precisely during day or night. The lightweight, solid-state, low-power, uncooled thermal camera sees through smog, haze, light fog and smoke. Images can be used to display on the Garmin G500, 600 and 1000, the Avidyne R9, Bendix-King KMD 850, AvMap EKP-V, Rosen monitors and a variety of EFBs. For more, contact Astronics Max-Viz at 800.629.7888 or go to Max-Viz.com.
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Weighing less than 5 ounces, the Scrubba wash is the most compact washing machine in the world. While originally designed for backpackers, the Scrubba wash bag has also become the best way to clean clothes for people on vacation, business travelers, students living dorm rooms or small apartments, campers, hunters, cyclists, kayakers or people going on cruises. Whether it is so you can pack light, avoid hotel laundry costs, avoid searching for Laundromats, avoid potential hygiene issues washing in a sink, use less water or simply to have the freedom to wash clothes wherever you want, there is an aspect of the Scrubba wash bag that will appeal to all travelers. Keep it in the cockpit and always have an easy way to keep your traveling duds in order. Get more information at TheScrubba.com or by email, info@ thescrubba.com
Rare Japanese Zero Discovered in Hawaii
“On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a battle damaged Japanese Zero landed on a remote, privately owned Hawaiian island. The Zero pilot survived for almost a week on what locals call the Forbidden Island, assisted by a local worker while terrorizing the island’s population before being killed by a native Hawaiian. Though the air raid on Dec. 7, 1941, caught many by surprise, the island’s owner had actually begun preparations against the attack years earlier, inspired by a remarkably accurate prophecy. The wreckage of the Japanese plane was abandoned on the island, but its legacy was not forgotten. Sixty five years later, the Zero and the story surrounding it became part of a new aviation museum in Hawaii. The Zero display brought to the forefront what happened the day of the attack, the conflict that ensued on the island in the days that followed, while unexpectedly generating a modern controversy in the process. In researching the existence of the Niihau Zero, the author was allowed unprecedented access to the Forbidden Island, was able to interview its owners and inhabitants, and to arrange for the Zero artifacts to be placed on public display. This book contains original reports as well as documents never before published that give unique perspectives into one of the most curious and thought provoking events of WWII.” Autographed copies available from the author on Ebay.com or Amazon.com
New App Finds Courtesy Cars
Cold Temperature Altitude Fixes Cold-Temperature-Restricted Airports have now been designated in the U.S. National Airspace System. The list of airports, the segment of the approach requiring the altitude correction and operating procedures may be found in the Notice to Airmen Publication (NTAP) FAA.gov/air_traffic/publications/notices/ Part 4. Graphic Notices, Section 1. General. Cold Temperature Restricted Airports. The list will also be available as a PDF on the bottom of the FAA Digital Products page. A symbol will be placed on the approach plates for the restricted airport. The symbol indicates a cold-temperature altitude correction is required on this approach when reported temperature is at or below the published temperature. The list should be reviewed to determine which segment or segments of the approach require an altitude correction. Some airports may have two temperature restrictions. Temperatures for Cold-Temper ature-Restricted Airports are completely separate from the temperatures published on RNAV approaches. Temperature restrictions on RNAV approaches must be followed, even if warmer than the temperature listed with the snowflake symbol.
LS
If you’re planning a trip to a city that you haven’t flown into before, there are several things to consider when choosing both the airport and FBO. A common consideration is the availability of courtesy cars (often called a “crew car”) if you’re only visiting for the day. A new iPhone app can help you with this by providing a fairly thorough listing of courtesy cars at FBOs around the country. The free Airport Courtesy Cars app currently contains more than 1,000 listings of airports and FBOs with user-generated info and comments related to courtesy cars at the facilities. You may also see comments too about free FBO shuttles services offered if a vehicle isn’t available to borrow. You can browse the listings by either viewing a map or a listing by state, though a search option is currently not available. You can also contribute info based on your own courtesy car experience at an FBO with a form directly in the app. The Airport Courtesy Cars app is a must-have for your iPad or iPhone app collection and can be downloaded free from the app store.
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Companion’s Page Gizmos and Gadgets
xScale®
Now you can weigh your luggage on the go, as this tiny but powerful digital device will keep you from having to guess the weight of your luggage while you’re away on a trip — or just preparing to leave for one at home. The xScale® is a hand held “auto-locking” digital scale that can weigh up to 110 pounds ( 50 kilograms) Its unique T-bar design fits the natural shape of your closed hand when picking up a heavy load. Shop.Heys.ca
Grid-It
The Grid-It organization system is a unique weave of rubberized elastic bands made specifically to hold personal objects firmly in place. It’s designed to provide endless configurations of digital devices and personal effects. Slim design and conveniently sized for your current laptop bag or travel case, Grid-It let’s you easily find what you need. It features a rear-zippered pocket for additional storage. Cocooninnovations.com
Techlink Recharge 2000
A portable USB charger with the latest lithium-ion battery technology built in, Techlink’s Recharge 2000 helps you keep your iPhone, iPod, digital cameras, and other USB devices powered and ready for use. Simply connect your iPhone or iPod to the Recharge 2000 and it starts charging automatically. And when you’re done, just slip the conveniently compact charger into your pocket. Apple.com
Long Life and Plenty of Punch The Windows® Panasonic Toughbook® C2 provides an amazing 14 hours of standard battery life (19 hours with the optional long-life battery) and weighs just 3.99 pounds. The 12.5-inch 10-point capacitive multi touch with optional digitizer convertible tablet features an array of industry-leading advancements, such as being the only convertible tablet in its class to offer a bridge battery for continuous use by enabling hot-swappable battery replacement without disruption. The Toughbook C2 has a bright and sharp 500 nit IPS display with direct bonding for wider viewing angles and a lighter design. Available with integrated options such as a barcode reader, SmartCard reader, NFC, 5MP bottom camera and serial port make the Toughbook C2 ideal for a wide variety of applications and environments. Panasonic.com
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Jawbone Jambox
For the frequent traveler, a decent speaker is a hotel room luxury that’s worth splurging on. You’ll certainly be rocking out with the wireless Jambox — it’s a penny under $200 — but it has some great features. Although it’s properly portable, it boasts an output capacity of 85 decibels and a 10-hour battery life. You can use it as a speakerphonefor cellphone and VoIP calls. Jawbone.com
Vision SF50
THE CIRRUS VISION SF50 THE ERA OF THE ‘PERSONAL’ JET FINALLY ARRIVES By James Wynbrandt
FIRST LOOK
If all goes as planned, the first Cirrus SF50 jet will be delivered in Q4 this year, capping one of the longest development programs in General Aviation history. Years before its official unveiling in 2007, Cirrus Aircraft founders Alan and Dale Klapmeier were talking about The Jet, as the project had come to be called, the moniker suggesting the institutional manifest
destiny the brothers saw in the aircraft. Alan promised it would be “the slowest, lowest and cheapest” jet available, emphasizing that “the single most important criterion will be the ease of operation,” while Dale stressed that “instead of taking the corporate airplane and making it smaller, we’re going to build the airplane that our customers want, powered with a jet engine instead of a propeller.” The Klapmeiers’ vision of a “personal” jet translated into a 300-knot, five-place aircraft with a service ceiling under 30,000 feet, that offered the reliability of a turbine combined with single-engine economy. And it would incorporate the fail-safe parachute system and new glass-panel technology that helped drive the success of the SR20 and SR22. It’s not that the Klapmeiers concept was novel, with The Jet potentially rubbing wingtips on a ramp of the future with the proposed Diamond D-Jet, PiperJet, Eclipse 400, Epic Victory Jet, Excel-Jet Sport Jet and the ATG Javelin, among other wanna-fly single-engine jet programs.
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Vision SF50
Against this backdrop, by the end of 2006, half ening, depending on your point of view – to darken the skies with the thousands of VLJs, a year before its introduction (and without as one commentator forecast. showing any design renderings), Cirrus was taking $100,000 deposits on The Jet and send- The 2008 financial meltdown and its asteroid-like impact on General Aviation ing each depositor a jigsaw picture puzzle of dashed all those rosy dreams. The prototype the proposed aircraft, one piece at a time. and cabin mockup of The Jet – renamed the “We can confirm it has a windshield Vision SJ50 that year and the Vision SF50 in and wings,” Alan quipped in the spring of March ’09 - were dutifully displayed at trade ‘07, with the company sitting on some $15 and air shows. (SF50: Single Fan; “50” is a million in refundable deposits. loose metric of capability measured against Depositors got their first view of the that of the VK-30, the pusher kit aircraft that aircraft on June 27, 2007, at the annual Cirrus Migration customer homecoming at launched Cirrus, and the same numbering convention used in naming the SR-20 series). company headquarters in Duluth, Minn., But Cirrus was making more news for where The Jet was unveiled the following corporate turmoil than jet development, as its day. The airframe’s bulbous cabin area, top-mounted engine and the V-tail empen- majority owner, Bahrain-based investment firm Arcapita, sought management changnage were the most striking design details. es. In August 2009, Alan Klapmeier left the Mike Van Staagen, vice president of advanced development and The Jet’s primary company, and by the following summer he was architect, stressed its minivan-style flexibility. waging a public but unsuccessful campaign to buy the seemingly moribund jet program from “Mountain bikes, camping equipment, golf Cirrus. In January 2010 Brent Wouters, who clubs, skis, bigger families, antique spinning had replaced Klapmeier as CEO, announced wheel? No problem,” he told the “migrants,” Cirrus had abandoned the SF50’s development citing the aircraft’s “cavernous interior” and and delivery schedule, due to lack of funding. “very diverse usage” as strong selling points. But hopeful customers kept the faith, After its first flight a week later (July 3), with more than 400 leaving their $100,000 The Jet received a rapturous welcome at refundable deposits in Cirrus’s keepEAA AirVenture Oshkosh that same FIRST ing. After Cirrus’s purchase in 2011 month. Indeed, it was a small-jet LOOK by China Aviation Industry General infatuated world, with the Eclipse Aircraft, the new owners undertook 500, Citation Mustang, Phenom 100 a comprehensive financial review of and HondaJet promising – or threat-
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the program. In 2012, Cirrus announced the resumption of development and plans eventually to produce the SF50. Perhaps the “go” call was prompted by the relatively advanced state of the SF50’s development. The prototype, used to justify the aerodynamic case for the jet as well as in initial flight tests, needed little design modification to become the blueprint for the conforming test articles. “We were very pleased minimal changes” were needed, said Ben Kowalski, the company’s v-p, marketing. “Where we typically tweak, we were dead-on the first time.” Among the few noticeable changes: A cabin door on the right side of the prototype has been eliminated, replaced by an egress hatch (a weight-saving measure), and the conforming aircraft’s belly is larger, its nose more pointed, and the tail’s sweep less pronounced. Additionally, the angle of the tail fins’ V has increased to 90 degrees, while the angle of the engine mounting atop the fuselage, a placement selected for ease of maintenance and load balancing, was modified to a 20-degree pitch, together enhancing the aircraft’s controllability and response to power changes. But the Williams International FJ33 engine occupies the spot from which the Cirrus Aircraft Parachute System is deployed in the company’s SR series. The SF50’s chute will be housed in the nose of the aircraft, and if deployed, straps embed-
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Vision SF50
CIRRUS VISION SF50 Performance (sea level, standard conditions.) Takeoff: 1,615 feet Takeoff over 50-foot obstacle: 2,128 feet Climb rate: Not published Max operating altitude: FL280 Stall speed with flaps: Mid 60s Max cruise speed: 300 KTAS Landing groundroll: 1,245 feet Engine: Williams International FJ33 Pounds thrust: 1,800 Dimensions
ded within the composite airframe will tear through the skin to hold the aircraft in an upright position during descent. After a year of preparation, Cirrus aimed to get the three conforming airplanes they needed — C0, C1, and C2 — in the air by the end of 2014. They accomplished that with the maiden flight of C2 last December. C0 has been used primarily for aerodynamic performance and handling testing. C1 and C2 have now accumulated more than 250 flying hours and completed about a quarter of mandated flight tests, thanks to the “remarkably efficient” process of using telemetry to download data (and teams of flight test engineers to analyze it) in real time, according to Kowalski. C2 is the conforming production model, and designers are now refining the interior, after finalizing the design from windshield to the A Pillar, denoting the back of the first row of seats, an automotive term the company has borrowed along with several of Detroit’s best practices. “We sculpted the interior with clay, as they do in the auto industry, to see its shape exactly, and make sure the experience [of flying in the SF50] will be what we want it to be,” Kowalski said. “We then scan the clay [with lasers] to make the tools” to manufacture the parts. Cirrus will build 90 percent of the interior components in-house, including the SF50’s seats, perhaps the most important interior furnishing from a comfort perspective, an item that many OEMs contract to specialty-seating manufacturers. That’s what Cirrus had planned to do. “We quickly learned we knew more than anybody we could outsource to” when it came to creating the seats Cirrus wanted,
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Kowalski said. “We feel pretty passionate about the type of experience we want our clients to have.“ For access to that experience, it’s a simple airstep up into the cabin, the door forward of the left wing. With the pilot’s seat pushed forward, there’s room to load both big people and that proverbial antique spinning wheel. In standard configuration, the SF50 seats two passengers forward and three in the second row. The middle second row seat can slide well aft of the seats on either side, giving all three back seaters more elbow room. A third row can accommodate two children. Several additional seating configuration options are available. Up front, dual sidesticks and rudder pedals allow control from either side, but the instrument panel is centered in front of the left seat, underscoring the message that this jet doesn’t need two pilots to fly, and that if you’ve managed to find your way to the front left seat, you don’t have to share the fun. The company has been working with Garmin to adapt its Cirrus Perspective avionics suite, which Kowalski called, “a huge part of the user experience in the current product line” to the SF50’s G3000 system. Standard equipment will include a ground-operable vapor-cycle air conditioning system, dual WAAS GPS, active traffic system, XM Radio with audio and datalink weather, ADL and SD card data recording, and three-axis digital autopilot. The choice of add-ons includes weather radar, EVS, TCAS, ski tube, satellite phone and a lavatory, in addition to “a whole wide variety of interior options, paint and customization,” Kowalski added.
Wingspan: Length: Height: Cabin width: Cabin height:
38 feet 4 inches/11.70 meters 30.9 feet/9.42 meters 10.5 feet/3.20 meters 5.1 feet/1.56 meters 4.1 feet/1.24 meters
For more information, contact Cirrus Worldwide Headquarters 4515 Taylor Circle Duluth, MN, 55811 Toll Free: 800.279.4322 http://cirrusaircraft.com/vision/
All specifications are based on manufacturer’s calculations. All performance figures are based on standard day, standard atmosphere, sea level, maximum weight conditions unless otherwise noted.
The basic skill level needed to operate The Jet safely is instrument proficiency. As with its SR pistons, Cirrus has developed an in-house program, delivered at the headquarters, augmented by online training programs for systems operations, for transition training. The company will also provide a type rating for the turbine aircraft and train a cadre of Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilots to ensure training in the field is also available. The SF50’s base price is $1.96 million, while options can bring the price up to $2.5 million. Cirrus currently has more than 550 orders in hand, and the production line is ramping up now. Plans call for producing 90 SF50s in 2016, 125 in 2017 “and continuing on from there,” said Kowalski. And so it is that the long awaited triumph of this modest turbine may finally come to pass. Whether or not the personal jet will transform aviation, as so many hoped, surely it will alter the lives of its lucky owners. “A personal jet is about more than power,” Alan Klapmeier said at The Jet’s introduction. “It’s about empowering our customers to live the dream of the jet lifestyle.”
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TAFs
TERMINAL FORECAST AMENDMENTS By Scott C. Dennstaedt
Terminal aerodrome forecasts, simply known as TAFs, represent one of the most detailed forecasts made available to pilots. Scheduled TAFs are a textual product issued by meteorologists at the National Weather Service every six hours for more than 625 airports throughout the United States and its territories. They represent an hour-by-hour forecast of the expected meteorological conditions significant to aviation at a given airport for a specified period, usually 24 or 30 hours. Just as a pilot’s weather analysis doesn’t end when he or she closes the aircraft’s door, a forecaster’s job doesn’t end after the scheduled TAF is issued. Forecasters must keep a careful watch on any changing meteorological conditions and issue amendments as necessary to ensure the highest quality forecast. As mentioned above, a TAF is a forecast “at an airport.” In the U.S., the terminal area is the cylindrical volume of airspace within a five-statute-mile radius from the center of an airport’s runway complex. As a result, meteorologists consider a TAF a “point” forecast. It’s not a zone or area forecast and should never be used as such. The relatively small size of the terminal area, in and of itself, strongly influences how a forecaster will construct — and potentially amend — a TAF.
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TAFs TAFs are constructed and amended by highly trained meteorologists located at the local weather forecast offices (WFO) throughout the United States and its territories. Local weather knowledge is essential, given the relatively small size of the terminal area. These forecasters have experience with the local weather phenomena. Shown here is the Greenville-Spartanburg WFO located in Greer, S.C.
Each weather forecast office may choose to issue TAFs more frequently than every six hours, using either manual or automated means, as a method of keeping the TAF the most representative possible. This is done right now in high-impact airspace such as Chicago, New York and Atlanta where they issue TAFs every two or three hours. Each weather forecast office (WFO) has the responsibility of issuing the TAFs for one or more terminal areas that fall within its county warning area (CWA) with an average of roughly five or six airports per forecast office. For example, the Greenville-Spartanburg WFO located in Greer, S.C., is responsible for issuing the TAFs for six airports. These include Anderson County Airport, Asheville Regional Airport, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Greenville Downtown Airport, Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and Hickory Regional Airport. Scheduled TAFs are issued four times a day
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at 0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 UTC. They are typically transmitted 20 to 40 minutes before these scheduled times in a coded format. Once the next scheduled TAFs hit the wire, the forecaster relies on an automated tool called the Aviation Forecast Preparation System (AvnFPS) to monitor the TAFs in real time against the actual conditions. Automated forecast monitoring allows the meteorologist to perform other required duties such as building a component of the national gridded forecasts. This automated tool monitors its TAFs sites against the current observations for these airports on visibility, wind, present weather,
ceiling and sky cover. This program utilizes a “traffic light” concept of green, yellow and red that allows the meteorologists to quickly assess the status of their forecasts. Green is used to designate when the TAF and observation are in general agreement for the current hour. Yellow and red are used to indicate when the TAF is not in agreement and may require an amendment. It is up to the forecaster to decide if an amendment is necessary. While the rules used to compare TAFs with observations and guidance is controlled by the local WFO, let’s look at the set of rules that support the TAF amendment criteria required by NWS policy. Amendment criteria values are operationally significant to pilots as well as airports. Discrete flight category value changes for VFR, MVFR, IFR, LIFR and VLIFR (very low IFR) have significant operational impact for fuel requirements and IFR-planning alternates. When the weather crosses one of these thresholds and is not forecast – for better or worse – forecasters must be especially sensitive. For example, they understand that a forecast for a broken ceiling of 500 feet takes that airport out as an IFR-planning alternate. Of course, the sooner the forecaster provides an amended TAF the better since unforeseen weather changes can have a rippling effect with delays in the National Airspace System (NAS). The decision to amend the TAF relies on the forecaster’s assessment of existing conditions and expectations. There are distinct areas to cover: timing, improving versus worsening conditions and minor fluctuations. Timing is always a difficult aspect for forecasters. This can certainly have an operational impact to pilots, depending on the event. If conditions change earlier or later than forecast, but the TAF shows the expected trend and will soon recover, an amendment may not be needed. For example, assume that the 1200 UTC TAF is forecasting a broken ceiling at 2,000 feet to become overcast and drop to a MVFR ceiling of 1,500 feet by 1600 UTC and then down to a low IFR ceiling of 500 feet by 1800 UTC. Many pilots flying IFR to this airport may want to be on the ground before 1800 UTC to avoid an instrument approach to low IFR conditions. However, let’s assume the ceiling builds down earlier to 400 feet by 1630 UTC. Will the forecaster amend the TAF? Possibly, but since the trend shows the ceiling was expected to build down, the forecast isn’t likely to be amended. Also, the next TAF is scheduled to be transmitted between 1720 and 1740 UTC, so the forecaster is more likely to skip the amendment.
On the other hand, consider a forecast that shows a trend for improving conditions. Assume the 1200 UTC TAF shows an overcast ceiling of 300 feet improving to an overcast ceiling of 500 feet at 1400 UTC and then further lifting to an overcast ceiling of 1,000 feet by 1900 UTC. If, at 1530 UTC, the ceiling improves to overcast at 1,200 feet, will the forecaster amend the TAF? If the forecast trend is for improving conditions and the conditions improve earlier than forecast as it does in this example, the forecaster will likely amend the TAF, based on NWS directives. For this particular case, an amendment may free up this airport as a flight-planning alternate much earlier than the original forecast. Additionally, small fluctuations in the observation should not result in a minor adjustment to the TAF. Just as instrument students are trained not to chase the needle, forecasters are trained not to chase the observation. For example, a passing shower, that briefly lowers the visibility and/or ceiling, will not likely result in an amendment to the forecast. In general, TAF amendments will be issued when conditions meeting amendment criteria are imminent or have occurred and those conditions will, in the forecaster’s estimation, persist for 30 minutes or longer, especially during the first six hours of the forecast. Also, an amendment should be issued anytime new guidance or information indicates future conditions are expected to be in a different flight category than originally forecast. So what are the specific amendment criteria? Both pilots and forecasters understand that discrete flight category changes for VFR, MVFR, IFR, LIFR and VLIFR can have a significant operational impact. For IFR flight-planning purposes, the forecast may require that a pilot plan an alternate destination and, therefore, be required to carry additional fuel. It may also limit which airports are acceptable IFR alternates. Notwithstanding the guidance previously mentioned, a forecaster should issue an amendment promptly if the ceiling decreases or increases — or is expected to decrease or increase — through one of the these thresholds, but is not forecast to do so. For example, at 1300 UTC, the forecaster expects the ceiling to be broken at 1,500 feet. However, the actual ceiling at 1300 UTC becomes overcast and builds down to 900 feet instead. Given that the observed ceiling is at the IFR flight category versus the expected MVFR flight category, the forecaster will amend the TAF assuming it’s not a minor fluctuation and is expected to persist. Similarly, if the forecast is for an overcast ceiling at
300 feet and the actual observation improves to 700 feet, then the forecaster should definitely amend the TAF since the observed ceiling is now in the IFR category, versus the expected LIFR category, and may free this airport up to become a flight-planning alternate. Similar to the ceiling, changes to the visibility can also change the flight category. Consequently, the forecaster should issue an amendment promptly if the visibility decreases or increases or is expected to decrease or increase through one of these thresholds, but is not forecast to do so. The forecasted weather may also trigger an amendment. This includes thunderstorms, freezing precipitation or ice pellets. If thunderstorms are forecast and do not occur or occur and are not forecast, an amendment is required. The same holds true for freezing rain, freezing drizzle and ice pellets. It is interesting to note that there are no amendment criteria for rain or snow unless the presence or absence of the rain or snow causes a change in the discrete flight category. Forecasters and pilots understand that wind can fluctuate continuously throughout the day. So forecasters are careful not to amend the TAF due to a change in wind direction or wind speed that is short-lived. However, when the actual mean wind direction differs from the forecast by 30 degrees or more, with an accompanying mean wind speed of 13 knots or greater, the TAF will likely be amended. Similar to the wind direction, when the actual mean wind speed differs from the forecast by 11 knots or greater, and the original wind speed or newly
expected wind speed is greater than 13 knots, the TAF will likely be amended. Essentially this means that when the winds are light, don’t expect the TAF to be amended even if it’s 180 degrees in error. Wind gusts are another difficult parameter to forecast consistently. When the forecast peak gust is greater than 11 knots above the observed gust or above the observed mean wind speed when no gusts are forecast, the TAF will likely be amended. Lastly, the forecaster should amend the TAF if there is a forecast non-convective LLWS that is not observed or non-convective LLWS is observed and is not forecast. Each forecast office is free to adopt site-specific amendment criteria for ceiling and visibility to better fit the airport’s instrument-approach minimums for precision and non-precision approaches. Each weather forecast office may choose to issue TAFs more frequently than every six hours, using either manual or automated means, as a method of keeping the TAF the most representative possible. This is done right now in high-impact airspace such as Chicago, New York and Atlanta where they issue TAFs every two or three hours. Here’s the ugly side of this improvement. The two- or three-hourly forecast is treated as an amended forecast, not a newly constructed TAF. In fact, these non-standard scheduled TAFs will carry the AMD tag when viewed online or via a DUATS standard briefing. So there’s no way to tell if the forecast was changed because amendment criteria was reached or because it was time for a new forecast.
Here is the Aviation Forecast Preparation System that monitors the TAFs issued by a forecaster located at the Greenville-Spartanburg weather forecast office. Green is used when the forecast matches the observation. Yellow and red are used when the forecast may need to be amended. Shown here, the wind forecasts for KAVL, KAND and KHKY have approached amendment criteria and are highlighted in yellow.
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Approximately 13 minutes after departure, the pilot reported the airplane was accumulating ice. He requested and was cleared to descend from 5,000 to 4,000 feet MSL. Subsequently, the pilot requested and was cleared to descend to 3,000 feet, and to proceed direct to the initial approach fix for the RNAV (GPS) 36 approach for landing at a nearby airport. No distress call or additional ATC communications with the pilot were recorded. The airplane impacted trees and terrain approximately 17 miles south of the airport. Tree deformation, ground scars and craters were consistent with a near vertical impact.
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Even in known-ice airplanes, the only workable strategy when freezing rain is reported, Dennstaedt tells us, is to avoid flight in clouds or precipitation anywhere near or above freezing rain unless the outside air temperature is colder than -40째C, the coldest temperature that supports SLD.
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icing conditions Icing Certification Maximum Exposure Criteria (FAA) Condition
Cloud Type
Maxiumum Droplet Size Microns
Inches
Millimeters
Maximum Exposure
Continuous maximum
Stratus
40
0.0019
0.05
17.4 nm
Intermittent maximum
Cumulus
50
0.0020
0.05
2.6 nm
Instrument meteorological conditions with low ceilings, reduced visibility, light rain, mist and drizzle prevailed at the departure airport and along the flight route. The temperature profile in the accident area was +1 degree Celsius at the surface, -3 degrees C at 3,000 feet, and above freezing at 7,000-8,000 feet. Super-cooled large droplet moisture (SLD) was likely present in the accident area at and below 5,000 feet and produced moderate to severe clear icing on the airframe in the minutes prior to the accident. Propeller blades exhibited physical evidence (blade
bending and twisting) consistent with high power (at or near the low-pitch/ high-rpm range) and rotation (symmetrical energy) at impact. No evidence of an in-flight mechanical or flight-control malfunction was found that would have rendered the airplane uncontrollable prior to the impact. NTSB probable cause: The pilot’s inadvertent flight into severe icing conditions. A contributing factor was the pilot’s inadequate preflight planning. Two pilot reports (PIREPs) from the immediate accident area were filed in the hour before the accident airplane’s
THE FREEZING RAIN MYTH
W
e’re taught that conditions resulting in freezing rain involve a shallow band of freezing air near the surface, perhaps only a few hundred feet thick, over which lies a band of warm air with above-freezing temperatures. Far higher, a second freezing layer marks the boundary, above which the air is below freezing again. Snow forms in the cold air at altitude. As snow falls through the above-freezing layer of air, it melts, with water droplets coalescing into larger, super-cooled raindrops. These large raindrops, upon striking surfaces chilled to below freezing by the cold air near the surface, flash-freeze onto those surfaces. This creates a thick and irregular coat of clear ice — freezing rain. This model, in which above-freezing air is just above the surface, suggests pilots employ these common avoidance and escape tactics for flight in areas of freezing rain: 1. Cruise a few thousand feet above the height of the freezing rain and you’ll remain in ice-free air. 2. If you encounter freezing rain conditions, climb. Above-freezing air is just a few hundred feet above you. The trouble is that this set of conditions is what’s happening in only 8 percent of all freezing-rain events, according to Scott Dennstaedt, an instrument flight instructor and former National Weather Service research meteorologist now employed by ForeFlight LLC as its weather scientist. He also owns AvWxWorkshops.com, a subscription-based aviation-weather training website. In 92 percent of all freezing-rain events, Dennstaedt advises, below-freezing temperatures exist upward from the surface with no warm band of above-freezing air above the lowest layer. Instead, this is how freezing rain usually forms: Above a boundary defined roughly by the height where the temperature is at -12 degree C, small super-cooled water droplets are suspended in
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departure. FAA records confirmed the pilot received both of these PIREPs when he briefed and filed for his departure just before his 0918 (local time) departure. At 0838, a Beech BE58 at 7,000 feet MSL reported sky overcast 1,000 feet with top of overcast at 6,000 feet, temperature 10 degrees Celsius, wind 221 degrees at 39 knots, light icing at 3,000 to 4,000 feet during climb. At 0905, a Mitsubishi MU2 at 7,000 feet MSL reported sky overcast 900 feet with top of overcast at 5,000 feet, light icing at 2,300 to 3,300 feet during climb. It was Christmas Eve. The airplane had a broken alternator switch, and the
the atmosphere. These droplets collide with one another and fall into the lower levels, where the temperature is still below freezing, but closer to the freezing point. Upon striking surfaces chilled to below freezing by the cold air near the surface, this creates a thick and irregular coat of clear ice — freezing rain. The avoidance and escape techniques we’re all taught won’t work in 92 percent of all instances when freezing rain occurs. Since there is no band of above-freezing air overlying the freezing rain, flying at a higher altitude still exposes the airplane to SLD conditions for which no aircraft is certificated. Trying to escape by climbing out of freezing-rain conditions, hoping to melt off the ice accumulation (a freezing-rain strategy we’re all taught), would only result in adding additional ice to the airframe. Even in known-ice airplanes, the only workable strategy when freezing rain is reported, Dennstaedt tells us, is to avoid flight in clouds or precipitation anywhere near or above freezing rain unless the outside air temperature is colder than -40°C, the coldest temperature that supports SLD.
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icing conditions WHAT GOES UP…
N
o matter how well your airplane can climb and cruise above icing conditions, eventually you’ve got to come back down to land. From a recent NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System Callback: ATC…descended us to 2,000 feet and vectored us for the approach. We were having a little problem picking up the localizer. However we finally got a strong signal before the Final Approach Fix and decided to fly the approach…. The captain called, “Visual” and I said, “Landing.” I tried to turn off the autopilot and had a hard time getting the autopilot warning off. The captain called, “Speed.” I had gotten slow by about 3 to 4 knots, and we were about 200 feet off the ground. I said, “Correcting,” and added power. I had no issue from there. We crossed the threshold, and I started my crosswind correction. That is when the airplane took a hard bank to the right. The captain and I did everything we could to get the airplane on the ground. The landing was hard but we decided that the plane was able to taxi in. We asked to hold short of the center runway to collect ourselves, talk to the flight attendant, and resume the taxi. “Rudder INOP” displayed on the EICAS during taxi in. We got to the gate, deplaned and then started making phone calls to report the rudder and hard landing. After that was done, a ramp agent told us there was some limited wing damage. We both went outside to see, and it was then that we saw a considerable load of ice built up on all leading edges and engine nacelles.
pilot’s final flight was an attempt a hop to nearby Jonesboro, Ark., to have the switch replaced before flying to meet his family for the holiday. Weather near the departure airport was 200 overcast, visibility 1½ miles and +1 degree C surface temperature. Jonesboro (KJBR) was reporting 700 overcast, visibility 10 miles, with a 15-knot wind, +1 degree C surface temperature and rapidly falling barometric pressure. The pilot may have thought he could rapidly climb through the ice (after all, PIREPs called it “light”) into an inversion above the clouds, and then descend rapidly through the clouds in the
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approach to his destination. The holiday may have increased his perceived stress to make the flight despite the adverse conditions.
Most Contrails readers’ airplanes are certified for flight in icing conditions — so called known-ice approval. But in what conditions exactly does known-ice approval permit you to operate safely? Most pilots don’t know that ice certification provides a relatively small amount of ice protection. When is ice accumulation too much for any airplane? Icing Certification Maximum Exposure Criteria (FAA) FAA certification for flight in icing conditions requires that the airplane’s ice-protection systems be adequate to prevent and/or remove accumulations of ice in one of two conditions — continuous exposure and intermittent exposure. Known-ice airplanes are permitted to remain in continuous icing conditions only in stratus clouds, when water droplets are no more than 40 microns in diameter. That’s 0.0019 inches (0.05 mm). Even then the certification assumes the pilot will exit icing conditions before traveling 17.4 nautical miles; any more exposure and the accumulation may exceed the system’s ability to remove ice. In cumulus clouds only very short, intermittent exposures are approved. The maximum droplet size under known-ice protection is 0.002 inches (0.05 mm). And then, exposure is limited to 2.6 nm and requires an immediate exit from icing conditions to avoid overwhelming the protection system. Any water droplet greater than 50 microns in diameter is considered a “large droplet.” If the water is in liquid state, and the temperature is at or below freezing, it is a “super-cooled” large droplet or SLD. By definition, no ice-protection system is certified for flight in SLD conditions, in icing in stratus clouds for more than 17.4 nm of continuous exposure, or in cumulus clouds for more than 2.6 nm of exposure. To put this in perspective, the diameter of a human hair is 90 microns, or 0.070 mm, nearly 150 percent of the maximum exposure limit. This means that, at or below freezing temperatures, if water droplets are large enough to be perceived as individual drops or “streams” on your windshield or wings, they are too big for even known-ice airplanes to be protected. No matter what you’re flying, you need to exit visible moisture immediately. Have a safe flight by keeping far more than a hair’s breadth away from airframe ice.
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understanding mach
UNDERSTANDING
MACH
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
YEAGER BECAME FAMOUS BACK IN 1947 FOR BUSTING THE MACH, BUT WHAT DOES MACH MEAN TO YOU NEARLY 70 YEARS LATER? By Douglas Colby
Most turbine aviators don’t even think about it. They know that Mach is simply a number with which to compare their speed with that of sound. Inevitably, there’s more to it than that. The term is named after a 19th century Austrian scientist, Ernst Mach, who studied gas dynamics and the speed of a projectile through various mediums, predominately air. In 1887, Ernst Mach correctly identified the compressibility of air in the transonic speed range and the shock wave that builds up on the leading surfaces of a projectile as it approaches and passes Mach 1.0. Though Mach wasn’t hypothesizing about aircraft at the time, it’s interesting that he correctly identified a major problem of exceeding Mach 1.0 some 16 years before the world’s first powered airplane, Orville and Wilbur’s Wright Flyer, made it’s maiden flight – at 9.5 Ernst Mach 1900 mph. By studying the supersonic motion of a bullet fired from a rifle, he deduced and experimentally confirmed the existence of a shock wave, which prescribed the form of a cone with the projectile at the apex.
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understanding mach
Chuck Yeager
Sound waves speed along at sea level and 15 degrees C at 661 knots, 761 mph. That’s about five seconds per mile, which is only significant if you want to dazzle friends by determining your distance from a lightning flash. (See the flash, count the seconds until you hear the thunder and divide by five. The result is the rough distance to the strike in miles.) Sound travels more slowly in colder air than in warm air, and that means sound will travel more leisurely at 35,000 feet than at sea level. At FL350, where standard temperature stabilizes at about -56 degrees C, the speed of sound is down to 574 knots. That’s one reason Capt. Chuck Yeager chose to make his high-speed runs seven miles above California’s High Desert over Edwards AFB. The Bell X-1 was essentially a bullet with wings. Perhaps in a bow to Dr. Mach, it more-than-coincidentally resembled a scaled-up, Browning .50 caliber, machine-gun bullet, known to be stable at speeds well above Mach 1.0. Supersonic flight through the atmosphere was once thought to be impossible. In the mid-1940s, many physicists hypothesized that speeds beyond Mach 1.0 could not be achieved because of the Sound Barrier. At the end of World War II, when jet-powered fighters were pushing airspeeds above 600 mph, the USAF and NACA commissioned Bell Aircraft to determine if flight was feasible at or above Mach 1.0. Some engineers speculated that the steep drag rise near the speed of
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sound would simply not allow an aircraft to penetrate the barrier. Today, we know that’s not true, though exceeding Mach 1.0 is still a major accomplishment for all but military pilots. The velocity of sound is totally dependent upon the density of the medium. In what might seem a contradiction to logic, the denser the medium, the faster sound travels. You might think the thinner air at 35,000 feet would present less drag and outweigh the colder temperature, allowing sound to travel faster, but the opposite is the case. Higher is colder, so the Mach winds up slower. Any self-respecting turbine aviator understands the derivation of Mach number, though relatively few have seen it exceed 1.0. Military pilots are more conversant with high Mach numbers, as they may deal with them on practically a daily basis in the normal pursuit of training or simulated combat. Even military pilots and overenthusiastic journalists must pay close attention to the Mach number. Years ago, when I flew a USAF Northrop T-38 out of Williams AFB, Arizona, I was having great fun doing loops and rolls. On one loop recovery in a vertical dive, my check pilot suddenly came on the intercom and announced, “I’ve got it.” He put on about 6.5 Gs and we recovered to level flight still 20,000 feet above the desert. When I asked what I’d done wrong, he said, “You weren’t watching the Mach meter. We were right at .97. If I hadn’t recovered, we
would have boomed Payson, Ariz., and I’d be filling out paperwork for a week.” The only civilian aircrew who used to see Mach numbers of 1.0 or more on a regular basis were Air France and British Airways pilots flying the Mach 2.0 Concorde, and even then, only over water. The beautiful Concorde was in service for only about 27 years. Seven Concordes each were delivered to Air France and British Airways, but the entire fleet was retired in 2003. A very select group of pilots got to fly them. (See sidebar.) There was another supersonic airliner, the Russian TU-144, that could cruise even faster, about Mach 2.3 {1,320 knots}, but the airplane only completed a little more than 100 flights for the Russian national airline, Aeroflot, before being retired because of poor dispatch reliability and maintenance problems. Western pilots nicknamed the TU-144 “Concordski.” Today, a number of corporate jets and a few airliners approach Mach 1.0, but no one gets very close because of the compressibility effects and the large drag increase in the transonic range above about M.93 that would demand a major power increase to overcome. Though most private jets fly in the flight regime at or below M.82-M.84, several of today’s corporate turbines are actually faster than most airliners. The Cessna Citation 10+ recently reassumed the title of fastest civilian jet with a max cruise speed of Mach .935, and the Gulfstream 650, better known as the GVI, is only slightly behind at Mach .925. Again, these aren’t necessarily practical cruise speeds, but they are possible if you’re in a major hurry and can afford the fuel. The fastest airliner is considered to be the Airbus 380 that recorded M.96 during its development. Normal max cruise on the 380 is M.88. Boeing’s 747 can cruise at a maximum Mach of .86. The airlines rarely fly either model so fast, as the fuel burn would be too high. Once again, military airplanes will always win the race for the highest speed. The undisputed speed king of jet aircraft was the ultimate reconnaissance airplane, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, introduced into service in 1966 and retired in 1999. The Blackbird could maintain Mach 3.2 at 85,000 feet and outrun most surface-to-air missiles. I was lucky to witness one of the last SR-71s fly by at Oshkosh in the ‘90s. Though the airplane couldn’t maneuver like a fighter, it flew a 450-knot pass before climbing out of sight, making some of the most glorious jet noise I’ve ever heard. The Blackbird was the ultimate jet Mach-maker.
THE CONCORDE
THE MAXIMUM MACH MACHINE U By Bill Cox From the outset, the concept was revolutionary. Create a Mach 2.0 airliner that could fly the Atlantic from New York to London in less than four hours. It was a Herculean task, fraught with challenges no one had anticipated. Some engineers believed the mission very well might be impossible. A wing capable of supporting supersonic travel was thought to be incompatible with reasonable landing speeds and conventional airline runways. The angle of attack necessary to support low landing speeds would be so extreme that the pilots would not be able to see the runway. The engineers overcame. The Concorde was fitted with an aerodynamically elegant, delta airfoil that featured a complex combination of camber, taper, droop and twist. The wing had no flaps, spoilers, trim tabs or other moving surfaces used in subsonic flight as they would have created drag anathema to the airplane’s primary mission – pure, unbridled speed. The trailing edge elevons provided both roll and pitch control. Trim was accomplished by shifting fuel forward/aft or left/right. The takeoff and approach attitudes were tamed with a droop nose that angled the entire cockpit down 5 degrees for takeoff and 12.5 degrees for landing. (Concorde also had a tail wheel, intended to absorb the impact of an accidental tail strike resulting from the
extreme angle of attack on landing.) The Concorde used a quartet of Rolls Royce/SNECMA Olympus engines rated for 38,500 pounds thrust each. Essentially the same engines had been used on the British Avro Vulcan bomber, popularized in the James Bond movie, Thunderball. The engines featured afterburners that were switched on for takeoff and the transition from climb to supersonic flight. At Mach 2.0 cruise, the Concorde burned 4,800 gph. (That’s about 1.3 gallons per second.) In supersonic flight, a visor shielded the windshield to keep it from melting from the 127-degree C heat generated by Mach 2.0 speeds. Concorde was constructed of an aluminum alloy, specifically designed to withstand the heat, but only barely. The airplane used a highly reflective white paint to avoid overtemping the aluminum skin. Temperature effects were nevertheless dramatic. The SST would actually stretch as much as one foot during max cruise flight (Mach 2.02 or 1350 mph). This was most apparent in the cockpit where a foot-wide gap would open up between the flight engineer’s panel and the forward cabin bulkhead. One limitation Concorde had to deal with throughout its life was the sonic boom. The inability to quiet the boom often dictated routes that were impractical and uneconomic. On overwater flights, the airplane was usually limited to subsonic speeds until above 50,000 feet. The Concorde was almost never allowed to fly supersonic over land. One exception was the relatively unpopulated Nafud Desert of Saudi Arabia. Even that route was cancelled when Bedouin tribesmen complained to the Saudi government that the sonic booms were
causing their camels to miscarry. The airplane wound up configured for 92128 passengers in a four across, single-aisle seating arrangement. Though the original order book suggested 70 airplanes on option, only 20 were built, of which 14 went into passenger service. Air France and British Airways launched scheduled service in 1977 with seven airplanes each, and the rest were dedicated to R&D and spares. In today’s dollars, a Concorde would probably cost $350M. Typical one-way airfares New York to London or Paris were $5,000. At one time or another, the airplane flew additional scheduled routes that included, Dulles (Washington, D.C.), Dallas, Caracas and Barbados, but high-ticket charters were extremely popular. Typical trans-Atlantic flight times were 3 hours + 45, though one Concorde made an eastbound trip, New York to London, in 2 hours + 53 in 1996. Flying the Concorde was a thrill, even for seasoned captains. As John Hutchinson, a British Airways four-striper, described it, “Occasionally, when you’re flying over all the subsonic airplanes, you can see all these 747s 20,000 feet below you almost appearing to go backwards. I mean, you’re flying 800 mph or thereabouts faster than they are. The Concorde was an absolute delight to fly.” All Concordes were retired in 2003 after the crash of an Air France aircraft in Paris and the general slowdown of luxury air travel demand after 9/11. The airlines decided that 747s could fly farther, carrying four times the passengers in more comfort and burn the same amount of fuel at less cost. Nevertheless, the bold and beautiful Concorde remains perhaps the most iconic airliner ever to fly.
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TaxTalk u FINANCE
BIG CHANGES FOR 2015 TAXES A LOT IS NEW THIS YEAR. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. By Harry Daniels, CPA, CFP, PFS, CVA
Once upon a time, back around 1998, there was a little tugboat. Its powerful engines had worked their hardest for their owner and needed to be re-energized. The engines had worked their normal number of hours and were due for a complete scrub down. It was time to overhaul the engines. The owner had the engines torn down. Parts that were worn were replaced. Other parts were serviced and reinstalled. To the aviation industry, this sounded like an engine TBO so aviation started to pay close attention to what was going on. When it came time to file the tugboat’s tax return, the owner expensed the TBO costs as a repair and maintenance. The engines had reached the recommended service interval, as prescribed by the engine manufacturer, in order to give the engines their best chance of fulfilling their expected lifelong service. 34 I
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The IRS took a look at this and said that, by doing this much work to insure that the engines would reach their expected total service life several years into the future, the expenses should be capitalized and depreciated since the expenditure to service the engines was expected to last more than one year. So began a fight between the taxpayers, the IRS and the tax courts that lasted about six years. After numerous decisions by the courts in favor of the taxpayer, the IRS finally said, “We quit!” and threw in the towel. The IRS started a process of rewriting the regulations that would follow the decisions of the court. This rewriting of the regulations took until November 2014 for the final version
So, it is 2015, and we have a new set of rules that I hope will solve many of our repair, maintenance and depreciation issues. Personally, I like the new regulations. I like where they are headed. I think, not just for aviation, but for all businesses, they just make more sense and are more reasonable. of the regulations to be issued and become effective. So, it is 2015, and we have a new set of rules that I hope will solve many of our repair, maintenance and depreciation issues. Personally, I like the new regulations. I like where they are headed. I think, not just for aviation, but for all businesses, they just make more sense and are more reasonable. Let’s stay with aviation for a minute. I have seen more than one case where an annual inspection got out of hand and became very expensive. The taxpayer capitalized the annual inspection based solely on the high cost of the annual inspection and began depreciating the annual inspection over five years. It didn’t matter that, 12 months later, he had to do another annual inspection. Three years later, he had another extensive annual inspection which he capitalized based on the high cost of the inspection and began depreciating the second inspection over five years. Now there were two annual inspections on the books being capitalized and depreciated. At the time, we were not allowed to write off the remaining undepreciated cost of the first annual inspection. We just had to continue depreciating the first annual inspection. It just did not make a whole lot of sense. Here is where we are now. Give aviation its due or its blame, but it was highly instrumental in the new regulations for the very reason cited in the above paragraph. Many of the examples in the new regulations actually cite and make reference to airplanes and aviation. The IRS has written the new regulations very much in favor of the taxpayer and has tried to parallel the
rulings and decisions of the tax court. its usual IRS filing fee associated with TAX As such, the new regulations are so this form which can run as high as TALK different that they actually consti$7,000. Now, if you mess this form tute a taxpayer having to “change up and have to file a second FORM the method of accounting” in order 3115 in the future, then all bets are off to comply with the new regulations. for a no filing fee assessment, and the And that has become a major issue for the IRS is likely to charge you a fee since you taxpayer. already had your one-time-free opportunity When you change your accounting to a to make this happen. different method as called for by the IRS Keep in mind that an asset is an asset is an asset. That has not changed. If you purchase in the new regulations, you must notify a depreciable asset, then you must capitalize the IRS that you are making a change in and depreciate it. But here is the meat of the accounting. You can’t just change methods new regulations, and here lies their beauty. in mid-stream. You have to tell or request What do you do about future expenditures permission from the IRS in order to be on a prior asset? Is it a capital expenditure allowed to make the change. You have to that must be depreciated or can you expense inform the IRS of the accounting method it? The new regulations earn their stripes by you were originally using and request that addressing this point. you be allowed to change over to the new As I said, aviation wins big with the new method you want to use. The irony is that these repair, mainregulations when it comes to deciding if an tenance and depreciation changes are expenditure is a repair (and deductible) or required by the IRS new regulations. As a capital expenditure (which and must be such, the IRS, assuming FORM 3115 is depreciated). The acronym of RABI is a properly filled out, will automatically grant good guide in your decision-making process you permission to make the change. All to expense or capitalize an expenditure. you have to do is file FORM 3115 with your Take the letter “R” for restoration. If the business tax return and send a separate copy plane is in total disrepair and you are to the IRS in Ogden, Utah, or in Washingrestoring it to a good or original condition, ton, D.C. The IRS is not going to charge you then it is a capital expenditure and must be
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TaxTalk u FINANCE
capitalized. Otherwise, it is a repair, and you in the regulations is a provision that if can expense it. prescribed periodic maintenance is to be Next is “A” for adaption. Did you change performed at least one time during the IRS or adapt the plane for a different use? If you tax life of a plane, then the expenditure did, then you must capitalize the expendifor this maintenance is considered to be a ture. Otherwise, it is a repair, and you can repair. Case closed! As I said, I really like expense it. the new regulations. This maintenance Then comes “B” for betterment. Did includes annual inspections, which occur the expenditure actually make the plane every year, and also TBO, which occur a better plane? If so, then capitalize the every X number of hours. Be careful when you are looking at the expenditure. Otherwise, it is a repair, and tax life of a plane. No. 1 warning – it is you can expense it. And the final letter is “I” for improvebased on the time you own the plane and ment. Did you actually improve the not the actual age of the plane. No. 2 plane? If yes, then you have a capital warning – in general, the tax-depreTAX ciation life of a plane is five years. expenditure. Otherwise, it is a TALK But the general depreciation system, repair, and you can expense it. It doesn’t stop with RABI. which is used to determine the periAviation continues to win. Included od of life for recurring maintenance,
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is six years. So if you do a TBO within six years of ownership, expense it. If the TBO is done after six years of ownership, then you have a capital expenditure to depreciate. These rules apply to every business entity. They are not limited to just aviation even though aviation was a major part of getting the regulations revised. Buildings, now that is another animal. How many building roofs do you have on your depreciation schedule? Now, how many roofs are on the building itself? Just one roof. These new regulations give us the chance to look back and fix some of the absurdities that arose under the old IRS rules when the IRS refused to let us remove a portion of the cost of an asset that had to be replaced while making us capitalize the new addition or component.
All we have to do to get in the game is file FORM 3115 – Change in Accounting Method. Yeah – that’s all. It is an eightpage form that will drive you crazy. I probably haven’t filed one in 20 years, but now I am expecting to file 300 of them with the 2014 tax returns. Because of the way the IRS has made the granting of these changes “automatic,” many taxpayers will not be able to get everything on one FORM 3115 and will find it necessary to file multiple forms. Some changes can be combined, and some can’t. Each taxpayer will be different, and I haven’t been able to come up with a general rule of thumb for this. My best advice is don’t do this on April 14. If you find yourself in that situation, file for an extension and live to fight another day. An improperly or incomplete FORM 3115 is dangerous. It could just cost you having to file another FORM 3115 later, and that filing may not slide under the automatic filing rules. If it is not an automatic filing, the IRS will impose a user fee for their attorneys to review your second filing and make a decision to accept or reject your request to change your method of accounting. Another high mark for aviation occurred on Dec. 19, 2014, when President Obama signed into law the tax extender bill, which reinstated the 50-percent bonus depreciation on new assets. Also reinstated was the Section 179 depreciation deduction back up to $500,000 on new and/or used equipment. Both of these provisions are retroactive back to Jan. 1, 2014, so they are in effect for the entire 2014 tax year. Aviation does have another ace in play for bonus depreciation. If in 2014 you made a non-refundable deposit of the lesser of 10 percent of the cost of the plane or $100,000 — AND the aircraft production period is more than four months — AND this is a new plane — AND it cost more than $200,000 — AND you take delivery and use the plane for business in 2015, you will be entitled to bonus depreciation in 2015, regardless of whether bonus depreciation itself is extended for 2015. What a mouthful but a big win for aviation. The downside of these extenders is that they have already expired again as of Dec. 31, 2014. So for 2015, we do not have any bonus depreciation, and the Section 179 amount is back to $25,000, at least for the time being. However, I expect we will see positive activity on both of these provisions in 2015. So, I am back to my same old tax advice – just run your business!
Aviation has won big with these new regulations and tax extenders. However, there is a lot of work required for 2014 to put yourself in a position to benefit from these changes. The filing of FORM 3115 is a one time filing – 2014 only. But the future benefits to aviators are just tremendous.
O. H. “Harry” Daniels Jr. is a CPA, a CFP certificant and a certified valuation analyst. He is a partner with the firm of Duggan, Joiner & Co., Certified Public Accountants, and can be reached at 334 N.W. 3rd Ave., Ocala, FL 34479, telephone 352-732-0171, fax 352-8161370, email harry@harrydanielscpa. com. Daniels has held his license as a private pilot since 1991. This article is available for reprint upon request.
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THE NEW INTERNATIONAL IFR PROTOCOLS FOR ALL AMERICAN TURBOPROP AND JET PILOTS, THE RULES — AND THE EQUIPMENT — ARE CHANGING OVERSEAS. By Bud Corban
By now, most pilots who are simply awake have heard of the American FAA’s mandate of ADS-B equipage by 2020. Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is the new satellite-based, cooperative surveillance technology with which an aircraft determines its position via GPS and periodically broadcasts that information to all other aircraft in the system and to ground facilities for Air Traffic Control. Though some pilots may not be familiar with ADS-B, every aviator has probably worked with GPS, the U.S.A.F.-sponsored Navstar satellite navigation system initiated in the late 1980s. Twenty-eight Navstar satellites circle the Earth at 10,800 nm out in space, providing up to three-dimensional positioning to any aircraft or ground station equipped with a GPS receiver. (Three satellites can provide a simple lat/long solution. Four can add altitude.)
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ADS-b
Europe, Middle East and Africa region with with networks representing major air traffic routes. S P R I N G 2 0 1 5
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ADS-b GPS has been applied to practically aspect of society. It can be used to locate everything from aircraft and rental cars to lost dogs and children, hikers and off-roaders, boaters and snowmobilers, even expensive jewelry and other valuables. ADS-B is strictly for aircraft. It’s not simply a tool that will utilize GPS to coordinate Air Traffic Control in the next generation of airspace. It’s planned totally to supplant the current ground-based radar that interrogates all aircraft for position information. Though radar has become progressively more reliable over time, the system has long been plagued by a number of problems. Radar’s inherent line-of-sight limitations, weather issues and signal problems have often limited its usefulness. ADS-B will suffer no such anomalies. Radar may initially be used as backup and be phased out altogether by 2020. (Remember, however, this is a government program.) Currently, dozens of ADS-B systems on the market offer passive “in” capability — they can receive signals but cannot transmit them — but not that many provide active ADS-B “out” transmission. As you might imagine, ADS-B In is a simple and relatively inexpensive receiver without any form of transmitter, but ADS-B Out will demand the capability to
interpret GPS information of position, speed, course and altitude and transmit that, along with identification, to all aircraft and ground stations within range, a far more complex and costly avionics problem, especially in busy terminal airspace such as Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Atlanta. Today, an aircraft fitted with ADS-B In need not even participate in Air Traffic Control functions but can “piggyback” a huge amount of information from the signals of airline and corporate traffic already in compliance with the 2020 regulation. What some pilots may not know is that the 2020 requirement is predominately a U.S. mandate. Various sections of world airspace will be adopting ADS-B, especially in the RVSM sky above FL280, as early as Jan 1. In other words, it will already be in effect in some international airspace by the time you read this. For example, all aircraft operating within the Hong Kong FIR above FL290 had to be equipped with ADS-B In and Out by Dec. 31, 2014. In Europe, new aircraft with airworthiness certificates first issued after Jan. 8, 2015, will have to comply by the date of the certificate. In other words, they’ll need to be standard-equipped with ADS-B Out. Those
certified before Jan. 8, 2015, will have until June 7, 2020, to comply. Every ICAO signatory country has the right to set its own compliance date, and that has led to some confusion for corporate and private turbine operators who only fly outside the U.S. on an irregular basis. In fact, there are so many different international compliance dates — perhaps 30 in all — we won’t attempt to list them here. Be aware that if you plan to operate turboprop or jet aircraft in the high sky outside the United States, there may be varying compliance dates depending upon your destination and the airspace you overfly. Yet another phase of the coming and current air nav system is called, strangely enough, the Future Air Navigation System, inevitably FANS. This will virtually eliminate the need for en route voice communications between cockpit crews and ATC. It will provide direct datalink contact between pilot and controller, including Air Traffic control clearances, pilot requests and position reporting, all automatic, without a word being spoken. Strictly speaking, FANS isn’t new. Many airlines have been using direct datalink between aircraft, company offices and ATC for several years.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT DEADLINES UNITED STATES If you operate in airspace that currently requires a Mode C or Mode S transponder, you’ll need to be equipped with ADS-B Out by 2020. AUSTRALIA All Australian aircraft operating at or above FL 290 must be equipped with 1090 ES ADS-B Out functionality by Dec. 12, 2013. EUROPE The European Commission recently announced a delay in the deadline for aircraft operators to outfit their aircraft with ADS-B Out equipment. The new compliance dates are June 8, 2016, for new aircraft and June 7, 2020, for aircraft needing retrofits. HONG KONG Since 2013, all aircraft flying along PBN routes L642 or M771 at or above FL290 and within the Hong Kong FIR have needed to be installed with a complaint 1090 ES ADS-B Out solution. SINGAPORE Since 2013, aircraft that operate on select airways and within a select region of the Singapore FIR at FL290 or above have needed to be compliant.
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ADS-b When fully implemented, the FANS system will eliminate problems with language, accents or any other inconsistencies associated with voice communication. The International Civil Aviation Organization initiated work on the FANS program in 1983, and by 1988, an initial proposal of communications, navigation and surveillance was published outlining use of satellites and datalinks. The original premise was to reduce or eliminate all voice communication in all phases of flight. The initial goal was to expedite departure, reduce taxi time and fuel burn and increase runway capacity. In flight, the digital system could deliver route changes around bad weather or other traffic, providing improved safety, more efficient times and reduced fuel costs. Miscellaneous messages would also be handled on an expedited basis without waiting for voice transmissions on
ADS-B is strictly for aircraft. It’s not simply a tool that will utilize GPS to coordinate Air Traffic Control in the next generation of airspace. It’s planned totally to supplant the current ground-based radar that interrogates all aircraft for position information. HF radio. In the approach phase, digital information could forward optimized profile descents, again reducing flight times and improving fuel efficiency. You may notice that fuel savings is a popular benefit of all aspects of ADS-B and the FANS program. Airlines are always eager to save fuel, as it’s one of the few variables that can be easily controlled. The program has been under development since the late ‘80s, modifying and expanding the responsibilities and procedures to streamline the Air Traffic Control system, especially on the North Atlantic Tracks and other long range, trans-oceanic routes. As an amendment to FANS, FANS 1/A and Controller Pilot Datalink Communication (yes, inevitably CPDLC) is intended to help manage the expected explosion in air travel in the coming years. FANS 1 was developed by Boeing and adopted by Airbus.
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FANS 1/A employs an early version of both systems and has been in use for 15 years by the airlines. CPDLC enables two-way, digital communication between a pilot and controller when an aircraft is out of range of traditional analog HF or VHF radio communication. This is directly analogous to text messaging. The CPDLC application has three primary functions: • Facilitates exchange of messages between a pilot and the ATC facility currently handling the aircraft; • Helps to clarify dialog between ATC and the flight crew who may speak different languages; • Allows the crew to review ATC instructions instantly, whereas the old HF systems could accommodate only one aircraft at a time. Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Contact (ADS-C) is a reporting system between aircraft and ATC that demands no action by the flight crew. When operated in normal mode, the system generates three types of reports: • Periodic: ATC can set or alter the update rate as needed. (Higher update rates will normally be required in high traffic areas.) • Event: A change in vertical rate, lateral deviation or altitude will automatically trigger a report. These might be associated with an aircraft emergency or other problem. • Demand: ATC can request an update as necessary if there’s any question about an aircraft’s route, altitude or any other flight parameter. TCAS II 7.1 is the most sophisticated Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System. This was initially proposed in 2008 for implementation by Dec. 1, 2015. It’s a result of Eurocontrol discovering two anomalies in the previous TCAS resolution advisories and attempting to correct them and avoid scenarios where conflicting advisories might actually exacerbate a mid-air collision hazard. The first anomaly related to the performance of the RA reversal logic and the second involved incorrect responses to adjust vertical speed resolution advisories. OK, one more abbreviation, MNPS, and rest assured that’s not short for one of the twin cities in the upper Midwest. Minimum Navigation Performance Specifications Airspace has been established between FL285
AUTOMATIC DEPENDENT SURVEILLANCE -BROADCAST (ADS-B) • ADS-B is the new FAA-mandated, satellite-based, cooperative surveillance technology with which an aircraft determines its position via GPS and periodically broadcasts that information to all other aircraft in the system and to ground facilities for Air Traffic Control. • ADS-B is planned to supplant the current ground-based radar that interrogates all aircraft for position information. • ADS-B In and Out 1. ADS-B In is a simple and relatively inexpensive receiver without any form of transmitter. 2. ADS-B Out will demand the capability to interpret GPS information of position, speed, course and altitude and transmit that, along with identification, to all aircraft and ground stations within range. Source: Duncan Aviation
AUTOMATIC DEPENDENT SURVEILLANCECONTRACT (ADS-C) • ADS-C is both a standard and an application that automatically sends reports from an aircraft to an air-traffic services unit and requires no action from the pilot. • The report includes data, such as the aircraft identification and address, air vector, ground vector, projected profile, meteorological data, min/max ETA and Extended Projected Profile data. • When operating in normal mode, the system generates three types of reports: 1. PERIODIC—The ATC can set or alter the update rate as needed (a higher update rate is usually required in high-traffic areas). 2. EVENT—A change in vertical rate, lateral deviation or altitude automatically triggers a report. 3. DEMAND—An ATC can request an update as needed, and this does not affect an existing contact preset rate. • A fourth type of contract, unlike the previous three, is initiated and cancelled by the pilot, not the controller. This Emergency Contract is automatically triggered by a MAYDAY message. Source: Duncan Aviation
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and FL420. MNPS requires a minimum separation between aircraft of 50.5 nm or one degree of latitude, whichever is greater. The longitudinal separation minima applied in the airspace vary greatly depending upon aircraft class (jet, prop), but for the target population, the values are 15 minutes for crossing tracks or 10 minutes for aircraft that
have reported a common point and follow the same or continuously diverging tracks. These apply in the North Atlantic MNPS Airspace as far south as the Santa Maria and New York OCA and as far north as the Reykjavik OCA. While this muddle of abbreviations and acronyms may seem nonsensical, scientific complexity gone mad, the goal is to improve
safety and reduce confusion for pilots in highstress situations. Radar was once regarded with somewhat the same disdain, but pilots have learned to trust the rotating dish, at least a little. When technologies such as ADS-B and C, TCAS, FANS, CPDLC and MNPS mature, the result will be an extra measure of safety for passengers and crew.
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MiPad u ELECTRONICS
CHANGING PLACES SPRING 2015. By Wayne Rash Your eyes aren’t fooling you. Yes, this is the MiPad column that’s been running in these pages for the last few years, but it’s MiPad with a difference. My friend John Ruley has moved on to lend his expertise as a consultant to the space program, and I’ve been asked to take over this column. I hope you enjoy my efforts to keep you up to date on new iPad apps Some of you may remember me from eWEEK, where I’m the senior columnist and Washington Bureau chief. I’ve been writing about mobile
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technology since a portable computer weighed 75 pounds. I’ve also been writing about aviation and the space program for at least that long. I
(ABOVE) With ForeFlight version 6.0, Stratus 2 pilots can now view in-flight weather and backup attitude information side-by-side.
know that some of you have been around this business much longer, so I hope you’ll bear with me as I learn. Fortunately, there’s a lot to learn. It wasn’t long after Apple released the iPad that this device found its way into the cockpit. Over the years, I’ve reviewed some of the earliest EFBs, navigation apps and pilots’ tools for a variety of publications and, as those products grew and matured, I’ve looked at them again. Together we can have a great adventure. But, of course, when you’re flying, you don’t always want an adventure. Most of the
time what you’re looking for is a way to have everything nice and routine. You want to know what to expect before it happens — what the weather will be like, where the other air traffic will be — and you want to know exactly what your aircraft is doing every second. That’s where the Stratus 2 ADS-B receiver comes in. This is a device that will show you current weather, including animated weather radar. It also shows traffic although the most complete traffic display requires ADS-B Out installed in your aircraft. It’s got a GPS receiver built into the device so it can drive a position display on your iPad. Your iPad, meanwhile,
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MiPad u ELECTRONICS needs to be running the ForeFlight app to be fully useful. ForeFlight is by far the most popular EFB app available for the iPad, and it’s fully featured. Because the folks at Sporty’s Pilot Shop, and Appareo, the manufacturers of the Stratus, worked very closely with the people at ForeFlight to develop the Stratus 2, the hardware/software integration is complete. It’s important to know what the Stratus and its associated apps cannot do. If your airplane doesn’t have ADS-B Out, for example, you may not see some traffic around you (although you may see some as a result of transmissions to other aircraft near you). This means that it’s necessary to do it the old-fashioned way, and look for other aircraft. Of course, you should be doing that anyway.
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The Stratus 2 also provides an attitude heading reference system (AHRS) app that’s available for free. That app is Horizon, and it provides a fullscreen display of the attitude of the aircraft that the Stratus is mounted in, as well as the GPS altitude, groundspeed, direction, rate of climb, direction and track. Horizon can be displayed on a split screen with ForeFlight in addition to the full-screen mode. The only real downside to the strong integration between ForeFlight and Stratus 2 is that there’s no place for anything else. At this point, other EFB software isn’t able to work with Stratus 2 although, presumably, there’s nothing to prevent that, if someone wanted to write an app, but given the dominant position of ForeFlight already, I’m not holding my breath for that to happen.
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The optional Suction Cup Mount with Cradle for Stratus 2
On the other hand, that tight integration does make it easy to get the software and set it up. You can download both ForeFlight and Horizon from Apple’s App Store for free. If you want current charts for ForeFlight, however, you will need a subscription. But other data, including the weather data, are provided for free from the FAA’s ADS-B weather transmitters. In a nice touch, the ForeFlight app, which is frequently updated, will also provide updates to the Stratus directly from the ForeFlight menu. Once you’ve downloaded the apps to your iOS device, all you have to do is turn on the Stratus 2 and search for its WiFi signal in the Settings menu. Once you’ve found that and connected to it, all you have to do is launch the apps, and you’re connected. Stratus 2 information will start showing up in ForeFlight. Even less is required with the Horizon app, which only displays data from the Stratus and, if the device isn’t turned on, it will prompt you to do so. If you’re flying out of an airport with a tower that transmits data for ADS-B, you can start receiving data on the ground, even before you get to your airplane. However, some users will need to take off and get some altitude before they’re in a line of sight from the ADS-B transmitting tower.
Once everything is installed and running, the data that’s available is incredibly useful, and it works as well as ADS-B receivers costing many times more than the Stratus 2 under-$900 price tag. By now you’re probably thinking that all of this tight integration and slick software is nice, but what is it like to fly with the Stratus 2? Unfortunately, that’s a story for another day. As nice as the Stratus may be, it deserves much more than just a quick look here. The updated version of the Stratus includes what Sporty’s calls a Flight Data Recorder, which includes information about speed, direction and GPS data. Sporty’s says that this feature is good for post-flight debriefs by instructors or for pilots to review their flights. But it takes more time than I’ve had with this device to give you a complete look at how it works where it counts, aboard an airplane like yours, so I’ll come back to that once I’ve had the time required to give it a full and fair look. Considering how well everything has gone so far, this should be a breeze for the Stratus 2. Wayne Rash is based near Washington, D.C., where he works as bureau chief and senior columnist for eWEEK. He has been a pilot since 1968. He can be reached at wayne@ waynerash.com
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DOWNBURSTS:
STILL A REAL
THREAT? A DOWNBURST IS AN INSIDIOUS RISK THAT CAN UNDERCUT YOUR AIRSPEED AND DRIVE YOU INTO THE GROUND. By Bill Cox
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downbursts If you were flying in the 1970s and 1980s, you may recall the spate of accidents generated by wind shear and downbursts. The numbers were scary. Between 1973 and 1994, a dozen major airline crashes were associated with downbursts. Collectively, those close encounters with the angry sky accounted for some 500 fatalities. If there was any doubt about the fallacy of the old instructors’ assurance that “downdrafts never go all the way to the ground,” the proliferation of airline accidents in downbursts during that period suggested otherwise. There was even a near-incident in 1983 involving Air Force One. President Reagan was on board when his 707 landed at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., a few minutes before anemometers recorded a 150 mph gust. Though the Boeing was rocked by the severe winds, no one was injured and the aircraft was undamaged. The last downburst/wind shear airline accident occurred in July 1994. A U.S. Airways DC-9 was on approach to Charlotte, N.C., when it was seized by a powerful downburst. The airplane crashed, killing 37 passengers and crew. Twenty years later, downburst aircraft accidents are almost unheard of, and that’s not because the phenomenon has become less prevalent. In May 2009, a downburst caused the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility near DFW airport. The same storm moved across the airport’s huge runway complex 10 minutes earlier, but the universe of anemometers scattered around the airport provided warnings, and no incidents were reported. In June of last year, another severe downburst was detected near Denver International Airport, but sensors allowed controllers to keep traffic away from the area until the threat had dissipated. Wind-shear threats are still out there. I’ve been caught in downbursts twice, and both instances were nothing less than terrifying. Fortunately, improved crew training and predictive technology have stepped up to identify the problem and warn of areas of severe downdrafts.
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downbursts
Dr. Ted Fujita at the University of Chicago
The term “downburst” originated with Dr. Ted Fujita and Dr. Horace Byers of the University of Chicago in 1977. The two meteorologists described a type of severe wind shear that could bring down practically any aircraft without afterburners. The downburst was primarily associated with thunderstorms, but Fujita and Byers suggested it could also occur in nearly clear air under the proper conditions. In its most classic form, a downburst assumes a large, circular shape, perhaps three to five miles across — a funnel of air that descends from a mass of unstable turbulence, hits the ground and bounces outboard, away from the center. (A microburst is simply a small downburst, usually less than two miles in diameter. It may generate horizontal winds in excess of 100 mph, usually highly localized and short term.) A downburst can hide inside a rain shaft
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although dry downbursts aren’t uncommon. Downbursts sometimes originate from clouds at high altitude that seem to pose no threat to aircraft flying at lower levels. They also can live inside virga that descends from several thousand feet and falls through apparently clear air. Downbursts go through three distinct stages: • The actual descent or downburst toward the ground; • The outburst during which the air is deflected by terrain; • The cushion effect associated with rising air at the edges of the phenomenon. When rapidly descending air arrives at the surface, its advancing edge spreads abruptly in all directions, the signature of a downburst. The air also effectively “splashes” back up toward the outside of
the rain shaft. This accounts for the updraft phenomenon that usually precedes violent downdrafts as the air currents swirl and shift in the sky. Downbursts are the progeny of thunderstorms and travel fairly quickly across the ground, so conditions can change in a few minutes. The winds may be erratic and almost unmanageable, shearing from head to tail winds in an instant, making it virtually impossible for a pilot to fly a consistent, stabilized approach. The phenomenon poses the greatest risk during arrival and departure, and both have their respective problems. Entering a downburst during an approach has the disadvantage that the aircraft is being flown at a relatively slow speed and a reduced power setting with flaps, slats and gear hanging out, the highest possible drag configuration. Any severe wind shear has
Severe downburst was detected near Denver International Airport, but sensors allowed controllers to keep traffic away from the area until the threat had dissipated
the immediate effect of setting up a major and often unrecoverable descent. An aircraft encountering a downdraft during departure may be slightly better off because it’s already operating at takeoff thrust and accelerating toward 250 knots. The only recovery necessary may be to continue cleaning up the wing and gear and to drop the nose to regain lost airspeed. If you’re approaching or departing from an airport on the worst possible angle, straight across the center of a downburst, the phenomenon can be insidious, imparting deceptively major updrafts initially. That’s because the air curls back up on the outside of the funnel after impacting the ground. The crash of Delta Flight 191 in Dallas back in August 1985 was especially notable because it demonstrated a textbook example of the worst-case scenario. The Lockheed L-1011 was on an ILS approach to DFW Runway 13L when it encountered strong updrafts. The surprised copilot flying the approach responded by reducing power and pushing the nose over to stay on glideslope and airspeed, but the more experienced captain quickly recognized what was about to happen.
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The avionics industry has experimented with a variety of downburst/wind shear cockpit-warning systems, using a variety of radar sensors. Doppler radar is one of the best. It’s readily available on NEXRAD, technically known as WSR-88D, a feature of XM Weather. XM is also available through ADS-B In, and that’s obviously the best and least expensive warning system. “You’re gonna lose it all of a sudden... There it is,” the captain shouted. “Push it up, push it way up.” Simultaneously, the Lockheed emerged from the strong updrafts and flew into violent downdrafts. Airspeed sheared from 173 to 133 knots in a few seconds, and the L-1011 began plummeting toward Texas, descending at 5,000 fpm at one point. Even with full power, the big Lockheed slammed into the ground at 600 fpm and 200 knots, still a mile short of the runway. The airplane hit two, 4-million gallon water tanks and disintegrated, killing 137 passengers and crew, including all three pilots. The tragedy of flight 191 did have one
positive effect. Meteorologists Fujita and Byers were able to use the information on 191’s digital data recorder and flight recorder to prove conclusively that the crash had been caused by a downburst. As a partial result of so many accidents from a common cause, the FAA and airline industry began a program of training pilots to recognize the warning signs of downbursts and experimenting with cockpit systems to alert pilots of the danger. NASA also initiated efforts to come up with airport warning systems that could alert the tower when downburst conditions were present. In fact, DFW already had a simple, anemometer-based, LLWAS (low-level wind
downbursts shear alert) surface warning system in place when flight 191 went down, but the alarm didn’t sound until three minutes after the crash. Since it’s ground- based, LLWAS’ universe of anemometers only detected wind irregularities at, or very near, ground level. In other words, it’s reactive rather than predictive. An LLWAS can only advise when a downburst has already arrived, not when it’s in the process of developing. The avionics industry has experimented with a variety of downburst/wind shear cockpit-warning systems, using a variety of radar sensors. Doppler radar is one of the best. It’s readily available on NEXRAD, technically known as WSR-88D, a feature of XM Weather. XM is also available through ADS-B In, and that’s obviously the best and least expensive warning system. ADS-B In units are available now for less than $1,000. A number of other detection systems — microwave, laser, LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and infrared — all function in a similar manner, comparing updrafts and downdrafts near the aircraft to air movement out in front of the sensor. Some systems can “see” accurate air movements fairly far away and can provide up to 40 seconds warning of a potential downburst. Doppler is sometimes criticized for being less effective in dry weather as it was designed primarily to warn of precipitation. However, it does have a clear mode that can read vertical air currents in dry air. Safe Flight Instruments of White Plains, N.Y., developed an early-detection device in the 1990s that Boeing installed on many of
The tragedy of flight 191 did have one positive effect. Meteorologists Fujita and Byers were able to use the information on 191’s digital data recorder and flight recorder to prove conclusively that the crash had been caused by a downburst.
its aircraft and Cessna offered as an option on Citations. Though not exorbitantly priced ($10,000 to $13,000), those original downburst prediction systems haven’t made serious inroads into the cockpits of modern aircraft. In the corporate and airline world, more than 100 U.S. airports have been equipped with conventional LLWAS downburst-recognition systems, and at least another 45 have installed Doppler weather radars. Those systems have been perhaps the major reason for the near-eradication of downburst accidents. By definition, the
most sophisticated downburst detection sensors are installed at major airline terminals. There’s often little or no protection provided by tower operators at General Aviation fields. Once again, despite the decline in accidents, none of the above is to suggest that downbursts are no longer a threat. No matter what you fly, pure jet o5 turboprop, it’s unlikely you could outfly a fully developed downburst. If you’re forewarned with ADS-B NEXRAD, however, you may be able to avoid the problem completely.
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LOAS, LOAS, GET YOUR LOAS By Neil Singer
Letters of Authorization (LOAs) have become a dreaded but necessary evil for light-jet owner-operators. More and more operations require these letters of permission, granted by the FAA to aircraft operators who wish either to operate their aircraft in specified airspace or to conduct specified operations in more generic airspace. Many new jet owners are aware of the need to hold an LOA to fly in reduced vertical separation minimums (RVSM) airspace but have fuzzy or no understanding of the intricacies of what an LOA allows — or of the myriad LOAs beyond RVSM that may be needed. Here is a quick summary of the various LOAs that could be needed by light-jet operators. Others exist, but they are generally more appropriate to longer-range jets. RVSM The most common LOA for turbine aircraft, this letter is required to operate in RVSM-designated airspace where 1,000-foot vertical separation is applied. This LOA is essential for the lightest jets in production, as they have a maximum ceiling of FL410, the top of RVSM airspace. Lack of an RVSM LOA will keep these aircraft under FL290, where fuel consumption per mile will be significantly higher. The larger single-pilot jets such as the CJ3+/ 4, or the Phenom 300, are able to operate up to FL450. As it’s often possible to receive ATC clearance to climb through RVSM airspace to FL430 or FL450, these planes are somewhat more able to mitigate the inconvenience of not having an RVSM LOA. Minimum Navigation Performance Specification — MNPS This LOA is critical for any jet wishing to fly a North Atlantic crossing. Think of the MNPS as the lateral accuracy counterpart to RVSM; it encompasses the same vertical dimensions of FL290 to FL410, over most of the North Atlantic. Meeting the technical requirements of the MNPS is trivial for any modern jet. However, the application process can require as much or more time than an RVSM LOA. While it’s possible to fly a North Atlantic crossing below or above MNPS airspace, it adds a very stressful element to an already demanding operation. Any owner who thinks they might ever be interested in a North Atlantic crossing should consider starting the MNPS LOA process now, before time pressure exists. Precision RNAV (P-RNAV) The next LOA to be applied for (if a European trip might ever be in your future) is the P-RNAV. While not strictly required for most European operations, P-RNAV approval is required at some of the larger airports. Even where it’s not required, not having P-RNAV
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approval may result in inbound or outbound delays. Equivalent to domestic RNAV 1 approval (which does not require an LOA, only an AFM statement) for SIDs and STARs, P-RNAV is a simple LOA to acquire, but lead-time cautions apply. Required Navigation Performance 10 (RNP 10) Another boiler-plate LOA, RNP 10 authorization is required for some operations across the Gulf of Mexico, as well as for some off-shore routes across parts of the Atlantic and Pacific. Apply for this one with MNPS and P-RNAV to allow for maximum flexibility in international operations. Note that in 2020, MNPS LOAs will cease to be valid, and an RNP 10 LOA will be required to transit the North Atlantic. Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) Still being sorted out by the European authorities as this is written, the mandate for text-based ATC messaging capability may affect aircraft who wish to fly above FL285 over European air space as early as February 2015. Just having the required VHF datalink hardware and avionics updates in an aircraft won’t be enough. You guessed it; for Part 91 operators, an LOA is required as well. If an aircraft is delivered with certified CPDLC hardware and software, starting the LOA process well before any foreseen trips is advised. ADS-B If anything is baffling in the LOA landscape, it’s the requirement by many countries that an operator who wishes to use ABS-B Out equipment in certain airspace must have state approval to do so. We are speaking of a glorified transponder here. The FAA will issue a LOA for ADS-B operation, currently required for parts of the Hudson Bay, even though no LOA is required domestically. As with CPDLC, it makes sense to pursue the LOA as a hedge against future need if ADS-B Out hardware is installed. A final critical point to understand about all LOAs is that they are granted to the operator of an aircraft who may or may not be the owner or pilot of the aircraft. Further, each LOA is specific to the aircraft that said operator is allowed to fly under the terms of the LOA. Imagine this scenario: Two owner-pilots fly the same model of aircraft and each possesses an LOA for operation in RVSM airspace. Pilot A’s aircraft is in the shop for a few weeks, so Pilot B offers to lease his aircraft for an upcoming trip. Unless Pilot A earlier had the foresight to add Pilot B’s plane to his own LOA, he may not fly the aircraft in RVSM airspace, even though the plane may be indistinguishable from his own, and is approved for RVSM operations on the LOA issued to Pilot B. Logical? Not at all, but the FAA is crystal clear on this, stating in their internal guidance that, “LOAs must be issued to the person or entity that intends to operate the aircraft under the LOA. When an aircraft is owned by more than one person, or is leased, each operator must have an LOA.” Several recent high-profile accidents have made the chain of operational control a very important issue to the FAA, so this is an issue to follow carefully.
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