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Contents JUNE+JULY 2021
42 Breathe Easy at Altitude Are you legal? Are you safe? Understand when to use aviator’s oxygen. By Julie Boatman
48 The Fly-In Returns We take you with us to the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo 2021 in pictures.
34 We Fly: Pipistrel Panthera
34
One fast and sleek cat
By Julie Boatman Photos by Stephen Yeates
Sky Next 10 Gear CloudAhoy flight-tracking app
Training & Technique
Life in the Air
22 ILAFFT
52 In Depth
Summer haze
Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.
By Baron Hamman
62 Unusual Attitudes
Sign Off 74
Memories from an old photo album
A little ingenuity
By Martha Lunken
Photographer Jim Barrett shoots a fast cat— the Pipistrel Panthera—off the coast of eastern Florida.
Cover
By Dan Pimentel
12 Aircraft
26 Chart Wise
64 Jumpseat
Gulfstream G700 plus Dassault’s Falcon 6X and 10X
Chicago Midway’s PANGG 3 Arrival
Sun ’n Fun Lite By Les Abend
By Rob Mark and Jason Blair
66 Gear Up
16 Trending
28 Aftermath
Tripping the light fantastic
Williams flies on SAF
Lost horizons
By Dick Karl
By Peter Garrison
68 Technicalities 32 Sky Kings
56 Taking Wing
Hey, taxi!
Traveling in style
Falling with style
By Peter Garrison
By John King
By Sam Weigel
60 Leading Edge Know thyself By Ben Younger
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Flying (0015-4806) (USPS 504-930), June/July 2021, Volume 148, Issue 4. Flying is published eight times a year (March, April/May, June/July, August, September, October, November and December) by Bonnier Corporation, 480 N. Orlando Avenue, Suite 236, Winter Park, FL 32789. Periodicals postage paid at Winter Park, FL, and additional mailing offices. Authorized periodicals postage by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, Canada, and for payment in cash. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Flying, P.O. Box 6364, Harlan, IA 515931864; flyingmag.com/cs; 515-237-3697 or 800-678-0797. If the postal service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year.
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Top: Jim Barrett; Bottom Left to Right: Dassault, United States Air Force, Dave Brenner/University of Michigan
By Rob Mark
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View from Above Letter from the Editor
The First Gathering How the small things become big things
Honestly, I made my travel reservations not 100 percent sure that I would go. But I could say that about every f light I’ve planned. Like so many trips that had weather, airplane and pilot come together at the right time, the pieces for this trip fell into place just the week before the first big show of 2021, the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo. I admit I was out of practice. I forgot my name badge. I missed restocking the business cards in my backpack, so I only had the ones in my purse. I managed to arrive with enough clean shirts to make it three days—I call that a win. My fellow aviation journalists expressed the same awkwardness, and we’d lost to COVID-19 a dear mentor and friend from among our ranks, Mike Collins with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. We’d been doing our jobs remotely for more than a year, for better or worse, so standing under the tent outside the media center on April 13—day one—I could sense the collective fidgeting among our eclectic group. We were happy to see each other, but after having had most of my live conversations with just the dogs over the past 14 months, I needed a little extra coffee to spin up. But, oh, the reconnection was glorious. There were airplanes we’d only read about—such as the Pipistrel Panthera in Rob Mark’s flight review this month. There were former colleagues I lived only miles away
from but hadn’t been able to go flying with as we navigated our way through conflicting restrictions both external and self-imposed—as well as new faces to meet in person for the first time. Why do we need each other’s company? We’re social animals. We flock together for the most part, and in that spirit we bring you some of our favorite images from this, our first “flocking” of the year, in our photo feature, “The Fly-In Returns: Sun ’n Fun 2021.” Not everyone chose to go. There were really good reasons for that— and I too reserved the right to bag it at the last minute. My go/no-go decision for flight becomes a continue-or-land decision once I’m airborne, but I’ve always left myself the ability to make that decision. In this case, I’d had the chance to get vaccinated prior to the show, which made the “continue” choice easier. At the show itself, Sun ’n Fun had its pandemic protocols outlined for all to see and posted in many places around the airport grounds. It had a dedicated “COVID team” in place with a tent by the flight line. It was clear too that the Sun ’n Fun business was hit hard by the past year; there was less communication and organization in several key places, one of them being a media center that closed each day at 1 p.m., after hosting only a small handful of briefings. I understood that volunteers were thin on the ground to staff these
areas as well as the exhibit halls. In Les Abend’s column this month, he reports from an event held this past December during which John Leenhouts from Sun ’n Fun outlined in detail the challenges they faced. However, it appears as though those challenges led to frustration on several levels, and the organization chose not to enforce its own rules. In my mind, if you’re going to set a protocol, don’t just pay lip service to it, because it puts folks in a bad position if they’ve made a choice based on expectations. I spoke with one exhibitor who said he would have rather sent in his money to pay for the space— to help keep the fly-in afloat—and stayed home had he known the mask requirement for the hangars would not be enforced. Some large exhibitors made that choice, to pay and stay home. When I spoke with Sun ‘n Fun about these issues, the impossible position they were in came through clearly. They did the best they could. But as pilots, we make the choice to go—or not—based on the information we’re given. We’re watching with cautious optimism as to how the EAA AirVenture will handle similar decisions. Little things can transform themselves into big things if we’re not careful.
Julie Boatman Editor-in-Chief @julieinthesky on Twitter
} Julie Boatman is a flight instructor and airline-transport-rated pilot with type ratings in the Cessna Citation Mustang and
Douglas DC-3—but she finds true happiness flying low and slow. 6 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
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Inbox June+July 2021
Leading Edge Kudos to Flying for engaging such a talented group of writers. In particular, Ben Younger’s prose shines. “The Smell of LL” [March] mirrors my own journey through the pandemic, from extreme caution to coronavirus fatigue. As a wing safety director for the Civil Air Patrol, some folks are probably tired of me exhorting them repeatedly to keep up the COVID-19 safety protocols. Yet a few days ago, I found myself walking into a Walmart (masked, of course) to pick up something I didn’t need anytime soon. The risk was probably low, but the trip was cause for selfadmonishment, especially because the store was in a neighborhood hard hit by the virus. I realized the lapse in judgment was fueled not so much by complacency but a desire for normal. What’s normal? My parents and grandparents endured a decade of the Great Depression. My father put his life on the line for years in the flak-filled skies of Europe piloting an unarmed C-47. Better to focus on the simple joys, like an aileron roll in my RV-7A or a hike in the New Mexico wilderness. I can wait. All will be well again. John Graham via email Love the magazine. I do, however, have to disagree with Ben Younger’s conclusion in his “Holy Shiver” column [April+May] that a college education leads one to be better at
deescalation for cops or a better CFI. In my experience owning a tavern, I can tell you that many times a highly educated patron quite full of themselves and their social status quickly escalated a situation out of control only to be calmed down by a young server with far less education but who had common sense and some simple street smarts. I myself have had minor emergencies in my aircraft that I handled without panic even though I’m just a college dropout who can somehow afford a plane and lots of time to fly it. A piece of paper doesn’t make you good at the art of dealing with human emotions. Brian Brickley via email
Unusual Attitudes As a reader of Flying for several decades, I’ve seen the planes, industry, rules, technology and community itself change in many ways. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the love of aviation that is shared by all pilots and readers of your publication. With that in mind, I have to tell you that for an old guy like me—a man whose flying days are far behind him and whose certificates and ratings have long been dusty and dormant— the column in Flying that means the most to me is Martha Lunken’s Unusual Attitudes. Martha’s writing always reminds me of the things that drew me to aviation in the first place. She
Hawaii Ercoupes I just read ILAFFT No. 958 by Gus Mattia [March]. What a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting read. I don’t know if he writes regularly, but he certainly has the talent. I’d bet he’d have a lot to say if he were to write a compilation of his aviation experiences over the years. I’d certainly read it. Michael O’Mara via email
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writes not just about the finer points of actually flying an airplane (as opposed to operating the latest technological gadget that’s been installed in the panel) but of the relationships you build with other pilots along the way—relationships that last a lifetime. Every time I read one of Martha’s columns, I am taken back in time to the days when I had the distinct pleasure, privilege and freedom of getting behind the controls of an aircraft and heading skyward. Unusual Attitudes always seems to remind me that I was a pilot once too. Kelley Cowdrey via email
Approachable Ercoupe I returned to flying after a hiatus, sharing an Ercoupe with a friend. It’s been two years since I attended an AOPA Rusty Pilot seminar at our local airport (KVAY) in southern New Jersey, and I got signed off a month later. For two octogenarians, the Ercoupe is just about perfect. [Ours is] an original Erco 1946 415-C, [with a] Continental 85 hp engine with only the brake pedal on the floor. I fly by these numbers: take off, rotate at 60 mph, climb out at 70 mph, cruise at 90 to 110 mph at 75 to 80 percent power. Landing: At base turn, power to idle, pitot heat on, trim full aft, and maintain 80 mph until the flare—as Jason [McDowell] says, “leveling off a foot or two above the ground and allowing the plane to settle onto the runway.” Once on the ground, I usually make the first turnoff, even in strong crosswinds. The Ercoupe always draws a crowd at the fly-in barbecues we attend. “If you can’t land an Ercoupe, you shouldn’t be driving!” Ted Fox via email
Losing Lift [A question for Peter Garrison]: I was reading your “Losing Lift” article in the March Technicalities. You say that “in a vertical dive, the lift is horizontal; it does nothing at all.” This is not correct. In a stable vertical dive, the lift is zero; otherwise, the aircraft will move toward the lift, and it will follow a curved path, like on a descending leg of a loop. You can fly a stable vertical dive only with a negative angle of attack, so the net force perpendicular to the vertical flight path is zero. I’ve been reading Flying since 1976, and I savor Technicalities. Vittorio Perotti via email Mr. Perotti is right. An airplane pointing straight downward would
not descend vertically because the lift of its wing would pull it away from a vertical path. To make a truly vertical dive, an airplane must pitch a couple of degrees past the vertical so that the lift, which would now be operating parallel to Earth’s surface, becomes zero. Peter Garrison
Sign Off for Yeager Your [March] Sign Off for Chuck Yeager was well-done. I had an opportunity to meet him in 1964 on an Air Force ROTC field trip to Joint Base Andrews [in Maryland]. A few other cadets and I were in the officers’ club bar. Our ROTC instructor and chaperone had taken us in, but then he abandoned us for some hot redheaded lady. He told
us not to drink, as none of us were 21. Naturally, we all had “just one” beer. One of the guys at my table said, “Hey, that’s Chuck Yeager.” He was in a flight suit, just standing there at the bar having a beer. We chatted for maybe 90 seconds. He was very nice to us, calling us “boys,” as in, “Are you boys down here for ROTC?” and “Are you boys old enough for those?” while pointing to the beer bottles we’d carried over so we’d look cool. I confessed I was “almost” old enough, just one week away—who could lie to Chuck Yeager? He grinned and said, “Well, just don’t overdo it.” Steve Tilton via email
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Air cr a ft 12 / T ren din g 16 / Ask Flying 20
The Best of What’s New [ Improvements have been made to scoring and visualization within the Pro version of the app. Stay within the dotted lines of the glideslope wedge, marked by dotted lines.
[ CFI Assistant, including scoring with colorcoding, gives you instant feedback on the Pro version. [ You can animate the cockpit view by scrubbing through the graphs during the replay to show those portions of the approach from a pilot’s point of view.
[ Look at the localizer and glideslope accuracy within the profile view to determine specifically how well you flew. The missed approach is shown in lighter colors for quick delineation from the approach itself.
[ Wind vectors can also be overlaid on the track to illuminate their impact on your approach.
CloudAhoy Flight Analysis Debriefing an IFR approach has improved. B Y F LY I N G S TA F F
CloudAhoy’s flight-analysis software has matured and expanded since we first reviewed it for Flying in October 2017. The app allows you to transfer smoothly from your iPad to your laptop or desktop and gives you the power to constructively debrief every flight, whether you’ve flown with an instructor or on your own. The company recently added several new features to its Standard and Pro app levels, including a new flight-path vector displayed above on the cockpit view. New tools and better functionality allow for improved analysis of an instrument approach, giving even more detail to your debrief. Circling-approach debrief features also add to the app’s utility. As CloudAhoy’s Brittney Tough shared in her blog, in general, “IFR students do not like to practice [circling approaches].” But they are part of the
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instrument check ride, so they must be mastered as a task—and they might come in handy at some point in your IFR flying. CloudAhoy’s Pro version identifies the circling approach and its segments for easy evaluation. By measuring the “track at threshold,” it checks to see if you’ve “cut the corner” or if you’re properly aligned with the runway on the final segment. It also verifies that the aircraft’s airspeed remains within the proper range and that your track stays within the protected area for your category—and above the MDA. The CloudAhoy Track version is free, with basic track logs. A 35-day free-trial period of the Pro version can be translated into an annual subscription at your chosen level ($65 per year for the standard app and $150 for the Pro level, which includes the CFI Assistant scoring and instrument-approach profiles detailed here).
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Aircraft The latest updates
Gulfstream G700 Flight test expands to six platforms BY ROB MARK
PIPER AIRCRAFT gains EASA certification for its M600/SLS Halo with autoland and FAA certification on its Piper 100i. AVIAT AIRCRAFT displayed its A-1C-180 Husky on Wipaire 2100A floats at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo. TEXTRON AVIATION unveils 75th anniversary 2022 Beechcraft Bonanza honoring Olive Ann Beech. 1 2 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
Gulfstream Aerospace announced in April that f light testing on its newest aircraft, the ultra long-range G700, had surpassed the 1,100-hour mark in its first year of testing. In addition to the five test aircraft currently flying, the flight-test program now includes a fully completed production test aircraft to evaluate the interior elements throughout the aircraft’s living areas (configurable up to five), including all-new seating and Gulfstream’s new ultrahigh-definition circadian lighting system. The program will eventually include seven aircraft. The G700 interior also features a galley with more than 10 feet of counter space, a grand suite with an optional shower, a six-place conference and dining table, 20 panoramic windows, and the Gulfstream Cabin Experience with 100 percent fresh, never-recirculated air, low cabin altitude, and whisper-quiet noise levels. F LY I N G M A G.C O M
Gulfstream is also testing the G700’s enhanced Symmetry Flight Deck, with the award-winning Gulfstream predictive landing performance system. The system gives pilots advanced warning of potential runway excursions to allow them to adjust approaches or go around. The G700 Symmetry Flight Deck includes Gulfstream’s enhanced flight vision system and synthetic vision on dual head-up displays. During flight-envelope expansion, the test aircraft safely performed well beyond its maximum operational speed and cruise altitude, flying at Mach 0.99 and 54,000 feet. The G700 began flight-into-known-icing testing as well, and successfully completed high-altitude engineperformance testing at Telluride Regional Airport in Colorado, at an altitude of 9,078 feet. The aircraft is also undergoing testing for high-intensity radiated fields and indirect effects of lightning. }
Courtesy Gulfstream Aerospace
ZEROAVIA sees its experimental Piper M-class test platform make an offairport landing in the UK.
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Dassault Falcon 6X First Flight In early May, the OEM unveiled the new 10X.
Fo r Da s s ault Av iation , 2021 has been a busy year of aircraft firsts. In March, the company ’s lon g -r a n g e — 5 , 5 0 0 n m — u lt r a widebody 6X lifted off for the first time from the factory site in Mérignac, France, with pilots Bruno Ferry and Fabrice Valette in the cockpit. The two-and-a-half-hour test flight reviewed aircraft handling, engine response and operation of critical aircraft systems. The flight reached FL 400 and a speed of Mach 0.8. The next
6X flight would take serial No. 1 to the company’s main flight-test center at Istres, near Marseilles, for further testing. Follow-on test aircraft, serial Nos. 2 and 3, will fly within the next few months.
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Adding to the excitement of the year, on May 6, Dassault announced its newest addition to the Falcon family, the even longer range 10X. The new airplane represents the French aircraft builder’s challenge to the ultralong-range category capable of stage lengths as long as 7,500 nm and speeds of up to Mach 0.925. Dassault believes the 10X will best its two major competitors inside the cabin, where this newest airplane will measure 9 feet, 6 inches wide as compared with the Gulfstream G700’s 8-foot-2-inch cabin and the Bombardier Global 7500’s 8-foot cabin. Two Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X engines—delivering 18,000 pounds of thrust each—will power the aircraft. A lw ay s a le ader i n blend i ng tech nolog y w it h per for ma nce, Dassault has designed the 10X’s cockpit to be the first of its kind with a single power lever to control both engines through the aircraft’s digital flight-control system. Both flight-deck seats will fully recline in anticipation of a future relaxation of the rules to allow pilots to nap at their stations. To reduce passenger fatigue on 15-plus-hour flights, the 10X’s cabin will remain at 3,000 feet up to FL 410. Sporting a new composite wing, the 10X is expected to enter service in 2025 with a $75 million price tag. }
Courtesy Dassault Aviation
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Trending The latest updates
Sustainability Gains Williams International engines fly on SAF
Williams International reported in April that it had completed a successful flight test of its FJ44-4 engine using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel on its flying testbed aircraft. The flight was conducted from the Williams International flight-operations center in Pontiac, Michigan, and flew to points in northern Michigan with a total of three and a half hours of flight time at a cruising altitude of FL 450. This flight test follows extensive material compatibility and endurance testing that validated engine performance and durability using 100 percent SAF. “The flight was uneventful, and the engine performed flawlessly,” said Williams International chief test pilot Robert Lambert, adding that “the engine did not even seem to notice that it was burning sustainable fuel.” This successful flight marks another step in the Williams Blue Planet Initiative to “significantly reduce the environmental impact of aviation by relentlessly driving to a carbon-neutral product life cycle.” “We have shown that Williams’ engines can utilize 100 percent SAF to help decarbonize aviation,” said Gregg Williams, chairman, 1 6 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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president and CEO of Williams International, as well as copilot on the flight test. “The next critical step is to accelerate the production of SAF to make it more widely available and affordable.” The importance of testing jet engines using 100 percent SAF cannot be understated if the industry’s goal of halving total carbon emissions by 2050 is to be achieved. According to a report from Air BP (a manufacturer of SAF), jet fuels made from sustainable materials such as waste cooking oils, wood waste, and fast-growing energy crops, such as algae, are often blended into traditional jet-A made from fossil fuels. Air BP’s data says SAF produces up to 80 percent less life-cycle carbon emissions than the traditional fuel it replaces. To be a truly sustainable fuel, it needs to be 100 percent SAF, such as the fuel used in the recent Williams International flight test. The FJ33/44 family of fanjet engines began with the introduction of the simple yet rugged FJ44-1A, and there are currently more than 5,700 FJ44 engines in service with an accumulated 13 million hours in flight, according to the company. This two-spool turbofan engine uses two low-pressure turbines to drive a fan and intermediate pressure compressor and one high-pressure turbine to drive a centrifugal compressor. The company currently offers four models in thrusts starting with the 1,850-pounds-force produced by the FJ33, with the FJ44 family producing between 2,100 and 3,600 lbf of thrust. Because of the low weight and high output of this small family of engines, OEMs have been able to develop light jets, such as the single-engine Cirrus Vision Jet, that use the Williams International FJ33-5A for its power. The PC-24 from Pilatus uses a pair of Williams FJ44-4A engines producing 3,420 lbf of thrust each for power. Along with producing its fanjet engines, Williams International is also known for establishing highly integrated and automated manufacturing facilities to produce its commercial and military products. According to the company, its production workflow simply boils down to this: “Ingot and other raw materials enter one end of these facilities and finished engines exit the other.” }
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s n TRENDING
Sustainable Fuel Efforts Expand NetJets, Signature, Neste, AvFuel, Gevo
Adoption of sustainable aviation fuel has gained significant traction over the past 12 months, with several notable business-aviation operators and FBO chains committing to the acceptance of SAF into delivery systems at airports across the US and in Europe. SAF, which has been shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent, goes through the same quality processes to produce a fuel that needs no change in infrastructure to deliver. This past fall, NetJets became the first businessaviation provider to purchase a stake in the SAF game by joining Signature Flight Support’s Signature Renew program. UK-based Neste committed to supplying Signature Renew with its MY-brand SAF. Signature’s FBOs in San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) and London Luton Airport (LTN/EGGW) in the UK were the first to make available the low-emission fuel. NetJets
will purchase 100 million gallons of SAF over the next 10 years, per the agreement. In early 2021, it also bought a stake in WasteFuel, a company that transforms municipal landfill waste into SAF. AvFuel signed an agreement in January 2021 to provide Neste’s MY-brand SAF to a growing round of its FBO customers in the US, beginning with Monterey Jet Center (KMRY) in California, Koury Aviation in Greensboro (KGSO), North Carolina, and Telluride Regional Airport (KTEX) in Colorado. AvFuel had already delivered its first load of alternate SAF from supplier Gevo to the Leading Edge Jet Center at Seattle’s King County International Airport (KBFI) in December 2020. Gevo’s cradle-tocradle SAF solution is an alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffin kerosene, and it’s one of the few drop-in, non-fossil-fuelbased alternatives to jet fuel available today. }
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Ask Flying We know you have questions.
If I use my iPad for a weather self-briefing before each flight, am I also required to contact Flight Service to be considered legal?
} Bret Koebbe is a flight instructor and oversees the production of pilot-training courses and
mobile apps for Sporty’s Pilot Shop. He flies for fun in a 1963 Piper Aztec and professionally in a Cessna Citation.
2 0 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
Courtesy Bret Koebbe
“
No. The regulations (FAR 91.103, on preflight action) require you to check weather reports and forecasts for IFR flights and those not in the vicinity of the airport but make no reference to Flight Service. It’s legal to do a self-briefing before each flight using the comprehensive set of weather products on your favorite aviation mobile app or website that come from government weather sources. The FAA released Advisory Circular 91-92 in March, further clarifying this by stating that a “self-briefing may be compliant with current FARs” and that “this allows Flight Service to become a consultative resource that can be utilized when needed.” When conducting a self-briefing, you should add some structure to ensure no weather product or airspace restriction is overlooked. AC 91-92 provides guidance here too, with a checklist to follow as well as sources for everything from weather hazards to TFRs. The AC notes that Flight Service will continue to be available for a traditional briefing—and the only option when you lack an internet connection.
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Char t W i se 26 / A fte rm ath 2 8 / S ky Ki ngs 3 2
T R A I N I N G & T EC H N I Q U E I.L.A.F.F.T. I learned about flying from that NO.960
Summer Haze And a sloping problem BY BARON HAMMAN
living within 30 miles of Madisonville— happened to be driving to Louisville to catch his deadhead to New York. He said I could ride with him to Louisville, and he would help me prepare for the flight. His offer lent my “rescue” mission an air of authority. My friend Catherine thought the plan was grand and volunteered to go on the adventure as well. What could possibly go wrong? The muggy August air in Western Kentucky
} Baron Hamman is a 58 year-old 1,000-hour private pilot with instrument and multiengine ratings
who learned to fly through the Boy Scouts in Kentucky. He loves to fly!
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Joel Kimmel
Many years ago, a friend landed and left his Cessna 172 in Louisville, Kentucky, because of weather, an hour and half away from our home-base airport in Madisonville. He was far too busy in his business to go back and fly it home anytime soon. As a newly minted 17-year-old private pilot, I jumped at the chance to be his volunteer ferry pilot. My mentor and neighbor—an Eastern Airlines captain and the only airline pilot
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YEARS
T T I.L.A.F.F.T.
hung like kudzu on the oaks as we made our way east on the Western Kentucky Parkway. The high glare cut visibility to maybe 8 miles, my most generous estimate. We were slightly behind schedule, but I calculated we could still make it home before dusk. When we arrived at the FBO desk in Louisville at 6 p.m., the lineman could barely remember the faded green-on-white 172. He located the airplane on the line board and recalled: “Since I really wasn’t sure on your friend’s plans, I put her back on ‘the Slope.’ I topped her off myself last Saturday evening after the storms cleared.” My airline-pilot friend drove us out to the old Cessna. The preflight was uneventful. I clicked on the master switch and checked the fuel gauges— both read “full.” On the struts, I dipped a finger in each tank. Full as promised. Satisfied with the airplane and our flight planning, we gratefully sent my airline-pilot friend to catch his flight to New York. The lineman wasn’t kidding when he called it “the Slope.” I had to set the parking brake once the chocks were removed. Catherine a nd I boarded, strapped in and fired up the old Lycoming. It ran beautifully. I taxied forward a few feet to sit upright as we copied Bowman Field ATIS and got our taxi clearance. The weather for the 90-minute rescue mission was technically VFR, with “winds light and variable...visibility 10 miles with haze,” but haze was an understatement. On takeoff, my vision was surprisingly obscured. To be sure, I could see directly below, but I had only a faint horizon—if at all. Most of the time, I was following the compass and looking often at the attitude indicator for reassurance. Catherine, normally reserved, had a lot to say about the sensation but was all smiles. This new and lonely experience as PIC in reduced visibility was sobering. I hoped the visibility would improve. Straight and level at 6,500 feet, I searched into the fish-gray, nearly 2 4 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
featureless cone of visibility below us for the la ndma rks a long our course. At last, Rough River Lake emerged—albeit slightly out of place. Hmm. A quick correction of about 20-plus degrees northward, and we continued on course. Soon, we neared the halfway mark on my sectional. Per training, it was time for a progress confirmation check . T he a i rcra f t wa s f ly i ng perfectly. Oil pressure was fine and—what? My fuel survey revealed an alarming fact. More than half of the fuel we had on takeoff was gone. A quick calculation: I was halfway to the destination and had used more than half of our fuel. That equaled a pretty big problem. Three things could have been happening: my gauges were wrong, the burn was far too great, or I was leaking fuel. With each gentle bump of the air, the gauges seemed to dip just a little lower. Maintaining at least the appearance of competence for my passenger, I tried to think through the situation. On preflight, the tanks were topped by the lineman. I had personally inspected the tanks as well—full, to the brim. When I first switched on the master, the fuel gauges both read “F.” I had to have started with full tanks. My fuel burn must be too great. But how? At this rate, the burn must be way more than 14 gallons per hour. Impossible—but irrefutably true. We droned on, now in the presence of considerable doubt. With declining visibility, dusk approaching and an apparently monstrous fuel burn, I had decisions to make. Press on or land safely where could we refuel, recalculate our course, or even reconsider the very wisdom of this trip. The current trajectory took me to about 8 miles short of my destination. Not good. My heart rate increased, and I could see the National Transportation Safety Board report already. Could I make Bowling Green? Do they have fuel? I assumed so, but the hour was getting late. If we ended up stranded, where could I go
with Catherine and no credit card? I struggled with my conscience and decided to land. We turned definitively southward and began a gentle descent. Twenty minutes later, we were in the pattern at KBWG. Never had the numbers been so inviting. The gauges taunted me with the idea that I could have made it to Mad isonv i l le, but I squelched that thought. The tarmac was a place where I could unravel this mystery and think. The landing was a squeaker. On the ramp, we exited the airplane, and I
Three things could have been happening: my gauges were wrong, the burn was far too great, or I was leaking fuel. explained our plight to the evening attendant. He topped the tanks with nearly 24 gallons. The gauges had been right. Just as in life, reviewing a situation with another often illuminates the real problem. The lineman, Catherine and I discussed our predicament and looked back at the elderly but beautiful bird sitting up proudly on the ramp. Standing safely on terra firma, my thinking was now clear. On level ground, with the airplane and tanks upright, we could see that there was no leak except in my attention to detail. Topping off the tanks and doing the preflight on the sloped ramp had been the issue. Replacing the 12 gallons burned—and adding the 12 gallons not filled or recognized in Louisville—reconciled all details. “The Slope” had gotten me. I had been trained by three very different flight instructors: a teenager not much older than I was, a swashbuckler, and a brash retired US Navy captain. Though they approached flying very differently, they all taught me that when presented with a conundrum in the air, “land and sort it out” on the ground. If you eat crow, so be it. I followed their advice and was glad I did. }
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Chart Wise IFR for the real world
A
T h e B e g i n ni n g
The PANGG 3 offers pilots at least two initial connection points beginning in South Central Michigan ( Litchfield, KLFD) and East Central Indiana (Fort Wayne, KF WA). But these are not the only locations on the map where an aircraft might be instructed to join the arrival. ATC might also assign BAGEL or PANGG. B H old in g A lo n g the Way
Chicago KMDW PANGG 3 (RNAV) Arrival Cutting down on the chatter in busy airspace BY ROB MARK AND JASON BLAIR
Chicago’s Midway International Airport (KMDW) is heavily used by the airlines, businessaviation turbine fleets, and a sizable number of smaller GA transient and training aircraft, especially since the city of Chicago closed nearby Meigs Field (KCGX) some years ago. The PANGG 3 (RNAV) arrival is one of seven at KMDW, and controllers say it’s commonly used for traffic arriving from the east destined for runways 22L and 31C. This arrival includes a variety of instructions the crew must absorb before entering the Chicago terminal area to be certain everyone understands what’s expected of them. Gathering all the critical data on one chart allows a pilot to sort through the details of this arrival procedure and reduces radio chatter and unnecessary vectoring by ATC. } Rob Mark is an award-winning journalist, business-
jet pilot, flight instructor and blogger. } Jason Blair is a flight instructor, an FAA DPE, and
an active author in the general aviation and training communities. 2 6 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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When the pac e of arrival tr af f ic picks up, air cr af t should b e pr epar e d to hold at PA N G G , H A L IE and IR O C K inter se c tions . T his arrival depic ts PA NG G and IR O C K a s holding pat terns with 10 nm legs just like the one over the Gipp er VOR (GIJ). But pilots will seldom b e instr uc te d to hold at GIJ b e c ause it ’s primarily a depar tur e f ix . Note the hold at H A L IE ha s only 8 nm legs . C
Landing I n st r u c t i o n s T h e r e ’s p l e n t y o f p r o c e d u r a l i n f o rmation for arrivals a t M i d w ay d e p e n d ing upon which runw ay s t h e t o w e r ’s AT I S i s b r o a d c a s ti n g o n 1 3 2 .7 5 . A l l aircraf t will initially cross HALIE a t 6 , 0 0 0 f e e t . A i rcraf t landing , runw ay s 4 R o r 1 3 C w i l l continue to track the arrival procedure to the C T L E R w ay p o i n t until radar vectors for an instrument or visual approach a r e p r o v i d e d . A rrivals headed for R u n w ay 2 2 L w i l l
proceed nor thwest at HALIE to GERMN, then to LNANE and on to STERE, where they can expect radar vectors to the final approach course. Conf u s e d y e t ? I f y o u ’r e l u c k y, K M D W w i l l b e l a n d i n g R u n w ay 3 1 C w h i c h i n v o l v e s t r a c king from HALIE to HA ADN, then on to HILLS where you will be assigned the approach.
D
Hard Altitudes
Note that many of the altitudes listed include a solid line above and beneath the number. That means crossing altitude HALIE at 6,000 feet, for instance, is a requirement—not above or below that altitude unless ATC assigns something else. If most arrivals from the east use the PANGG 3, what happens when
slower airplanes find themselves in front of the jets? Chicago Approach will descend you early to allow the jets to pass over you, or they will leave you at 6,000 feet and allow faster traffic to pass beneath you. e
Three Items of Equipment Required
The box in the upper right corner of this procedure indicates
three requirements in order to use this procedure. First, the aircraft must be operating in a radar environment. That means pilots arriving at KMDW when it was “ATC Zero” this past year would not have been using the PANGG 3. ATC Zero turns an airport into a nontowered field. The aircraft must carry DME/DME/IRU or
GPS, and it must also be RNAV 1-capable. RNAV 1 is code for an IFR-certified GPS that gives ATC the flexibility to assign a direct clearance to any of the listed waypoints. This arrival procedure matches up nicely with the RNAV (GPS) Z Rwy 22L or RNAV (GPS) Z Rwy 31C. Take a look to see how the PANGG 3 feeds you onto either of these approaches.
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Aftermath Accident analysis
Lost Horizons A yellow dot gets entangled in shades of gray. BY PETER GARRISON
In May 2019, two men took off from Tipton Airport (KFME) in Fort Meade, Maryland, for a pleasure flight. They were in a Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter, and had hoped to find and photograph a relative of the passenger who was fishing from a boat in the Chesapeake Bay. The morning was foggy; when the pilot called to file the flight plan required by the Washington, D.C., special-flight-rules area, the briefer reported that an airmet for possible IFR conditions was active until evening, and VFR was not recommended. When asked if he would like a weather briefing, the pilot replied that he did not need any other information.
The helicopter crossed the Chesapeake Bay alongside the Highway 50 Bay Bridge. The passenger snapped pictures from the western side. The opposite shore, less than 3 miles away, was barely discernible through the fog, but the tops of the 400-foot pylons were visible, and conditions—though below fixed-wing VFR minimums— were easily flyable for a helicopter.
Reaching Maryland’s Kent Island on the east end of the bridge, they turned southward. The passenger texted his relative to ask where he and his friends were fishing and } Peter Garrison taught himself to use
a slide rule and tin snips, built an airplane in his backyard, and flew it to Japan. He contributes Aftermath to Flying, along with his well-loved column Technicalities.
A classic, unforgettable instance of inexplicable disorientation in a helicopter was the January 26, 2020, accident that took the lives of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and their friends. The 8,000-hour-pilot elected to punch up through a thin overcast. The maneuver wasn’t legal, but it must have seemed easy and safe. However, in the space of a few seconds, the helicopter, rather than climb straight ahead, turned left, descended and flew into a hillside. The NTSB’s exhaustive analysis of the accident shed no new light on the central question of how and why it could happen, but it did reinforce the important lesson that when you’re close to the ground—or water—a few seconds are all it takes to become disoriented. Once disoriented, a pilot may need more than a few seconds to reorient, and that may not be enough. 2 8 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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Tomas Picka/Shutterstock
Another Lost Horizon
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t t t t AFTERMATH
received a “pin” showing the boat’s GPS location. The passenger texted back that the boat was “too far west. We are hitting the wall that we can’t fly through.” The “wall” was the 30 nm veil surrounding Washington’s Class Bravo airspace. The helicopter maneuvered south of Kent Island for 10 minutes without seeing the boat. A man who was fishing with his son in the waters between Kent and Putnam Island, 4 miles to the south, described seeing the yellow copter “very low to [the] water in dense fog,” then moments later hearing a loud boom. Learning by radio that a helicopter had crashed, they hurried toward the scene of the accident, hoping to be of assistance. They found only debris scattered on the water. The pilot, 38, had 104 hours total time, all logged in the accident helicopter, which he rented frequently from the flight school at which he had trained. He did not have an instrument rating, and the helicopter was not instrument-qualified—facts which figured largely in newspaper reports but whose bearing on the accident was uncertain. Despite the witness report of the helicopter being “very low,” ATC recordings indicated that it remained 175 feet or more above t he water u nt i l radar contact was lost. The Nationa l Tra nspor tation Safety Board identified “the noninstrument-rated pilot’s continued visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in an inadvertent descent into the water,” as the probable cause of the accident. The diagnosis was somewhat circular because the only evidence of the helicopter straying into IMC— unless you construe IMC to mean any condition, including darkness, haze or whiteout, that obscures the horizon— was the crash itself. Contributory, the Board said, was “the pilot’s decision to conduct the flight at a low altitude without sufficient cues to aid in the perception of attitude and altitude.” The pilot’s decision-making, both before and during the f light, can certainly be seen as a cause of the fatal crash, but it was not a direct or 3 0 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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“proximate” cause. It merely set the stage for what would later happen. The pilot’s lack of an instrument rating is neither here nor there; he did not intend to fly into cloud, and there were no clouds, as such, for him to fly into. The weather conditions—an indefinite ceiling above 500 feet and visibility greater than 2 miles in fog— were within the boundaries of routine VFR helicopter flying. Still, the pilot was a comparative novice. The f light-service briefer had recommended against VFR, and the flight school’s rental agreement, which the pilot had signed, required 6 miles visibility and a 3,000-foot ceiling for cross-country f lights unaccompanied by a CFI. So, his decision to fly on that particular day, in those conditions, was frankly insubordinate. But he was a confident pilot. He had already made a roundtrip to Tennessee in the helicopter; a quick sortie over the bay should be no problem at all. The convoluted path of the flight’s final minutes, recorded by ATC radar, and the fact that the occupants were looking for a boat on the water suggest one scenario: the “moose-spotting” kind of accident in which the pilot becomes fixated on an object below and either stalls or spirals into the ground while circling it. But the details of the radar track do not support that hypothesis. The helicopter was neither extremely low nor was it circling tightly. In fact, the transponder’s final Mode C return indicated that the helicopter may have gained, not lost, altitude before crashing. Possibly the pilot had climbed a little, found himself without a discernible horizon, and lost control of the helicopter while trying to recover. Unlike the fixed-wing private license, the helicopter private does not require any hood time, and so a low-time helicopter pilot is probably even less likely than a low-time fixed-wing pilot to make good use of an attitude indicator in an upset were one installed. “The ability of the pilot to detect any loss of control or a trajectory toward the water,” the NTSB wrote, “was significantly reduced as a result of the extremely low altitude
in which the flight over water was conducted, the low visibility, the lack of instruments on board to allow for instrument f light, and his lack of instrument training and experience.” One of the photographs taken by the passenger as the helicopter flew alongside Bay Bridge perhaps contains the key to understanding the accident. The sky is gray, the water is gray—no line separates them. With the bridge alongside, orientation is easy. But in the final moments of the flight, the helicopter had turned
In the final moments of the flight, the helicopter had turned westward and apparently gained altitude. westward and apparently gained altitude, and there were no distinct vertical or horizontal objects in the environment. The bridge was miles away, and the western shore was probably invisible. It is not hard to imagine the pilot losing the horizon, becoming disoriented, rolling over into a steeply banked dive, and recognizing the situation only when it was too late to recover. Each element of the situation seems innocuous in itself. The ceiling is not that low. The visibility is good enough. There are no obstacles over the water. Turns, descents, climbs—they are routine maneuvers. But put them together and stir, and the results may be unexpected. I wonder—w ithout ev idence— whet her t he hel icopter ’s clea r windscreen, which surrounds the occupants with an almost unobstructed panorama, makes it easier for a pilot to become disoriented, by introducing a greater number of potentially confusing elements into the field of view. As instrument pilots know, it is sometimes a relief—when weather is dim and murky and the world is reduced to a few shades of gray—to stop peering out the windows and turn your gaze to the simple, circumscribed and crisply defined artificial horizon. For the pilot of the Cabri, no such safe harbor was to be found. }
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Sky Kings
Traveling in Style Being fully engaged BY JOHN KING
“You don’t know how other people live,” my brother said. He was not technically correct. We do know how other people live; we just don’t live that way. We were not exactly sure what he meant. There are a lot of things we don’t do like other people do—for instance, we certainly aren’t stylish dressers. Most notably, since 1969, when Martha and I learned to fly—except for international destinations—we have always flown ourselves for travel. We do know that other people travel on the airlines. We just travel differently. We think flying yourself is traveling in style. That’s because flying yourself is fully engaging—you are participating in life to the fullest. Our current airplane is a jet that requires two pilots. Flying it as a crew and taking turns as husbandand-wife captain and copilot is particularly engaging and rewarding for us. We use the acronym “P.L.A.Y.” to explain the engagement that flying any airplane provides (see Sky Kings, August 2019). Here’s what it means to us: Passion. Pilots have a passion about their flying. People with a passion put more effort into things. They persist longer, and they willingly work their way through difficulties. Lots of interests. There are a lot of things to study when you learn to fly, and the activity exposes you to deeply interesting subjects. Always learning. Flying promotes a habit of learning. Yet again. Pilots repeat all of this because these have become habits. Runway on a private island
Being fully engaged like this is, I believe, the ultimate definition of traveling in style. I believe the best answer to my brother is that people who are not so fully engaged don’t understand how we live as well as the commitment it requires. Personal flying makes the world accessible. Within a week of getting our pilot certificates, Martha and I flew our Cherokee 140 to the Bahamas. At one time, we had a great desire to fly on Frontier Airlines to get to really know the Great American West. The original Frontier Airlines had a “ Frontier Pass”—all the travel you wanted on their system for 30 days, for one low price—that inflamed our imaginations. Through our own flying, we have gotten to know and experience the West far better than we ever could have as passengers on an airline. Flying your own airplane makes international travel an especially rich experience. Most notable was a trip through southern Africa arranged by Hanks Aero Adventures. We took the airlines to South Africa and, once there, rented a Cessna 182 supplied by Hanks. Hanks also provided a portable GPS with the complete route for our photo safari pre-loaded. We went from beautiful lodge to beautiful lodge and landed among elephants, giraffes, hippos and other exotic animals that cleared the dirt runways with unhurried leisure. It was the experience of a lifetime. Our friend Dick Smith, a well-known Australian adventurer, has f lown himself around the world five times. We have been privileged to join Dick on several trips in his Cessna Caravan. One of these trips was from Australia through Papua New Guinea,
}John King and Martha King take turns writing Sky Kings. They have shared flying and teaching aviation for
more than 50 years. 3 2 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
Courtesy King Schools
FLYING Opinion
Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and through the breathtakingly blue-and-green Indonesian Archipelago back to northern Australia. We landed at a remote airport and attracted a crowd of 50 or so fascinated people packed so tightly around our airplane, we couldn’t get our bags out. It is hard to imagine being more engaged with a culture than by flying your own airplane within it. Most recently, we participated in a group trip to Turks and Caicos, south of the Bahamas, arranged by Air Journey. The company assumes the handling of the airplanes through the airports as well as customs and immigration. We had always done this ourselves. Having Air Journey arrange all of this makes international operations accessible to a lot of pilots and eased our workload considerably. Plus, Air Journey arranged the hotels for the group. It was a great trip to a fabulous facility in a picturesque
tropical oceanic location—with great company. This was the first time we had participated in such a group trip. To take full advantage of your ability to travel with an airplane, one more engagement is required: for your aircraft to be instrument-equipped and for you to be instrument-rated. When we did so, the world became our oyster; that same summer, we flew our Piper Comanche from San Diego to Acapulco, Mexico, and then to Barrow, Alaska. Later, in Alaska, we greatly enjoyed f lying seaplanes in and out of the magnificent transportation system that Alaskan rural waterways represent. Seaplanes open up the wilderness and get you closer to nature than anything other than a helicopter. Besides making you a full participant in life, flying yourself has some practical benefits as well. Owning and flying an airplane to any destination provides about the ultimate in control
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and convenience. You can decide to make a trip in the morning, arrive at your departure airport shortly ahead of your planned departure time, do a preflight inspection, and depart minutes later the same day. Depending on the capability of your airplane, you can frequently f ly directly to your destination—without layovers. You can choose from 5,000 general aviation airports in the US. You can choose who goes with you, talk business before and after the flight, and spend more time with friends and family by taking them with you. Plus, you can travel comfortably with fragile or valuable items such as musical instruments, sports gear and product samples—and bring your pet along. There are many visions people may have of traveling in style, but my vision is of a zestful, engaged, fulfilled life. It is hard to imagine anything that can do a better job of delivering that than flying yourself. }
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WE FL Y:
PIPISTREL PA N T H E RA BY ROB MARK | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM BARRETT
PA N T H E RA :
T HE SC IE N TI FI C NA ME F OR T H E CA T G EN U S T H A T IN C LU D ES TI GER S, L I ON S , J A G UA RS , CO UG ARS A ND LE OP ARD S.
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utomobiles with gull-wing doors are rare. For me, a Mercedes-Benz 300SL immediately comes to mind. Aircraft with gull-wing doors—such
as the Cessna TTx and Socata Trinidad—are even rarer still, so when I
first saw the Pipistrel Panthera from a distance at Chicago’s Waukegan National Airport (KUGN), I knew this airplane was something special. The company’s heritage of gliders
and drones built for minimum drag and maximum glide capabilities deserves a nod.
As I gently pulled open the Panthera’s gull-wing door and slipped into the front seat, I also realized that pilots who buy one of these won’t simply climb into the cockpit as much as they’ll wear the Panthera like a sort of superhero suit. It’s formfitting but with comfort like that of a well-designed sports car. Aircraft control is handled via dual control sticks between the pilot’s and front passenger’s knees. The Panthera’s main doors are hinged at the top of a 6-inch-wide bar that runs fore to aft over the center of the 47-inch-wide cockpit. There’s a separate center-hinged door on the left side for rear-seat passengers. Gently pull down the doors, and the view becomes truly impressive— because other than the center post, all the pilot sees is the great outside, from straight ahead to nearly the tail feathers and even above. The nose is long when viewed through the raked windshield, which could be a problem for the most vertically challenged aviators to see over; the seats move very little fore and aft. Those seats are beautiful, though, with integrated headrests. The seats don’t recline, however, because they are already canted back. The Panthera’s radical appearance certainly makes it look like a next-generation GA aircraft. Its smooth, sleek appearance seemed about as radical to me the day I first saw it as did a Cirrus SR20 15 years ago, when I compared it then with a Cessna 182. Kneel in front of the Panthera and it’s clear the fuselage is as clean a design as most pilots have ever experienced. There are no flap tracks hanging in the breeze from this airplane, and there’s not a gap seal anywhere in sight. Even the exhaust system has been specially tuned for maximum power and minimum noise. Production Pantheras will be built to Part 23 standards that include an all-composite, mainly carbon-fiber structure—with very few access panels—covered in Kevlar for added passenger protection. The airframe is designed to be as maintenance-free as possible, with permanently 3 6 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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lubricated push-rod tubes actuating the ailerons and elevators. The rudder is cable-operated and requires occasional lubrication. Currently powered by a 260 hp Lycoming IO-540-V4A5, Pipistrel says the Panthera will cruise at nearly 200 knots at 75 percent power, a few knots more than a late-model Mooney Ovation—and the Mooney uses a 300 hp engine. Standard on the Panthera is a specially designed German MT propeller. Panthera specs cite a range of 1,000 nm and a maximum certified ceiling of 25,000 feet. For readers doing their own research, there is an experimental version of the Panthera in Europe, but that model will not be available in the US. The Panthera includes trailing-link landing gear created from titanium and includes 11 doors that seal out just about every possible performance-stealing air gap. The emergency gear extension sits between the two front seats under the center armrest. The flaps are electric with just two operational settings: 15 and 45 degrees. Standard fuel capacity on the Panthera is 54 gallons. Optional tanks will add another 20 gallons per side, but that will cost about 240 pounds of the airplane’s significant 1,100-pound useful load. The Panthera weighs 2,900 pounds at gross, about the same as a Cirrus SR20 and a few hundred pounds less than a Mooney Ovation. The panel includes a bevy of avionics that equip the Panthera for serious IFR flight (flight-into-known-icing capabilities are in the works). They include a Garmin G3X touchscreen primary flight display (a second G3X is an option), a touchscreen GTN 750 Com/Nav/IFR GPS, a GTN 650 second Nav/IFR GPS, and a two-axis GPS slaved digital autopilot. Mid-Continent Instruments’ Standby Attitude Module (SAM) provides backup airspeed, altimeter and attitude indications. The Panthera’s standard equipment will include a GRS emergency parachute system that requires repacking every
nine years, very similar to other airframe-chute-equipped aircraft. A big difference is this chute’s deployment speed—195 knots versus 140 knots on the Cirrus. Pipistrel believes its chute offers an additional selling point, according to Andrew Chan, co-founder of Right Rudder Aviation in Inverness, Florida. “The cost to repack a Cirrus aircraft chute is roughly $12,000,” he said. “The repack on the Panthera is expected to cost closer to $5,000 with a downtime of approximately two days.” Right Rudder is the sole Panthera dealer in the US. A Little History Yields a Few Answers Chan offered me some Panthera history before we launched from KUGN. Our demonstration airplane, N37RR, is the only assembled Panthera in the US as of press time. The Panthera has not yet been certified by
A head-on look at the Panthera shows off the sleekness of the entire airframe.
either the European Union Aviation Safety Agency or the FAA. A target for that action is currently late 2022 or early 2023. But the genesis of the Panthera was actually in 2012. So, if the Panthera was first conceived nearly 10 years ago, the logical question is: Why is the airplane just now beginning to see daylight? Chan said he hears that question quite often. Something that slowed the Panthera’s development was “a design change,” he said. “Pipistrel initially launched the Panthera with a Lycoming IO-390 normally aspirated powerplant but always wanted the aircraft available with two engines, the IO-390 and the more powerful IO-540.” Chan said the original design was to create the ultimate J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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A center-mounted control stick reduces the real estate needed on the panel while allowing for fun maneuvering in the Panthera.
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The Garmin GMC 307 digital autopilot is easy to manipulate from just beneath the glare shield.
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The flaps, extendable below 106 knots, offer two settings: 15 and 45 degrees.
Optional air conditioning will be available on all production aircraft to help mitigate the effect of the broad canopy.
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personal-aircraft brand with specific performance guidelines, such as a 1,000 nm range, an 1,100-pound useful load and a top speed of 200 knots—and all while burning 10 gallons per hour. “And they got really close,” he added. “So, it’s not quite 10 [but] 10.8 gph. It’s not quite 200 knots; it’s more like 185, but I think those are still very respectable numbers. The useful load is, in fact, 1,100 pounds, and the Panthera will fly [to its] 1,000 nautical mile range with the optional extended-range tanks.” Another early requirement was for the engine to use automotive fuel because avgas is often tough to come by outside the US. Lycoming promised a supplemental type certificate for the IO-390 that never materialized, so Pipistrel decided to offer only the six-cylinder IO-540. Chan said: “The [normally aspirated] IO-540 produces 50 more horsepower [260 hp total] than the IO-390. When
connected to the three-blade MT constant-speed designed specifically for this airplane, it drastically changed the rate of climb to a very respectable climb rate of 2,000 fpm on a cold day.” He says Pipistrel has also been planning for an electric version of the Panthera in the future. While an engine switch might not seem like a huge hurdle, the designers realized a new engine would require a new cowling in order to make sure the airplane’s performance did not suffer, especially from any cooling issues. The amount of time devoted to the redesign was worth the effort because, Chan said, it’s impossible to shock-cool the engine during a descent, a feat other manufacturers can’t match. When comparing aircraft performance, the differences between individual powerplants are worth noting, and all vary by local conditions. The Panthera’s Lycoming delivers 260 hp, the Cirrus SR22 310 hp, and the late-model
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The parking brake is conveniently located on the center console.
Mooney 300 hp. Panthera specs show a cr uise speed of about 198 knots, while the SR22 cruises at about 183 knots and the Ovation at about 170 knots with variations for altitude and OAT. The Mooney and Panthera typically burn less than 14 gallons per hour—while the Cirrus is using closer to 18 gph. While many pundits compare the Panthera to a Cirrus SR22, Tine ( pronounced “Tea-neh”) Tomazic, one of the three Pipistrel R&D engineers in Slovenia behind the Panthera, says the airplane was never designed as a “Cirrus killer.” “It’s built for a different type of aviator. The Panthera was always aimed to fit somewhere between a Diamond DA40 and a Cirrus. A better comparison, by mission, might be to think of the Panthera as a modernday Mooney. It doesn’t need to fly at extremely high altitudes to go fast. It’s not built for a truck driver who has a side stick in their hands and mostly flies on the autopilot. I heard someone call a Cirrus a dependable machine, like a Toyota Camry. But someone who really enjoys driving on a curvy road might want an Audi A6. We see the Panthera coexisting quite nicely alongside Cirrus but catering to pilots who really enjoy stick-and-rudder flying.”
Pipistrel Panthera Price (as tested): about $900,000 Engine: Lycoming IO-540V-V4A5 Propeller: MT three-blade constant-
speed composite Horsepower: 260 hp Seats: 4 Length: 26 ft. 6 in. Height: 7 ft. 2 in. Cabin Width: 3 ft. 11 in. Wingspan: 35 ft. 8 in. Power Loading: 11.15 lb./hp Max Ramp Weight: 2,900 lb. Useful Load: 1,100 lb. as equipped Full Fuel Payload: 770 lb. as equipped Max Usable Fuel: 54 gal. with 40 gal. optional long-range tanks Max Operating Altitude: 25,000 ft. Rate of Climb: 1,300 fpm at max gross weight Cruise Speed at 65% Power:
185 knots at 7,500 ft. Maneuvering Speed: 143 kias Fuel Burn: 13.6 gph at 75% power at 7,500 ft. Fuel Burn: 10.8 gph at 55% power at 7,500 ft. Never-Exceed Speed: 220 knots Stall Speed, Flaps Up: 60 kias Stall Speed, Full Flaps: 55 kias Takeoff Over 50 Ft. Obs: (ISA, sea level) 2,155 ft. Landing Over 50 Ft. Obs: (ISA, sea level) 1,135 ft.
But who is going to spend the money for a Panthera performance machine if they can’t have it for a few years? Chan said, “Some customers are already Cirrus ow ner s who w i l l keep t hei r airplanes until their Panthera arrives.” So far, Pipistrel says it holds 150 Panthera orders. Going Airborne I was itching to feel how the Panthera performed. The day Andrew Chan and I flew, we were well under gross with about half fuel and just the two of us on board. The OAT was about minus 5 degrees Celsius under clear skies. Once the preflight was complete, I climbed aboard and gently pulled down the door. Chan reminded me again that unlike some airplanes, locking the Panthera’s door did not require slamming it into place. As I familiarized myself with the cockpit, there was no doubt this airplane comes w ith a sports-car-like interior environment. It’s a clean design with everything clearly laid out: landing-gear handle and lights above my right hand just beneath the glare shield, flaps farther Pipistrel brings its brand name to an ultra-quick four-place aircraft.
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right, and backup f light instruments in bet ween with autopilot controls just beneath. All circuit breakers are positioned to the far right on the instrument panel and are easily visible. The large Garmin screens make information pretty easy to gather, assuming the pilot is familiar with the touchscreen system. The Lycoming started after just a few spins of that big MT prop, and even with headsets on, the engine made a throaty sports-car sound. Once we were taxiing to Runway 22 at KUGN, I realized the cost of having that big overhead bar in the cockpit. The left-seat pilot’s view is blocked some as they execute a right turn, while someone taxiing from the right seat needs to be more cautious about left turns. Pilots with a little taildragger time should quickly feel at home looking over that long nose. I took me a bit to get used to the brakes with my feet firmly on the rudder pedals and using just the tips of my toes; though, I did find a sweet spot after a bit. The control stick makes a flight-control check simple. The stick also contains a top-hat trim button, a n autopilot disconnect and a push-to-talk mic. After the first few minutes, there was no need to look down because it’s easy to simply feel the different shapes of the buttons. At takeoff, the pilot must be ready to really steer the Panthera down the runway with the torque that the combination of the MT propeller and Lycoming engine delivers. It’s almost impossible not to feel when the Panthera is ready to fly, and once airborne with the gear up, the airplane began to show its colors. I trimmed for a 135-knot climb speed and quickly 4 0 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
Training in Type As the only Panthera dealer in the US, Right Rudder Aviation has a unique role with the Panthera. Not only are they responsible for selling the aircraft, but RRA is also responsible for all pilot training and maintenance at the moment. Understanding the ups and downs other companies faced when introducing a new aircraft, Chan says Pipistrel thought long and hard about what it would require before pilots were let loose with this cat. What makes or breaks an aircraft launch is how the marketplace sees it. What stood out to the Pipistrel folks, Chan says, was that “Cirrus could have done better on training” when it launched the SR20 and SR22 series. The Cirrus accident record early on was not pretty. Chan says: “Our roots come from the flight training industry [at RRA]. When we have a client training with us…we want them to go home to their family at the end of the day. So, safety is super, super key for all of our students—but also for the success of the aircraft ultimately.” Pipistrel has taken the unusual step of requiring an extensive transition-training commitment from everyone who signs a purchase contract. “It’s a two-week, 25-flight-hour, in-depth program akin to a type rating,” Chan says. “We believe that will help ensure the success of the airplane. It runs…eight hours a day and includes lots of classroom time and lots of hands-on time with the aircraft.” Chan says with a clientele of high-networth individuals, he expected pushback such as: “Hey, why do I need to do that?” But Pipistrel is taking a hard stand on training. “If someone says, ‘I already know everything, I don’t need any additional training,’ we tell them thanks, but they’re not a client for the Panthera.” Except for the room and board near the Inverness training facility, the cost is included with the purchase. As for the curriculum, Chan says the FAA dictates the required pilot skills through the airman certification standards. “But people who train beyond the minimums will improve their efficiency.” He says the price of not teaching beyond the minimums is much greater than two weeks of training. The classroom portion will dive deeply into aircraft systems as well as the intricacies of the Panthera’s sophisticated avionics. “Pilots typically use 25 percent of what the avionics system can display. Because we’re also a maintenance organization, we’ll open up the airplane to show owners what is connected to what.” Though the Panthera is not certified for spins, RRA intends to take new pilots through upset-prevention-and-recovery training in a different aircraft. Chan also says, “Insurance underwriters are exceptionally excited about [our training program] because they believe it will help reduce accidents and incidents.”
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saw a 1,500 fpm climb as we headed west toward Fox Lake, a prominent landmark in northern Illinois. Climbing to 6,500 feet, I realized the Panthera required very little additional right rudder. I waited to pull back the power at level off just to watch the acceleration. It was a cold day in December, but the indicated airspeed quickly rose into the yellow arc, which was my cue to haul back on the throttle. We settled on a less-spectacular 24 inches of manifold pressure that delivered 181 knots to see that promised 10.5-gallonper-hour fuel burn. It didn’t take much additional power to see speeds above 190. I never got around to trying the automation because someone was waiting back at Waukegan for the next demo, so I focused on air work. The Panthera is light on the controls, with almost an aerobatic feel. I could easily wrap it into a 45- to 50-degree bank to the left and one back to the right with ease. The visibility outside was at least 25 miles, while inside during the turns, it was easy to see the ground and back the other way toward the sky—and with the nearly wraparound windows, I could easily see behind us. Before I knew it, Chan said it was time to head back to Waukegan. That’s when I learned an important lesson every Panthera pilot will need to embed in their mind early on. The Panthera has no speed brakes, so descending and slowing need to be planned in advance. Because I didn’t need to worry about shock-cooling that big Lycoming, Chan suggested I first advance the propeller to a high rpm and
A glance inside the cockpit of the Panthera shows off the sports-car-like attention to detail worthy of only the truest stick-and-rudder aviator.
then pull back on the throttle. It still took time to slow the airplane because the gear-extension and flap speeds are quite low—106 knots to be exact. Pilots will need to plan far ahead, especially if they’re inbound on an instrument approach. Once established on downwind at 90, I added flaps until turning final when I slowed to 80 knots. As I approached the runway, I continued slowing, crossing the end at about 75, about the same speeds used in the Cirrus. My only Panthera landing was smooth—thanks in part to that trailing-link gear. The Panthera is an exciting airplane for the serious pilot who wants to feel what they’re flying, as Tomazic says. The purchase of a Pipistrel Panthera requires
access to an app that coverts euros to dollars because the European currency is primary for all transactions. A deposit will set a pilot back 50,000 euros, or roughly $58,800 at press time. That deposit is fully refundable until about six months before the aircraft is delivered from Pipistrel’s factory in Italy, not far from the primary engineering facility in Slovenia. The latest price on a basic Panthera is about $700,000. Options include extended-range tanks, oxygen, air conditioning, FIKI deice and upgraded stitching on the seats. Choosing all these options will bring the price closer to $900,000. And the Panthera still needs to earn its EASA and FAA certification, but for those with the patience to wait—wow, what a performer this airplane will be. } Rob Mark is an award-winning journalist, business-jet
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ALTITUDE
What do you need when it comes to aviator’s oxygen? By Julie Boatman
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I was having the time of my life: We were traveling home to the Boulder Municipal Airport following my first mountain checkout back in 1992, and I was on my way to a commercial pilot certificate. But more so than
My instr uctor put on his ox ygen ma sk a s we approached the Continental Divide, but we would spend only a few minutes between 12,500 and 14,000 feet. I felt great, so I didn’t see the need for it—a mistake we both made. With me developing the tiniest of headaches, we descended from 13,500 feet to the traffic-pattern altitude at what was then 1V5 (6,100 feet msl and 800 feet agl). I made three landings that day: the first on purpose, then the second and third as I bounced from misjudging my round-out. Hy poxia hit me harder than that touchdown, and I was fortunate that my poor landing was the only result. I was in my early 20s, in good health, and acclimatized to life in mile-high Colorado, but none of those things precluded me from feeling the direct effects of hypoxia below the maximum legal limits. As it turns out, my experience was common—and the result of a general lack of understanding about how insidious hypoxia can be. The Flight Safety Foundation has released data that illuminates the issue. The key metric to track is the oxygen saturation level within the blood’s O2-carrying hemog lobi n . A s a mbient a i r pressure drops with altitude, the partial pressure of oxygen decreases along with it. While the human body generally compensates fairly well for this reduction at altitudes from 5,000 to 7,000 feet, above that, the risk rises sharply—especially 4 4 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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once you reach about 10,000 feet. A pilot’s oxygen saturation runs at roughly 98 percent at sea level, decreasing to about 90 percent at a point between 7,000 and 10,000 feet, depending on the specific environment and pilot’s physiology. With an oxygen saturation level below 90 percent, performance and general well-being decreases quickly. As many have experienced over the past 18 months during the coronavirus pandemic, when a person’s oxygen saturation levels drop below 90 percent, a trip to the hospital may be in order. So, if we’re flying around above 10,000 feet for any period of time, we risk having oxygen saturation levels that would normally indicate medical intervention. It’s a sobering thought. Corporate pilot Daniel Geaslen agrees: “When I flew unpressurized aircraft, I found that anything more than about 20 minutes above 11,000 [feet] left me with early hypoxia warning signs, so I just started wearing [the oxygen mask] at that point. If I ever got above 12,000, I always used oxygen.” And while the physical effects of fatigue, memory loss and malaise are concerning, even more so is the potential for serious confusion and drastically compromised decision-making skills. John Weisbart, an ATP and CFI with 47 years of experience training pilots in Colorado and owner of Weisbart Aircraft Services LLC, shares a sad personal anecdote. “I’ll never forget the story about [one pilot]
Previous Spread: Kent Raney/Shutterstock; Aerox Aviation Oxygen Systems (2)
that, the peaks and vistas west of the Front Range of Colorado beckoned.
For such a serious from Boulder,” Weisbart says. “He were unable to control the plane and all perished. rented my Piper Comanche to fly to problem, the solution “Moral of the story: No matter how Portland[, Oregon,] since his plane good you think you are, follow the was out of service for maintenance. is straightforward, rules. At night above 10,000 feet msl, He had tons of time in the make and model, and I agreed to rent to him for put the oxygen on—even though [the with virtually no side rules say] 12,500 feet for more than this trip if he stayed day-VFR only. “He ended up departing Boulder 30 minutes is the requirement. The effects other than a older you are and the shape you are in midafternoon, said he was picking weigh enormously on your ability to up another passenger in Wyoming, small investment. If your keep your pulse oxygenation above 90 where he would spend the night then depart at the crack of dawn for when operating unpressurized above airplane isn’t pressurized or Portland. Turns out, he picked up 10,000 feet at night.” For such a serious problem, the soluhis passenger and decided to press doesn’t come with oxygen tion is straightforward, with virtually on into the night—into an advancno side effects other than a small ining cold front at either 12,500 or onboard, you can BYOB. 14,500 feet. Somewhere over Idaho, vestment. If your airplane isn’t preshe lost control of the plane, exceeded surized or doesn’t come equipped with VNE , and [the Comanche] broke up in onboard oxygen, you can choose from flight, killing all aboard. He had supplemental oxygen a number of products that allow you to BYOB. Aerox Aviaonboard but was not using it. The findings of the coroner tion Oxygen Systems is among the companies that have exwere that his ascending and descending coronary arterpanded their offerings recently. “As a CFI, I now talk to my ies were 90 percent occluded, meaning that he probably students a lot about oxygen,” says Scott Ashton, flight inpassed out due to lack of oxygen, then fell into the constructor and CEO of Aerox. “I find they believe oxygen systrol column putting the plane into a dive. His passengers tems are for much more experienced pilots flying at high Opposite: Flying at altitudes above 18,000 feet requires a more sophisticated system. Below: Aerox provides several forms of portable O2.
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altitudes. It can also be intimidating trying to select a system, so they lose out on the benefits of oxygen for the early part of their flying career.” Ashton had an “aha!” moment not unlike my own that changed his approach to using oxygen—and also fomented his desire a little more than a year ago to purchase Aerox and help deliver more supplemental-oxygen devices to pilots. “I frequently fly long cross-countries—[from the Northeast] to Florida, trips to Oshkosh, [Wisconsin,] etc.—trips that really require long endurance. Until I started using oxygen at lower altitudes, I would always land fatigued and with a bad headache—just generally drained. It took a long time to realize I was actually hypoxic. As students, Part 91.211 altitude regulations are drilled into us, and because of the law of primacy, that is what we remember through our flying career. We are conditioned to think it’s safe to fly without oxygen below 12,500 feet—but it is not safe. The data clearly shows that at altitudes as low at 8,000 feet, pilots can become 4 6 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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hypoxic, meaning that we are flying impaired if we aren’t using oxygen. That data was a real eye-opener for me, and I have validated it for my own physiology with a pulse oximeter on many flights since then.” Use of a pulse oximeter in flight is a great way to assess your actual physiological state, so one should also be part of your flight kit if you regularly fly cross-country at altitudes above 5,000 feet msl. Prices have come down dramatically as a result of the increased public demand during 2020, so you can pick one up at your local CVS or Walgreens for $40. Pilots may not realize just how critical oxygen is for the proper functioning of the entire body—not just its physical elements, such as visual acuity and the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems, but the mental element as well. “Oxygen is the primary food for the brain, and oxygen levels and cognitive functions are directly correlated,” Ashton says. “By using supplemental oxygen, you are making sure that you are alert and func-
Before landing or making an instrument approach after a period of time at altitude, take in oxygen to improve safety.
tioning at your best when you need it the most. Shooting an approach to minimums is certainly one of the most demanding things we do as pilots, and after being at altitude for hours, how impaired are we willing to be on that approach? We need to be at our physical and mental peak at the point where we are the most fatigued. Oxygen is the best tool we have to reduce that risk.” One new product on the scene is Aerox’s PrO2-Plus portable oxygen system for personal use as a backup or for short-term applications. “[The PrO2-Plus] is designed for pilots who want a simple way to have a supplemental supply in their flight bag in case they have to occasionally go up to altitude for weather, comfort or terrain,” Ashton says. “It’s a great entry-level system, easy to use, and the same high quality as the rest of the Aerox product line.
Left: Brian Wolski/Shutterstock; Right: Aerox Aviation Oxygen Systems
We also have a complete line of portable systems for multiple users that have a full set of features like individual flow meters and higher capacities for more-regular use.” The system retails for $399. Some pilots have taken to carrying inexpensive personal portable oxygen cannisters, such as those used for hiking. These are OK as a stopgap, but they tend not to have the robust aviation-focused capabilities that specialty equipment does from companies such as Aerox, Mountain High and Inogen. That said, there’s no reason you can’t get your portable aviation bottle refilled at any location that fills oxygen bottles; a dive shop or welding supply store work just fine, according to Ashton. For those who want a virtually unlimited source of oxygen, Inogen’s Aviator G5 oxygen concentrator provides a compact 8- or 16-cell-battery-powered compressor that delivers a supply of oxygen-rich air as long as it’s powered. If you fly pressurized aircraft up in the flight levels, your approach to ensuring proper oxygen saturation uses a different matrix. Monitoring the pressurization system— and being alert to potential malfunctions—can save your life. Also, be aware that the diluter-demand masks in use as emergency equipment on turboprop and jet aircraft need to be maintained properly and replaced periodically. It’s not just for your well-being—it could save your life. }
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THE FLY-IN RETURNS SUN ’N FUN AEROSPACE EXPO KICKS OFF 2021
By Julie Boatman | Photography by Stephen Yeates
Forever billed as “spring break for pilots,” the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in April took on another dimension as pilots descended upon Central Florida, many for the first time attending a fly-in—or any large gathering—since the coronavirus pandemic stole the 2020 airshow season from us. Using the wide-open grounds of the Lakeland Linder International Airport as our canvas, the team from Flying reconnected with folks who had flown in from around the country to see just how much general aviation fun could be had after more than a year apart. While there were a few concerns lingering that were hard to mitigate given the times, the collective mood was one of cautious optimism and joy. We clearly need airshows to bring us together. For those who couldn’t attend, and those who wish to relive the experience, we share a few highlights from the show. The aircraft, aerobatics, exhibitors, education, forums and friends—all together for spring break once more. You can see more of our Sun ’n Fun coverage on our Virtual Air Show page online, as well as on our Instagram feed, @flyingmagazine.
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Clockwise from far left: The wide-open flight line offered lots of space to walk around and see both new aircraft and longtime favorites. The AeroShell Aerobatic Team pilots pirouetted through their dynamic airshow routine in a quartet of North American AT-6 Texans. New construction for the Aerospace Center of Excellence indicated the growth ahead for the Sun ’n Fun organization. One of the reasons a Zoom meeting just doesn’t cut it: the chance to see mighty radials up close and personal. The B-25J Mitchell “Panchito” from the Delaware Aviation Museum shined in front of the crowd during the afternoon flyovers and welcomed visitors to watch the rest of the show from under its wings. Youth and mentors at the Lakeland Aero Club worked on the quick-build of this Patriot Aircraft PA-18R Recruit Cub at the fly-in. Left center: A Beech T-34 Mentor taxied past, returning from one of many warbird fly-bys. Right: In honor of the veterans in our midst, and those who serve, each afternoon’s airshow began with a drop. Top right: Just in case your pilot dreams had you flying out to the islands, the Coconut Flyers pointed the way for you. J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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K Y N E X T LIFE IN THE AIR Taking Wing 56 / Le adi n g E dg e 6 0 / U nus ua l A tt itu de s 62 / J umpse at 64 / Gea r U p 6 6 / Tec hn ica li tie s 68
In Depth FLYING Profiles
True Leadership It starts with leading yourself. BY DAN PIMENTEL
Though Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. felt at one with the F-16 he flew most in service, his dream is to fly one of the Red Tail P-51 Mustangs flown by the Tuskegee Airmen.
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Cancer Patients
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L A IN DEPTH
As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United States Air Force’s most senior uniformed officer, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is responsible for the organization, training and equipping of 689,000 active-duty National Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the US and overseas. A military adviser to the secretary of defense, Security Council and president, Gen. Brown is the kind of a leader that knows true leadership is much more than just giving orders. Throughout his career, Brown has ascended up through the ranks of the Air Force after being called upon to command a fighter squadron, the US Air Force Weapons School, two fighter wings, and the US Air Forces
between your superpower and your kryptonite, which will contribute to your leadership style with the Airmen that you have the privilege to lead. Everyone has a superpower, something that defines who they are, and today’s Air Force leaders need to be able to identify these special attributes within
their ranks to build teams with varied skills to engage successfully while countering their kryptonite.” One of Brown’s superpowers is the ability to remain empathetic as a
Force—Airmen want to know that their leaders care,” he says. Brown didn’t just luck his way to the top; he worked hard to develop the kind of personal attributes one needs to be a leader. “I believe we are all moldable clay, and leaders are grown, although it takes more than having the right character traits and personality to be grown into a leader,” Brown says. “Personally, I am a strong believer in the power of maintaining relationships—not waiting to cold call in a crisis but to engage with others with no purpose other than to ask how they are doing. Staying connected is a great way to demonstrate care across all of your personal and professional relationships. Becom-
Central Command while amassing 2,900 f lying hours—130 of them in combat. Through it all, Brown drew upon his pragmatic view of militar y ser vice and human interaction to develop a persona l skill set built around knowing his strengths and weaknesses. “I subscribe to the belief that you must lead yourself before you can lead others,” Brown says. “I’m also a big fan of knowing the difference
leader, to humanize who he leads. “I am an avid reader of materials presented to me, so I can understand varied viewpoints, and I like to engage in conversations that allow me to see something from a different perspective. The end result is that while we have to get the mission done, if we don’t take care of our Airmen and their families, the mission will falter. That is probably the most important part about leadership in the Air
ing a leader takes more than developing the right character traits; it takes nurturing, mentorship and role models because achieving success takes help, but failure you can do alone.” While serving as the Air Force’s top officer today, at the core of Brown’s service is his flying career. He’s flown 17 different Air Force fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, but he’s biased toward the F-16A/B/C/D because those are what he flew the most in both training
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“I’m also a big fan of knowing the difference between your superpower and your kryptonite.”
and combat. “There are so many times that I felt as if I was one with the F-16, and as a result, I was very confident in my abilities to fly and engage in most any situation,” he says. There is, however, one particular airplane that Brown would love to command. “The Tuskegee Airmen hold a special place in my heart. I recently had the opportunity with two Tuskegee Airmen to talk to Air Force Academy and ROTC cadets, and one of the questions asked was: If I could fly any plane that I haven’t flown, what would it be? Hands down, that would be the P-51 Mustang with a Red Tail,” Brown said. Brow n identif ies simila rities between his career and that of the
cers. I always wanted to be judged by the level of my performance and the content of my character as an officer and fighter pilot in comparison to my peers, and not viewed solely as an African American officer and fighter pilot. In the vast majority of the Air Force career fields, our adversaries operate and respond the same regardless of the race, gender or ethnic origin of our Airmen.” With a constant eye on improving diversity in the Air Force, Brown sees opportunity in the underserved and inner-city communities of our country. It is not uncommon, he says, for Air Force recruiters to see bright young men and women of color, who could be developed into valuable
the opportunity to be bitten by the aviation bug earlier in their lives— because people aspire to be what they’ve been exposed to.” The career profile of Gen. Brown is filled with examples of what you can accomplish when you subscribe to the philosophy that you must lead yourself first. Throughout his ascension to the top of the USAF, Brown set goals and met them, considering challenges as something to be used as a personal motivation tool. By leading himself, he’s achieved the kind of military success as a pilot and officer that has earned him deep respect. In his current role as the Air Force’s top officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown says his job is
Gen. Brown believes strongly in leading with empathy (opposite and right). Conversations that simply connect are important to establishing trust (above).
aviators, enter recruitment offices, but whose families didn’t have the funds to pay for private pilot training to get them started. “That needs to change,” Brown says. “Thirty years ago when I started flying, only 2 percent of our pilot population was African American. Three decades later, it is still that same percentage— just two. I believe we could be doing a better job of prov iding young people from diverse backgrounds
to “make sure that we stay competitive enough that we don’t go to war, but if that moment comes…we are far enough ahead that our adversaries cannot keep up.” By spreading his brand of leadership down through the ranks, it’s clear that we are in good hands when it comes to the Air Force.
Tuskegee Airmen. “I’ve been in situations where I also had to rise above,” Brown says. “There have been moments in my career that were challenging as one of very few African Americans flying fighters, or as one of few African American senior offi-
} Dan Pimentel is an IFR-rated private pilot and pro photographer whose life stops anytime an airplane flies overhead, as he cherishes the moment.
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Taking Wing FLYING Opinion
Falling with Style On jumping out of perfectly good airplanes
It’s a brilliantly clear, calm and slightly chilly Tuesday morning in the skies high over Central Florida, and I’m feeling a little sick. I am packed tightly among 15 other skydivers sitting backward in a steeply climbing PAC 750XL, all swaying rhythmically as one to the light turbulence. The others’ moods are ebullient, highfives and fist bumps all around, but my eyes are closed, my heart is racing, and bile is rising in my throat. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way. What exactly am I afraid of? Death? Not really. Getting hurt? Possibly, but that’s never stopped me. Screwing up? Ah, there it is: the old fear of looking foolish in front of others, namely the two experienced instructors who are accompanying me on my very first skydive. Well, mental preparation is the best antidote for that. I shake my head, breathe deep, and force myself to chair-fly the jump again, step by step. The airplane abruptly banks onto its final run, the pilot reduces power, and the rear door opens as a green light comes on. “Are you ready, Sam?” asks Lucas, my primary instructor, as he looks into my eyes, searching for any signs of incipient panic. I force myself to grin and nod, and we start a crouched waddle aft as skydivers plunge from the aircraft, a pronounced whoosh accompanying each as they leave. The fear is completely gone now—I’m busy concentrating on exit procedures.
Lucas climbs through the door, stands up outside and faces forward. I do so just in front of him, prop blast whipping at my jumpsuit. Frasier, the reserve instructor, crouches at my feet. This is actually pretty neat, I think; I’ve never stood up outside of an airplane in flight. I glance back at Lucas and down at Frasier, both
of whom signal their readiness, then mime the count: up, down and out. Arching my back mightily and raising my hands in surrender, I plunge into the void. I’ve been intending to skydive for a good 20 years, ever since I rode along in the right seat of a Cessna Caravan flown by a former student and saw
} Sam Weigel began flight lessons at 13 and worked his way up to flying for a major airline. He enjoys exploring, sailing and
general aviation. 5 6 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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Courtesy Sam Weigel
BY SAM WEIGEL
how fun it looked, as a full load of divers rapidly clambered out of the airplane. But it was one of those things I just never got around to, initially from lack of funds and later because of a lack of time and an embarrassment of competing hobbies. The reality is, experiencing free-fall via tandem skydive takes only an hour of your time and a couple hundred bucks, but I was disinclined to do it that way. If I went skydiving, I wanted to learn something from it, to gain a new skill. Like most pilots, I suspect, I don’t find much satisfaction in being a
Sam Weigel gives a big smile as he enjoys his favorite part—free-fall.
thrill-ride passenger; I’d rather be “at the controls.” A month ago, my younger brother, Steve, called to ask me if I knew of any good drop zones near me. With two tandem skydives under his belt, Steve had intended to do the Accelerated Free-Fall course during 2020—but then, well, 2020 happened. By the end
of the year, drop zones had reopened, but winter had descended upon Minneapolis, so Steve was looking to come down to Central Florida to do the course in the last week of December. As it happens, there is a large and well-regarded operation, Skydive DeLand, just over an hour north of our winter marina. I asked Steve if he wouldn’t mind some company at the course, and he enthusiastically agreed. Steve’s a good guy to do something like this with. A born daredevil and committed adventurer, he learns new skills quite naturally but is less apt to study, while I tend to grasp the theoretical side readily and then muddle through the actual practice. The AFF course is the most common way of learning to skydive today, and it has largely supplanted the static-line method of yesteryear. It consists of one day of classroom instruction followed by seven skydives (assuming no remediation is required), each one of which introduces a new skill. There are no tandem dives; from the start you wear your own rig and are flying solo once under canopy. However, for the freefall portion, you are accompanied by two instructors for the first three levels and a single instructor for the last four, with an increasing amount of autonomy throughout the levels (they hang on to you quite firmly for the first few jumps, ready to pull your chute for you if required). The first skydives are all about proper body positioning for stable “belly flight” and being able to consistently find the small pilot chute—in a pocket on the bottom right side of your rig—that deploys your main chute. After that, you learn turns, moving forward and backward, backflips, and recovering from unstable exits. And throughout the course, you have considerably more time under canopy than during free-fall—to better work on canopy control, identifying and correcting deploy ment anoma lies, landing patterns, hitting your aim point, timing and executing the two-stage flare, and making soft stand-up landings. This is all roughly akin to pre-solo training in airplanes; it doesn’t produce a skydiver of any great finesse,
but it does give one the survival skills needed to go practice on your own. Free-fa ll f rom 13,000 feet to the student deployment altitude of 5,500 feet takes but 50 seconds. My first skydive seems to go even quicker than that. Lucas, Frasier and I come out of the airplane somewhat sideways, and we seem about to tumble, but I doggedly maintain the stabilizing arched position,
I roar out an exultant whoop to the parachutefilled sky as I test the toggles, swooping this way and that. essentially turning myself into a giant shuttlecock. We settle down as we accelerate to terminal velocity, and I set about my practice pilotchute touches. I don’t really feel the acceleration; rather, the roaring wind just steadily intensifies until it is a solid, unchanging pressure and highpitched buzz. We’re fluttering back and forth a bit, and Lucas gives me the signal to arch more. I thought I was, but as I de-tense my muscles, the wind bows me into the proper shape, we stabilize, and it occurs to me that this is almost relaxing. Much too soon, it is time for me to throw the pilot chute. There’s a mighty jerk, my instructors shoot downward, and suddenly I’m under a big, beautiful, brightly colored canopy not unlike the spinnaker sail aboard Windbird. A wave of exhilaration sweeps over me, and I roar out an exultant whoop to the parachute-filled sky as I test the toggles, swooping this way and that. A few minutes later, I make a passable stand-up landing (mind you, a few hundred feet from my aiming point), gather my chute, and walk over to my waiting instructors with a Cheshirecat grin spread across my face. I can’t wait to do it again. I do, in fact, do it again and again, though it goes in fits and starts—as it turns out, skydiving is even more weather-dependent than VFR flying. Steve gets in only two jumps before he has to fly back to Minnesota, returning a month later to finish up. If it’s not the clouds, it’s the wind; J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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l a TAKING WING
there can’t be much of either from 13,000 feet all the way to ground level. Nevertheless, I proceed steadily through the course, making all the usual mistakes that my instructors expertly correct with the help of helmet- mounted GoPro video. Over the course of five minutes and 50 seconds of busy, practice-filled
free-fall time, I come to really enjoy the sensation. This is a bit unexpected because I don’t consider myself much of an adrenaline junkie, and I figured I’d more fully appreciate the longer time under canopy, reckoning the parachute almost like another aircraft to fly. And I do enjoy canopy flying—having improved the accuracy
AVI AT IO N COU R SES
PILOT TRAINING SPORTYS.COM/COURSES
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FL2106A
of my spot landings considerably—but during the deep peaceful sleep that follows a long day at the drop zone, my dreams are the exuberant, weightless dreams of free-fall. Free-fall, despite the name, doesn’t feel like falling all at—it is flying, in the purest possible bird-flight sense, with the least possible airframe between you and the sky. The smallest body movement elicits an immediate aerodynamic response, with greater maneuverability than any aircraft you’ve ever flown and no structural limits save the obvious one. Deepblue sky above, verdant earth below, and white puffy clouds sweeping past, the noise and vibration of terminal velocity fade into the background. This is absolute freedom, absolute peace. And if your steadily unwinding wrist altimeter and the rapidly approaching ground remind you that your trespass into the realm of angels must necessarily be an ephemeral one, this renders your remaining seconds before deployment altitude all the more priceless. Having completed my seventh jump with a successful check ride to finish up the AFF course, I climb aboard the PAC 750XL for my first solo skydive. As the airplane climbs to altitude, there are no jangling nerves—only happy anticipation. I exchange high-fives and fist bumps with the skydivers around me, many of whom I know now because the drop zone is a friendly, communal sort of place. I don’t know if I’ll continue in this sport, though I’m at least working on my A-license. I have too many expensive, time-consuming interests for my own good already, and being any good at skydiving requires ratherintense, constant practice. But for now, I’m going to enjoy myself. The airplane banks onto its final run, the green light comes on, the door opens, and skydivers start whooshing out of the airplane. I waddle down the aisle with a light heart, watching the preceding jumper t umble into space w ith a rapid somersault. I take my own place in the sunlit door, turn my face to the cool prop blast, and make a joyful leap into the eternal void. }
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t t L a
Leading Edge FLYING Opinion
Know Thyself Legal doesn’t mean safe. BY BEN YOUNGER
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The imposing peaks of Telluride, Colorado
“legal” may be enough to satisfy the National Transportation Safety Board in their accident report, but it isn’t always enough to guarantee your safety. The spirit of the law and the letter of the law do not always agree. It took an entire year to outfit the Bonanza I bought to replace my totaled airplane. I went out to Greeley, Colorado, a couple of times to check on the progress of the build. After one such visit, I drove my rental car to Denver and met a friend who had
chartered a private flight to Telluride. He invited me to join him. I gladly gave up my commercial seat on a regional jet that had me traveling to Montrose, then taking a shuttle up to Telluride—avoiding an hourslong trek. Flying as a passenger in the twin turboprop reduced it all to 45 minutes. Plus, no TSA or security, for which I would do anything to avoid. It was my first time f lying into Telluride since the accident. I was excited to watch two pros do their
Courtesy Ben Younger
Laypeople are both astonished at a pilot’s abilities and wholly unimpressed during the act of flight itself. They sleep like children during instrument approaches to minimums but lose their minds when they get even a taste of light turbulence in the flight levels. It seems most people don’t know what to be afraid of and when. I do. I used to think landings were the only place you could hurt yourself. I never understood how a takeoff could bite so many pilots. But then I lost my plane to a wind-shear incident departing Telluride, Colorado. I am now fully versed. I currently have a healthy amount of respect for all envelopes of operating an airplane. Hell, even washing one. The day I departed Telluride was windy but within my airplane’s ability according to the POH. The density altitude was high but not so high as to make a sufficient climb gradient impossible. What I learned that day is that being
business. While my friend and his colleagues sat in the back and chatted, I sat right behind the cockpit and observed. While my Garmin suite of avionics has made my 8-year-old Stratus ADS-B receiver an unnecessary piece of equipment, I still like to pull it out on commercial flights. Once the person seated next to me calms down from the shock of seeing me attach a brick-shaped electronic device with blinking lights to the window, the Stratus elicits genuine curiosity and a conversation. Sitting on the ramp at KDEN with my iPad in my lap running ForeFlight, I could see we were racing against a storm quickly approaching from the west. We were 190 miles east of Telluride. It was going to be close. The two pilots preflighted efficiently, and there was little chatter between them. I recognized that particular kind of silence from my own flying as focused seriousness. We were awarded a short taxi and climbed briskly to 27,000 feet. It was VFR as we approached the Rockies, but I could see the storm front directly ahead of us. There was none of that 45-degree business I was taught to do when crossing peaks at 16,000 in my normally aspirated single. No, we were booking it straight for the initial approach fix on the instrument approach procedure to Runway 9. Once settled in cruise, the captain turned toward me, and we had a nice conversation about the airplane and his long history of flying into Telluride. I told him about my accident and the loss of my Bo. He shook his head solemnly when I mentioned the southerly winds that inundate the field in the spring. He told me he never takes off during those months when the wind is blowing over a seemingly benign 10 knots. After a few minutes, we entered solid IMC, and he excused himself back to his duties. We started picking up ice shortly after that, but it was light rime, and his second-nature use of the pneumatic boots kept the leading edges clean. I went back to my iPad, monitoring the flight in real time.
We lost the race with the storm. It was snowing steadily when we reached Telluride. I noticed the boots were being inflated more frequently, and I heard the pilots discussing the weather: Montrose was still well above alternate minimums, and they would divert there if we went missed at Telluride. Their calm was what fascinated me most. I was anxious about
Telluride is surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks—one of which fills the windscreen as you approach Runway 9. the flight. It was now getting dark. It was snowing. But they acted as if we were VFR into Key West, Florida, with a wind sock that looked like it had keeled over from one too many margaritas the night before. I did a jumpseat approach briefing on my iPad as we flew toward the IAF. A 13,000-foot FAF is not something you see every day. Telluride is surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks—one of which fills the windscreen as you approach Runway 9. Then I noticed something I had never seen before on an IAP: the minimums were 1,600feet agl. This, only if your airplane can manage a 380 fpm climb per nautical mile. Otherwise, the minimums go up to 3,102 feet agl. For noninstrument pilots reading this, 200 feet agl is the standard minimum altitude on many of the precision approaches in the US. We were on the final approach course at 13,000 feet msl as we hit the FAF—gear down and descending at 1,300 fpm to stay on the steep glidepath required to descend 4,000 feet in 10 miles. I stared in disbelief at my iPad as we continued, and I struggled to see any part of the runway environment. I thought about saying something but did not want to disturb them in this high-workload situation. I held my breath and stared out the blank windscreen filled with snow. After the longest minute of my life, we broke out into better visibility at around 400 feet agl and sailed in for a perfect
landing. I let out a breath I had no idea I was holding. Before you start writing to the editor, understand that I am in no way condoning the pilots’ choices on this flight. All that being said, there is no denying their level of comfort on that approach. They knew the field, airplane and conditions. They were testing fate—a possible moose on the runway or a failed engine on the missed—but not their ability. Yet. T he t a keaw ay for me i s t hat personal minimums mean just as much as regulated ones. Do not break the rules just because you feel good about your piloting abilities. In fact, I am suggesting the opposite: As pilots, there are times we should retreat even further inside the safety bubble the rules create. For the pilots going into Telluride that day, it was a routine flight, and they knew the runway environment in a way I didn’t. That kind of presumption, however, can turn around and bite a pilot quickly. For the vast majority of pilots, this would be an incredibly dangerous approach, fully outside the purview of their aviation skills. Familiarity means a whole lot when you are flying an airplane. There is a reason you hear of airline pilots with 30,000 hours stalling and spinning a piston single into the ground. Total hours mean little; total hours in type mean a lot. Importantly, I would expand “in type” to include not only aircraft but the type of conditions—weather and location being two crucial factors. I have yet to return to Telluride sitting left seat. I can tell you that the day it happens will be well within the range of my own comfort level, not just the parameters the regulations set. My airplane has shown the ability to fly in a 17-knot direct crosswind, and as a VFR pilot, I am afforded the privilege to fly at night. When I next touch down on Runway 9, it will be clear and a million, sunny, and calm. I can work my way up from there. } Ben Younger is a TV and film writer/ director, avid motorcyclist, and surfer— but it’s being a pilot that he treats as a second profession. Follow Ben Younger on Instagram: @thisisbenyounger. J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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Unusual Attitudes FLYING Opinion
Memories from an Old Photo Album And a few fireworks… BY MARTHA LUNKEN
treatment programs. But work it did —for the rest of his life. As you can imagine, it took some years to convince the FA A (at one point, they demanded a letter from the president of A A), but Frank
Martha using her marshaling skills with friend Frank Wood Sr. in his Aero Commander.
in a ward in St. Thomas Hospital run by the legendary Sister Mary Ignatia along with the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Robert “Bob” Smith and Bill Wilson. Frank could never explain why that experience clicked after so many failures at heaven knows how many expensive
finally reacquired his medical, went on to get instrument and multiengine ratings, and bought the first of a series of Aero Commanders. Lordy, how he loved those airplanes. I don’t remember exactly how, when or where we met, but it had to be at the airport and probably the early
1970s. Happily married again, he was a contemporary of my husband’s, but they weren’t exactly close friends. As a lawyer, Frank had handled Ebby’s divorce from a Grosse Pointe society lady some years before while battling the bottle, so he didn’t exactly negotiate the best settlement. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did; Ebby’s family was solidly among Cincinnati’s “400,” but throughout our marriage, his elderly mama kept a tight hand on the family purse strings. And this new wife—a much younger “airport rat” from a bourgeoise suburb in western Cincinnati—didn’t score well on her smell test: “What was your mother’s maiden name, and where do you summer?” Regardless of Ebby’s relationship with Frank, we were soon fast friends. He was flying an Aero Commander 690B but wanted a tailwheel checkout, so I rode with him in my flying school’s Citabria. Soon he had acquired a Super Cub in which I would spend many hours towing banners. Well, truth is, I sat in the front seat, needlepointing, while my sister sat in back, flying circles around stadiums for an hour. Then Frank showed up with a hot air balloon and included me in flying or inflating and tethering it at gatherings. If he could have found them, I’m quite sure he would have
} Martha Lunken has been a lifelong pilot, former FAA inspector and defrocked pilot examiner. She has most recently
flown a Cessna 180 and prefers to fly anything with a tailwheel, from Cubs to DC-3s. 6 2 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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Courtesy Martha Lunken
Paging through a photo album (yes, there are still actual printed photos—think illuminated medieval manuscripts), I came across several of an old and dear friend. Frank learned to fly and owned a Beech Bonanza back in the 1950s, when he was a partner in his family’s law firm. Later, embroiled in a morass of marriages and divorces, he sank into a nearly hopeless alcohol addiction; he was on the verge of being probated, and flying airplanes was the last thing anybody thought he’d ever do again. But after a particularly gruesome bender in Akron, Ohio, he woke up
The classic Aero Commander packs enough power to send a petite pilot on the ramp at Lunken airport straight to Oz.
acquired an autogiro and a blimp or dirigible. He loved anything that flew, and they helped promote his wildly popular radio station. When he was putting his life back together after the bottle battle, Frank located and purchased the last available frequency on the FM dial, 102.7, and built a radio station on Price Hill in western Cincinnati. The only DJ, he played his beloved classical and jazz format. Somewhere in here, he was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and endured extensive surgeries, treatments and jaw reconstructions, which slightly affected his speech. But it never put him down, and for the next two decades, he’d be on the air, playing jazz and classical music on WEBN—now, however, limited to Sunday mornings. See, when it became apparent that the 24/7-classical-and-jazz thing wasn’t flying with local listeners, Frank’s son Frank Jr. (“Bo”) returned from Chicago with a law degree and a passion for wild rock music. Bo convinced his dad to let him host a Saturday-night program as “Michael Xanadu,” playing outrageous new-age rock. Frank Sr. hated the stuff, but it was a smash hit, and the station soon launched into a full-time rock format with a cult following—and too many zany antics to remember. People would sit out in lawn chairs for virtual parades, mow “ WEBN” into their front lawns, and laugh at ads for miracle products from Brute Force
Cybernetics such as the Negative Calorie Cookie. At first, the staff was just Frank Sr. and Bo, broadcasting under various pseudony ms— oh, a nd prog ra m director Miles Duffy, a beloved but deceased pet dog stuffed by a taxidermist. But the station and staff grew, and Frank immersed himself in flying airplanes. Now, I’ll make some enemies here, but I just wasn’t as enthusiastic about those Commanders he loved—maybe because they didn’t have tailwheels or maybe because they taxied “funny.” I found sitting behind the pilot a little unnerving with a propeller spinning a few feet from your ear. But that was my bad; pilots who flew them and their passengers loved the airplane. I spent lots of time ferrying Frank to Commander Aero, Dick Wartinger’s shop at (now) Wright Brothers Airport in Dayton. I considered Dick one of the most talented, beloved and honest men in the aviation business. We f lew Coors raids to Denver, airplane loaded to max weight and CG limits with cases of beer; to the Udva r- Ha z y museum at Du lles airport in Virginia; and on excursions with his wife, Mary, to the Greenbriar (in West Virginia), northern Michigan and Florida. There was his Guinness World Records caper, setting a record for shortest roundtrip time between Cincinnati and Paris. Frank flew the Commander to Newark, New Jersey, climbed on
Concorde for the round-trip to Paris, and then traveled back to Cincinnati in the Commander—in less than a day. I marshaled him onto the ramp at Lunken airport dressed in a white silk gown, and he reversed the props, nearly sending me to Oz. Then, riding back from DuPage, Illinois, in my FAA years with Frank, I noticed a degradation of skill and reaction time. He’d always put the airplane where it needed to be, but his style was less than elegant. Nothing outright dangerous this time…but different. Heavy-hearted, I called his brother and suggested it was time for an experienced pilot to fly with Frank for an opinion. Shortly afterward, he quit flying and was diagnosed with the onset of Alzheimer’s. And Frank k new what was happening—the saddest thing of all. Frank Wood Sr. died in 1992. That summer, some of his ashes were in the first shell shot off during WEBN’s awesome annual riverfront fireworks show, which he would have loved. He probably wouldn’t have loved the accompanying music: Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.” But while Frank wasn’t a Dylan fan, there was no more appropriate piece of music to celebrate the life of this splendid man. } Editor’s note: Here Lunken shares her last regular column with Flying before taking a break. She’ll have the opportunity to tell her readers about an important lesson in the August issue. J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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Jumpseat FLYING Opinion
Sun ’n Fun Lite Takeoffs and landings are a spectator sport. BY LES ABEND
That being said, it was refreshing to observe a new type of event that didn’t involve a smoke-infused outside loop or an eardrum-shattering fly-by. On Friday, December 4, 2020, at the Sun ’n Fun Holiday Flying Festival and Car Show in Lakeland, Florida, I was introduced to the National STOL Competition. It is an event that only reaffirms what pilots already know: Takeoffs and landings are a spectator sport.
The newer faces of the Blue Angels: Lt. Julius Bratton No. 7 and Lt. Katlin Forster No. 8.
Fast-forward to Saturday, the final day of the event, I awaited the morning arrival of a lone Blue Angel F/A-18 Hornet. The airplane’s presence was to promote the US Navy’s Blue Angels performance at the 2021 Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo. Though it was disappointing that the touted
} Les Abend is a retired 34-year veteran of American Airlines, attempting to readjust his passion for flying airplanes in the
lower flight levels without the assistance of a copilot. 6 4 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
Courtesy Les Abend
As a longtime contributor to Flying, I have been blessed with the good fortune of attending many events, including airshows. Having spent a career mostly mastering the art of straight-and-level f light in the stratosphere, I have tremendous admiration for the aviators that perform physics-defying maneuvers at stepladder altitudes. I am awed by the skills involved.
new Super Hornet—just added to the fleet—was not parked on the ramp, I was pleased to witness military diversity as Lt. Julius Bratton (No. 7) and Lt. Katlin Forster (No. 8) opened their respective canopies. The two fighter pilots answered q u e s t i on s f or t h e m e d i a a n d , more important, the crowd of local students attending Lakeland’s Aerospace Center for Excellence. I smirked, with my airline-pilot brain wondering how it’s determined who f lies which leg for these PR missions. Seniority? Time in equipment? Who bought the last round of beers? Not important. Next on the agenda was a town-hall meeting. John Leenhouts, the CEO and president of Sun ’n Fun, mediated between Mark Baker, the president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and Jack Pelton, the president of EAA. A little mediating became necessary because the two leaders of the popular aviation organizations sparred briefly over their respective subscription rates—all in good humor, of course. Both organizations maintained positive outlooks for the future despite the pandemic environment, with Baker claiming more Cessna 172s were in the sky than Boeings. AOPA would begin promoting smaller air-tour venues. Pelton indicated that experimental-airplane activity had increased, mostly as a result of participants having more time at home. He also said AirVenture Oshkosh is still planned for 2021 in Wisconsin—but with new COVID-19 protocols. Leen houts pa inted a slig htly bleaker picture in regard to the Sun ’n Fun organization. A lot of financial trimming had occurred involving the sale of assets. The good news was that the revenue stream from the relatively new Amazon facility on the northwest end of Sun ’n Fun’s home base of Lakeland Linder International Airport (KLAL) had allowed for the complete elimination of a $335,000 annual lease payment. The annual Aerospace Expo, which took place from April 13 through April 18, would be considered a combination of 2020 and 2021.
Both Pelton and Baker reinforced general aviation as the viable alternative to airline travel, claiming that corporate airplane activity had also increased over the past several months. I felt a sense of irony from that statement, aware that the livelihoods of many of the event’s passionate participants and attendees were airline pilots. Case in point: My casual visit with the Geico Skytypers was actually a reunion with former colleagues from the airline I retired from, notwithstanding that the owner and flight lead is a Boeing 737 captain who co-owns a Daher TBM 850. Additionally, I was fortunate to be accompanied by my friend and JetBlue captain Mike Strauss, who is a Cessna 180 owner with hours of corporate jet and propeller experience. In his past life, he sold Rockwell Com ma nders a nd then worked for a jet-cha r ter compa ny that f lew Hollywood celebrities. More important, Mike is a vintage-car aficionado, and the car show—located in the grass area off to the side of the main entrance path to the exhibits— required his expertise. I have quietly expressed an interest in a ’57 Chevy. Time—and my wife—will tell. So, back to the National STOL Competition. I was fortunate to have inside information on the event in the form of a friend who entered the contest with his Legend Cub. Daryl Hickman, who has close ties with the owner of Legend, hoped to win some cash for his charity, kidsflycubs.org. Though it was helpful to ask Daryl stupid questions without embarrassment, inquiries to other competitors were always met with a willingness to respond and a good-natured smile. The basic gist of the STOL competition is like a golf game. The lowest score wins by adding the takeoff roll to the subsequent landing roll using the best of three cycles. Five airplane categories were used at this particular event based on weight: heavy-touring (Cessna 182s), light-touring (Cessna 172s), bush (Huskys and Super Cubs), experimental (Legend Cubs and CubCrafters) and light-sport aircraft. On qualifying day, the top six advanced to the finals within each category.
The fact that engine sizes differed, a reversible pitch prop was involved, and that one airplane was burning nitrox made no difference as to category classification. Shouldn’t a handicap be involved? Not surprising, no one asked for my advice. In my former life, takeoffs were complicated with nuisance items such as weight, temperature, wind, runway slope, visibility and runway contamination. Landing precision was complicated by the requirement to touchdown within the first third of the runway or 3,000 feet, whichever was less. We were further challenged by peer and passenger pressure to kiss the ground like a butterfly, so a couple hundred feet of finesse was not uncommon. Needless to say, takeoffs or landings were never accomplished on a 2,200-foot grass strip. Witnessing some of the aerodynamics-defying takeoffs brought a smile to my face. A 43-foot takeoff roll? Really? The landings were oftentimes hold-your-breath moments. Some attempted to drag in their approaches, quickly pulling back the throttle just before the scoring line. It seemed that the most successful entrants used the old-fashioned technique of a well-planned approach. Airplane performance aside, pilot stick-andrudder skill prevailed. O ver a l l , t he Nat ion a l S T OL Competition was a safe, well-executed and well-planned event. I would certainly take the opportunity to watch another one. No doubt, takeoffs and landings are a spectator sport. My only concern is that although a safe, COVID-conscious event was advertised, I found protocols lacking. No social distancing was actively encouraged in the long lines at the food vendors. Mask-wearing was sparse, even indoors. The supply of hand sanitizer in port-a-potties and elsewhere was not maintained. We all want to bring our aviation enthusiasm back to normal economic levels, but Sun ’n Fun 2021 would have had to step up the game in order to provide a truly safe environment. It will take all of us working together in order to make that happen, so we can really put 2020 in the rearview mirror. } J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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Gear Up FLYING Opinion
Tripping the Light Fantastic One man’s review of the high life BY DICK KARL
With a satchel full of years and a bucketful of good fortune, you might say I’ve been privileged to travel in style to an unconscionable degree. Much of the high life has been “purchased” with airline-mileage, hotel or credit-card rewards points—the best use for these “incentives” is to experience otherwise unattainable treats. The St. Regis Hotel is my favorite hotel in the world. Service here is personal, not formulaic. You may hear, “May I help you, sir?” and “My pleasure, ma’am,” at a Ritz Carlton (fine properties to be sure), but not at this St. Regis. No matter what your request, it is never parried with a flat “no.” They may say: “Well, sir, I’m afraid we can’t ride motorcycles in our small lobby, but the nearest Harley dealer is nearby. May I get them on the phone?” One time, we had to wait for a room. Turns out the Israeli prime minister was a late check out from a massive suite. My wife, Cathy, and I got it—it was worth the wait. I’ve been lucky with high-end airline travel. One time, while sitting in Delta’s Crown Room in Atlanta, I was unhappily surprised to hear, “Dr. Richard Karl, report to the service desk.” Uh-oh, what was happening to our business-class seats to Paris?
The experience on Concorde’s flight deck was a highlight of first-class travel.
“For weight-and-balance purposes, the captain has asked to have you move forward to first class.” Oh, OK! Three hours later, I smiled as an alert flight attendant asked Cathy if she’d like more caviar. Those huge maroon leather seats on that magnificent Lockheed L-1011 provided good comfort, but I can’t say I arrived in Paris feeling refreshed. Hungover was more like it. Speaking of “crossing the pond,” I’ve had three trans-Atlantic rides on Concorde. I was solo the first time; we didn’t have enough points for Cathy, so she went a day ahead—coach! As I boarded the jet, I had one goal: get to the flight deck. When I explained to the boarding flight attendant that I’d like to visit the captain, she replied with practiced British disdain: “Most of the children do.” I took my seat, pouting. We jolted through Mach 1. (“Just like pulling out of a train station,” the captain
said.) About midway across, the flight attendant came back and invited me up. As we walked forward, you could feel the heat of the airplane—a product of air (what little there is of it at 50,000 feet) friction and high speed. I knew I had to establish a friendship with the flight engineer as soon as I entered the flight deck if I wanted to stay more than a minute. He was kind, and I was invited back for the landing. Astoundingly close on fuel, we were momentarily sent into a hold (“For show,” my new friend assured me). After landing, we held short of a runway and watched a then-new Boeing 747400 rotate in front of us. The captain turned to the first officer and said, “It must be like flying a bloody brick.” Round trip on Air France’s Concorde was a different matter altogether. No chance of the cockpit, but we were treated to the sight of a wealthy couple having a lively and mean-spirited
} Dick Karl is a cancer surgeon turned Part 135 pilot who flies a Cessna Citation CJ1. 6 6 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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arrive in advance to be sure the water was cold and the Wi-Fi worked. Rarely did celebrities travel in anything but leisure clothing, but their appearance could be breathtaking. I heard one captain say, “I’ve flown them all, but this was the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen.” No, not J.Lo— Goldie Hawn. (“It was her smile,” he said.) My own personal best-dressedpax prize goes to Chris Rock; that tuxedo must have cost $10,000. But ownership of the simplest airplane beats any airline extravagance. I remember pulling into the FBO at Newark (KEWR), New Jersey, in a Cessna P210—about which I was very proud—with a passenger I had hoped to impress. The lineman sputtered: “Hey, you can’t park here. This for them jets.” So much for showing off. When we upgraded to a Cessna 340, I really felt like I was traveling in style. Now, the taxi centerline was of importance. The airplane sat up high, and the left seat made you feel
like you were the captain of a great airliner. The 340 gave way to a Piper Cheyenne, and I was burning jet-A and traveling solidly in the flight levels. The reliability of turbine engines and speeds in the 230s made possible pressurized long-distance travel. My experience in 135 operations made single-pilot-jet ownership possible. A Beechcraft Premier was impressive, often broken, and didn’t last long thanks to a bird strike. A more-practical Cessna Citation CJ1 has graced our hangar for three years now. When I find myself drinking coffee at Flight Level 390, I can’t deny feeling I’m at the epitome of style. It has been a rich and privileged life to be sure, but the most elegant travel I have ever experienced was long ago. As an Army captain stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, I bought a Beechcraft Musketeer, my first airplane. One day, I flew from Louisville to Ithaca, New York—on top, nonstop. That was the best. }
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spat all the way across the ocean at Mach 2. I couldn’t help wonder: Couldn’t you cage that rage gyro until you got home? A round-the-world first-class trip was the gift of my hosts in New Delhi, India. When the flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to India was disrupted, Delta Air Lines bought us two first-class tickets on Lufthansa. The 747 was eight hours late, but who cared? We were on the upper deck, watching a practiced flight attendant produce ribbons of fine Italian cheese from a huge round the size of a nosewheel. Got the jumpseat for that landing too. When the first officer called minimums, I couldn’t see anything in the early morning smog/haze, but the captain said only, “Continue.” Three years as a Part 135 charter pilot gave me a chance to see how truly wealthy people get around. Most of them were polite and friendly, but some gave off a whiff of “leave me alone.” A celebrity’s assistant would
t t L a
Technicalities FLYING Opinion
Hey, Taxi! Your wish is its command. BY PETER GARRISON
is practical for small, light and clean fixed-wing airplanes, such as the Pipistrel Alpha Electro, flying short distances at moderate speed. High speeds over long distances are out of the question. At present—even taking into account the superior ability of electric motors to convert available energy into useful work—batteries are roughly 15 times heavier, per thrust-horsepower-hour, than fossil fuels. For a mode of transport that
prizes lightness above all else, this is not a promising situation, and it takes a pathological optimist to foresee a 15-fold improvement in the performance of batteries. Three years ago, I wrote skeptically about the prospects for electric airliners. At the time, one of the most grandiloquent aspirants was the Eviation Alice, a three-motor, nine-passenger all-electric air taxi. The Alice had not flown, but Eviation was publishing impressive numbers for speed, range and battery capacity. They did not add up, as I noted at the time. Early in 2020, the Alice prototype, which had mysteriously transformed itself The Lilium VTOL features multiblade, ducted-fan thrusters on its wings.
Dave Brenner/University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
I never thought I’d see the day, but General Motors—among a number of other auto manufacturers, not to mention nations—has pronounced a death sentence upon the internalcombustion engine. Stays are possible, but permanent commutation is unlikely. It appears that electricity, in one form or another, may triumph in the end. The power pla nts of ca rs a nd reciprocating- eng ine a ir pla nes have a lot in common, and while aviation benefits from a lot of special pleading—look at the ever-lingering matter of leaded avgas—the intense research and development going into electric cars and their batteries is bound to spill over into airplanes. Electric point-to-point flight is currently possible—marginally. It
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from a tricycle to a taildragger design (I think they must have discovered belatedly that the wing was too far forward), was destroyed in a fire in Prescott, Arizona, where it was to be tested. Eviation has been quiet lately, but a recently published rendering purporting to be the “new” Alice showed an entirely different design. It’s natural that the process of development and testing leads to design changes, but one expects them to be incremental, not wholesale. Wholesale changes reveal an underlying uncertainty about how to proceed. In electric aviation, there exists nothing like the design consensus to which fixed-wing aircraft manufacturers converged long ago. If the preferences of investors mean anything, however, the preferred orientation of the herd is not currently toward medium-size fixed-wing airplanes but instead toward small VTOL flying taxis. Because the term “air ta xi” is already in use for something else and “ee-vee-tol” sounds like a medicine, I will call these “air cabs.” Of would-be air cabs, there is no shortage. It is said that more than 250 firms are developing products to satisfy this purported demand. Shortly after the Alice fire, one of two prototypes of a German aircab project called Lilium also went up in flames. Lithium-ion batteries, whose comparatively high energy density makes electric flight possible at all, are notoriously pyrotechnic. Ask Samsung. This is but one of the hurdles that a firm aspiring to certificate an electric airplane must vault. Luckily for Lilium, they had a second prototype, and it can be seen on the company’s website doing a graceful vertical takeoff, an around-the-patch flight and a vertical landing. Flight video is the gold standard for air-cab credibility, even if the aircraft is empty and flies for only a few minutes. Early this year, a startup called Archer Aviation announced a deal with United Airlines—such deals are highly contingent and barely deserve the name—for its air-cab design, which earns high marks for aspirational computer-graphic renderings. Surprisingly, the name
of the vaporware airplane is not “Arrow” but “Maker.” A relative latecomer, Archer has assembled a lot of money and talent, and has so far avoided barefaced lies about speed and range, confining itself to the claim that it will be carrying paying passengers in 2024.
Are electric air cabs the next big thing, or are they just giant pumps for sucking up venture capital? Are they iPhones or Segways? China’s EHang was one of the first off the blocks, starting in 2015 with a four-rotor, single-seat design that was basically a scaled-up hobby drone. Its rotors have since multiplied to 16, but winglessness has gone out of fashion. Most recent proposals use some variation on a tilt-rotor or tilt-wing arrangement. The small size and low weight of electric motors encourage distributed propulsion and variable geometry. A wing provides superior efficiency and speed in the cruising segment of the flight, and whatever difficulties of piloting the transition from hover to cruise entail can be handled by digital electronics. Air cabs are expected to be fully autonomous, like flying carpets, demanding of their passengers only the ability— which is not always available late at night—to state clearly where they want to go. Any aircraft that takes off and lands vertically must contend with the extremely high-power requirement of hovering flight. The drive toward compactness exacerbates the problem. A vision of urban “vertiports” analogous to rooftop taxi stands assumes air cabs will be more similar in footprint to automobiles than to helicopters, but small rotors are invariably less efficient than large ones and, for many of the same reasons, noisier. The Lilium concept takes the small-rotor philosophy to an extreme, with 36 8-inch multiblade, ducted-fan thrusters arrayed in rows along the trailing edges of its wing and foreplane. Each must produce
100 pounds of thrust to lift the 3,300-pound five-seater. It is perhaps not accidental that the website’s flight video is unaccompanied by sound. Joby Aviation’s design is more in the mainstream, with six tilting rotors that appear to be 7 feet or so in diameter, while Archer’s Maker uses 12 rotors mounted on the ends of six hideous sausages attached to the underside of an otherwise graceful wing. The ingenuity of the Archer design is that the multiblade front rotors tilt for cruise, while the twoblade rear ones stop turning and align themselves with the direction of flight for minimum drag. For some reason, both the Lilium and Archer style themselves “jets.” Neither is a jet in any meaningful sense. I suppose the Lilium, at least, can get away with it because its propellers are hidden inside tubes. Or maybe, among the uninformed, “jet” is synonymous with “airplane,” only sexier. The air traffic control aspects of swarms of air cabs delivering people from, say, central London to Heathrow in a dense fog seem pretty daunting, but not a day goes by without a new PDF in my email inbox proposing algorithms for autonomous collision avoidance in swarms. Fish do it, birds and fruit flies do it, so why shouldn’t we? There may be some difficulty, however, sequencing the arrivals and departures, within a limited surface area, of air cabs whose ability to loiter in the air might be limited to few minutes and whose battery will take much longer to recharge than its cabin takes to refill. One of the least plausible claims made for this class of aircraft is that a ride in one will be comparable in cost to the same trip in a Lyft. Fat chance. The promoters of novel technologies are not under oath, but one look at a Joby should disabuse you of any notion that its acquisition and maintenance costs could resemble those of a Prius. Are electric air cabs the next big thing, or are they just giant pumps for sucking up venture capital? Are they iPhones or Segways? Time will tell, but don’t give up on fossil-fuelpowered helicopters just yet. } J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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It took roughly four hours for the data to upload from the base station on the NASA Perseverance rover through the orbiter’s comms to the Deep Space Network and on to a receiver in Spain early on the morning of April 19. The team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory that had created and shepherded the 4-pound rotorcraft named Ingenuity sat in anticipation as the communications lead read through the acquisition of the stream, before turning over the conn to chief pilot Håvard Grip. What was he looking for? A change in altitude that would signal the tiny craft’s initial flight—the first powered, controlled flight of any human-made aircraft on another planet. The rise of 3 meters was met with elation around the room—and around the world. As it went aloft for the first time in an otherworldly atmosphere, Ingenuity carried with its limited cargo a tiny piece of the Wright Flyer. 7 4 | J U N E+J U LY 2 0 2 1
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Courtesy NASA
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