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Contents SEPTEMBER 2021
42 Making Old Jets Nearly New Again Avionics upgrades make used turbine aircraft a great buy. By Rob Mark
48 Soaring on Redand-Blue Wings
34 We Fly: Piper M600/SLS Halo
Delaware State University opts for the Vulcanair V1.0
This turboprop really hits the sweet spot with numerous safety enhancements.
By Julie Boatman
34
By Julie Boatman
10 Trending Garmin Aviation wins Flying’s 2021 Innovation Award along with OEM partners.
12 Aircraft The Cirrus Vision Jet G2+ debuts.
14 Avionics MyGoFlight, Avidyne and Aspen Avionics
Training & Technique
Life in the Air
64 Into the Blue
20 ILAFFT
54 In Depth
By Pia Bergqvist
Just a thin layer
FNTI’s flight students fly home to serve.
66 Gear Up
By Urs W. Seiler
24 Chart Wise
By Dan Pimentel
From terror to triumph
To fly is to learn—every time
Holland, Michigan, LOC/ILS Runway 26
By Dick Karl
By Rob Mark and Jason Blair
To go or not to go
26 Aftermath
70 Technicalities
Bolt from the blue
Why winglets?
68 Jumpseat
Sign Off 74 We remember.
Cover Photographer Jim Barrett captures the hot new Piper M600/SLS Halo near Vero Beach, Florida.
By Les Abend
By Peter Garrison
By Peter Garrison
58 Taking Wing
30 Sky Kings
Building the dream: Part 1
Guns, handcuffs for innocent pilots
By Sam Weigel
By John King
Out with the new...
62 Leading Edge
By Ben Younger
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Flying (0015-4806) (USPS 504-930), September 2021, Volume 148, Issue 6. 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.
SEPTEMBER 2021
F LY I N G M A G.C O M | 3
Top: Piper Aircraft ;bottom left to right: Cirrus Aircraft, FTNI, vaalaa/Shutterstock
Sky Next
Ed i to r - i n - C h i e f Julie Boatman
SENIOR EDITOR Rob Mark EDITOR-AT-LARGE Pia Bergqvist MANAGING EDITOR Jake Lamb ART DIRECTOR Amy Jo Sledge COPY EDITOR Abigail Creel STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jon Whittle
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Sam Weigel
Ben Younger
Martha Lunken
Dick Karl
Les Abend
Peter Garrison
John King
Martha King
John Zimmerman
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View from Above Letter from the Editor
Defining Moments A poignant anniversary
T h e s i l e n c e o n t he Pot om ac Approach frequency was stark. It was September 17, 2001, and I was flying a Piper Archer from KFDK in Frederick, Maryland, down to Newport News (KPHF), Virginia, logging two hours down and 1.7 on the return. I filed IFR on a day of shockingly blue skies because that was the only way to operate six days after the World Trade Center towers came down, the Pentagon’s seemingly impenetrable belt line was breached, and a field in Pennsylvania became a final resting place for heroic souls. A defining moment, when I felt viscerally how the world had changed. Twenty years later, I’m circumnavigating the special flight rules area around Washington, D.C., but I’m VFR and monitoring my fellow pilots and controllers on a sunny summer Sunday without any particular restriction to my flight path beyond my choice to stay outside of Class B. That I choose to just listen stems from my desire to hold on to a certain amount of freedom in my flying—and because the ADS-B In traffic data illuminates almost every target that ATC would call out to me anyway. One September mor ning , the ground shifted under us. But we overcame it all. With persistence, we rolled back the most onerous provisions against general aviation; the total lockout of all GA traffic from Class B airspace was on the table at one point. Permission to land
at the GA airports inside the flight restricted zone was for only those already based there, and no one save the airlines and government aircraft could land at KDCA. I thought, “How would those ‘DC-3’ airports survive?” Well, in March of this year, I flew in and out of College Park Airport (KCGS) with a friend with a PIN (I need to get my own now that I’m based back in the Washington, D.C., area). That I have a path to the PIN needed to fly in I also consider a win for GA; you can apply for one by going through a background check and interview. That we’ve maintained that privilege 20 years down the road, to me, solidifies the fact we are mostly responsible, competent users of the national airspace system. In June, I went to a lively hangar party at Potomac Airfield (KVKX), with Washington Executive/Hyde Field (W32) remaining open just a mile to the east. L e e sbu r g E xe c ut i ve A i r p or t (KJYO) in Virginia has a cutout enabling the relative free-f low of student and corporate traffic. In New York, the Hudson corridor can be flown by anyone with a chart of the VFR flyways. And we have flown through it all as an industry, continuing to innovate, continuing to lead with our very best. We’ve seen it in the expansion into commercial spaceflight, and we celebrate the achievements of SpaceX in cooperation with NASA inspiring us
into orbit—and beyond. We’ve seen it in the power that one device—the autothrottle—has brought to single-engine and multiengine turboprops and jets. The assist it gives to those flying single-pilot earns our respect and admiration. We salute Innovative Solutions & Support for its continued drive to apply this efficient, workload-saving technology in future mounts. And we’ve seen it in the market acceptance of Garmin’s Autoland, the winner of the Flying Innovation Award for 2021. For more on the Autonomi avionics and systems suite, and its application in Piper Aircraft’s PA-46s, see “We Fly: Piper M600/SLS Halo” in these pages. As we’re tying up the bow on this issue, we’re also preparing for the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where we’ll present the award and see our aviation friends there for the first time since 2019. A defining moment, indeed. These moments add perspective. Sometimes we see changes coming, and sometimes they hit us like a bolt from the blue. But we have the strength, courage and creativity to navigate the changes, move forward and embrace the opportunity ahead.
Julie Boatman Editor-in-Chief @julieinthesky on Twitter
} Julie Boatman is a flight instructor and airline-transport-certificated pilot with type ratings in the Cessna Citation Mustang
and Douglas DC-3—but she finds true happiness flying low and slow. 6 | SEPTEMBER 2021
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
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Inbox September 2021
I just read Ben Younger’s article “Know Thyself” (June+July). The photo of cold, foreboding Telluride[, Colorado,] is a view I have personally witnessed, having played high school basketball for a rival mining town just 9 miles away as the crow flies (50 miles by road). In 1982, I visited my father, and he announced the construction of an airport near Telluride. Where? Not enough real estate. Well, 15 years later, I found out where. Taking a [Jeep-necessary] road from Colorado State Highway 62 to Colorado State Highway 145, I blundered onto Last Dollar Road, and there it was—a blacktop runway with a pronounced dip (since removed). What terror. Locals will vouch for another form of terror: Black Bear Road that zigzags down the face of Ingram Peak. I tried it once—never again. It begins at Red Mountain Pass on US [Route] 550. A sign reads, “You don’t have to be crazy to drive Black Bear, but it certainly does help.” My sentiments for flying into KTEX are the same. As a private pilot, I think I know myself.
FAA rules and standards, like just about all codes and standards, are minimum standards. Even back as far as World War II, pilots already knew they should go on oxygen above 5,000 feet at night for better night vision. Nowadays, I’ve been told by welding suppliers [that] there’s no real difference between welding oxygen and medical oxygen, just different paperwork. However, I’d be very careful about charging your bottles at dive shops. I’ve heard of at least one crash where the pilot became incapacitated because they charged the bottle with air instead of pure oxygen. It would be a hell of a time to find out. It is a very easy mistake to make, and all you get later, if you are alive, would be “sorry” from them.
king. The [Court] asked Arthur to recommend a travel agent in the USA. Arthur suggested me. So, I took care of the royal family’s intense travel arrangements. On one occasion, I had an early morning working breakfast with a Saudi prince at the Connaught [Hotel] in London, rushed to Heathrow, hopped aboard Concorde, and had a second working breakfast with a royal princess at the Waldorf Astoria in New York the same day. It also so happens that I flew on Concorde on its initial flight from Mexico City to Washington, D.C., and Paris. I happened to sit next to the French ambassador to Mexico. Shortly before arrival in Paris, the chief hostess came to tell the ambassador that the captain wanted him to move to the cockpit to observe the landing. The ambassador asked her to include me. She stated that was not possible. The ambassador then declined. Shortly thereafter, she returned and said it was OK. So, just like Dick Karl, I sat in a jumpseat behind the captain as Concorde rumbled down from sonic and touched down at De Gaulle.
Tony Lam via email
Joseph A. Broger via email
Cliff Cohu via email
Concorde Memories Dick Karl’s Concorde memory [in “Tripping the Light Fantastic,” June+July] reawakened one of my own. I should explain that, for decades, I have been a travel advisor in California that included working contacts in Africa. At the time, the evil dictator Idi Amin took over Uganda. He murdered and expelled all business people of Indian and Goanese background. Arthur Fernandez, my tour operator of Goanese descent, barely escaped. He ended up at the Saudi Royal Court, an advisor to the Saudi
Breathe Easy
8 | SEPTEMBER 2021
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
Ben Younger
Know Thyself
ILAFFT Podcast I listen to the wonderful podcast, I Learned about Flying from That, moderated by Rob Reider. [The episodes] are wonderful. I wish to suggest there seems to be far more to learn than just “flying from that.” When one listens carefully to Rob, the person sharing his/her experience, and what there is to learn from shared information, the takeaway seems to most often apply to both avocation and life itself. I respectfully share [that] the messaging is multidirectional and very insightful, even for those [who] no longer actively fly. My piloting spans 60 years, with multiple ratings (multiengine, instrument, high-performance, etc.). While I am no longer doing so—due to medical constraints—I always seem to learn something
about “decision-making” (applicable to “boots on ground”) from listening to your wonderful podcast. I would appreciate you sharing my sincere gratitude to Rob and the rest of your staff for their effort expended in bringing this podcast to your readers/listeners. Bill Morton via email
Flying Dreams For over 50 years, I have eagerly awaited each issue of Flying. While I subscribe at home now, back then, the trip to the drugstore was a hopeful quest to buy the latest issue. At Beaumont Municipal [in Texas,] I used to bum rides with Gordon Baxter’s flying buddies, those fortunate enough to own their own 172s or taildraggers.
Envious looks—or my polishing job [on an airplane] to achieve just the right shine—usually garnered an invite to ride along. Lying on the grass, looking upward when I heard the unmistakable sound of a Trans-Texas DC-3—headed north to Dallas—kept my dreams of flying alive. My love for airplanes most likely puts me in the group of your readers who are not pilots— perhaps because of what we read in Peter Garrison’s Aftermath column, or self-doubt, or the financial burden. Regardless, anything aviation has a firm draw that will always be there for me and others. Bill Hodges via email
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S KY N E X T The Best of What’s New
Flying’s 2021 Innovation Award Garmin Aviation’s Autoland wins our respect for its contribution to safety.
The button sits under its clear guard, without calling much attention to itself until you know what it does. All of the elements that went into Garmin’s Autoland had been similarly lying in wait, ready to come together as components of its Autonomi suite—going first into Piper’s M600/SLS Halo, then Daher’s TBM 940 HomeSafe and the Cirrus Vision Jet G2 with Safe Return. The intelligence was there: in the form of electronic stability and protection to level the airplane, overspeed and underspeed protections, automated emergencydescent management, GPS navigational guidance and approaches that take you to the pavement, and weather, traffic and terrain input to analyze where to go and how best to get there. The brains only needed the “muscle”
1 0 | SEPTEMBER 2021
F LY I N G M A G.C O M
to make an autoland system happen—managing the throttle or power lever, extending the flaps and gear, executing a proper round-out, and braking to a safe stop on the runway. We honor the foresight and decade of effort invested by the team at Garmin Aviation, as well as those significant contributions of its OEM partners—Piper, Daher and Cirrus—to bring an automated landing within reach of general aviation pilots and passengers. With more than a thousand test landings completed during its run-up to certification, we’re still waiting for that first use of the silent button that will save a life. It’s a privilege to award the 2021 Flying Innovation Award for this incredible leap forward in GA safety.
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Aircraft The latest updates
Cirrus Vision Jet G2+ Improved hot-and-high takeoffs plus Wi-Fi BY JULIE BOATMAN
TEXTRON AVIATION gains EASA certification on its Cessna Citation Longitude.
PRE-OWNED aircraft market remains hot, with pricing on certain models running up to 25 percent higher. RAISBECK completes flight testing on an STC for its Cessna Caravan 208B drag-reduction package. PIPISTREL Alpha Electro sets endurance milestone in Australia. 1 2 | SEPTEMBER 2021
Feedback from its highly engaged customer base drove Cirrus Aircraft to an incremental update of the SF50 Vision Jet, which it announced on July 20, ahead of EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The latest version, the Vision Jet G2+, hits a key area of improvement: hot-and-high airport takeoff and landing performance. Also delivering with the upgraded model: Gogo’s Avance L3 in-flight Wi-Fi. Performance gains during high-densityaltitude airport operations come from work with Williams International on the jet ’s FJ33-5A powerplant. Though it’s still rated at 1,846 pounds of thrust, more of that will be available because of an adjustment to temperature limitations. The company estimates that pilots will see an improvement in takeoff and landing performance of roughly 4 percent at sea level, under ISA conditions, and a reduction F LY I N G M A G.C O M
of up to 20 percent in takeoff and landing distances on high-altitude runways such as that at Telluride Regional Airport in Colorado. The new onboard Wi-Fi delivers 3G speeds through the Gogo Avance L3 3G network, and the system clicks on as low as passing through 3,000 feet agl, depending on the terrain, available towers and other factors. New door seals also improve the cabin environment. Cirrus has also been at work on other details, including improving dispatch reliability in order to serve a new market segment: Part 135 operations. The company has refined the minimum equipment list and made strides in parts availability to head off extended airplane-onground issues. Look for a full “We Fly” report in an upcoming issue of Flying. The fully loaded new model starts at $2.98 million, with the Avance L3 option included in that price. }
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Avionics The latest updates
Panel Improvements The latest from the 2021 Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Dallas B Y F LY I N G S TA F F
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Avidyne SkyTrax 200 Avidyne announced that its SkyTrax 200 dual-band ADS-B In receiver has acquired its STC. More than 600 aircraft are covered on the approved-model list for the flexible receiver. The SkyTrax 200 includes both 1090 MHz and 978 MHz band receivers to provide direct lineof-sight reception of ADS-B traffic targets and reception of FIS-B information via the 978 MHz band in the US where available. The SkyTrax can receive traffic data from an active traffic system, such as Avidyne’s SkyTrax 600, TAS600-series, Ryan TCAD 9900BX or Skywatch systems. Weather and traffic info can display on the IFD-series GPS/navcom, as well as Avidyne EX500, EX600 and EX5000 MFDs, and Entegra integrated flight decks. The 10.3 release coming up for the IFD GPS/navcom series is anticipated to be finalized in the third quarter of MyGoFlight, Avidyne
MyGoFlight InfinityPower and SkyDisplay Among a host of new products and services on display at the Aircraft Electronics Association’s June convention in Dallas, MyGoFlight offered two distinct innovations that stood out. The Colorado-based company—known at first for flight-deck-mounting hardware and other targeted tools for GA aircraft—debuted its InfinityPower panel-mounted USB charging unit and showed off its incoming SkyDisplay HUD, with AID (aircraft integration device) and Max-Viz infrared camera. Both demonstrate upscale design and a thoughtful approach. The InfinityPower device answers the reality of planned obsolescence that plagues users of portable electronic devices such as iPhones and GPS navigators. A panel-mounted charger used to mean a 12-volt cigarette lighter. In the past decade, we’ve advanced to panelmounted USB charging units, but with every design change to the connector technology—from USB-A 2.0 to USB-C, for example—a receptacle can quickly become obsolete. The InfinityPower device comes in two parts: a rear-mounted power base that can be wired from the back or side and a twist-on front-mounted piece housing the USB receptacle that can be changed out with advances in USB technology. Priced at $175 for the power base and $175 for each USB module, the device will be available in the fourth quarter of this year, with preorders taken through Aircraft Spruce & Specialty. With the near-ubiquity of glass upfront in most new light GA aircraft, the market may well be ready for the
star player in MyGoFlight’s lineup, the SkyDisplay HUD. When HUDs for piston singles and twins were first proposed nearly two decades ago, the gadget factor was high and the price proposition a little too much for the products to gain traction. Now, however, as GA pilots, we’ve been trained on the presentation now demonstrated by the SkyDisplay—and we’ve seen the value of having a flight-path marker and other aids to flight that the HUD presents. MyGoFlight has developed and gained DO-160 certification on the heart of its HUD—the AID—which is a rugged, off-the-shelf computer system that can read ARINC 429, RS232 serial data, analog data, and analog and digital video inputs. The AID comes with mini PCI express card slots to support add-on I/O module integration. The other primary component of the SkyDisplay is the HUD projection unit. Weighing 1 pound, its LCD incorporates an LED backlight with 480-by-240-pixel resolution and a custom flight-deck mount. MyGoFlight has been flying with the unit in CEO Charles Schneider’s Cirrus SR22, as well as putting it into firefighting aircraft locally in Colorado. Preorders have been taken for a series of two dozen aircraft, up to a Pilatus PC-12 and Citation CJ series jets.
Aspen Avionics Evolution 2000/2500 Battery life has long been a singular Achilles’ heel for users installing Aspen Avionics integrated flight displays, and now that concern has been answered with an update to the Evolution Max. The deal allows owners of Evolution avionics to trade in their units for the latest upgrades—which are also available to those purchasing the current hardware. The Evolution 1000 Max primary flight display and multifunction display feature crisp, bright graphics thanks to already-improved screens and processors. Now the company is making its upgraded battery—installed in the E5 EFI, Pro Max PFD and Max MFD—part of the package as well, with a service life span of 2,200 hours or four years. The new battery and an Evolution 2000 or 2500 installation will allow the owner to, in most cases,
remove an attitude indicator and the vacuum pump. The current program also renders Aspen’s synthetic vision standard on the Evolution series as well as the ability to integrate with the Genesys 3100 digital autopilot. Without installation, the Pro Max PFD runs $9,995; 2000 Max with extended-duration internal battery $15,995; and 2500 Max with extended-duration internal battery $19,995. To transition legacy units, it’s $5,495 for the Pro Max PFD, $7,995 for the dual-screen Evolution 1500 or 2000, or $9,495 for the three-screen Evolution 2500. }
Aspen Avionics
this year. New features contained in the release include visual approaches, VNAV, support for tandem-remote VHF navcom tuning in dual installations, support for oceanic mode, power lines in the database, radar altimeter display (via a 429 input), extended support for FOQA, support for twin-engine aircraft on the fuel-calculation page, ability to import user waypoints from a CSV file, map zoom to a half-mile, certified TAWS and helicopter TAWS, and three-arc-second terrain data.
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Ask Flying We know you have questions.
Do airline crews have the same recency requirements as GA pilots?
} 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.
1 6 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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Courtesy Sam Weigel
“
At the airlines, the familiar requirements of FAR 61.57 are superseded by FAR 121.439, which also requires three takeoffs and landings every 90 days but specifies the same aircraft type, with no differentiation between day and night operations. Lapsed recency can only be reestablished under the supervision of a check airman and must include a V1 cut and an ILS approach to the lowest authorized minimums. Reestablishing landing currency in the simulator has always been a routine chore for international relief pilots—but during the pandemic, many domestic pilots were also sent to do their “bounces in the box.”
DPE 1ST A N N UA L
WED
OCTOBER 27, 2021 NASHVILLE
Get together to learn, connect and give voice. FAA officials will take part. —F S A N A ’ S P R E M I E R S U P P O R T I N G P A R T N E R S—
© 2021 Flight School Association of North America
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Next Great Flight A very special centennial
1 8 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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Stephen Yeates
Jim “Pee Wee” Martin jumped as part of the “Screaming Eagles” US Army 101st Airborne Division during Operation Overlord into Normandy, France, followed by Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. More than 75 years later, volunteers from the Commemorative Air Force, Tunison Foundation and WWII Airborne Demonstration Team provided a 100th birthday celebration in tribute to Martin’s valor and that of his fellow Eagles—just a few remain.
SEPTEMBER 2021
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Char t W i se 24 / A fte rm ath 2 6 / S ky Ki ngs 3 0
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.962
Just a Thin Layer Compounding concerns on a short flight home BY URS W. SEILER
to coordinate the bank’s activities with the factory and normally took the car, which made for a round trip of approximately six hours. This time—and considering the beautiful weather—I decided to take the airplane instead. With barely 150 hours in my logbook, I felt that I should invite my former flying instructor, who had a total of approximately 20,000 hours, to accompany me to south Switzerland, which required a crossing of the Alps.
} Urs W. Seiler is a pilot with about 650 hours. He has held an EASA private pilot license since 1976
and has owned a Cessna 206T for a couple of years, as well as a Carbon Cub.
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Joel Kimmel
It must have been about two years after I received my private pilot license in Switzerland. At 28 years of age, I was happily married with two healthy boys, aged 2 and 4, and a promising banking career lying ahead. The world and future looked bright, and I was going to take the opportunity to fly when I could. The reason for the next trip was to visit a refinery—situated near the Italian border—that belonged to the bank. I visited the plant regularly
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YEARS
t t I.L.A.F.F.T.
The moment we entered the cloud, the whole world changed—from bright sunshine to near darkness; from a normal-sounding engine to a muffled, distant-feeling motor; from a happy, cheerful cockpit to a quiet and worryingly narrow environment.
It was the most beautiful October day when we left relatively early in the morning from our military airport in the alpine upland in a Cessna FR172 Reims Rocket. The 172, however, was not IFR-equipped and didn’t have an autopilot. The flight down was uneventful and beautiful. There was no wind, and my gorgeous country lay at my disposal as far as the eye could see. I had a busy and successful day and met with my instructor at around 4 p.m. at Lugano Airport. Working all day and meeting after meeting did not give me time to think about the return flight—or prepare with any flight planning at all. B e c au se t he we at her w a s so beautiful on both sides of the Alps when we left, I do not remember if we even checked the weather. On the way back, the flight north was great—quiet and nothing to worry about until we approached the valley where our home airport was situated. The valley runs almost straight from south to north and, on both sides, is surrounded by a couple of mountains, all at a height of around 10,000 feet. A solid cloud layer of fog was creeping up the edges of the valley, and when we reached the vicinity of the field, it was completely covered. We kept going on and discussed what we could do. I definitely had “get-home-itis” and did not want to go back south and take a train home, which meant missing dinner and missing the boys before they went to bed. So I sheepishly suggested that— because the layer mig ht not be thick—we could enter the cloud in the middle of the valley, follow its course, 2 2 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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and “fall out” underneath the cloud layer after only a very brief descent. Much to my surprise, my former instructor consented. We agreed that, entering the top at around 8,000 feet, we would execute a climb and return to the top at no lower than 6,000 feet if we didn’t have ground contact. I reduced power and slowly but cautiously approached the layer. The moment we entered it, the whole world changed—from bright sunshine to near darkness; from a normal-sounding engine to a muffled, distant-feeling motor; from a happy, cheerful cockpit to a quiet and worryingly narrow environment. The valley ran a course of approximately 010 degrees—nearly due north. So, I followed it precisely and let down with a descent rate of about 500 fpm. Upon reaching 6,000 feet, we were still solidly in the soup. Instead of opening full throttle and resuming a climb, I kept descending, hoping my former teacher would not realize that I was reneging on our agreement to stop at that altitude. At 5,000 feet, we were still in it. Suddenly, I realized that we could have encountered crosswinds in the valley, and though I kept diligently to the heading, we could drift sideways and be pushed completely off course. The next thought that crossed my mind was to imagine how it would feel if we were to hit a mountain at a speed of about 100 mph. Realizing this could actually happen any second, I advanced the throttle, pulled up carefully and ascended on that same course, making sure not to pull too hard on the controls and watching my airspeed cautiously. The next minutes were deadly
quiet in the cockpit—and for certain the longest of my life. The urge to pull back a little harder in order to expedite the climb had to be fought against and required all my self-discipline. A lot of thoughts—both important and minor—crossed my mind. Am I going to see my family again? How is the insurance coverage in such a case? How do I get from the airport to the train station in Lugano? When would I get the airplane back to the home airport? As we cleared the cloud tops again at 8,000 feet, we were exactly where we were supposed to be, and the sun was still the same one and as bright as before. We turned back south, landed at the airport from which we had departed approximately 40 minutes prior, and took the train back. It was the first time in my life that I enjoyed a train ride more than a flight. I have read ILAFFT since the early 1970s and learned something from most of the stories. I do hope that no serious pilot learns from this article. I would hope that there are no aviators who would try the same as I did with youthful recklessness and without the gadgets available today, such as GPS and the associated instrument approach procedures. The question remains, though, whether today, with all these marvelous toys, the story would have ended differently. Maybe the temptation to risk such an adventure is even greater now, but then there are other challenges, such as vertigo, somatogravic illusion, stalls, icing and even military IFR traffic (because we did not monitor any such frequency). So, the answer is to not even think about doing what I did. }
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Chart Wise IFR for the real world A
Ground-Based ATC Communications Though the airport is nontowered, the chart lists 133.825 as the frequency for “Great Lakes Approach,” a convenience that could be overlooked. Great Lakes can communicate with pilots on the ground, offering the opportunity to open or close IFR flight plans without using the phone. For clearances, take a look at the airport chart to view the clearance delivery frequency of 123.95.
Holland, Michigan, ILS or LOC Runway 26 A trip to the tulips on this approach BY ROB MARK AND JASON BLAIR
When most people think of Holland, wooden shoes, canals, windmills and tulips are often top of mind. But that’s the Holland on the east side of the Atlantic actually known as the Netherlands. The subject of this month’s Chart Wise, Holland in the western part of Michigan, does bear some similarity to the European country for which it was named. Each May, the city’s Tulip Time Festival recalls Holland’s Dutch roots and brings visitors from all around the nation to see the variety of flowers blooming around the city. The airport, originally called Tulip City, is a regular destination for one of this column’s authors. While the ILS approach to Western Michigan Regional (KBIV) isn’t terribly challenging from a flying perspective, the chart does include a couple of notations that aren’t commonly highlighted and might prove confusing to new instrument pilots. } Rob Mark is an award-winning journalist, business-
B Two DMEs Listed at the Intermediate Fix JAVPO
The ILS Runway 26 approach is commonly joined via the feeder route to JAVPO from the Pullman VOR (PMM) or via radar vectors from Great Lakes Approach. Pilots should, however, pay close attention to what navigational aid they’re using to identify the intermediate fix because it’s defined as both 13.2 nm along the IBIV localizer or 22.4 nm from PMM. Each uses a different frequency. C
The Hold at JAVPO
The holding pattern depicted at the JAVPO intersection includes notes requiring a minimum holding altitude of 2,700 feet and a maximum holding altitude of 5,100 feet. These kinds of restrictions are most commonly used when there is potential overflight traffic that could conflict with aircraft at other altitudes. Grand Rapids Michigan Airport (KGRR), 27 miles northeast of JAVPO, is a busy commercial facility, for instance. D
jet pilot, flight instructor and blogger.
Missed Is Anything but Direct
} Jason Blair is a flight instructor, an FAA DPE, and
The missed approach procedure to the ZEELE
an active author in the general aviation and training communities. 2 4 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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intersection can be a little confusing because the VOR that partially creates the intersection is not used in any other way until the missed approach. That can make the Victory VOR (VIO) frequency easy to miss until the pilot begins that initial climb straight ahead to 1,500 feet before making a right turn to a heading of 020 and climbing to 2,600 feet to intercept the VIO 285 radial, which begins off the chart. If you’re questioned about the hold entry after crossing the 185 radial of Muskegon VOR (MKG) and you chose course reversal back to ZEELE, you’d be correct. A GPS or DME could also be used to identify ZEELE. e
Checking Notams Is Important
Awareness of current ground-equipment outages is always important, but for this approach, they can often be critical. Pilots who regularly fly to KBIV say the MKG and PMM VORs used to identify cross radials and the approach’s feeder route are often out of service, which means if your aircraft is not GPSequipped, shooting this approach might at times be impossible. f
Time Block, but No Time Listed While a descent-rate box still exists below the approach’s profile view, confirming the need for a 3-degree glideslope, notice there are no times mentioned at the listed groundspeeds. This is because of the requirement to identify the missed approach point using DME—in this case, 1.2 DME from the localizer— or the decision height when flying this approach as an ILS. Hence, timing does not apply, even if the approach is flown as localizer-only.
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Reproduced with permission of Jeppesen. NOT FOR NAVIGATIONAL USE. © Jeppesen, 2020.
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Aftermath Accident Analysis
Bolt from the Blue A dramatic crash leaves investigators guessing. BY PETER GARRISON
On a clear January day in 2018, the 68-year-old sport pilot of a Van’s RV-12 took off from Fort Myers, Florida, bound for Everglades City, a trip of 51 nautical miles. Before taking off, the pilot had requested flight following, but when he was airborne and the
tower controller told him to contact departure control, the pilot did not respond. The controller repeated the instruction and, after checking whether the departure controller had heard from the pilot, tried a third time. There was still no response.
A minute later, the departure controller established radio contact with the pilot. Communication did not go smoothly. Departure controller: “Two-sixtwo Whiskey Sierra, Fort Meyers, are you up?” Pilot of 262WS: “Two-six-two Whiskey Sierra.” Departure: “Two-six-two Whiskey Sierra, radar contact, turn right heading one-seven-zero vector, climb, maintain VFR 2,500.” Pilot: “Continue my climb to—say again?” Departure: “Two-six-two Whiskey Sierra, maintain VFR at 2,500.” Pilot: “Maintain 2,500. Course is now what? Departure: “Two-six-two Whiskey Sierra, turn right heading one-sevenzero, maintain VFR at 2,500, vector to get you south of RSW.” Pilot: “Course one-two-zero, stay at 2,500.” } Peter Garrison taught himself to use
A pilot’s actions before an accident can illuminate a personality disposed to one.
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.
An airplane accident is occasionally the final event of an unraveling life. Pilots have flown out to sea, never to return—flown into cliffs, lakes, buildings, even a grain silo. Their motives have been varied: legal trouble, disease, divorce, exposure of past misdeeds, business failure, rage—the whole gamut of troubles that may seem to drain promise from the future. In a number of instances, the fatal crash has followed a sudden maneuver, as if the pilot, like a person plunging into icy water, feared that he would balk if he acted slowly. One pilot looped a 172 before allowing it to plunge into the ocean; another did a series of touch-and-goes, as if reliving the early days of flight training, before suddenly pulling straight up, stalling, and crashing on the runway. Another, flying over a runway, pushed over into a vertical dive. Most likely, that is what “intentionally unsafe maneuvering” means. 2 6 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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Van’s Aircraft
Intentionally Unsafe
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t t t t AFTERMATH
Departure: “November two-six-two Whiskey Sierra, I don’t have time to talk to you four times per control instruction ’cause there’s a lot going on. Please listen up. Fly heading one-seven- zero, ma inta in V FR 2,500, over. Pilot: “All right, one-seven—ah, stay at 2,500.” Departure: “I need a call sign with a control instruction please, two Whiskey Sierra. Verify one-seven-zero heading, 2,500. Pilot: “ T wo-si x-t wo W hiskey Sierra, two-five-zero-zero at oneseven.” Departure: “Two Whiskey Sierra, sixth time now, heading one-sevenzero.” Pilot: “Heading is one-seven-zero, Whiskey Sierra, two-six-two Whiskey Sierra.” Departure: “November two-sixtwo Whiskey Sierra, your altitude indicates two thousand niner hundred, and you’re restricted to 2,500.” Pilot: “I’ll [sic] pulling back the power and going down to 2,500.” Departure: “November two Whiskey Sierra, please use your call sign when you give me the altitude readback.” Twenty seconds pass. “November two Whiskey Sierra, I need your call sign when you read back the altitude. Verify maintain 2,500.” Pilot: “I’m at 2,500, two-six-two Whiskey Sierra, one-seven-zero.” Departure: “Thank you.” This distracted, fumbling exchange might have passed for an episode of stage fright between a novice pilot and a testy, by-the-book controller. The pilot was not a novice, however. He had been f lying for years and had reported 530 hours on his most recent insurance application. The pilot checked in with approach control. After a few minutes, the controller issued a warning for oppositedirection traffic at 6 miles, and the pilot acknowledged. Six seconds later, he transmitted: “Mayday, mayday!” The RV went down in a densely wooded area. The wreckage path, through tall trees, was 700 feet long and 100 feet wide, oriented about 60 degrees to the right of course. The first items in the debris field were 2 8 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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the left wing and fragments of the cockpit canopy; the wing had folded upward from overstress and shattered the canopy. The rest of the wreckage was fragmented from plowing through numerous trees. The pilot was wearing a five-point safety harness, which separated from the airframe. A Dynon EFIS recorded several parameters of flight data. It told a strange tale. For several minutes, the pilot had been gradually descending. When the traffic warning came, he was at 1,700 feet. He acknowledged. There was a slight pitch up, followed by a negative 3-G push over to a 45-degree dive. Manifold pressure dropped toward idle at the moment the pilot called mayday, then returned to full throttle. The airplane rolled inverted, its descent rate approaching 10,000 fpm. The left wing failed two seconds before the end of the recording. In a criminal proceeding, a judge may determine when testimony about a defendant’s past actions and demeanor is admissible. For the National Transportation Safety Board, it always is, and in this case, there was no lack of it. The pilot was a law yer w ith a checkered history. According to an article in the Portland Oregonian, he had been disbarred in California. He had been denied admission to the bar in Oregon, where he lived, on grounds of his “moral character.” He had been arrested after an altercation with a judge in an elevator and sentenced to probation and anger-management treatment. Another thread in the pilot’s life was a persistent propensit y for claiming military honors that he did not really possess. He had allegedly served decades earlier as an enlisted man on an aircraft carrier—if a long interview he gave to an oral-history collector for the Library of Congress can be believed. But he had carried a pattern of “valor theft” to the extreme of using photo-editing software to insert his face onto the uniformed body of a much-decorated captain. A few days before the fatal accident, he had been released from jail in Virginia, where he had been
serving a sentence of several months for violating a protective order with respect to one of the people—he called them “terrorists”—who were investigating his military impostures. A t u r bu lent p er s on a l l i fe i s sometimes said to correlate with an elevated propensity for accidents. But there was still more. The pilot suffered from a host of medical conditions that he had not reported to the FAA, including depression, PTSD (thought to be related to his legal entanglements), an enlarged heart and coronary artery disease, and he was using several psychoactive medicines that bore warnings against driving or operating machinery. According to the NTSB, the cause of the accident was “the pilot’s unsafe maneuvering and exceedance of the airplane’s operating limitations, which resulted in an in-flight failure of the left wing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s underlying psychologic or psychiatric disease.” “Unsafe maneuvering” is a mild descr iption for a negative 3- G, 45- degree dive from an altitude of 1,700 feet. Furthermore, the failure of the left wing, which must have been due to a sudden effort to pull up, was incidental; even if the wing had not failed, the airplane would not have recovered from the dive. The NTSB struggled to frame its analysis of the accident. The suddenness and violence of the final plunge could suggest a precipitous physical crisis, but the autopsy found no sign of aneurysm, stroke or infarct. To judge from the Dynon’s altitude trace, the airplane was being hand-flown, and so the cause was not a runaway autopilot. “The exact cause,” the NTSB conceded, “could not be determined, given the lack of mechanical anomalies or weather phenomena that could explain the accident sequence.” One sentence in the accident report, however, contained a hint of an otherwise unelaborated possibility. “ H i s u n repor ted ps ych iat r ic disease,” the Board wrote, “if not well-controlled, could have led to intentionally unsafe maneuvering.” Exactly what sort of “intention” the Board meant, it did not say. }
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Sky Kings
Guns, Handcuffs For Innocent Pilots We all deserve better. BY JOHN KING
We taxied up in front of the line of four police cars as we were directed by ground control, instead of to the FBO where our friends were waiting. Martha said, “This is going to be interesting.” As we shut down the engine, we heard the bullhorn aimed at us and a voice: “Pilot, very slowly open your door. Pilot, very slowly stick both hands out the door and come out very slowly.” Martha and I take turns flying and each can fly from either seat. In this case, I was not particularly eager to declare myself as the pilot. Finally, I “agreed” to be the pilot. As I exited the airplane, the bullhorn’s voice said: “Pilot, keep your hands high in the air. Face away from the sound of the bullhorn and back very slowly towards it.” Next, “Pilot, put your hands together behind your back.” When they had my hands cuffed, they put me in the back of a squad car. Next came the instructions to Martha. “Passenger, very slowly open your door. Passenger, very slowly stick both hands out the door and come out very slowly.” As Martha exited the airplane, the bullhorn’s voice said: “Passenger, keep your hands high in the air. Face away from the sound of the bullhorn The ramp of an airport makes for an unlikely traffic stop, and it proves to be pointless.
}
and back very slowly towards it.” Next, “Passenger, put your hands together behind your back.” From my viewpoint in the squad car, I watched with distress as they cuffed Martha’s hands behind her back. It was very disturbing to see they had their pistols aimed at Martha’s head the entire time, right up until they put her into a separate squad car. It is a sight I will never forget. What was taking place is referred to as a “high-risk” traffic stop. It is designed to prevent the suspect from fleeing and protect the police officers involved. Later, the Santa Barbara, California, police told us that a “private company” had called to report that N50545 had been stolen and was on its way to Santa Barbara Airport. In fact, the airplane that had been stolen (eight years earlier) was a 1968 C150J, and the registration for that airplane had been canceled in September 2005. The registration number was then reassigned by the FAA to the airplane we were flying, a 2009 Cessna 172S owned by Cessna Aircraft Company. It would have taken less than 60 seconds on the FA A website to reveal these facts. The “company” that had called the Santa Barbara police was the Texasbased El Paso Intelligence Center. In reality, this “private company” is shown on the web as an agency of the Drug Enforcement Administration. One of the functions of EPIC is to maintain crime databases and distribute the information to police departments. One of those databases is the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, which is a database of crime information including, among many other things, stolen airplanes. EPIC notified the Santa Barbara police based on the IFR flight plan we had filed on that August morning in 2010—something anyone who had stolen the airplane would have been
John King and Martha King take turns writing Sky Kings. They have shared flying and teaching aviation for more than 50 years.
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unlikely to do. It appears there is no system in place to prevent this from happening repeatedly. We’ve had numerous pilots tell us they had the same thing happen to them—including a previous case with the identical airplane. The database had not been corrected even after it became known that a pilot
had been detained and put at risk unnecessarily. It is something the pilot and passengers will never forget. The biggest question that comes to my mind is whether our case really needed to be treated as a “highrisk” traffic stop. It is our belief the situation could have been managed in a way that didn’t require guns
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being pointed at our heads. If they had allowed us to simply go directly to the FBO, we would have shut down the airplane and then self- disabled it by ensuring it was chocked and tied down. At that point, the police could have approached us and had a calm conversation without guns and with very little risk. The problem is, in most cases, the police don’t know enough about aviation to know the pilot in almost every case would self-disable the airplane. They imagine the pilot somehow fleeing when they realize the police want to talk to them. That is not as likely in an airplane as in a car. But it was more likely to happen in the open area the police chose for the confrontation than in a tight parking area at an FBO. Our concern about this is that guns induce risk. Martha and I had been impressed by an incident near our home where the police had miscopied a license plate number and followed an innocent teenager home. The mother became upset by the treatment of her son and had been shoved away by the police. When the teenager leapt off the ground in support of his mother, he was shot to death. Martha and I subsequently developed what we called our “interception standard operating procedure”: comply fully, never complain, never explain. A police interception presents a risk that the subject can best control by using our SOP and keeping their emotions under control. When guns are added to a situation, everyone is more adrenaline-charged, and that risk is heightened by argumentation—or even mere explanation. I remember sitting in the back of the squad car thinking to myself, “Someday, I will have my say about this, but it isn’t now.” Later, in a press release, the police department was quoted as saying, “They were completely OK with it.” At that time, one of the officers said to us, “You know we had to do this, don’t you?” Of course we didn’t believe they had to do it, and we weren’t OK with it. Fortunately, each of us followed our SOP to the letter. It did give us a great joke line— “Guns, handcuffs… Worst ramp check we’ve ever had.” }
AeR Angel Giving Hope Wings
SWEET 3 4 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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SPOT
W e Fly: Pi p er M 6 0 0/SLS H a lo A w e l l- c o u p l e d turboprop wrapped in the latest safety enhancements
By Julie Boatman Photos by Ji m Barrett/Piper Aircraft
SEPTEMBER 2021
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Two larger-than-life Flying covers grace the factory walls at the Piper Aircraft manufacturing facility in Vero Beach, Florida. The first, from March 2008, shows off the newly launched Piper Matrix, a nonpressurized version of the original PA-46 series made a little bit easier to manage by its relative lack of complexity, bringing a big-cabin feel to a single-engine piston airplane aimed precisely at the owner-pilot. The second, from March 2011, features a Piper Mirage looking as though it would power its way straight off the wall and through the hangar doors on the far end of the production line. The turboprop version of the Malibu, the Mirage went the other direction from the Matrix, bestowing its bigger performance numbers upon those pilots ready to step up.
Ten years later, the newest evolution of the PA-46 series—Piper’s M600/ SLS Halo—proposes to do both, delivering an envelope of protection readily managed by transitioning pilots while at the same time upping the ante in speed and payload. When the M600 update to the M500 first arrived on the scene in 2016, those drea m numbers—the result of 100 more horsepower up front from a f lat-rated PT6A-42A engine— really came true. This year, with the Flying Innovation Award-winning Autoland from Garmin giving the M600 its Halo, Piper’s quest for an ever-higher level of GA safety got a serious boost. The folks at Garmin will tell you Autoland couldn’t have come to fruition without Piper, and the feeling is mutual. “The M600 SLS and its Halo Safety System with Autoland is the result of an unwavering commitment to safety as well as the desire to evolve our products based on market input,” said Piper president and CEO John Calcagno. “This standard feature brings peace of mind to pilots and their families.” Chasing the Grail When Flying first flew the initial M600 in market-survey mode five years ago—just hours before the FAA signoff on the type—we had a sense the PA-46 series had found its sweet 3 6 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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spot, and the type has achieved great success. For the photo shoot for this article, we captured serial No. 173 in flight over the Atlantic Ocean, and I flew my demo flight in serial No. 163, currently in experimental mode, to test out several new goodies on board. Piper delivered 36 of the PA-46-600TP M600/SLS aircraft in 2020 and six in the first quarter of this year, to make a reported total of 161 out the door since its debut—with clearly more in the immediate pipeline. Handling characteristics and performance make it comparable in some ways to half a Beechcraft King Air 200, according to pilots we talked with for this report. When Piper moved from the M500 to the M600, the extra 100 shp coaxed from the Pratt & Whitney PT6-series engines made all the difference in the world. In this case, they are the same 42s you find on King Air 200s from the early 2000s, but on the King Airs, they’re rated at 850 shp per side, while the M600 offers 600 shp. In the air, the M600’s wing makes it respond like the larger airplane, and the climb rate as high as 3,000 fpm stacks up well against the turboprop twin as well. Add in a range while carrying five passengers with light Garmin’s Autonomi suite becomes the M600’s Halo, integrating systems.
bags (a total of 1,000 pounds) of up to 800 nm—and the fact that it sips half the gas—this makes the M600/ SLS a compelling choice for owners who fit that use case. A Protective Halo The Halo-equipped M600/SLS debuted with Garmin’s Autoland as the premier feature in the model’s standard lineup beginning in 2020. But the well-rounded roster of capabilities that Autoland and its accompanying avionics, known collectively
as Autonomi, pack onto the turboprop make it just part of an overall “safety system,” as Piper calls it. To recap, in ca se you a ren’t familiar with Autoland: The orchestrated suite of software and hardware directs the airplane to the nearest suitable airport in the event of pilot incapacitation. It does so by controlling the aircraft’s navigation, descent, weather and terrain avoidance, gear extension, f light-into-known-icing activation, flaps, braking, and all communication
w ith ATC. W hile it ’s desig ned for passengers to initiate with a guarded button on the panel, the pilot can start the sequence via that same button, or the airplane can initiate Autoland itself if the pilot is unresponsive in certain cases. Hypoxia recognition incorporated into the emergency descent mode takes it one step further, monitoring the pilot any time they engage the autopilot above 14,000 feet msl. If the pilot is unresponsive to the system’s prompts, EDM will bring
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The electrical-system controls on the overhead panel help declutter the main instrument panel.
G3000 flight deck, replacing the Aspen Avionics Evolution PFD.
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The G3000 flight displays can be arranged and split in a number of ways to suit the pilot and the mission.
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The Garmin GI 275 integrated flight instrument serves as a backup to the
the airplane below 14,000 feet. After that descent, the system will initiate the Autoland sequence if no further response comes from the pilot after a set period of time. Ha lo a lso includes Ga rmin’s electronic stability and protection, synthetic vision, SafeTaxi, TerminalTraffic (which syncs with ADSB-equipped aircraft and ground vehicles), SurfaceWatch (directing you to the runway before takeoff and to the ramp after landing), Flight Stream 510 to create a Bluetooth connection bet ween the 3 8 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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aircraft and your mobile device, and an autothrottle system. I flew the model Piper currently has in experimental/market-survey status, N163HL, specifically so I could test out the latest update to the Garmin autothrottle that was originally incorporated into the M600 for Autoland. With the upcoming approval, the pilot can use the autothrottle outside of the Autoland sequence. And as tested, the A/T certainly does its part to assist the pilot—but more on that a bit later.
e
The Garmin GWX 8000 onboard weather radar can be displayed in multiple locations.
Preflight to Approach Both models observed for this report feature the optional five-blade Hartzell composite propeller, approved in spring 2017, which—other than looking completely badass on the ramp—delivers an improved vibration signature inside the airplane, as well as likely better takeoff and climb performance, though no concrete numbers have been established by Piper. The steel-shank core is wrapped in carbon composite material and trimmed with a nickelcobalt leading edge with a mesh
Richard Maneen
B
The The autothrottle button on the throttle can be engaged as soon as the power reaches 700 pounds of torque on takeoff.
The Right Training erosion screen to protect the At 14,500 feet, I disconblades from foreign-object nected the A/T, which had An accident claimed a Piper M600—but fortuheld us at the maximum debris. That’s important because a single nick on the nately not its pilot—in a runway-excursion efficient torque setting blade renders it unairworthy. throughout the climb, and event earlier this year. The preliminary report As we noted on my preflight Lewis walked through the from the National Transportation Safety Board walk-around with Piper M600’s protective features points to the pilot’s low time in type. Interthat predated the Halo verAircraft business developviews with the broker who sold him the airplane sion: electronic stability ment director Dan Lewis, a indicate that the pilot’s low total time and and protection and understray drop of rain clinging laissez-faire approach to the type-specific to the leading edge can look speed protection. Added training offered by Piper may have contributed an awful lot like a chip out since we previously flew the to the airframe’s demise. M600 in 2016 is overspeed of that blade. We were both protection, an addition to relieved when it wiped off. Piper offers a five-day transition course to That said, the propeller carthe emergency- descentthe M600 through its partner, Legacy Flight ries a lifetime guarantee, management protocol first Training at Vero Beach and Scottsdale, Arizona. the result of a blade strength installed with the G3000 in And though the training in type is important, between five and 10 times the model that year. During it’s also worth noting that the PA-46 series the overspeed-protection that of blades with wood puts pilots into the midlevels (between FL 160 sequence, I watched and cores. Continuing on the and FL 300) often for the first time. This means listened as the airspeed walk-around, a hidey-holeflying a fast, pressurized aircraft above some approached the top end, size compartment under a of the weather, but not all. It means exposure and when it rolled past circular access panel near to high-altitude flying above FL 250—and 24 8 k not s, a voice a nthe horizontal stab can regetting the requisite training if you go there. tain towels, testers and other nounced, “Autothrottle,”— It means more exposure to in-flight icing. cleaning accoutrements. which was already engaged These conditions are all straightforward enough The fuselage could do f rom t he t a keof f a nd to handle while everything is going well, but w ith a few more inches c l i m b — a nd t he p ow er once a chain of events links up, experience i n t he cross sec t ion—a lever moved as the system up here can be a swift and harsh teacher. In common refrain from those adjusted the torque to a the nonturbine PA-46s, flight in the midlevels who will need to sit kneelower setting to keep us required precise engine management, somewhat to-knee with their fellow from blasting through the ameliorated by the altitude-happy PT6A. passengers in the back. I’m invisible speed wall. a not a large human, but it With all of the envelope takeoff setting, which comes on still took nimble maneuvering to protection baked into the M600, drop myself into the left seat. Once line as the powerplant reaches it’s important to note the ability settled into the flight deck, though, 700 pounds of torque. It felt like we to override all of it in the event an the M600 feels like a real front ofevasive maneuver is required. That were just getting started down the fice, with a well-thought-out panel, tough wing is responsible in part for runway when the autothrottle capeasy-to-reach circuit breakers, and a green arc (73 kias to 251 kias) on tured the lever under my guiding electrical- system controls on the the tape that goes all the way up to hand. I continued steering, but the the barber pole at 251 kias, the VNO. autothrottle set the Pratt & Whitney overhead immediately in front of the pilot. That said, it almost felt like a out front to the most efficient takeWhile taxiing, the rudder pedals setup when things played out as they off power setting and held it there as remain a bit stiff, but the flight conI came through 85 knots and rotated. did when we headed back toward the trols improve greatly in feel once airport. Upon descending down to The climb from nearly sea level 4,000 feet to duck below a scattered to 14,500 feet—above the lifting you’re airborne. In fact, the relcumulus layer and line up for an apatively moderate pitch force in condensation level, its commensurate clouds and bumps, and general proach into Vero, Lewis called out, comparison to the slightly heavier “Skydiver!” and gestured out to the coastal fray—zoomed along at a aileron response reminded me of being in a stretched Bonanza with a front of the airplane. Sure enough, variable rate between 2,500 and longer wing. The same nose-heavy there was a canopy at 12 o’clock and 3,000 fpm, with the total climb comprofile on landing will also echo that well inside our traffic bubble. I hit pleted in less than six minutes on of a front-loaded A36, especially a 30-degree bank left to avoid the the G3000’s clock. With a couple of with two or three people placed towclearing turns in the last part of the person hanging in the straps, only rds the front, and light baggage. to see another canopy come through climb, I agreed with the prior assessmy field of view. I banked harder and My introduction to the standment that the airplane’s coupling is pressed the autopilot-disengage not unlike that of its larger brethren. alone autothrottle began in its SEPTEMBER 2021
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The cabin interior features deluxe leather options. The radar pod is streamlined into the M600’s robust wing. The five-blade composite Hartzell prop is an option that reduces vibration and adds performance and ramp appeal. The landing gear has been moved outward to improve ground handling compared with previous PA-46-series models. 4 0 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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button on the yoke to release the ESP, which would have resisted my momentary bank past 45 degrees to steer clear of the skydiver. “The autothrottle will catch you a little faster than the system [alone] will,” says product marketing manager Bryant Elliott. “It will start increasing power before that underspeed kicks in. So, if the autothrottle is not engaged, the airspeed at which the underspeed is captured will be a bit lower.” The upshot? The enhanced aircraft flight-control system, launched with the M500 and M350 in 2015, now has another layer of protection. When you look at what Garmin has been working on all along, they just needed a way to tie all the systems together to create Autoland. The Garmin GFC 700 has been able to fly an approach all the way to the ground the whole time; it just needed a way to extend the gear and flaps and flare and brake correctly. Angels in the Panel Up front, you can configure the screens to display any way you want— except maybe the latest Netf lix movie—including full-screen PFDs on the left and right with traffic and map insets, as well as a split screen on all three displays featuring large-scale versions of pages such as weather, terrain or the engine-indication system. The big screens are driven by a pair of GTN 850s positioned side by side vertically on the center console above the power quadrant. The daily summer thunderstorms had yet to kick up along the Treasure Coast during our demo flight, so we couldn’t find much to scope on the onboard radar. The M600 included the standard Garmin GWX 75 with an optional enhancement package—this option is now the newly rebranded Garmin GWX 8000 (previously the GWX 80). When the M600 debuted, its clean-sheet wing streamlined the radar pod into the leading edge of the right wing, improving ground clearance and allowing for a wider gear stance by a couple of inches on each side. The result of the change to the main gear is
improved crosswind handling, with a demonstrated limit of 17 knots. “Ground clearance was not really an issue—it was getting the radar away from the fuselage,” Elliott said. The false feedback from the propeller went away with the change. The GW X 8000 brings largeaircraft radar capability to the ow ner- f low n ma rket. Prima r y among its features is StormOptix. As Elliott noted: “Piper has offered the ground-clutter suppression and turbulence detection since the launch of the GWX 75, but the additional Auto Mode and volumetric scanning are unique to the GWX 8000. Also, the volumetric scanning provides advanced groundclutter suppression and advanced
Piper M600/SLS Halo Price (as tested): about
$3.12 million Engine: Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42 Propeller: Hartzell five-blade composite Horsepower: 600 shp, flat-rated Seats: 6 Length: 29 ft., 8 in. Height: 11 ft., 4 in. Cabin Height: 3 ft., 11 in. Cabin Width: 4 ft., 2 in. Wingspan: 43 ft., 2 in. Power Loading: 10 lb./hr. Wing Loading: 28.71 lb./sq. ft. Standard Empty Weight: 3,250 lb. Max Takeoff Weight: 6,000 lb. Max Landing Weight: 6,000 lb. Baggage Compartment (aft):
100 lb. Useful Load: 2,400 lb. Max Usable Fuel: 260 gal. Max Operating Altitude: 30,000 ft. Max Rate of Climb: 3,000 fpm Max Cruise Speed: 274 ktas Max Range: 1,658 nm at
245 kias, ISA, MTOW, no wind, 45-min. reserve VNO: 251 knots Stall Speed, Landing Configuration, MTOW: 62 kias Takeoff Distance Over 50 Ft. Obs:
(ISA, sea level) 2,635 ft. Landing Distance Over 50 Ft. Obs:
(ISA, sea level) 2,659 ft.
turbulence detection, as well as zero blind range,” which means that returns are maintained in the system’s memory, enabling them to be presented on the screen until they are essentially zero nautical miles away. Placing the GW X 8000 into auto mode activates the threedimensional volumetric scanning with automatic adjustment of the antenna sweep to create a picture of the scanned volume. Those of us who recall single-color onboard radar (often a ghostly gre en) will be blow n away by the 16-color palette available on the new display. Because of the diameter of the antenna, the wind-shear option is not available in the M600—but other enhancements, such as predictive hail and lightning, will be available with future software loads. Backup instrumentation is now provided by the Garmin GI 275 integrated f light display, with its smaller, round-dial presentation, taking the place of the Aspen Avionics Evolution PFD. One area where the M600 shines is in operational cost: That figure runs roughly $750 per hour according to the Aircraft Cost Calculator. How does this compare to other singleengine turboprops in the lineup? Though steep in comparison to piston-powered, high-performance singles, it ranks well among its peers in the single-engine-turboprop class, with the M600 besting the Daher TBM 940 and Pilatus PC-12 NG by nearly $200 per hour—and about $50 less per hour than the Epic E1000. Granted, with each of those competitors, you gain carrying capability and speed in varying amounts. The new black-and-silver paint schemes manage to look both cool on the ramp and hot in the air. Interiors have had an update as well, with the EXP package now standard in the M600/SLS. But it’s more than an illusion of comfort and protection that the cabin environment provides. With the Flying Innovation Aw a r d-w i n n i n g H a lo q u iet ly standing by, the pilot now has the ability to give their passengers a true safety net of their own. } SEPTEMBER 2021
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A hot used-jet market makes avionics upgrades popular.
MAKING OLD JETS NEARLY N E W AGA I N BY ROB MARK
SEPTEMBER 2021
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DAVE COLEMAN has been a transaction specialist—the fancy name for
C olem a n l i ke s c ont ex t a nd sources, so I wasn’t surprised when he responded with some data from AMSTAT that showed the market for used airplanes was pretty tight. He began with some bigpicture numbers. “There are roughly 22,818 active jet aircraft considered business aviation in the world still on a registry. I figure there are 51,882,000 millionaires in the world and perhaps 3,288 billionaires [who have the means to buy]. Right now, there are about 1,441 jets up for sale. Last year, sales hit a record with 2,329 jets changing hands. So far this year, 1,278 jets have been sold but with many fewer airplanes for sale.” With so few aircraft on the market versus the number of potential owners, “it wouldn’t take much of a spike in demand to practically clear the shelves of inventory—in fact, just a minuscule demand increase.” That’s just what happened in 2020. The International Aircraft Dealers Association confirmed in its secondquarter report that its members “experienced success during the pandemic and now are experiencing accelerating momentum.” IADA executive director Wayne Starling said, “We have buyers with the funds to purchase, but demand for latemodel aircraft with attractive configurations exceeds supply, which could increase pressure on prices.” New aircraft are also in demand, but at much higher prices and often with long wait times for delivery. The vanguard of the now-prized used-jet availability began long before the US ADS-B mandate took effect in January 2020. The cost of upgrading old—albeit perfectly useful—airplanes with the avionics to ma ke them fit into the 21st 4 4 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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century ATC system was considered prohibitive. Then the pandemic hit and demand rose. A year and a half ago, many older airframes could be had for a song and a dance, but Coleman said those days are gone. Now, 25-year-old aircraft are seeing new life if their engines are good. Coleman and I got around to talking about my first swept-wing airplane ty pe rating, a Cessna Citation 650. “Six or eight months ago, you could have picked up a decent one for less than a million dollars.” The Citation VII is regularly capable of flight in the high 30s or low 40s when it’s light enough. It has the cabin space of a Hawker 800 but with cruise speeds of roughly 450 knots and an 1,800 nm range. As an indication of how demand has changed, Coleman said “that same Citation VII sells for at least $1.3 million today. Citation 5s and Ultras have increased in price by a half-million bucks.” Updating an older jet has become a serious value proposition for owner- operators, and there’s no need to wait years for the airplane to arrive. Cockpit upgrades add most of the latest safety features, as well as new, more-adaptable navigation systems that also deal with the ongoing obsolescence of legacy avionics arranged under the old federated systems. Once upgraded, future avionics updates to an integrated flight deck become much easier. Universal Avionics, for example, offers its InSight system as one option for the Citation VII with an integrated flight deck replacing the 30-year-old federated system installed at the factory. InSight brings synthetic vision, advanced radio control and embedded electronic charts through the new
primary and multifunction displays, creating a centralized control device for weather, traffic and terrain. Creighton Scarpone, Garmin’s director of airline and business aviation sales, echoed Coleman. “The jet market in the US today is just on fire.” He said many of the retrofits add new paint and interiors at transaction time. “A large portion of our retrofit business is the owner-flown market, so the new owner will…get things the way that they want them.” An integrated system also offers the option for 3D LPV approaches without huge modifications to autopilots. An Embraer spokesperson said the company has “invested, in a partnership with Honeywell, on developing avionics upgrades for the Legacy 600/650 fleets, like replacing old displays with updated LCD displays (DU875) and a variety of new features like Primus Elite Advanced Features, Smart Landing and Smart Runway, XM Weather, LPV WAAS, and FANS 1/A. Embraer has also completed
Previous spread: Avidyne; This spread: Duncan Aviation
an aircraft salesman—at Duncan Aviation in Battle Creek, Michigan, for as long as I can remember. He’s actually based in Chicago, so whenever I need the latest information on the jet and turboprop markets, he’s my go-to guy. I asked him about changes to the light-jet market over the past 18 months, what with the pandemic and so many people ditching the airlines for business aviation.
more than 20 conversions of a Legacy 450 to a Praetor 500 that can be flown single-pilot. The conversion extends the range from 2,900 nautical miles to 3,340 nautical miles and includes a new avionics load for the Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion flight deck.”
and a Kapture cockpit voice recorder with internal recorder and independent power supply. FA A and Transport Canada STCs for the first installation phase are expected in the fourth quarter of this year. A planned Phase 2 of the installation
“We have buyers with the funds to purchase, but demand for late-model aircraft with attractive configurations exceeds supply, which could increase pressure on prices,” said Wayne Starling, executive director for IADA. Mid-Canada Mod Center in Toronto, Ontario, recently began work to add Universal Avionics’ InSight avionics to a tri-engine Dassault Falcon 50. That InSight installation includes four UA EFI-1040 LCD displays, two UNS-1Fw SBAS-FMSs, and two touchscreen EFIS control display units (ECDUs). The installation also includes UA’s data-comm package with the UniLink UL-801 communications-management unit with ATN B1 capability (for Europe)
will add an engine interface to the venerable Falcon that first f lew 45 years ago.
An Owner-Operator Perspective Owner-operator Elliot Zeltzer told me his typical mission is about 700 miles to the Carolinas from his home base in Pontiac, Michigan. “I needed to be in the high flight levels because in the winter, you can’t get over the weather (like icing). I needed to be able to cut my travel
Garmin’s G5000 has extended the useful lives of many older jets.
time to Savannah[ , Georgia,] in half, which in my old Cessna 421 could be upwards of four hours.” He purchased a Cessna Citation S-II with the single-pilot exemption. That trip is “now two hours.” Zeltzer could make that jaunt in a Cessna Citation CJ or a Hawker in a little less time but at a significant cost premium. A straight Citation II could also have been had for less than the price of the S-II, but it flies about 40 knots slower. The S-II carries plenty of fuel and “has a range of 1,900 miles, which is pretty darned good for small jet. Much longer than the CJs. My average true airspeed is about 400 knots in the FL 290 to FL 330 range which is more than adequate.” He said many of the older jet airframes are being pushed to the bottom of the food chain because people want newer and faster. ZeltSEPTEMBER 2021
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zer said he got a bargain with the price he paid for the airplane. But that S-II had legacy avionics and navigational capabilities. For about $125,000, he added a pair of Garmin 750s, a JetTech CD-125 command display that he had mounted near the glare shield for the vertical nav chores, a Garmin 245R audio panel, and a Garmin GTX 330 transponder. He retained the S-II’s Sperry SPZ500 autopilot. “I would consider this
flight-deck upgrades. With the end of the ADS-B Out mandate in North America, customers have shifted focus to other areas to continue to improve their operations. We currently have eight STCs in the work for f light-deck upgrades for the Falcon 900B and Hawker 800. “Our data-communication solutions enable not only FANS 1/A+ and CPDLC [controller-pilot data-link communications] but also ATN B1
“Many experts on the OEM and mod-shop side of the business believe—hope?—the airlines will never win back most of the people who have moved to the business-aviation side of the industry.” [in Europe].” He added that Universal’s flight-deck solutions are proving to be adaptable to a variety of aircraft and add modern situational awareness and human-machine interface, as well as seamless integration with the flight-management system and an increased ease of maintenance. Bouliane pointed out another benefit: “significant reductions in installed weight—up to 200 pounds [less] on a Citation VII, for example.” No sma ll problem is how a n avionics OEM or mod shop decides
Making the Choices Cockpit upgrades require a supplemental ty pe certificate and are usually a joint effort between an avionics OEM and a variety of modification shops such as Dunca n Av iation, Elliott Av iation, This Cessna Citation CJ panel shows the blend of new and old technology.
Universal Avionics
a very low cost to get a lot of capability,” Zeltzer said. “With the Garmin 750s, you get a whole bunch of stuff.” Marc Bouliane, vice president of business development, marketing and services for Universal Avionics, said: “In North America, we are definitely seeing a regain in activity for avionics retrofit. The level of opportunities reported by our sales team is higher now than it was at the start of the year. We are seeing an increase in the number of transactions for ou r d at a - c om mu n ic at ion solutions, as well as for our full
which aircraft to pursue for an upgrade STC. Bouliane said: “The selection is based on several factors, including listening to our customer/ operator base. They help us identify pain points such as obsolescence and guide us toward the requirements and feature sets which are most desired. In addition, we’ll take a close look at fleet size, the ease with which we can adapt our products to the specific platform—when needed— the availability of a launch customer willing to lend their aircraft to the certification process, whether or not there is cost sharing with the prospective MRO, etc. We also look at whether we can create synergies with other STCs already in existence for UA’s products and whether we will be able to complete this solution over time with new offerings.”
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Columbia Avionics (recently acquired by Blackhawk Aerospace) or JetTech. Sometimes the mod shops hold the STC, sometimes it’s the OEM. In either case, they work together. “We maintain a third party STC list our dealers have access to, so they know what’s available from Garmin,” Scarpone said. “Thanks to the internet, customers are pretty well-educated by the time they become serious about an upgrade.” Often owner-operators are members of a group of similar pilots, such as the Citation Jet Pilots association, where they read and talk about other owner experiences with a variety of updates. Because owners are aware of the solutions available, it really comes down to the technical sale. An owner might say, “What do I get with this satcom option?” Or, “I’d like to position myself for CPDLC in the future. What does that look like?” Avidyne’s director of business aviation sales, Dan Reida, said: “Customers start out at their maintenance provider…and start asking questions and doing the research themselves prior to the visit. Maybe the owner has seen marketing material…but I think owners are more dependent on their avionics shop’s expertise to begin guiding them through an upgrade. In our case, we have authorized dealers around the country that are well-versed in the products, [as well as] the necessary installation and certification demands to get it in the aircraft. The dealers also have a very robust training department with a lot of online material. “In the business-aviation arena, we have STCs that fit different flavors of CJ. We cover the CJ1, [CJ2], [CJ1+], [CJ2+], [CJ3] and the original straight 525. Avidyne just received an STC for the Citation 560XL that covers aircraft operating under that type certificate. We have the IFD family that mounts in the panel and was part of the approval for our Atlas flightmanagement system. The IFD sits high on the panel because you don’t want to be looking down at the pedestal when you’re looking at an attitude display. A good scenario might be a
customer who wants the keyboard, and the FMS in the pedestal, but also wants a second FMS closer to their primary field of vision up in the panel with access to the synthetic vision. Both products have high-resolution maps, electronic charts, traffic and 3D terrain and obstacle display, and weather broadcasts.” Garmin’s Scarpone said: “[Broomfield, Colorado-based] JetTech has a whole host of STCs in Citation 525 series, although they originally started with the 500 series. So they did 500s, 501s, 550s and the 560s with our FMS navigators. They use Garmin flight displays to replace the legacy steam gauges or very early first-generation [glass] cockpits. The real limitation becomes, in a lot of instances, the integration of those first- or second-generation flight decks. That’s where obsolescence is becoming more and more of a factor, and it is hard to integrate specific systems while retaining an old autopilot or retaining a radio suite. We also have the [Garmin] G5000 retrofit available for the Beechjet Hawker 400 XP and as a retrofit for the Citation XLS. And those are full, complete integrated-f light-deck retrofits.” Downtime to accomplish the work on an XLS—because it’s a pretty extensive retrofit—runs between four and eight weeks, depending on the scope of work and the shop handling the work.
An “after” shot of the revamped panel on a Cessna Citation 501
The Future? Bouliane said: “Throughout the pandemic, Universal has maintained its R&D investments to grow its product and STC portfolios. The benefits of this strategic decision will become evident as 2022 comes around. We are seeing a lot of interest in the market for our ClearVision EFVS [enhanced flight vision system] solutions. We have several STCs currently in the works for both fixed- and rotary-wing, which will support customer installations starting in 2022, with more to come over the next 12 to 18 months. As the leader in EFVS, this is a strategic area for the company. We are also leveraging the technology portfolio of our parent company to develop complementary solutions to their product portfolio as well as UA’s, with focus on connectivity, advanced video management, and of course, continued investment in our next-generation FMS.” Many experts on the OEM and mod-shop side of the business believe—hope?—the airlines will never win back most of the people who have moved to the business-aviation side of the industry. Coleman thinks the market will continue cooking along the rest of this year. “Seriously, who wants to go back to the airlines?” } SEPTEMBER 2021
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SOARING ON
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RED-AND-BLUE
W I NGS DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSIT Y’S AVIATION VALUE PROPOSITION BY JULIE BOATMAN PHOTOS BY STEPHEN YEATES
SEPTEMBER 2021
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A
cold rain had turned the ramp at Delaware Airpark (33N) near Dover into a sopping mess. No surprise for a day in February, really. We huddled around a picnic table set in the back of the maintenance hangar that was, at the time, housing about a quarter of the training fleet at Delaware State University’s aviation campus. The rain tapped out a beat over our heads on the metal roof as director Lt. Col. Michael Hales illuminated the bright future of the aviation program he helped shepherd into maturity, following in the footsteps of program founder Daniel Coons, Ph.D., who convinced university leadership to back the initiative in 1987. A few short weeks later, we would lock down—this rainy-day meeting
w a s i n 2 02 0, ju s t b efor e t he pandemic hit its stride in the US— but DSU’s flying continued on as well as it could. Those students persevered, fitting examples of the tenacity displayed by the mentors in whose footsteps they followed— none other tha n the Tuskegee Airmen who once flew here in pursuit of their own goals. In spite of the pandemic’s restrictions, 12 students graduated from the DSU Aviation Program in May 2020. Flash-forward to late April 2021, and the DSU Hornets have thrived through just about every test, including the check rides anticipated in the weeks before graduation and the close of the semester. The program welcomed 127 students in fall 2020, with roughly 91 in flight labs through the year. A total of 14 students would graduate with the May 2021 class. Hales spoke then from
the midst of the final push. “We’re in a mad dash for the last. We’re in the second-to-last true week of regular classes for this spring semester,” with April 29 marking the final day of regular classes. Pursuing the Dream The graduating students identified a number of goals they’re aiming toward, including the Air National Guard and the airlines. But the first step for most is a position as a flight instructor with the university. During the normal course of study, flight students move through six certificate milestones: a private certificate, an instrument rating, a commercial certificate, a multiengine rating, an initial CFI and, finally, an instrument instructor add-on rating. The Vulcanair V1.0 fills the DSU fleet.
When the students are in their junior year—usually the first semester of the program—typically they pass the CFI check ride. “I customarily hire them back into the aviation program, and we’ll assign them students even while they ’re still continuing their own classes and completing their own flight labs,” Hales said. “The reason I do that is because I want to help them in their march towards that thousand-hours total time for the restricted ATP.” DSU’s program enables pilots to obtain a restricted ATP certificate because it offers 60 college credits, and the restricted ATP can be awarded once the pilot reaches 1,000 hours. “So, a thousand hours is really that magic number for them,” he emphasized. A student in the program has between 300 to 350 hours by the time they’ve finished the degree. Hales places them in a role as a CFI, putting himself in their
Vulcanair V1.0 Price (2021 retail): $335,000 Engine: 180 hp Lycoming IO-360-M1A
with constant-speed propeller Seats: 4 Length: 23 ft., 9 in. Height: 9 ft., 1 in. Cabin Width: 3 ft., 11 in. Wingspan: 32 ft., 10 in. Max Takeoff Weight: 2,546 lb. Typically Equipped Empty Weight:
1,627 lb. Max Useful Load: 916 lb. Usable Fuel: 50 gal. Max Luggage Weight: 88 lb. Service Ceiling: 14,700 ft. Rate of Climb: 900 fpm at sea level Cruise at 75% Power: 128 ktas at
ISA, 6,000 ft., 11.6 gph Range with 45-min. reserve: 591 nm and 120 ktas at ISA, 10,000 ft. Takeoff Distance, over 50 ft. obs:
1,608 ft. Landing Distance, over 50 ft. obs:
1,650 ft.
shoes: “When I start as a CFI in our aviation program and have got a couple of students…now I’m flying [with] them, I’m getting paid— the highest on-campus wage [for students]—and I’m accumulating those hours, so that by the time that I graduate, with all my certifications, I am close to 500 hours.” Studying for the Dream DSU program student Jermaine Morris finished up his sophomore year in May, but he was still a few weeks away from his commercial check ride when he talked with Flying about the path he’d followed to get there. “I did one discovery flight with some flight school,” Morris said. “It was a 30-minute flight, and I just said, ‘This is what I want to do,’ and that was the only experience I really had” before starting the DSU program. “How to land for me was big,” Morris added. “I just didn’t underSEPTEMBER 2021
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stand. How did they come in and land? So, when I finally got that down, it was like, ‘Wow, that’s a big obstacle for me that I was able to overcome.’” As for his first solo? “I remember the day: I was with…my instructor at the time, and he got out of the plane and shut the door and said, ‘Go give me three landings,’ and it was real. I was PIC at that time, and there was no choice but for me to take off, fly the pattern and land again. No better feeling than getting off that plane that you soloed.” Funding the Dream DSU chose the Vulcanair V1.0 to replace its aging fleet—primarily because it could both fill the niche for flight training and be purchased at an attractive price. With a grant from the Delaware state legislature of $3.4 million, the university
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purchased a 2019 Piper Seminole and 10 Vulcanair V1.0s, turning the fleet over to new aircraft while still maintaining the economy needed to grow the program. The first Vulcanair V1.0 was delivered in September 2019 (see sidebar). The aviation program has done little recruiting, and Hales anticipates that will continue as the program gains broader recognition. Also, funding for the students entering the program has gained another source. “The Flight Act, which was initiated by our US senator Chris Coons [D-Del.] and supported by our entire congressional delegation with bipartisan support,” Hales said, “specifically changed the language… for ROTC scholarships so that they could pay for the flight-lab fees at an HBCU [historically Black college or university] that has an aviation program. We picked up six students who
said, ‘Hey, I want to go to Delaware State,’ in anticipation of [the Flight Act being signed into law].” DSU also gained students when the Air Force Junior ROTC had to cancel its summer flight academy in 2020. Hales said, “[They] had selected the cadets for it, but [the academy] was canceled, so someone out of the Air Force staff HQ said, ‘All right, we’ll give you a four-year scholarship and $10,000 towards your flight-lab fees if you go to an HBCU.’ So, six students just showed up.” On To Aviate The student who gains 500 hours within DSU’s program and instructing is well on the path to becoming an airline pilot. “[Five hundred hours] is also a significant number [for Instructors start upon graduating the program, working toward 1,000 hours.
prospective airline pilots],” Hales said, because of the regional partnerships that DSU has with Piedmont Airlines and CommutAir. “[Wit h] ou r Pied mont Cadet Program, for instance, once you get to that 500-hour mark…you’re now eligible to be in their cadet program. [Once in] their cadet program…you interview, you get selected for that. Now you’re on track for when you get your thousand hours, so that you can go off to Piedmont. They also will pay you $1,000 for every 100 hours you get past 500 hours, towards that 1,000,” as an incentive. The DSU program was selected in April by United Airlines to be part of its Aviate pilot-development initiative, in which the airline plans to train 5,000 new pilots by 2030—with the goal that at least half of those pilots will be women or people of color. DSU was the first HBCU invited to join the program. Morris called out those pilots at United, specifically as his mentors: “Anyone who goes throug h this program and comes back and gives back to the DSU program definitely inspires me. Just like the event we had a few days ago, the United Aviate event— seeing all those alumni come back and talk to kids like me, because they were in my shoes years ago, and they’re where I want to be now.” That event took place in the DSU hangar that now bears Daniel Coons’ name. But Morris is inspired too by the quotidian effort and attention he receives from one of those instructors who has come through the program just ahead of him. “My flight
The Vulcanair V1.0: Built for Training Few new flight training mounts have come close to replacing the four-seat, 160- to 180-horsepower trainer in a school’s sweet spot—easy to fly as a first-time student yet big enough to take cross-country once your certificate is complete. The Vulcanair V1.0 aims directly for this target, with its aluminum-skinned and steel-framed fuselage slung with a high-mounted pair of wings and 180 hp Lycoming IO-360-M1A. For a Cessna pilot, the Vulcanair feels mostly familiar. In the instrument panel, a well-placed Garmin G500 TXi integrated flight display and GTN 650 navigator replicates in overall appearance and logic the flight instruments, engine information and movingmap presentation most pilots will find as they progress to larger aircraft in their careers. In an appreciated safety move, an angle of attack indicator comes standard as well, along with a second navcom and ADS-B In and Out capability. The preflight holds just a handful of differences from a 172 that won’t be apparent to new students, such as the improved access under the cowling. Once you’re in the left seat (or the right one as an instructor), it’s clear you’re in a different airplane. Part of the steel frame crosses the front windscreen, and the glare shield sits somewhat higher. The original Vulcanairs delivered to DSU had a control yoke mounted in such a way it didn’t provide much clearance for the average USsize student, so Ameravia came up with a unique Y-shaped yoke. It felt a bit awkward at first. For those not needing the extra clearance, the original yoke may be a good bet—or this is an area to evaluate as more user feedback comes in. In the air, the Vulcanair V1.0 shows solid performance, taking a little more than 2,000 feet of takeoff roll with three of us on board and half tanks. In the practice area, I tried out slow flight, a steep turn and a power-off stall. The Vulcanair’s behavior at the low-speed end of the regime didn’t demonstrate any ill manners, and visibility was quite good with the side windows cut several inches below my shoulder level. Air vents added comfort too, and a third door increases access. DSU reports a fuel burn during training ops between 8 to 9 gph. The white arc begins at 78 knots, and the airplane’s VSO is around 49 knots, so approaches must be planned more carefully than those in an airplane where the first notch of flaps can be deployed above 100 knots. But my two touch-and-goes and a full-stop landing came together with little fuss, with the nuances of this twist on a classic.
instructor currently, Moe —he’s definitely kept me on the track, and he inspires me day in and day out to be better, to keep pushing myself, to make myself one of the best pilots ever.” True confidence comes from self-knowledge—the mag net t hat a l ig ns a nd grounds you—and a foundation of understanding. Instr uctors seek to impart confidence to their students by building that knowledge core within each one. But the final direction must come from within the potential pilot. A cadre of skilled, talented, confident aeronauts found opportunity in 1941, grasping at an opening door and pushing themselves through it into the skies. W hen the Civ ilian Pilot Training Program launched in 1939, schools such as DSU predecessor Delaware State College took the lead in encouraging potential pilots to sign up for their initial licensing—including Black cadets, in response to a initiative led by the Black press that pushed for their admittance. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, prohibiting racial restrictions on any voluntary enlistments, the US Department of War created a segregated f lying unit, the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The Tuskegee A irmen, as they became known, overcame every obstacle and proved through their successes that limiting African-Americans from becoming military pilots was simply wrong. The DSU Av iation Program today honors their legacy, which shines through clearly in the successful pilots who began flying as Hornets. }
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K Y N E X T LIFE IN THE AIR Ta king W ing 5 8 / L ead i ng E dg e 6 2 / I nto t he Bl ue 64 / Ge ar Up 66 / Ju mp se at 68 / Te chn ic ali ti es 70
In Depth
FNTI’s Flight Students Fly Home To Serve First Peoples’ flight training based on the Indigenous “way of knowing” BY DAN PIMENTEL
The flight training philosophy forming the cornerstone of FNTI’s program emphasizes the connections among the pilot, Earth, water, animals and skies.
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Left: Russ Heinl/Shutterstock.com; Right: Courtesy FTNI
FLYING Profiles
On a hilltop overlooking a river canyon somewhere in Canada many generations ago, a First Nations elder might have watched an eagle soar gracefully along on the winds and wondered what it would be like if he too could fly. That would respect his Indigenous belief that humans are deeply connected to everything they see—the wind, water, animals, sky and the Earth itself. Fast-forward to today, and the First Peoples’ Aviation Technology Program at Ontario, Canada’s First Nations Technical Institute is making that wish a reality. For many of the flight students in the program, their ultimate goal is not to end up with an airline job; instead, they desire to become certified by Transport Canada so they can go back home and serve their communities as commercial pilots. To better understand why an FNTI aviation-technology student learns in a different way than most any other flight student, we first must understand what “First Nations” means. “In Canada,” says Jo-Anne Tabobandung, a Bear Clan member of the Mohawk Nation and FNTI’s dean of aviation, “the term ‘Indigenous’ includes people who identify as having First Nation, Metis or Inuit ancestry, so in the USA, the term ‘Native American’ could be compared to First Nations.” While the flight training curriculum of FNTI’s program may resemble just about any other in North America, the program and the institute itself have been designed to serve the specific educational and cultural needs of their First Nations students. The traditions, language, heritage and strong spiritual connections of First Nations people surround every task and lesson and allow students to become immersed in a culture most have known from childhood. For the vast majority of FNTI aviation-technology students who learn to fly professionally in the program’s fleet of nine Cessna 172s and a twin-engine Piper Aztec and Seminole, becoming licensed pilots means the students will use their new skills to fly people and supplies into extremely rural First Nations communities, including some that can be served only from the air.
“Our learners come from across the country with a goal to return home and serve their communities,” Tabobandung says. “For these students, a career as a pilot can make a significant impact on the recent graduate, their families and communities. They are role models in their communities because they have achieved the goal of becoming a commercial pilot.” How an FNTI aviation-technology student learns to fly is based on the Indigenous peoples’ “way of knowing,” explains Ka’nahsohon Kevin Deer, FNTI’s director of Indigenous knowledge quality learning and teaching excellence. “This way
The students will use their new skills to fly people and supplies into rural First Nations communities. of knowing comes from our intimate way of understanding that in order to be a human being, we must first regard everything as an equal living being within the sacred cycle and web of life. First Nations students are exposed to the natural world at an early age with an understanding that they must try as much as possible to live in harmony with the natural world. To address this, our aviation program ensures that cultural advisors are present in every program delivery to share Indigenous knowledge and
FNTI commercial flight student Doris Ipeelee. (Opposite page: Canada’s Ouimet Canyon)
teachings with our students to help them to develop into well-balanced human beings. This will then ensure that our students who become pilots will make the best possible informed decisions,” he says. W hen you ponder the intense connection a First Nations aviationtechnology student has with nature, it might be easy to assume that they would have something in their DNA that makes them acutely aware of the weather. That is not the case, Deer says. “Our typical student does not come to class with a hard-wired respect for weather. However, if they are raised in a traditional knowledge setting, they will understand that the various wind spirits are necessary to promote health and growth for plants, animals and humans. Due to the power of our ‘grandfathers,’ the Thunder Beings and the winds, we believe that they also need to be respected, constantly acknowledged, and thanked for the work they do so that life can continue on Earth. If not, then it’s understood that we will never be a match to their awesome power and will be at their mercy.” Ta b oba ndu ng descr ib es how FNTI’s aviation technology program b e g a n t o s er v e F i r s t Na t i on s students in the mid-1980s through SEPTEMBER 2021
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L A IN DEPTH
a partnership with the Tyendinaga Mohawk Council. “After FNTI executives working in Northern Ontario recognized how few First Nations pilots were serving the remote Indigenous communities, Chief Earl Hill began developing the FNTI aviationtechnology program in 1989 at what is now called the Tyendinaga aerodrome,” Tabobandung says. “Since Chief Hill started the program, FNTI has increased Indigenous 5 6 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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participation in the aviation sector. Recently, we had two more Cessna 172s delivered and are training some of our Indigenous graduates to become flight instructors to teach in our program as an investment in our future and theirs.” W hen it comes to eliminating gender inequalities among First Nations pilots, Tabobandung is proud that, today, the program has close to 40 percent enrollment of Indigenous women, though that was not always the case. “I was a student in the first aviation course offered at the historic Mohawk Airport in 1990,” she explains, “and I was also the only female. The challenges of being a female in a gender-imbalanced industry presented obstacles, and I had to work harder to just fit in. Over the past few decades, we have worked to develop a better student experience at FNTI by building and maintaining an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome.” That “inclusive environment” was put on display in late 2020 when an otherwise typical flight test showed how FNTI’s efforts to include more women in the program were paying off. On that flight, it was the first time in the program’s history that a female Indigenous student, Rainbow Ford, was training with flight instructor Daniella Petitti and being examined by pilot examiner Tabobandung. The First Peoples’ Aviation Technology Program at FNTI spans generations by teaching modern aviation techniques, avionics, theory and principles while respecting the past. That First Nations elder who many generations ago watched as the eagle soared across the sky would be amazed at what today’s FNTI flight students are accomplishing from the left seat of a Skyhawk. Indeed, a straight line can be drawn from the Cessna to the eagle— the Indigenous “way of knowing” and what it means to fly. } Dan Pimentel is an IFR-rated private pilot and pro photographer whose life stops anytime an airplane flies overhead, as he cherishes the moment.
Right: Courtesy FTNI
The Indigenous “tools of the trade” are unlike those found at other flight programs.
Rainbow Ford, Daniella Petitti and pilot examiner Jo-Anne Tabobandung after the program’s first flight test by all-Indigenous women.
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Taking Wing
Hitting the road for a long, low-altitude cross-country “flight.”
Building the Dream: Part 1 Dreaming the build BY SAM WEIGEL
One of the unique things about flying for a major airline is that, even at the relatively small bases, you frequently share a cockpit with people you’ve never met before. The level of standardization at modern airlines smooths out the operational aspects of working with strangers, and the fact that airline pilots tend to be a—sometimes regrettably—homogeneous bunch eases the potential for social friction. There is something of a standard introductory formula: greeting the other pilot as they board the jet, introducing yourself, sitting down in your respective seats, building your nest, and engaging in light chatter—including 5 8 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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where’s home, when did you come in, and how was the commute? My answer for the past four-plus years that I live on a 42-foot sailboat and that home is whatever patch of salt water we’re currently plying always drew raised eyebrows and sparked decidedly nonformulaic conversation. But it was at least an answer, one I honed to the point that I could reassure my co-worker du jour that I’m a fairly normal guy despite my unconventional lifestyle—and won’t be a pain in the ass to fly with for the next four days. But suddenly, for the very first time in my rather itinerant life, I have no good answer to the question, “Where’s home?” Earlier this summer, Dawn, Piper and I moved off Windbird in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, having completed a long list of boat projects before hanging out the “for sale” sign. We initially towed the 6-by-12-foot trailer containing most of our earthly possessions 500 miles to northern A labama, where our good friends the Phillipses and Grandstaffs reside. We crashed with them for a few weeks while engaging in various moto and aviation adventures (including crewing for several hot-air-balloon flights), and I endured several two-leg commutes from Huntsville to New York.
Courtesy Samuel Weigel
FLYING Opinion
Now, we’ve decamped 1,000 miles north to Minnesota and the Dakotas, where we’ll divide our time between our respective families for a few months and collect the scattered remnants of our pre-boat life before heading 1,700 miles west to Washington state. We don’t know where we’re living when we get there. We think we’ll arrive sometime in August. This is about as aimless as I’ve ever been, and it’s a bit disconcerting. The problem is, we originally had a fairly ambitious but solid plan. The pandemic blew it all to bits, and we have yet to fully formulate a good replacement. When we bought our lot on a 2,600-foot grass airstrip on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula in October 2019, it was with the intention of building our dream home and hangar in 2022. Anybody who’s undertaken a project of similar scale knows this was an ambitious goal, one that would have required fairly
steady work. We started strong by commissioning a topographic survey; familiarizing ourselves with the property and working out an initial site design; completing a housespecification list, basic initial design and budget estimate; and starting the search for an architect and a builder.
We originally had a fairly ambitious but solid plan. The pandemic blew it all to bits, and we have yet to fully formulate a good replacement. But as soon as the pandemic hit, we hit the pause button. Travel to the shutdown Pacific Northwest was ill-advised. I assumed I’d be downgraded back to first officer, and I very nearly was until 1,800 of my coworkers took the early retirement package. For a while, even the airline’s very
survival was in doubt, and it might have been a close-run thing if not for considerable government assistance (you don’t know what cash burn is until you’re shoveling $80 million a day into the furnace). Dawn and I hunkered down, stopped homestead development, and padded our savings account instead. With several thousand miles distance from our property, my general inclination toward procrastination, and the competing demands of maintaining and cruising Windbird, our focus wandered. Now, as the country is emerging from the pa ndemic f unk w ith a vengeance, we’ve refocused on our aviation-homestead plans but found that the ground has shifted under our feet. Construction costs in the Pacific Northwest, already among the highest in the nation, have followed the real estate market into the stratosphere. Builders and subcontractors are fully booked for the
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foreseeable future. Lumber prices quadrupled and have yet to significantly ease. Suddenly, we find ourselves rather hesitant to rush into the better part of a million dollars of debt just to build next year. So, we’ve been taking stock of what’s most important to us. Having lived in a floating home of some 200-odd square feet for the past five years, we’re perfectly used to a minimalist lifestyle in a small, specialized space. Dawn is quite happy to return to the conveniences of land living (where letting the dog out to go potty doesn’t require a rough, wet dinghy ride), but she’s indifferent about additional square footage. G et t i ng t o k now ou r l a nd i s important to us. Building a beautiful and sturdy home that is a direct re-
into general owning our is especially us.
flection of our values, interests and experiences; one that will be a beacon of refuge to our widely scattered friends and a launchpad for various aerial, terrestrial and nautical adventures; one that will outlast us by many generations: All this is important to us. Building it the right way—in which we take an active role in its creation, and our finances and relationship are not strained to the breaking point—is important to us. Getting back into general aviation and owning our own airplane is especially important to us. All this suggests that we delay construction of the main house for a few years, prioritize building the hangar first, and live in some sort of temporary habitation in the meantime—whether that be an RV, a tiny home, a hangar apartment or a friend’s house. We’re still figuring out the details, even as we prepare to move west. Meanwhile, the dreaming-andplanning phase continues. We’re still honing the specification list and We look forward to getting to know the land and surroundings before we build. 6 0 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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OpenRangeStock/Shutterstock.com
Getting back aviation and own airplane important to
basic design, and we will be hiring an architect in the next few months. The current plan is as follows: a modestly sized but well-built timber-frame house of 2,000 to 2,300 square feet and two to three bedrooms, with a soaring great room that has open rafters, a fieldstone fireplace, and expansive windows overlooking the grass airstrip. The kitchen will be a major focus of the house, an inviting hub of activity, and the guest quarters will be a lofty getaway tucked among the wooden beams and trusses. The house will be smart-homeenabled, ultra-efficient and designed for off-grid capability. I’m not a doomsday prepper by any means, but living on a well-found cruising sailboat has definitely increased my appreciation of self-sufficiency. And this is an area of the country subject to earthquakes and volcanic activity, not to mention annual ice storms that wreak havoc on the power grid.
The 50-by-60-foot hangar and shop down the hill will be large enough to accommodate our guests’ airplanes and ours, a few motorbikes, and a vintage restoration or homebuilding project. The entire homestead will be designed to mesh gracefully with its beautiful wooded site, to offer privacy and inspiration, as well as blur the line between indoors and out on those Pacific Northwest summer days that are the very finest on Earth. Alas, dreaming is the easy part. There’s a lot of work to be done before the land is even temporarily habitable—and not a ton of time to do it in. My airline is transferring me to the Seattle base effective October 1, which is also when the rainy season starts; I’d like to be somewhat settled by then. The septic design is complete and submitted for permitting. We’re soliciting bids for the first phase of site clearing, putting in the driveway, and septic installation. I have several
long Seattle overnights coming up, and I’ll be doing a lot more walking the land, clearing underbrush, staking out the site design, and flagging trees for saving or removal. It’s an exciting, busy, uncertain and stressful time, but our time on the boat has prepared Dawn and me well for this; we’ve been here before. We know we have to work hard, power through the obstacles, rely on each other for strength, and keep our vision front and center to lead the way. Someday soon, I’ll know exactly where home is: a cozy little hideaway tucked into the woods on the edge of a beautiful grass airstrip, surrounded by the forests, mountains and salt water that are my natural habitats, with an airplane of our own to enjoy it all the best way possible. } 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.
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Leading Edge FLYING Opinion
Out with the new… Glacially paced progression BY BEN YOUNGER
I was watching an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage where he was showing the progress he’d made on some of his ongoing projects during the pandemic. He began by running a massive steam engine he has mounted in his shop. It weighs 12 tons and was built out of a single casting during the Lincoln administration (Abraham, not McConaughey). It still worked, but it’s a dinosaur. Sound familiar? You could describe a piston aviation engine the same way. They work, but they are far too heavy and inefficient for the technologically advanced era we live in. When I change the oil on my Ram diesel after hundreds of hours of use, the used oil’s color can still be described as amberhued. My Bonanza’s oil looks like it came from the La Brea tar pits after only 20 hours of use. Imagine telling a new car buyer they must change their oil every 50 hours and that air conditioning is a $25,000 option. Good luck. After running the steam engine for a few minutes, Leno moved over to his restoration of a 1962 Maserati 3500 GTI. He changed out the original transmission for a modern five-speed Tremec. No more missed shifts or grinding gears, and now he can actually use reverse. In
this context, “original” is an overrated concept. I am the kind of pilot who feels an aesthetic loyalty to the past, but not a mechanical one. Leno’s sensibility resonates with me. Keep the beautiful, toss the unreliable. The romantic notion of working on unreliable ’60s-era Lucas electronics on the side of the road does not translate to aviation—a failure of any component in flight is the least romantic thing I can imagine. Let the purists scream in protest; Leno and I rejoice.
} 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. 6 2 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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Keep the beautiful, toss the unreliable—let the purists protest.
for this single-cylinder motorcycle was upward of $2,000. Why? It’s not the alloy. It’s the fact that there were very few Dukes sold in this country. Investment must be returned. ROI steers the ship. Regulation piles on more cost as the design is vetted and proved according to FAA rules and regs. Simply put, there is no incentive to move the ball. I believe this is why we still fly behind air-cooled piston engines that don’t have overhead cams, let alone variable valve timing. You don’t see pushrods on a single German or Japanese car made today. There’s a reason for this that
doesn’t need further explanation. I welcome your letters regarding simplicity and packaging around the pushrod design, but the bottom line is that they are old as dirt, and we know how to do better. In the absence of progress, we have squeezed every last bit out of what we have by shoring up all the systems around our engines. Some technologies know it’s their time and respectfully bow out. Looking under my cowling, you can see old and new sitting side by side: the Electroair next to the magneto, the old-timer and the upstart. My Electroair ignition does away with one of the two ancient magnetos my airplane originally came with, and it even allows for variable ignition timing. Electroair has a dual system coming soon. This will jettison the remaining magneto into the annals of history where it belongs. Vacuums are all but disappearing as well. Everything is solid-state now. A spinning gyro can and will break. CiES fuel senders are accurate to tenths of a gallon on the 80 gallons of fuel my airplane can hold. They are worlds better than the old floats, which are notorious for their lack of accuracy. Those CiES magnetic senders don’t even touch the actual fuel. New technology permeates my hangar as well as my airplane. This past winter, I bought a new SwitcheOn system to preheat the engine block and turn on my cabin heater, a great feature during the colder months up here in New York. I push a button on my iPhone and show up to an aircraft warmed and ready to fly. Modern engine monitors illustrate the new buttressing the old. These beautiful displays wouldn’t look out of place on a SpaceX rocket, but they keep watch over engine designs that can be traced back to the early 20th century. I feel for these monitors. I imagine them calling out for more-difficult jobs, begging for more complexity and sophistication, but relegated to monitoring these museum pieces. No, motor design isn’t quite ready to evolve. Electric may be the future, but it isn’t quite here today. Recently, I showed someone around my Bonanza, and he marveled at the tech. The Garmin suite of avionics and its massive capability blew him away. We flew an approach to minimums, then proceeded to execute the missed without turning off the autopilot. But when we landed at our alternate, I opened the cowling and removed the dipstick to allow any moisture out of the crank case. My friend laughed. I didn’t see the irony until he pointed it out: We had just manipulated our movement over hundreds of miles in three dimensions at more than 200 mph with zero visibility and pinpoint accuracy, and here I was letting steam out of the cooling engine by hand. Leno takes beautiful old machines, keeps the best (the aesthetic skin) and revamps the worst (the old mechanicals). Anything below that skin should be robust, reliable, and the very latest our engineers can provide. Until the distant day I have enough money to move up to a turbine— or Elon Musk comes up with a battery that can compete with the weight and stored energy potential of a gallon of avgas—I will support my old mill with every possible crutch and brace to help it run as well as it can. } SEPTEMBER 2021
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Charlie Nucci/Getty Images
W here, then, ca n we apply Leno’s pr inciples? Aerodynamically, we are stuck with what we have because of physics. The fundamentals of lift will never change. Bernoulli must be obeyed. Laminar-flow wings have improved airflow, but these are evolutionary—not revolutionary— changes. Until someone invents an anti-gravity, Star Wars-esque (Lucas, not Reagan) system of lift, we are stuck with manipulating surfaces that air flows over. Propulsion is where the progress is to be made, and yet, it remains the sector we have seen the least growth. The limiting factors are volume and regulation, and the two are tied at the hip. There are simply not enough GA aircraft sold to warrant the cost of trying to bring a cleansheet engine design to market. When I bought my KTM Duke in 2009, the cost of an aftermarket titanium exhaust
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Into the Blue FLYING Opinion
From Terror to Triumph Flying with my son started as a challenge, but special experiences ensued. BY PIA BERGQVIST
sky, any time he saw an airplane. As he grew older, Benjamin made funny noises as he swooped toy airplanes around in aerobatic flight patterns. As a toddler, Benjamin was not one to throw a fit. He would never scream and roll on the floor at Target because I wouldn’t buy the toy he desired, as some kids do. He wouldn’t cry if I
refused to buy the tub of ice cream he wanted at the grocery store. However, if I said we were going flying, all hell broke loose. “I hate flying! I don’t want to go flying!” he would scream as soon as I told him we were heading to the airport. “Mommy, I think we’re in heaven.”
Pia Bergqvist
I have loved airplanes since I was a little girl. So when my son arrived, I was excited to share my passion with him. The early days seemed to indicate that he shared my fascination with flight. One of the very first sounds Benjamin uttered as a baby was a crowlike “cra-cra,” which he excitedly made, while pointing to the
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Because I wasn’t prepared to give up on my own dreams, I bribed him with extra iPad time and promises that we would fly to cool places. He liked flying to Catalina Island off California, so occasionally he started asking: “Can we fly to the island?” My heart was filled every time I heard those words. The most significant transformation happened when Benjamin was 6 years old on a camping trip at Oceano Airport (L52) near San Luis Obispo, California. Some friends from our neighborhood joined us. They drove to Ocea no in a n RV camper while Benjamin and I flew in “Manny,” my Mooney. It took us about an hour and a half to pop up to Oceano, including the drive to Camarillo Airport (KCMA) where the Mooney is parked. It took our friends with the trailer about four and a half hours. We all enjoyed the dunes, the beach and the beauty of the central coast—and Benjamin liked the fact that we got there three times quicker. A couple of weeks after our Oceano adventure, Benjamin and I headed to Mammoth Lakes. Because the Owens Valley is notorious for sketchy winds and weather patterns and the drive to KCMA is 30 minutes in the opposite direction from home, it made most sense to drive. On our way back from Mammoth, traffic on the US Route 395 was at a standstill. By the looks of the muddy old Volkswagen buses and homemade flatbed campers, covered with bikes and trinkets I wouldn’t dare to describe, the traffic came from Burning Man. The vehicles provided a shortlived distraction, and Benjamin said, “Mommy, we should have flown.” I could hardly contain my excitement. Benjamin had gotten over his extreme aversion to flying, so I decided to take him with me to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the migration to the EAA’s AirVenture. It was 2017, and Benjamin was about to turn 8 years old. I decided to make the first day of flying fairly short. We flew from KCMA to Bryce Canyon (KBCE) in the highlands of Utah. My Aspen E1000 MFD and Avidyne IFDs—fed ADS-B In data by the L-3 Lynx transponder—
were pa inting a pret t y intense thunderstorm right over the airport, but thankfully, the storm appeared to be shrinking and moving to the east. Sure enoug h, by the time we arrived, the sun was slipping toward the horizon, lighting up the big cumulonimbus clouds in magnificent colors. Being on the upwind side of the storm, the air was smooth and the winds calm. I landed on Runway 3 and started taxiing toward the historic, wooden hangar, a sizable ponderosapine log barn built in 1936. As I cracked the door of the Mooney, the scent of lavender filled the cabin. The purple perennials covered the unpaved areas of the airport, and apparently the heavy rain made their scent explode. Benjamin said, “Mommy, I think we’re in heaven!” After hearing him utter those words, I definitely was. We spent the night at a local hotel and caught the shuttle to Bryce Canyon National Park the next morning. We hiked around the Egyptian-statuelike rock formations, then packed up the Mooney and headed to Rapid City, South Dakota. We dodged a few thunderstorms on the way, but the flight required minimal diversions. Benjamin had studied Mount Rushmore during the previous school year, so I’d planned to go to the national monument the following day. But because it was open until 9 p.m., we headed straight from the airport to the park to explore and learn about how the monument was created. Seeing the former presidents lit up after sunset was really special, and visiting two iconic parks in one day proved, once again, the benefit of having an airplane. We drove through Wildlife Loop Road near Casper the next morning, where we saw bison and a cougar before continuing our flying adventure eastbound. I had planned to stop for fuel and another overnight before getting to the mecca of general aviation, but we had a stellar tailwind that allowed us to continue all the way to Oshkosh and arrive just before the airfield closed for the day. About 80 miles out, I started eavesdropping on the arrival frequency, where pilots arriving at KOSH listen in and comply with
instructions, per the EAA AirVenture notam. The controller called out instructions nonstop: “Low wing over FISK, rock your wings. There you go— good rock. Follow the railroad tracks to the right downwind for 27. Make that turn to the downwind inside the gravel pit. Stay at 1,800 feet until you get there. Monitor tower now—118.5. Red RV, rock your wing. Good rock! Now follow the low wing ahead for the right downwind for Runway 27.” My traffic-advisory system showed a steady flow of airplane symbols moving toward the airport.
I spent my first night tent camping at AirVenture with my son at my side. As we reached Ripon—the first point on the arrival procedure at that time—there were three airplanes approaching simultaneously. I gave them plenty of space and followed them over the railroad leading to FISK. However, somehow the airplanes magically dispersed, and the arrival frequency was quiet for at least 15 to 20 seconds—an eternity in that airspace—before I reached FISK. It was as though the sea of airplanes had parted for us. At FISK, the controller misidentified me as a black-and-blue RV, but I knew he was referring to me and rocked my wings. The instructions were the same as the preceding airplanes. It was my first time flying my own airplane into Oshkosh, so there were butterflies in my tummy—the controller gave them no instructions. I switched to 118.1, and the tower frequency was also quiet until ATC cleared me to land on the green dot on Runway 27. Off into the grass of the North 40 we went, being marshaled in with a steady flow of campers. I spent my first night tent camping at AirVenture with my son at my side. It’s been an interesting journey. While I haven’t been able to fully cultivate a love of flying in Benjamin, I’m immensely thankful for our amazing flying memories so far. } Pia Bergqvist is an airline pilot, flight
instructor and Mooney owner who is crazy about all things flying. SEPTEMBER 2021
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Gear Up FLYING Opinion
To Fly Is To Learn— Every Time An easy flight proves there’s no such thing as an easy flight. BY DICK KARL
“Do you want to fly this leg?” It’s Capt. Bill, my flying buddy, once again demonstrating his seemingly limitless generosity. I met Bill while attending Cessna Citation CJ1 recurrent training at SimCom in Orlando, Florida, where he was my instructor. He now manages and flies a CJ2+ based in Hilton Head, South Carolina, for a cool company. Sometimes he hires me to be his first officer/ co- captain. Let’s face it: Getting to fly a great airplane for a really nice group of people with a captain who has done—and seen—it all is about as rich as a butterscotch sundae. Add in Bill’s preternatural amiability, and you have a recipe for enjoyment that borders on the outrageous. “No,” I say. “Thanks, though. You’re all settled in the seat with headset, so let’s just keep our spots as we left them a week ago when we landed here (in Charlottesville, Virginia).”
Today, we’re f lying to Tampa, Florida. The weather is good, save for a narrow band of convective activity strung across the state just north of our destination. Three thousand pounds of jet-A should see us landing with 1,200 pounds reserve—a little extra for insurance. We strive to land with 1,000 pounds; most operators
are happy with 800, and the book’s minimum fuel is 600 pounds. Things don’t go according to plan. This flight proves that you can always learn something new when you get a throttle in your hand. In this case, the flight seems to imitate life. It’s as if the surprises and challenges conspire to test the pilots, just like
} Dick Karl is a cancer surgeon turned Part 135 pilot who flies a Cessna Citation CJ1. 6 6 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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A beautiful morning on the ramp at KCHO
gathered crowd might be related to a lacrosse game at the University of Virginia. Bill and I wonder if an interest in lacrosse comes with a private jet. Our passengers arrive, and we load up. I would love to tell you more about them as they are truly wonderful people, but they deserve their privacy. We’re off at 9:42 a.m. Our
planned route is 711 nautical miles, which should take us just under two hours. We climb to 4,000 feet, get turned on course, and do the after-takeoff checks. Soon, we’re level at 40,000 feet, accelerating to a true airspeed of 415 knots and lamenting the 50 knots of headwind. We’re burning 440 pounds per side, or about 130 gallons an hour. Our onboard information about the weather is robust. Among the Collins Pro Line 21, Nexrad and ForeFlight systems, we can see the narrow band of weather sloping east to west about 20 miles north of Tampa. There’s almost no extension out into the Gulf of Mexico, so we discuss the possibility of a slight deviation to the west on the arrival into Tampa. As if reading our minds or listening in to our conversation, Atlanta Center calls with a reroute. “Ready to copy,” I say. Now cleared direct to HEVVN and the FOOXX 5 arrival into Tampa. This amounts to a major deviation out over the Gulf of Mexico, and we watch with interest as the “fuel at destination” numbers fall from 1,200 pounds to 960. This is still acceptable as long as our current groundspeed and fuel burn don’t change. Next comes a “turn right to 060” command. This is almost a circle around what we gather is Valdosta, Georgia—and another slight drop in the fuel calculations. Then comes “descend immediately to Flight Level 270, expedite through Flight Level 310.” We will now be burning more gas, but before we can figure out how much, we get another reroute. “FOOXX 5 is shut down. Proceed to TAY, JAYJA and the DADES 7 arrival.” We hear several airplanes inquire about Orlando International Airport and learn that it is closed. Airplanes arriving from the north and west have been sent to HEVVN, then down over the Gulf to KPIE (St. Petersburg, Florida), then across the state to Orlando. This has saturated the apex of Miami’s airspace resulting in the FOOXX5 shutdown. Hm. Not exactly bank foreclosure on the house but not comforting, either. We double-check Tampa weather.
It is still acceptable, but the ATIS is calling for ILS and LOC approaches to runways 1L and 1R. With a visual approach unlikely, this will add more time to our flight. At FL 270, we are now burning 660 pounds a side—about 200 gallons an hour. When I put the ILS 1L in the FMS, our arrival fuel ducks below 600 pounds and a “check fuel at destination” light comes on.
When I put the ILS 1L in the FMS, our arrival fuel ducks below 600 pounds and a “check fuel at destination” light comes on. There are few relationships in life that are better than the compatibility between a captain and first officer. When two aviators share similar philosophies but each has something to add to the symbiosis, the feeling is almost magical. So it is with Bill and me, though my contribution is usually to say, “Hey, that’s a good idea.” We get to work discussing our strategy almost the way you’d talk with a trusted partner about a sudden family or financial problem. We talk about the multiple airports available to us should our fuel get too close for comfort. I set about getting weather at Ocala and Gainesville and suggest that Bill throttle back to 550 pounds per side, which he does. We watch with satisfaction as the check-fuel light goes out. Down the DADES 7 arrival we go. We can see several airplanes lining up for the ILS 1L, so we decide to ask for the LOC 1R; the downwind leg will be much shorter without having to get in the long line of airliners that stretches almost to Sarasota. Bill kisses the airplane onto the runway, and we make a favored turn off. The Signature linemen pull up the passengers’ car, and we unload. The pax are oblivious to our reroutes, circles and early descents. What a day. It started as a simple, easy trip and ended up with challenges that left me feeling happy with our performance. That contentment is one of flying’s great satisfactions that gets richer after the chocks are in place. } SEPTEMBER 2021
F LY I N G M A G.C O M | 6 7
Courtesy Dick Karl
life tests each of us as human beings. The weather in Charlottesville is spectacular: cool, clear, light winds and bright springtime foliage. It is a beautiful part of the country. I enter the flight plan, do the cockpit checks, send the takeoff speeds to the PFDs, and luxuriate in the time spent waiting for our people. The ramp is busy; multiple jets are also waiting for their charges. The sound of several APUs comes through our open passenger door. It feels good to be part of whatever it is that is going on in Thomas Jefferson’s hometown. With the airplane prepared, I stroll inside the FBO and learn that the
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Jumpseat FLYING Opinion
To Go or Not To Go A takeoff decision BY LES ABEND
centerline markings started to blur with normal acceleration, I noticed that both the Aspen Avionics flight display and the analog airspeed were indicating 35 knots. Approximating the distance traveled on the 5,500-foot
runway, I quickly realized that the airspeed should be higher. Ruh-roh. For whatever reason, the Aspen groundspeed wasn’t supplying information to assist in clarifying the issue. So, do I abort? Plenty of concrete was in front of the nose, but that’s not how my airline-pilot brain is wired. Aborted takeoffs terminate in blown tires, fires, and a trailblazing trip through unforgiving dirt. Instead of stopping, I applied gentle back pressure to the yoke. The airplane leaped into the air. That abrupt The rejected takeoff decision-making process varies with the aircraft and pilot.
Jon Whittle
I had myriad reasons why my Piper Arrow hadn’t slipped the surly bonds in weeks, so when the day’s weather transformed into a beautiful Florida clear-and-a-million sky, I had no excuses. The mission was uncomplicated. I’d fly to an airport only 15 minutes away, top off the tanks, and return home while practicing a GPS approach or two. After a methodical engine run-up, and a “not everybody gets to do this” grin on my face, I pushed the throttle forward on all 200 horses of the IO-360. A scan of the JPI and analog gauges indicated we were go for launch. As the runway lights and
} 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 first officer. 6 8 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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reaction answered the question of a flyable airplane. Both airspeed indications seemed stuck at 73 knots no matter how I adjusted the pitch attitude. I was being lied to. A groundspeed accelerating through 100 knots confirmed the assessment. Surely, the problem was a dead bug in the pitot tube that will work its way out. But nope. Nada. It was time for a return to terra firma. In my best airline-pilot voice, I requested an entry to the downwind leg. The tower controller replied with nonchalant approval. In the next moment, the Aspen rewarded with me a display of red X’s. As I would later determine, the older Aspen system reacts to erroneous airspeed by eliminating the display of all parameters. Great. I smiled at the clear blue sky. Single-pilot IFR would have been slightly challenging, but that’s why the backup analog displays remain installed. Having finally developed a visceral feel for the Arrow’s flight characteristics, and the fact that groundspeed was available on the Garmin GNS 430, activating the panic button was not a consideration. Gas. Undercarriage. Mixture. Prop. The airplane was safely on the ground with minimal angst. I taxied off the runway with a sense of having cheated fate, aiming straight for my friends at the maintenance hangar. The problem had to be something simple. Josh Jack son g reeted me on the ramp with a shrug and a curious smile. A fter conveying the not-so-harrowing experience, he proceeded directly to the pitot tube, removing it from the bottom of the wing. We noticed the remnants of what appeared to be a very small portion of a bug carcass. Perhaps the culprit had been discovered. A gentle blow through the hose line produced an appropriate airspeed indication on the analog gauge. Josh and I agreed that a test flight was in order. With no logical reason, I remained skeptical that we had found the problem. While Josh tasked himself with reconnecting the pitot tube, I pondered the age-old question of aborting or not aborting. When operating a 775,000-pound jet, as in my former
life, or a jet of almost any size, the takeoff decision process is critical. For many years, airline operating procedures allowed for a wide range of captain’s discretion as to the reasons for discontinuing a takeoff. Even though V1 was the ultimate decision speed, rejected takeoffs were occurring well after. Multiple blown tires that dramatically reduced braking effectiveness, thrust reversers ingesting foreign-object damage into the engines, powerplant fires, and severe airframe damage with injuries and fatalities were potential results. After a focused study of rejected takeoff incidents and accidents, it was determined that if the majority of problems causing the abort decision had been taken airborne, the continuation of the flight would have resulted in a successful outcome rather than
Proud that a couple of gallons of fuel and a couple of microns of brake pads had been saved, I taxied back to the maintenance hangar. a catastrophic event. Airline philosophy began to evolve such that the calculated V1 speed for the specific runway was considered as the point in the takeoff roll when the decision to abort should have already been in progress. Additionally, airlines refined the reasons to reject a takeoff below V1. For most carriers, an aborted takeoff above 80 ktas is considered a highspeed event and a situation that may require specific checklist procedures, brake inspections, and reverse-thrust inspections depending upon the speed attained. The implications are that a rejection after 80 ktas, but before V1, would be better handled on the ground. A good example would be an engine fire. That being said, most jets have systems and procedures to tackle an in-flight engine fire, even during takeoff. It’s a simulation that is practiced during almost every recurrent training cycle. Part of my pre-retirement beforetakeoff briefing dissertation was that,
after 80 ktas and before V1, we would abort for only an engine failure, an engine fire, a wind-shear warning, or if we were absolutely certain that the airplane was not capable of flying. An erroneous airspeed indication did not fall into that category because we had other sources for speed information that used separate pitot-static systems, notwithstanding very accurate groundspeed readings. So, as I taxied the Arrow out to the runway for the test flight, I contemplated a rejected-takeoff decision. Armed with the possibility that an erroneous airspeed situation may again be part of my future—almost as if being spring-loaded like a recurrent training session during my airline life—I decided that the best course of action would be to make the decision early in the takeoff roll. I sighted a centerline marking a couple thousand feet past the beginning of the runway that would leave me a leisurely opportunity to pull the throttle to idle and allow the airplane to roll with virtually no braking before departing the hard surface into the dirt. Well, lo and behold, it took no longer than a thousand feet for the decision to be made. Neither the Aspen nor the analog airspeed gauge displayed anything, let alone an erroneous indication. Proud that a couple of gallons of fuel and a couple of microns of brake pads had been saved, I taxied back to the maintenance hangar. What was the culprit? A dried and cracked pitot-tube hose end that was attached via a barbed T-connection behind the sidewall bulkhead in the cockpit. One side of the “T” was routed to the analog airspeed indicator, and the other side was routed to the Aspen. Though Josh was confident that snipping off a small piece of the cracked end of the hose would solve the problem, it was an indication that it was time to replace all the hoses, which involved removing a fuel tank…which soon led to a lower checkbook balance. To go or not to go? That can sometimes be the question. And it’s not always an easy decision, but it’s one that should be made prior to the takeoff roll. } SEPTEMBER 2021
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Technicalities FLYING Opinion
Why Winglets? They’re good only some of the time.
It’s hard to believe that winglets will soon celebrate their 50th birthday. I wish I could say the same for myself. The late NASA aerodynamicist Richard Whitcomb was one of those figures in the history of science who uncovered principles that, once articulated, seem so obvious that it is surprising they could have ever been overlooked. W hitcomb’s name is associated with three milestones of modern aerodynamics: the widely used GA(W) airfoils, the transonic area rule and the winglet, which was called the “Whitcomb winglet” until time and habit wore the eponym away. (In fairness to forgotten Austrian aerodynamicist of the 1940s Otto Frenzl, it was he, not Whitcomb, who first articulated the transonic area rule. Frenzl’s patent on his “bottle rule” was issued in 1944. Perhaps if he had thought to call it the “Mae West rule,” or if he hadn’t been working for such a nasty lot, it would have caught on better.) Winglets, anyway, are such proud, conspicuous features that airplanes without them look a little forlorn and bereft. There are reasons, however, why some airplanes—Boeing 737s, for example—sprout ever more and larger winglets, while others, such as the much more recent 787, go without. As you probably already know, drag 7 0 | SEPTEMBER 2021
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vaalaa/Shutterstock.com
BY PETER GARRISON
While the Boeing 737 Max gains from V-shaped winglets, the 787 does fine without.
comes in two varieties: induced and parasite. The induced kind results from the production of lift. Induced drag is also sometimes called “tip losses,” and the purpose of winglets is to cut those losses by manipulating the flow at the wingtips. In principle, any airplane designed to cruise efficiently should have as large a wingspan as possible. Practica l w ingspa ns a re lim ited by many factors, beginning with structural considerations, fuel capacity and maneuverability, but they may include mundane things such as standard hangar sizes and ta xiway widths as well. Increasing span brings diminishing returns, and so the span ultimately decided upon is not necessarily the theoretical ideal. During an airplane’s life, however, conditions change. Fuel becomes more expensive, increasing the importance of small gains in efficiency. Modif ications such a s f uselage stretches increase weight. Now the wingspan that seemed correct when the airplane was designed no longer is. One solution would be to increase it; another, preferred for various reasons, is to add winglets. If winglets were all gain, there would be no harm putting them on every airplane. Any drag reduction is good. But winglets also impose drag penalties of their own by adding weight and increasing the surface area of the airplane. In other words, they add parasite drag at the same time as they reduce induced drag. Ergo, the only airplanes that have something to gain from winglets are ones whose tip losses are so large that reducing them outweighs the increase in parasite drag. Broadly speaking, two ways of understanding winglets can be filed under two names already familiar to aeronautical debating teams, Newton and Bernoulli. Team Newton understands the lift force of the wing in terms of the motion that the wing imposes on a mass of air: The wing pushes the air one way, and the Newtonian “equal and opposite reaction” pushes back the other way. Team Bernoulli talks instead in terms of velocities and pressures. The two are
sides of the same coin; the equal and opposite reaction is felt by the wing in the form of different pressures in different locations. The same duality applies to winglets. Team Newton will explain the operation of winglets in terms of their “downwash,” which, because winglets are more or less vertical, is actually an outwash. The outwash pushes the tip vortices outward—some would say “unwinds” them—in the same way as increasing the wingspan would. Winglets are said to increase the “effective span,” which is the distance between the tip vortex cores.
Winglets are almost always installed pointed upward, but they would work equally well pointed downward. Team Bernoulli offers a subtler and more elegant formulation. The vorticity generated at the wingtip is not confined to the wing’s wake. Air ahead of the wing senses the pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces, and begins its spiraling motion even before the wing arrives. Near the wingtip, air below the wing is pushed outward while air above the wing is drawn inward by the pressure deficit that holds the plane aloft. The flow at the wingtip is therefore not straight fore-and-aft, it is closer to the fuselage; upper-surface streamlines angle inward, lower-surface ones outward. The winglet is analogous to a glider flying in that angled flow or to a tacking sailboat. Just as the glider’s or sail’s lift vector is tilted forward by its angled path through the air, and so generates the thrust to keep it moving, the winglet’s lift vector is angled slightly forward and produces a pull, or thrust. The thrust of a properly designed winglet on a suitably defective wing is sufficient to overcome the winglet’s own parasite and induced drag, and so it produces a small efficiency improvement for the airplane. Published estimates of gains from winglets run as high as 5 percent, but I think 1 or 2 percent may be more typical. Winglets have other effects as well. On the negative side, the increase in
effective span manifests itself as an increase in the amount of lift produced near the tip of the wing and, hence, increases bending stresses in the wing spar, though not so much as a span increase of the same size would. Hangaring winglet-equipped airplanes is a bit trickier. On the positive side, aileron effectiveness is enhanced, as is also the case when a wingtip extends some distance beyond the outboard end of an aileron. Anecdotally, one glider tested with added winglets showed a marked improvement in lateral stability in steeply banked “thermalling” turns, most probably because upwardtilting winglets increase the effective dihedral angle of the wing. For various practical reasons, winglets are almost always installed pointing upward, but they would work equally well pointed downward. Whitcomb’s original design used both: a small downward “tooth” at the leading edge and a larger upturned blade farther aft. This was the arrangement that Burt Rutan adopted for the original VariEze. On that swept-wing canard airplane, as on the similarly configured Beech Starship, the winglets doubled as vertical stabilizers. Because they were needed anyway, whatever gain in efficiency they brought came entirely free of charge. Airplanes are not always created by purists, and so winglets sometimes pop up here and there just because they look cool, and people— that is, marketers, customers or amateur designers—may have a vague idea that there is something stylishly modern and generally desirable about them. This randomness of application makes it difficult to guess when they were truly appropriate, when they were added just for looks, or when they were added on a hunch (or in hope of a result whose attainment was never reliably verified). What can generally be said, however, is that to produce the small efficiency improvements of which they are capable, winglets must be carefully designed. Otherwise, they’re just a place to put the company name in big letters. } SEPTEMBER 2021
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Part of the risk management and aeronautical decision-making pilots engage in may involve responding to those scenarios you never dreamed would occur—and applying every element of your training to keep you, your passengers and your aircraft safe from harm. Twenty years after September 11, 2001, we have learned hard lessons as an industry and as a society on how to manage new risks that evolve in front of us. To the heroic flight crews that put every bit of themselves into protecting both the folks on board the four aircraft hijacked on that day and the general public, we take this page in silent tribute to honor their sacrifice and that of the families they left behind. This memorial to those crews and first responders was established by their families and friends, and it stands in Grapevine, Texas. 74 | SEPTEM BER 2021
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