FLY-IN:Friday July 8th Through July 16th At Sandersons Field Greenland NH 03840 7-3-11: The annual fly-in at Sandersons field is coming up again. Download the flyer from the "Upcoming Events" section or click on the Yankee Ultralight Flyers icon for more information.
2011 Yankee Ultralight Flyers, 20th Annual Fly-In / Camp-In, July 08 - 16th 2011
*Although public are welcome to visit anytime during the week. The primary public-related events will be held on July 08 - 10 only (weather permitting). All pilots must obtain a pilot’s pamphlet and are required to attend a standard briefing daily. Date: July 08 through 16 2011, Where: Sanderson's Field, Greenland, NH. Ultralight (Part 103) Light Sport Lighter than air Rotorcraft General Aviation Trikes Home Built Powered Chutes / Gliders 
Fly, Drive, Walk or Ride to Greenland this July for a time you will never forget. Bring the whole family, there is something to do for all. 

Maine does away with aircraft sales taxes!6-27-11 Here's an excerpt from a recent email forward from Jim about the Maine aircraft sales tax controversy. "The Governor signed the budget which includes the repeal of the use tax on aircraft. The budget also adds a complete sales tax exemption on aircraft sales and parts for all aircraft owners." The Boston Herald had quite a write up also.  "A new law eliminating sales taxes on aircraft and parts should give aviation businesses a boost and improve Maine’s image as a tax-hungry state prowling after out-of-staters who fly in for visits. Buried deep in the state’s new 620-page budget is a single sentence that provides tax relief for plane buyers, pilots who fly to Maine and people having their aircraft worked on in the state. The exemptions go into effect July 1." Click on the Boston Herald icon for more information.

Quad-rotor copters demonstrate autonomous motion control  6-23-11 "Researchers at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control (IDSC) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, have developed unmanned motion-control autonomous quad-rotor copters, which are not human-piloted, zoom around hummingbird style to hit a ball back and forth. The vehicles and ball are tracked by an overhead motion-capture system and controlled by a pair of computers." It appears that the copters are remotely controlled by a type of auto-pilot that's pretty amazing. CLICK ON THE Quad Copter icon for the video.

TFR Over New York! ~ 6-22-11: FAA TO ESTABLISH TFR OVER NEW YORK, NY ON THURSDAY A notam has been issued that will restrict flight in the area during President Obama's planned visit.  ==> Within the lateral limits of the New York Class B Airspace <==  Surface to 18,000-ft-MSL 
Times: 4:30 PM local until 11:30 PM local Thursday, June 23, 2011.  CHECK NOTAMS FOR MORE INFO

Aerobatic Aircraft At Skyhaven This Weekend ~ 6-17-11: Last October the aerobatic club was at Skyhaven to practice their stuff. Well they are back and have received permission from the FAA to use Skyhaven to practice their routines on June 18 and/or 19. Be sure to check the NOTAMS to changes in the flight patterns and information about the airport. Click on the black biplane to see pictures from last October.

The Elks Car Show, Open House, Plane Pull and Rag Wing Fly-In 6-17-11

THE BOSTON-PORTSMOUTH AirShow is Back! 6-16-11 Here's a screen shot of the Boton Portsmouth Air Show website. Just click on the poster for more information.

Garmin Warns Operators (Pilots?) Of G1000 Interruptions! 6-8-11: I'm confused. If I understand this article correctly, your $50,000 Garmin G1000 state of the art glass panel has a software glitch that can cause the digital instrument readouts to show red "X's" possibly every 90 hours for up to 45 seconds. Another section of the article talks about occasional 2 second delays. The article further says that the problem has existed sin 2004 and until "a new system software load" is released you may experience "momentary  interruptions" every 90 hours? The affected instruments could include attitude, heading, slip/skid, airspeed, altitude or vertical speed. A while ago I took someone for a ride in a glass panel LSA. When my passenger saw that all the instruments appeared on a computer screen (glass panel) he said, "Do you really trust the software?" I said that was a good question. At my office, I have an engineering software program that cost $5000 and $1,500 per year for maintenance and upgrades, and every now and then I will get a message box that appears and says something like, "We are sorry, but the software program can no longer continue and needs to close. You may need to restart your computer." And then the screen goes blank, or the whole computer crashes. I'd hate to get this message on a glass panel at 10,000 feet in IFR conditions.

YOUNG EAGLES FLIGHT RALLY
PANCAKE BREAKFAST & BARBEQUE LUNCH 
Southern Maine Aviation, Sanford, ME 
Saturday, June 25, 2011
9:00 am - 3:00 pm 
Contact: Steven Richard
Phone: 207 432 6464, Send an Email 

Brunswick Airshow Positive Reviews 6-6-11: Sounds like the Brunswick Airshow went very well. The "Times Record" quoted Steve Levesque as saying he expected around a dozen airplanes to show up, but instead got around 100 aircraft sitting on the ramp. CLICK HERE for more info on the airshow.
Looks like the activity calendar for Brunswick is filling in with some major events to promote the newly declared general aviation airport. How about, "The Great State Of Maine Air Show!" There's an impressive list of aircraft shows and fly-byes. How about the Collings Foundation's Corsair. I assume it will be flown by Dan McCue. Here's a few pics of the Corsair when it was in the hanger back in 2004.

4 Place LSA ? 6-5-11: Well not exactly. But after reading the article in the AOPA magazine, it sounds like the Australian's found a clever way to use the same basic aircraft to be a four place in Australia and a 2 place LSA in the United States. At a first glance, I thought it looked like a Cessna Cardinal with a weird square tail (and Cardinals don't have wing struts). And, it has a huge 3rd door called a cargo door on the LSA but a people entry door when it's in Australia. The aircraft has been stressed to 7 Gs at 1,540 pounds and has been fully spin tested so, "It doesn't need a parachute for spin recovery!" As a 4 place experimental aircraft it has a useful load of 800 pounds. The AOPA article describes the Jabiru they tested as a hawk that has Cessna 172's for lunch. "When it fly's overhead it has a deep throaty growl that sounds almost Cirrus-like." Would a Cessna 172 pilot like to fly one of these beauties? I would guess the weird center console stick arrangement will freak out the average 172 pilot.

Brunswick International Fly-In ~ 6-1-11 Here's more information for the Brunswick International Fly-In. Mark the first Saturday in June on your calendar. From 8am-4pm on June 4th, the newly opened Brunswick Executive Airport is hosting the First Annual Brunswick International Fly-In. The event will include an airplane contest, open cockpit biplane rides, tasty Maine food, live music, an airport open house, and an aircraft display–including antique aircraft, amphibious aircraft and jets. In addition, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) will bring fourteen member-built aircraft in different stages of construction for display.  It’s going to be a fun, family-friendly event that kids will remember for years to come. For more information click on the poster.
 

202 KNOTS @ 10 gph ~ 5-30-11: Pipistrel will be offering its  four-seat aircraft called the Panthera powered by a Lycoming IO-390 210 hp. They also are talking about two other models, the Panthera Hybrid and the Panthera Electro. The Lycoming IO-390-powered model powered version will retail for about $295,000. How many would you like? This airplane looks pretty slippery and apparently slides through the air very efficiently. With a stall speed around 60 knots and 2200 feet for take off, it's not something you would fly into Hampton airport with.

SmartBird – bird flight deciphered ~ 5-22-11: In a recent article I read was a story about some German engineers working in a research lab for a company called Festo, known for their pneumatic components for industry. The engineering magazine called the article, "Robotic Bird demonstrates efficiency," The webpage at the Festo company was titled, "SmartBird - bird flight deciphered."  One of the videos points out the effort that went into studying and analyzing the flight of a seagull. Their goal was to emulate the seagull and to me, it looks like they just about hit the nail on the head. It doesn't look like you would have to scale up this model to far to make room for a person to ride aboard. The SmartBird has an Aerodynamic efficiency is 80%, 6-1/2 ft wing span and used 25 watts for take off.

The First Annual Brunswick International Fly-In ~ 5-21-11: Did you get your invitation from Craig Fuller of AOPA? According to the newsletter, "Brunswick is having a fly-in Saturday, June 4, 2011, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM (Fly In) 10:00 AM (Alan Klapmeir Keynote) 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM (Craig Fuller Keynote/Pilot Town Hall) Brunswick Executive Airport 5450 Fitch Avenue  Brunswick, ME 04011 Follow the signs the to the Fly-In location." It looks like this could be a major event. The article in Aero-news.net talks about, "the 1.8 million square feet of ramp space and thousands of tie-downs make the airport a great venue for a Fly-In." "The Brunswick International Fly-In is proud to partner with AOPA and EAA. Sponsors include Maine Aviation Association, the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber, Maine Aviation Corporation, Cirrus Aircraft, Maine Coastal Flight, Columbia Aviation Companies, Hoyle Tanner & Associates, Senecal Construction Company, and Cape Air."

AVIATION FLY MARKET5-20-11: Here's a reminder sent in by Jim,

TFR over Windsor Locks/New London, CT & TFR OVER BOSTON, MA ON WEDNESDAY ~ 5-17-11: These TFR advisories have the TFR's turning on and off like a traffic light. "FAA TO ESTABLISH TFR OVER WINDSOR LOCKS/NEW LONDON, CT ON WEDNESDAY (CHANGES)" Notams have been issued that will restrict flight in the area during President Obama's planned visit. Maybe it's a good thing that it might be an IFR day tomorrow. Maybe they won't have any incursions.

Wind and Rain  ~ 5-16-11: Now that we've made it through the unending cross wind it seems like we'll have to contend with the rainy season. This week doesn't look to promising but we know that better weather is coming. One look at the weather page and it's easy to see that we're not the only ones being doused with this wet spell. When the metar page comes up you immediately see VFR and IFR conditions. Just scroll down to get the detail features of rain boundaries and severe weather conditions.

Human Aircraft N15YR  ~ 5-15-11: You have probably heard of the Jetman flying over the Grand Canyon, but did you hear that he had to get an "N" number from the FAA before making his flight? If you go to the registry and look up N15YR you'll see the registration of his "Yves Rossy Jetwing." The EAA article sounds a little like his body is part of the aircraft for the registration but it looks like the "N" number actually belongs to the wing. "The FAA has given its approval for the flight, classifying Rossy and his jet wing as an aircraft and assigning the registration number N15YR." "Rossy launched from a helicopter at 8,000 feet above the canyon, and steering only by movement of his body, flew at speeds up to 190 mph for more than eight minutes at altitudes as low as 200 feet above the canyon rim. He then deployed a parachute and landed safely on the canyon floor." Talk about an adrenaline rush... The articles go on to say that he did a loop just a little while ago.

EAA 225 THE SEACOAST AIRFOIL ~ 5-13-11: Here's a copy of the Seacoast Airfoil

sent in by Gerry Peterson.  Click on the above logo to download the PDF file.