Deep
Space Gateway aka LOP-G 6-7-18:
NASA and its International Space Station partners are working on a scaled
down
space station to follow the ISS that is talked about being decommissioned
around 2020. They are even talking about the possibility of crashing it
into a special remote part of the Pacific into what they call a space junk
cemetery. Controversy around funding for the new project was apparently
solved by political means by renaming it and calling it the "Lunar Orbital
Platform-Gateway." Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin called the Deep Space
Gateway "NASA's worst plan yet." Retired aerospace engineer Gerald Black
stated that the "LOP-G is useless for supporting human return to the lunar
surface and a lunar base." I wonder what their Gantt Chart looks
like.
.
EU
Is Working On A Box Wing Airliner 5-31-18:
"The Parsifal Project has produced a proposed design dubbed PrandtlPlane,
an homage to Ludwig Prandtl who developed an idea for an airplane wing
that boosted efficiency (and reduced drag) by wrapping around on itself
to form a box around the fuselage. Largely ignored in the 1920s, the concept
was dusted off by Aldo Frediani, a professor at the University of Pisa,
Italy, who coordinates the Parsifal project. Frediani used mathematics
to prove Prandtl was on to something, and his team designed an airliner
of the future around that concept."
..
Mini
TFR ALERT for the V.P. 5-23-18:
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy is holding their commencement ceremony for
this year's graduating class. A little more than 200 cadets are graduating
today. This year the keynote speaker is Vice President Mike Pence. (last
year President Donald Trump came)
.
TRUMP
TFR ALERT5-21-18:
"Flight restrictions announced by the Federal Aviation Administration
indicated that President Trump would spend Thursday night in the city after
a dinner reception aboard the Intrepid aircraft carrier on the West Side
of Manhattan. He would then travel the next day to his country house in
New Jersey, at the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster.
But
new restrictions announced Tuesday showed Mr. Trump heading straight to
Bedminster from the Intrepid. The event on the Intrepid, now a sea, air
and space museum, is being hosted by the American Australian Association.
“The guests of honor for the evening are seven surviving veterans from
the Battle of the Coral Sea — three Americans and four Australians,”
.
Mount
Washington Regional Airport 3rd Annual Fly-In 5-19-18:
Mount Washington Regional Airport (KHIE) is having its 3rd Annual Fly-In
on Saturday and Sunday June 23 and 24, 2018. We have lots of ways for visiting
pilots to win exciting and valuable prizes including our first Airport
Poker Run, a flour bombing competition and more. There will be Biplane
Rides, Helicopter Rides, UTV Fun Rides, static aircraft displays, RC Airplanes,
an Antique Tractor Show, and a Classic Car Cruise-in. more...
.
Travel
to Another Planet? 5-17-18:
A recent Popular Science article imagined a spaceship that could or might
possibly be able to reach a recently discovered exoplanet called Proxima
b. However, the word fiction needs to be attached to the word science in
this article. The ship is interesting where like Battle Star Galactica,
it supports a city of people that's meant to survive for generations in
order to reach its destination. Unfortunately, Proxima b is 25 trillion
miles away, and it's not considered inhabitable anyways...
..
Cessna’s
Turbo Skyhawk JT–A CANCELLED! 5-12-18:
Cessna’s Turbo Skyhawk JT–A has been quietly canceled according to AOPA
with no explanation. I wonder if the price tag had anything to do with
it? Maybe they should have done a couple of focus group meetings to see
if they would be interested in paying a half a million dollars for a Skyhawk...
EAA
225 May 2018 Newsletter 5-7-18:
Next Gathering:
Tuesday, May 8,
2018 Place: Skyhaven Pilot’s Lounge Times: Meet & Greet at 6:30 pm
with our Meeting to follow at 7pm
Single-Crystal
Turbine Blades 5-4-18:
"The American Society
of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recently named the Pratt & Whitney single
crystal turbine blade an historic mechanical engineering landmark." The
blades are found inside jet engines including the F-22 Raptor. These blades
are made from a special nickel superalloy that has a special chemical composition
that contains "Rhenium." Before P&W would commit to using Rhenium in
its nickel alloy blades it made a long term contract with a company in
Chile. By adding 3% Rhenium they were able to increase the melting point
of the blades to withstand 3600deg F from military jet engines. The blades
are cast in a special vacuum furnace at Howmet's Terai foundry in Japan.
This all started in the 80's.
.
.
Graphical
Forecastsfor
Aviation
4-28-18:
Thinking about going for a VFR flight around the local area? Before you
do anything, go to the GFA weather page and click on "CIG/VIS" and you
will know instantly if you're going or not.
.
VFR
In April 4-25-18:
Ok, so I'm raking the lawn and spreading weed-n-feed and I come to the
realization that it is a beautiful day for flying. The temperature made
it all the way to 74 and people are walking around in their tank tops and
shorts. Well I'm not ready to give up my jacket yet but I did take it off
this afternoon. Here's a flight around the neighborhood drilling a hole
through Portsmouth class Delta.
.
DUATS
CHANGES TO Leidos Pilot Web Portal 4-22-18:
If you have been
using DUATS for weather briefings than you've been notified that it's changing.
"DUATS will be discontinued after May 16th!! On March 13th, the FAA released
this notification: “Flight Service Transitions to Leidos Pilot Web Portal“
“The FAA will discontinue the Direct User Access Terminal Service (DUATS
II) Program, effective May 16, 2018. Internet services, including access
to weather and aeronautical information, flight plan filing and automated
services will remain available at no charge to pilots at www.1800wxbrief.com."
(more...)
..
MiG–17F
star airshow attractions: 4-21-18:
AOPA reports a MiG–17F was one of the star airshow attractions at the Sun
'n Fun International Fly-In and Expo in Lakeland, Florida with pilot Randy
Ball. Have you ever wondered what is the highest level of achievement a
pilot in the U.S. could reach? Well take a look at pilot Randy Ball. "Randy
has performed well over 1,000 performances to date! No other North American
Jet Demo pilot even comes close to that number of performances. In fact,
Randy is the only Jet Demo pilot (military or civilian) to be granted both
a day and night unlimited aerobatic rating in jet fighters by the FAA.
He has flown over 42 different types of aircraft, manufactured in nine
countries." (more...) His airshow plane
is a Russian MiG-17F that looks like it is in pristine condition. I wonder
how much it cost to keep that airplane in shape for airshow performances?
..
TRUMP
TFR No Cutouts In Florida : 4-16-18:
TFR's appearing in Florida again with
Trumps visit for this week. President Donald Trump arrives in South Florida.
An advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration indicates the president
is scheduled to land in Miami at about noon. Trump will be in Hialeah for
a discussion on tax cuts for small businesses. Afterward he is scheduled
to travel to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Looks like no progress being made
on any cutouts in the tfr to protect and help local fbo's and flight schools.
AOPA estimated that the annual economic impact of TFR-related activity
reductions exceeds $1 million in lost revenue. AOPA director of aviation
security, met with officials of the North American Aerospace Defense Command
on March 29 to discuss ways to make TFRs more efficient and easier for
pilots to identify and avoid.
.
SURPRISE
ASTEROID FLYBY: 4-15-18:
With little warning, on Sunday, April 15th, a "Tunguska-class" asteroid
about the size of a football field flew through the Earth-Moon system.
2018 GE3 was discovered just the day before as it plunged inward from the
asteroid belt. A quick-thinking amateur astronomer in Europe was able to
record a video of the asteroid as it flew by. "According to wikipedia,
2018 GE3 is the largest known asteroid to pass that close to Earth in observational
history."
.
Cessna’s
Turbo Skyhawk JT–A 4-13-18:
Cessna’s Turbo Skyhawk JT–A replaces the popular Lycoming with a liquid-cooled,
turbocharged Continental Diesel CD-155, formerly marketed as a Thielert
Centurion 2.0S. The JT–A is equipped with a Garmin G1000 NXi avionics,
a Safe Flight SCc angle of attack system, and ADS-B Out and In. The four-cylinder
diesel engine, certified to operate on jet and diesel fuel, uses FADEC
to maximize efficiency and replaces mixture and throttle with a single-lever
power control. That means mixture, pitch and throttle are combined into
one lever for controlling the three bladed prop. It also has a pushbutton
start. You can get one of these modified Skyhawks from Cessna for only
$465,000. How many would you like? Last year Cessna sold 129 Skyhawks with
the regular Lycoming 180hp version at around $365,000 each. In 2001 they
went for about $160,000
.
SPACEX
Going to Mars? 4-11-18:
By now everyone has heard of the BFR rocket that Elon Musk is planning
to send to Mars. They are even predicting sometime in 2022. That sounds
quite ambitious. CEO and lead designer Elon Musk and has a goal of colonizing
Mars.
.
DROTAMs
4-07-18:
The drone airspace in the Syracuse area is not your average radio control
helicopter with four propellor rotors. These DROTAMs are for the MQ-9 Reaper
that flies our off from Wheeler Sack Army Airfield at Fort Drum. The drones
are used by the Guard's Syracuse-based 174th Attack Wing to train Air Force
pilots who use them on surveillance and attack missions globally. Here's
a 3D that shows the relative size of the DROTAM airspace compared to the
Syracuse Class C airspace.
.
AOPA
Dumps Visa for Mastercard 4-06-18:
AOPA is changing their credit card deal from Visa to Matercard. The benefits
are now more taylored for buying aviation stuff. Otherwise, you are left
with 1% with "other" purchases. So, if you want to buy that $1000 headset
you might get a 4% discount from your new AOPA Mastercard.
.
Southern
Maine Aviation’s Safety Seminar 4-01-18:
Mr. Chris Kimball from the
NOAA's National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine, will be at Southern
Maine Aviation to showcase a presentation on common weather patterns, trends,
and unique phenomena that are native to New England seasons. The
seminar will be held in the show hanger of Southern Maine Aviation, which
is in the main terminal building at Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport.
.
DRONE
NOTAMS 4-01-18:
Do you check the NOTAMS before every flight? Not checking the notams before
your flight might be compared to going to the beach without checking the
weather first. You may not have a good day if you don't. So when you check
the notams have you ever noticed the blue circles and outlines in SkyVector?
They call them "Drone Notams" and usually have a ceiling of around 400
feet. But there's a giant one circled around SYR. Here's what it says:"NOTAM
UAS Operating Area ISP_03/248 DEFINED AS 60NM RADIUS OF SYR SFC-10000FT
AGL
MON-THU 1230-0200 1803231230-1807300200." CLICK
HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT NOTAMS
.
Mini
TFR's
Popup Near Plymouth Ma 3-30-18:
Going for a vfr flight to the cape? Be sure to check the 1,2,3 box on the
weather page to get an instant status of your route, most notably the SkyVector
Aeronautical Charts. As soon as that maps comes up you have a picture of
the winds, weather, and TFR's (and more). Some articles have described
tfr's as an encroachment of the airspace and others view them as important
safety features. I suspect the answer lies somewhere in between. How about
the tiny tfr in Hanover Mass that's over an old munitions dump where a
massive cleanup effort is going on that requires blowing up bombs and munitions
being dug out of the ground? I'll give that a big OMG.
.
VFR
In March 3-29-18:
The density altitude was minus 1,400 feet. March is full of surprises
this year with some unusual amounts of snow and cold weather, but spring
is officially here with snow piles shrinking by the minute. It was a little
bumpy under 2,500 feet, but at 3,000 ft it was smooth as silk. With over
50 mile visibility you could easily see the Boston tall buildings from
Porstsmouth. Here's a quick look around the neighborhood.
..
Mini
TFR ALERT3-22-18:
Vice President Mike Pence will be in Manchester Thursday afternoon at the
Manchester Downtown Hotel. Later Thursday, Pence will appear at a fundraiser
for Gov. Chris Sununu’s reelection.
..
TRUMP
TFR ALERT3-16-18:
..
.
EAA
225 Meeting Postponed 3-9-18:
Postponing the meeting until next Tuesday, the 20th of March.
.
EAA
225 NEWSLETTER & Meeting Notice 3-9-18:
Here's the EAA newsletter from Gerry Peterson:
..
New
SLSA Vashon Aircraft 3-2-18:
The owner of Dynon Avionics is building a SkyCatcher look alike for just
under 100k.
It's not a kit plane, although the chief design engineer worked for Van's
aircraft and was involved with the design of their RV-12 LSA. "Vashon Aircraft
in the Seattle suburbs quite literally grew out of Dynon Avionics. Vashon’s
20,000-square-foot factory is physically attached to Dynon headquarters
in Woodinville, Washington. Both firms were founded and are owned by pilot
and serial entrepreneur John Torode, although they operate independently.
The Ranger is a
two-seat, special light sport aircraft (SLSA) with a 100-horsepower Continental
O-200D engine and fixed-pitch Catto propeller. Predictably, it comes with
Dynon glass panel (including autopilot), and it seems well suited to its
muddy birthplace in the Pacific Northwest with large 6.00 by 6-inch tires."
..
Commemorative
Air Force Comes
to Nashua Airport 2-22-18 Commemorative
Air Force AirPower History Tour will be here at Nashua Airport on July
4 - 8, 2018 from 9am to 5pm daily. Come and see the World's Most Famous
Flying B-29 Superfortress "FIFI" along with the C-45 Expeditor "Bucket
of Bolts" and a T-6 Texan. Entry to the ramp is $10 for Adults, $5 for
Children 10-17, and FREE under the age of 10. To book rides or for more
information visit www.AirPowerTour.org
.
Cessna
AD for 14,000 Cessna 172, 182, 206, 207, and 210 models
2-20-18:
"The FAA has proposed an AD involving 14,653 U.S. Cessna 172, 182, 206
and 210 models after cracks were found in the lower area of the forward
cabin doorpost bulkhead. That’s where the wing strut attaches and the AD
requires repetitive inspections of the area. After
one owner reported finding cracks, more inspections revealed them in about
50 more aircraft. “It has been determined that the cracks result from metal
fatigue,” the AD says. A list of affected aircraft is here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-02-01/pdf/2018-01923.pdf."
Wow, that's a lot of aircraft. There's a lot of vintage Skyhawks made in
the 60's, 70's and 80's flying around that make up a major part of the
single engine fleet. Some companies are refurbishing the old planes and
selling them like new planes. However, under the pretty paint jobs and
cabin make-overs, you still have an airframe that's over 40 years old.
In terms of automobiles, 14,000 is a small percentage of vehicles. But
for Cessna airplanes, it's a huge number. Think about it. The total number
of Skyhawks ever built is around 44,000 and that is the highest number
of single engine planes ever built since 1955. A unique feature about aluminum
is that all aluminum parts have a fatigue limit. Unlike steel parts that
are designed within a specified load limit, it will have no fatigue limit.
"Structural metals such as aluminum and copper do not have a distinct cyclic
limit and will eventually fail even from small stress amplitudes."
.
VFR
In February 2-17-18:
The density altitude was minus 2,000 feet. Typical for this time
of the year. The commuter traffic formed a solid white line heading north
on the Spaulding Turnpike and southbound on 95. Remember, when you transit
Delta airspace make sure you have established radio contact before you
cross the imaginary dash line. However, when you exit they may say goodbye
or just abandon you and not say anything.
.
Runway
Hotspots 2-14-18:
Have you seen the FAA
hotspot publications lately? If you haven't looked at an airport diagram
for a while, you might be wondering what are those "HS 1" and "HS 2" markings
are all about. The airport diagram itself won't tell you anything. You
need to go to another FAA publication for an explanation. And then, you
need to go to a pdf file to find out the meaning of a particular HS marking.
Have you noticed that Portland now has two HS markings. Maybe we should
have hotspot markings on TomTom and Magellan automotive gps devices to
alert drivers of their dangerous driving habits. The speed limit in front
of my house is 30, but many vehicles are speeding over 50. I'll give that
a big "HS 1".
HS could also stand for "Holy Mackerel."
..
EAA
225 Meeting This Evening 2-13-18:
From the EAA newsletter: "This meeting we need to talk about our
summer events. Peter has been at the wings and wheels meeting and I'm looking
forward to the latest information. If anyone has contacts in local EAA
chapters it would be a good time to discuss getting in touch with them.
The wings and wheels show from past experience brings in a ton of kids.
It would be great to have a crowd of pilots to fly young eagles! "
.
BAE
Systems' newest drone; the MAGMA 2-8-18:
BAE and the University of
Manchester have announced the first successful flight on December 13. The
design has no moving control surfaces? Yes, they say they are using
two newly developed systems to navigate in the air; wing circulation control
(WCC) and fluidic thrust vectoring (FTV). It looks like the WCC replaces
the ailerons and the FTV replaces the elevator. Apparently they don't need
rudder control. Or do they?
.
VFR
To Nowhere 2-7-18:
Yes, it's still very much winter in New England. Looks like this storm
goes from here to Mexico .This page from the GFA leaves no doubt about
what's going on. I think I'll go put some gas in my snowblower.
.
Winds
at 3000 49 knots? 2-1-18:
So I went for a little ride the other day and on myway
to Sanford airport I'm indicating 120 mph airspeed and the GS on the GPS
was reading 144 knots. Looking at the winds aloft before take-off the report
showed winds at 3000 at 49 knots. But on the ground the wind was reported
light and variable at 4 knots. Climbing out from the light and variatble
ground wind to the unusually fast winds at 2000 feet was relatively smooth
and uneventfulll other than a remarkable ground of 165 mph. Not to bad
for a 160 hp Skyhawk. On the left and right are screen captures of the
KDAW and KSFM ASOS and winds aloft from the Avare app on a Samsung Galaxy
S3.
space station to follow the ISS that is talked about being decommissioned
around 2020. They are even talking about the possibility of crashing it
into a special remote part of the Pacific into what they call a space junk
cemetery. Controversy around funding for the new project was apparently
solved by political means by renaming it and calling it the "Lunar Orbital
Platform-Gateway." Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin called the Deep Space
Gateway "NASA's worst plan yet." Retired aerospace engineer Gerald Black
stated that the "LOP-G is useless for supporting human return to the lunar
surface and a lunar base." I wonder what their Gantt Chart looks
like.
of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recently named the Pratt & Whitney single
crystal turbine blade an historic mechanical engineering landmark." The
blades are found inside jet engines including the F-22 Raptor. These blades
are made from a special nickel superalloy that has a special chemical composition
that contains "Rhenium." Before P&W would commit to using Rhenium in
its nickel alloy blades it made a long term contract with a company in
Chile. By adding 3% Rhenium they were able to increase the melting point
of the blades to withstand 3600deg F from military jet engines. The blades
are cast in a special vacuum furnace at Howmet's Terai foundry in Japan.
This all started in the 80's.
MiG–17F
star airshow attractions: 4-21-18:
AOPA reports a MiG–17F was one of the star airshow attractions at the Sun
'n Fun International Fly-In and Expo in Lakeland, Florida with pilot Randy
Ball. Have you ever wondered what is the highest level of achievement a
pilot in the U.S. could reach? Well take a look at pilot Randy Ball. "Randy
has performed well over 1,000 performances to date! No other North American
Jet Demo pilot even comes close to that number of performances. In fact,
Randy is the only Jet Demo pilot (military or civilian) to be granted both
a day and night unlimited aerobatic rating in jet fighters by the FAA.
He has flown over 42 different types of aircraft, manufactured in nine
countries." 
with
Trumps visit for this week. President Donald Trump arrives in South Florida.
An advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration indicates the president
is scheduled to land in Miami at about noon. Trump will be in Hialeah for
a discussion on tax cuts for small businesses. Afterward he is scheduled
to travel to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. Looks like no progress being made
on any cutouts in the tfr to protect and help local fbo's and flight schools.
AOPA estimated that the annual economic impact of TFR-related activity
reductions exceeds $1 million in lost revenue. AOPA director of aviation
security, met with officials of the North American Aerospace Defense Command
on March 29 to discuss ways to make TFRs more efficient and easier for
pilots to identify and avoid. 
omes
to Nashua Airport
er
one owner reported finding cracks, more inspections revealed them in about
50 more aircraft. “It has been determined that the cracks result from metal
fatigue,” the AD says. A list of affected aircraft is here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-02-01/pdf/2018-01923.pdf."
Wow, that's a lot of aircraft. There's a lot of vintage Skyhawks made in
the 60's, 70's and 80's flying around that make up a major part of the
single engine fleet. Some companies are refurbishing the old planes and
selling them like new planes. However, under the pretty paint jobs and
cabin make-overs, you still have an airframe that's over 40 years old.
In terms of automobiles, 14,000 is a small percentage of vehicles. But
for Cessna airplanes, it's a huge number. Think about it. The total number
of Skyhawks ever built is around 44,000 and that is the highest number
of single engine planes ever built since 1955. A unique feature about aluminum
is that all aluminum parts have a fatigue limit. Unlike steel parts that
are designed within a specified load limit, it will have no fatigue limit.
"Structural metals such as aluminum and copper do not have a distinct cyclic
limit and will eventually fail even from small stress amplitudes."
FAA
hotspot publications lately? If you haven't looked at an airport diagram
for a while, you might be wondering what are those "HS 1" and "HS 2" markings
are all about. The airport diagram itself won't tell you anything. You
need to go to another FAA publication for an explanation. And then, you
need to go to a pdf file to find out the meaning of a particular HS marking.
Have you noticed that Portland now has two HS markings. Maybe we should
have hotspot markings on TomTom and Magellan automotive gps devices to
alert drivers of their dangerous driving habits. The speed limit in front
of my house is 30, but many vehicles are speeding over 50. I'll give that
a big "HS 1".
HS could also stand for "Holy Mackerel."
