There’s been a lot of talk lately on the boards that there is a growing number of people concerned that GA is slowly dying. AV Gas is getting more expensive, training costs are soaring, the government is proposing more and more user fees, the number of new pilots is going down every year, etc. And then there’s the cost of parts and maintenance, another whole side of the problem. Basically, general aviation is getting far too expensive for the regular Joe and there’s no real solution in view.
So what do we do? Well, basic consumer economics tells us that if we manufacture more of a particular product that’s high in demand and make them more commonplace, the costs will eventually come down. Take flat screen TV’s for instance. Right when they came out they were expensive as hell, wait another five years and they’ll be $200 - $500.
I know for a fact that there is a great demand for airplanes. Everyone and their mother would want an airplane if they were as cheap to own and maintain as a car, period. But we all know this isn’t the case at all.
So in comes flying cars and personal flying machines. Mmm…how nice does that ring? We’ve all at one time have had the dream of the Jetson’s becoming a reality. Sitting in gridlock traffic sucking in the fumes listening to bad talk radio wishing that our car could only hover and avoid it all. I’m here to say that this concept is well on its way.
NASA has a program called “The Highway in the Sky” or SATS (Small Aircraft Transportation System) that is designed to let millions of people fly in their own flying vehicles where and whenever they please. “The long-term goal is to improve travel between remote communities and transportation centers in urban areas by utilizing a new generation of aircraft between the nation’s 5,400 under-utilized public-use general aviation airports. One of the most revolutionary aspects of the SATS approach is the use of a software system that will sequence aircraft into the SATS airspace in the absence of an airport controller.” Of course there are many issues to consider but my point is that the concept is VERY real but far from being implemented. Most people aren’t even competent behind the wheel of a car let alone in an aircraft so safety is obviously the biggest issue.
Anyhow, aside from the numerous dynamics involved with making flying cars a reality, people are building them. For instance, Paul Moller makes the Skycar: The first and only feasible, personally affordable, personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle the world has ever seen.” Woody Norris has his AirScooter. Jay Carter uses CarterCopter technology to get in the sky. And then there’s Terrafugia, Inc. which makes “a roadable Light-Sport Aircraft that will be able to land at the airport, fold up its wings, and drive on the road.” The Cafe Foundation, made up of EAA members, were selected by NASA to host their 2008 PAV challenge. They create PAV (Personal Air Vehicles). Check out their video called “Race To The Future.” A very entertaining perspective on how aviation may look in the near future.
We have a long way to go with all this flying car stuff but we have to start somewhere and these people above are the pioneers in the new wave of aviation. Will GA aircraft be relics someday? The EAA believes so. NASA believes so. I tend to believe so. It’s my feeling that one day this “Highway in the Sky” will be filled with personal flying machines replacing the big jets. This is only the beginning folks. Imagine what the airspace will be like in 25 years? We can only wait.
After months of searching and research, I found my new flight instructor this weekend. His name is Teddy and he has a great promotional video for his new students to watch that demonstrates his amazing flying skills and teaching style. I was so impressed by his spin recovery that I immediately signed up. I’ll of course keep everyone updated on my progress. Training starts soon!
I just received some exclusive news from a trusted source that London Heathrow just installed a new landing approach lighting system as a result of their recent incident. Looks pretty good to me. The only thing they have to figure out is how to tackle the problem during the daytime.
I’ve always been completely fascinated by the SR-71 Blackbird. Ever since I was a kid I’ve thought it was coolest looking fighter/jet ever. I’ve never seen one in person but I’m making it a point from this exact day to make a venture to see the black beast. I’ll have to travel two hours plus to see her here but drive time is unimportant.
Anyway…my buddy sent me an interesting email about the Blackbird. Did some Google searching with some of the text within the email and it led to a post from a site called Pilot Speak. Here is an excerpt from the post about the Habu:
“Celestial navigation is automatic. There are about 50 stars programmed into the computer. These stars can be observed by the navigation system while parked on the ramp during broad daylight. Although the pilot takes off and lands the airplane manually, the navigation system is accurate enough to put the airplane on the runway in zero-zero conditions after flying nonstop from California to Iraq and return with four inflight refuelings.”
Here is a good write up of the world’s most dangerous airports to fly in and out of. The criteria is based on length of runways, amount of wind and lack of visibility. Some of these, especially Courchevel Airport in France, I couldn’t imagine landing or taking off. Gots to have nerves of steel.
On a related note, Yahoo! has a video on the worlds worst airports. Here Martin Hickman, a consumer affairs reporter for London’s Independent, explains why these airports are just plain unsafe and precarious. At some of these you may risk being shot down before you even land.
Four new pilots have been selected by the US Air Force to start training in the new F-22 Raptor. Four out of eight pilots were selected after taking a five week Raptor lead-in course. “This course is designed to be an intermediate step to (the pilots) taking the F-22 up for the first time and being successful” said one of the instructors. I couldn’t imagine being one of the eight pilots that would essentially have to wait five weeks to see if they’d be able to fly the new supersonic fighter. Had no idea that the program was so exclusive. The lead in course was done in F-16’s introducing the pilots to high-G environments and maneuvering dynamics similar to the Raptor. The pilots in the Raptor will experience nine G’s! Wow. The four pilots are now on their way to AZ where after two plus years of training they’ll be ready tackle the F-22 beast.
For the past five years or so, I have constantly thought about where the aviation business is heading. With all these canceled flights and delays I just knew that the public would have a breaking point of tolerence. The days of waiting in the baggage check line for two hours, going through security check-points, having to take your shoes and clothes off just to get on a plane will one day end.
I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty details but in my opinion large carrier companies like Delta, United and American are going to have to shift their business plans completely in order to compete with low-cost carriers, specifically low-cost regional on-demand carriers like Day Jet (an article from NPR explains Day Jet’s concept) and fractional jet ownership companies like NetJets and Jet-Alliance.
Common sense should tell you that as the number of travellers go up every year something will have to change. The trend is already well on its way in business aviation. Regional business jet travel is exploding by leaps and bounds. Business jet sales are up so high that companies have to wait years for their planes to be delivered because suppliers are stretched to the limit. In other words, maufacturers like Boeing can’t build planes fast enough for their customers. Even used jets that go on the market are gobbled up immediately. So what has to happen?
I’m entertained by the idea of the site Share Your Flight which “allows pilots, whether they own or rent, to post upcoming flights which have available seats. The pilot basically takes the total amount of the flight expenses and divides it by the total number of seats on the aircraft This dollar amount is what the pilot is asking in return to help pay for a share of the operating costs.”
Pretty cool idea. Doesn’t make the pilot or company much money but the concept has potential. Its my feeling that the industry has to become more personalized and flexible. Almost like the yellow taxis but in the air. The ultimate challenge is keeping the operating costs of airplanes down so it can benefit both the customer and operator. Seems to me that the first thing that needs to happen is get more people trained in aviation. We need more
pilots, mechanics, analysts, etc. but that’s a whole other issue. Uhhh…so many dynamics.
All and all its pretty hard to predict what direction the industry will go. We all know what we’d like to see happen but there are so many factors involved aka government regulations, costs, fees, who knows when the change will oocur. One thing is for sure its going to be a slow process. We have to start somewhere. Lets give thanks the small operations above that recognize we need change because the number one thing they need is support from the public. The more recognition they get the faster things will happen.
We are all in for a special surprise in the year 2015 when Supersonic Aerospace International will deliver their first QSST supersonic aircraft that will travel at speeds between 1.6 to 1.8 Mach.
“Chicago to Rome is currently about 8.3 flight hours in a large cabin business jet. With QSST flying Mach 1.6, the trip is only 4.5 flight hours, saving 3.8 hours. A flight from Seattle to Tokyo is currently about 9.5 flight hours in a commercial aircraft, and in QSST it will be under 5 flight hours, a timesaving of well over 4 hours.”
The cost of one of these will be in upwards of $90 million. I’ll just write a check when it comes out. This ultra-luxury business jet will be built by Lockheed Martin most likely and be powered by Rolls Royce engines. Anyway I’ll shut up and let you surf around in awe. I’m surprised I’ve never discovered it until today. Here is one the videos on their site:
Hey there everybody hope all is well - I’ve was pretty busy last week so posting has been kinda low. Anywho…a few things. I thought you would enjoy this extensive restoration of a 1937 Fairchild. The guys did a very good job in my opinion and makes me envious of people that have the talent to do this kinda stuff.
On a related note, I attended my fist meeting for the Athens EAA 780 chapter on SAT morning and we discussed about a couple of goals we’d like to get accomplished for this year.
First, we’d like to create a common area for people to hang around the airport with picnic tables and such so they can watch airplanes take off and land, etc. Right now the airport doesn’t have one and we thought it would be cool to create in order to promote aviation within the community.
Second, we want to organize a local fly-in sometime in October/November. Ben Epps is a great airport to have such an event and the idea seemed to exite the airport manager. We don’t necesarily want to have a huge event with aerobatics, etc quite yet but the goal is to have it every year so we’ll start out small and work our way up. I think having a fish fry fly-in would be awesome. We talked about people camping out around the airport during the fly-in as well. Very cool. I’ll obviously keep you updated on our progress. Till then happy flying!
There’s been a lot of talk lately on the boards that there is a growing number of people concerned that GA is slowly dying. AV Gas is getting more expensive, training costs are soaring, the government is proposing more and more user fees, the number of new pilots is going down every year, etc. And then there’s the cost of parts and maintenance, another whole side of the problem. Basically, general aviation is getting far too expensive for the regular Joe and there’s no real solution in view.
I’ve always been completely fascinated by the 
