Archive for July, 2011

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Helicopters Make Their Mark at AirVenture

By Scott Spangler on July 27th, 2011 | Comments Off

Performing missions no other aircraft can accomplish, helicopters are a vital part of the aviation industry. But they are a minority among flying machines, so their presence is often overshadowed by their fixed-wing peers, especially when they gather in numbers, as they do every year at EAA AirVenture. But the rotorheads made their presence known [...]

User (as in you pay) Fees (as in you pay more)

By Robert Mark on July 24th, 2011 | 5 Comments »

The Friday before AirVenture is supposed to be a really exciting time with friends gathering from all around the world to come hang out for good times and a week of spouse-numbing airplane speak. We’re actually hosting the Plane Crazy Down Under guys at our home in Chicago and it’s been great to connect with [...]

Three Cheers for ATC on its 75th Anniversary

By Scott Spangler on July 18th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Any pilot who says an air traffic controller hasn’t saved his or her butt at least once is either lying or stopped flying after solo. Air traffic controllers are my best friends, and you couldn’t pay me enough to attempt their job at any facility or at any level. And aviation wouldn’t be what it [...]

America in Space: An Ambivalent Future

By Scott Spangler on July 13th, 2011 | 7 Comments »

Having grown up with the US space program (which celebrated the golden anniversary of Alan Shepard’s fight on May 5, 2011) and come of age when Apollo 11 touched the moon, I’m not sure how I feel about the final flight of Atlantis, which is writing the final chapter on the shuttle program and US [...]

Technology Behind the Panic Button

By Robert Mark on July 10th, 2011 | 14 Comments »

When I penned an article about the Panic Button the Rockwell Collins folks announced at Paris a few weeks ago, I was upset … not with the Rockwell folks, but with the plummeting airmanship skills that the development of a device designed to save a big airplane if the pilots lost control seemed to imply. My [...]

Safety Management System: NTSB Most Wanted is Big Investment With Little Return

By Scott Spangler on July 5th, 2011 | 3 Comments »

The NTSB just published its top-10 Most Wanted improvements to transportation. Beware of Number  Three, Safety Management Systems, aka SMS. For newcomers, here’s the FAA definition: “SMS is the formal, top-down business approach to managing safety risk, which includes a systemic approach to managing safety, including the necessary organizational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures.” Canada [...]