He’s back! Funny how Mr. Know-It-All seems to appear just at the right time, like now when everyone is completely wiped out from 10 days of absolutely awful airline news.

So here’s the question. But wait, perhaps I should mention the prizes first.

The first two readers with the correct answer win one of two great gifts … one from our friends at Southwest Airlines and the other from the folks at Cessna. And I can tell you now that each of the prizes are only remotely related to flying so don’t be getting your hopes up too high.

Question: What is the fastest aircraft used in passenger service on the planet?

And please post your answer directly to the blog so we can be impressed with how incredibly bright you are. Ready … go!

Pilots rightly obsess about losing their medical certificates, and too many of them think sport pilot, with its “driver’s license medical,” is an ever-ready, morning-after remedy for this unfortunate event. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Losing” a medical is a catch-all description meaning the FAA has denied, revoked, suspended, or withdrawn your medical certification because it knows about a condition or situation contrary to its acceptable standards. And regardless the class of medical certification, first, second, third, or driver’s license, the FAA will not reissue–or approve–any type of medical certification until the situation is resolved.

Yes, you read that right: In the FAA’s eyes, a valid driver’s license is a form of medical certification. Remember, sport pilots have a choice: they must hold either an FAA medical certificate or a valid driver’s license. 

After losing medical certification, the only way you can fly as a sport pilot is to resolve the disqualifying condition by jumping through the hoops necessary get a special issuance medical. When the special issuance expires, you can certify your medical fitness for flight with a driver’s license,  without any paperwork or exams.

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Not long after 9/11 the call went out from thousands of pilots … never again would they allow the cockpit of an airplane to be commandeered and used as a missile against ground or other airborne targets.

Of course, one of the reasons the 9/11 hijackers were successful is that pilots and passengers were reacting to those takeovers the way they’d been taught … agree to the hijackers demands in order to protect other innocent lives. No one ever thought the hijackers would sacrifice their own lives AND those of the passengers and crew to promote their agenda. We were all wrong and we now know it when we fly.

A New Strategy

Shortly after September 11th, a call rang out from airline pilots that they should be allowed to carry firearms as a final airborne barricade against another 9/11. By late 2002, an Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) supported bill was signed into law creating the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program. Just as the numbers of actual TSA Sky Marshals flying aboard airliners is today unknown, so too are the numbers of airline pilots that actually carry weapons. All in all, things have worked smoothly, at least in the sense that a pilot has never needed to use their weapon aloft to defend their airplane since 2002. But the lack of an attack is not conclusive evidence that a weapon on board an airplane is the solution to airborne security. And yes, I know that in the early days of aviation, plenty of airline pilots carried guns.

Personally I am uncomfortable with weapons. Maybe a better phrase is that I “respect the power of weapons,” simply because I watched the results during my Viet Nam Era military stint. I guess I’d say this is all my hang up and the NRA folks would probably agree. If I were in the cockpit, I simply would not allow a weapon on board my airplane. But there is more at stake here than simply my opinion on airborne security. Read the rest of this entry »

They’re dropping like flies this week. More cities will see their transportation options continue to dwindle as Skybus announces it will shutdown on Saturday. I think this makes five airlines in the past month that have closed their doors.

Good luck to you all.

With the recent abundance of publicity questioning the FAA’s oversight role in air safety, even some of us within the industry are having trouble keeping it all straight. Imagine if you were just an interested party, like an airline passenger that pays their money and puts their faith in the crew and the company when they climb aboard. Those people are worried.

Congressman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), a solid defender of the aviation industry, took the FAA to task yesterday on Capitol Hill delving into to whether the agency’s relationship with the airlines it oversees is in need of reform.

I think a close relationship with FAA has both pros and cons.

Give a listen to a podcast I finished today with Addison Schonland from Innovation Analysis Group in San Diego. He quizzed me on many of the airline safety topics people are wondering about right now. Hopefully, I answered them.

Rob Mark,editor

From the Editor: Are you a Jetwhine subscriber? Details are in the upper right hand column above or at www.Jetwhine.com. And please do pass this post along to anyone you think might also enjoy a blog of “aviation buzz and bold opinion.” Thanks.

Commenting on my recent post, LSA Pilots Could Spoil a Good Thing, a JetWhine reader said operating costs were missing from the mix. While LSAs might be pricier than hoped, “they still run at far lower operating costs–making plane ownership far less expensive. On average, many LSAs burn 4 gph. Insurance is cheaper as well.”

This implies that light sport-aircraft have lower operating costs, which they do when compared to flying machines with more horsepower and seats. But the same is true with Part 23 airplanes and homebuilts, because the certification category has little do with operating costs or insurance.

Without getting into all the extenuating factors, a 100-hp engine, whether it’s a Continental O-200 in a Cessna 150 or a Rotax 912 in an LSA, is going to drink roughly 5 gph. This is a bargain when compared to something with a 300-hp engine, which needs a 15-gph petrochemical fix. But when comparing aircraft of equal power, the fuel costs are pretty much a wash.

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Now that Aloha Airlines has closed its doors and parked its airplanes for good, it seems like 1991 all over again to me. That’s the year the airline I worked for, Midway 1, shut down because of high fuel prices - at least they seemed high then - and some silly management decisions. Eastern and Pan Am fell silent around the same time.

Some 2,000 people lost their livelihoods in Hawaii yesterday when Aloha ceased service. Here’s a photo a Jetwhine reader shot yesterday, probably one of the last of any of these old Boeing 737-200s flying I bet.

I can only say that I know what those Aloha employees are feeling … something akin to having been kicked hard in the stomach by someone you thought was a friend.

Everyone flying today should take a minute and think how their own lives would change if this happened to them. Maybe a better question is what can be done now, before your airline shuts down for good.

Aloha folks.

Rob Mark, editor

Come July of this year, aviation bloggers will find it impossible not to answer the call to our Mecca for the first Aviation Blog Fest in history - I think. 

In addition to a chance to hang out with many other very cool aviation bloggers and readers from around the globe, we’ll kick back and have some airplane fun since the fest just happens to take place during EAA’s AirVenture 2008 in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Airventure begins Monday July 28th and runs through Sunday August 3rd.

Imagine the fun of slogging down a cold drink under a blistering Wisconsin summer sun while you listen to aviation aficionados talk about everything and nothing all at the same time. We’re going to have a few very special guests join us, so keep that week open.

As the date draws closer we’ll firm up the times and specific locations on the Wittman Airport grounds. Right now, the EAA folks have not yet confirmed the time slot for the actual forum on the grounds, but I know we’ll certainly be having a Aviation Blog Fest barbecue courtesy of Jetwhine and a few additional sponsors.

I’m still in the market for a volunteer or two to help me keep things organized, so if you want to lend a hand, chime in. But if it were me, I’d send a private e-mail volunteering for Aviation Blog Fest 2008. Post a public note here and you’re name will never be forgotten, especially if you agree to furnish the charcoal and then come down with a sniffly cold at the last minute. Stretchers to the fest will be provided for those who need them.

No sir - Aviation Blog Fest 2008 is only for real bloggers, people unafraid to post on a moment’s notice. Imagine live blogging from the first airshow with photos. Now that would be a feat. Or how about telling the world about a Bob Hoover event as it’s happening. We’ll be podcasting too for those of you daring enough to watch.

Seriously, Aviation Blog Fest 2008 is open to anyone who has ever read or written a blog, or who just wants to find out what all the hoopla’s about.

July 28 to August 3, AirVenture and Aviation Blog Fest 2008.

Be there or be square! RSVPs as we get closer to summer, but mark those calendars. You won’t be able to sleep for weeks if you miss this incredible event.

PS - volunteers and donations of all kinds will cheerfully be accepted.

See you there.

Technorati tags: AirVenture 2008, EAA, pilots, blogging, bloggers, Aviation Blog Fest 2008, marketing communications, Jetwhine, Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh Wisconsin

I had a call today from one of the major TV networks.

The reporter was hoping I’d sit in front of a TV camera for a story about the grounding of hundreds of Delta and American Airlines MD-80 flights in the wake of another FAA airline maintenance crackdown.

The reporter also hoped I reveal that some of those airplanes were unsafe and might soon fall from the sky.

I told them thanks and to have a nice day.

I also said I doubted they’d find anyone who thought any of this current crop of airplanes were unsafe, any more than any of the Southwest Airlines airplanes were unsafe a few weeks ago.

These TV guys really missed the point I think. Then tonight, CNN’s Lou Dobbs ran a similar story and told the audience that the FAA was really just a solid bunch of overworked professionals.

Oh please Lou. Overworked?

Air Traffic Controllers yes. Technicians yes. Inspectors yes.

But what an insult to tens of thousands of FAA employees to lump them in with the people in Washington that run the agency. Does no one else smell a rat here? Guess what color the house is that gives the FAA and the U.S. DOT its marching orders?

This recent maintenance crackdown by FAA is not about some sudden new concern for airline passengers and air safety.

It’s really a not very sophisticated smoke and mirrors show designed to take the heat off the agency and put it squarely where it belongs … anywhere except on the people in Washington who run the FAA.

The crisis at FAA is really about the way top executives there think and then act … or as some critics explain it, “they shoot first and aim second.” The people running FAA are the ones who scare me. And they should be the folks who scare the public too.

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News that a flight school now offers sport pilot training is quick to catch my eye. The March 2008 the Oklahoma Aviator reported that Oklahoma’s Chickasha Wings Inc. had added an Ercoupe 415-C to its fleet, which also includes two Cessna 150s, a 172, and a Piper Apache. Sport pilots can train in and rent the 415-C because it, like many J-3 Cubs and Champs, meets the light sport-aircraft weight and speed limitations.

The school went LSA shopping because "we have had many calls asking for sport pilot rentals," Mitch Williams, owner, says in the article. "We looked at new light sport-aircraft and legacy taildraggers and decided the Ercoupe was the best fit for us with its electric starter, tricycle gear, and side-by-side seating."

Calling him for more information, Williams says asking a solo student to prop the plane is a liability hazard, and it is "really windy here in western Oklahoma, and if I’m teaching someone to fly in [a taildragger], we’re gonna have to pick our days."

Going first to the vendors of new light sport-aircraft, getting something he could rent was $100,000, more than he wanted to spend. "I might spend $50,000 or $60,000, but I didn’t want to pay the big insurance and all that on having to borrow money."

Rental fees was another consideration. The hourly rate for any of the new LSAs would probably be $89 or more, Williams says, adding that "you’re always going to have a rental ending in 9; that’s just how it is [laughs]."

Williams paid $20,000 for the Ercoupe 415-C, which rents for $59 an hour solo and $79 dual. It has flown about 50 hours in its first two months, paying off on the calls that led to Chickasha Wings’ to offer sport pilot training. One caller has already earned his sport pilot certificate.

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