AOPA Pilot Blog: Reporting Points

Phil McCoy shows twin details

Phil McCoy, who is preparing to produce the Storm aircraft at Light Sport America in Bartow, Florida, found something unusual in the hanger he acquired for his factory; a very small twin-engine aircraft. It was built by the former occupant of the hangar, but will be developed and certified as the Derringer GB trainer by McCoy. It is expected to cost $130,000, and for the record, does not meet the limitations for certification as a light sport aircraft. It is powered by two 70-horsepower Volkswagen engines, but McCoy thinks he may have to change those to certified aircraft engines. It is claimed to cruise at 120 knots indicated airspeed.

It is reported to weigh 1890 pounds and carry 25 gallons of fuel, burning 6.4 gallons total for both engines. Click twice on the photo of a proud McCoy to read additional details. He was photographed at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida.

Slow flight for Grand Canyon cameras.

EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski has confirmed that talks have taken place to have Yves Rossy, the Swiss pilot who flies with a wing on his back and a prayer in his brain, perform during EAA AirVenture 2013. His only flight controls are, like Superman, his body and a throttle for his jet engines. By adjusting his legs and moving his arms, he can perform a loop when and where he likes. He has flown in formation with a Douglas DC-3.

Landing at the Grand Canyon

There are still details to complete, including an agreement with Rossy’s main sponsor, Breitling. “I am optimistic,” said Knapinski. Known as Jetman, the airline pilot uses four JetCat P200 jet engines intended for model airplanes. In this country, JetCat distributors grit their teeth and hope no one will attempt to copy Rossy’s carefully engineered flights. The engines are intended to power model airplanes, not humans. In Germany, where JetCat is headquartered, the company is an enthusiastic sponsor.

Rossy has flown down the Grand Canyon after the FAA classified him as an airplane. As this is written, he is preparing to perform at air shows in New Zealand. He has enough kerosene mixed with five percent turbine oil to fly 10 minutes. He averages 107 knots but has gone faster. When it is all over, he pops his Parachutes de France Spectra 230–another fine sponsor–and steers to a target on the ground. If he needs to dump the wing, it has its own automatic parachute, but usually he lands with the 66-pound wing still attached. The wing’s takeoff wing weight, accounting for the mixture of fuel and oil, is 121 pounds.

Rossy aims for his Grand Canyon target

An FAA official in Milwaukee said Rossy’s act must still be approved for an AirVenture appearance. Previous approval by the FAA for Rossy to fly the Grand Canyon has no bearing on the AirVenture decision, the official said. However, starting the flight at a high altitude and ending with a pinpoint parachute landing are generally reassuring factors to FAA officials.

The Fighter Factory in Virginia will soon add a flying restored Mosquito bomber to its collection. It was built with recovered parts and new tooling by Avspecs, Limited, at Ardmore Airfield on the outskirts of Auckland, New Zealand. The company is owned by Warren Denholm and his wife, Shona and was started in 1997. As you’ll see, the company has done a photoshoot in New Zealand and is selling a calendar with photos.

There are videos of the tedious and difficult restoration here, and here. You’ll find video of its first flight and landing here. If that’s not enough videos, here is one more of the first run-up of those powerful Merlins. You’ll see it at the Fighter Factory’s airshow, Warbirds Over the Beach, on May 17. It will also appear in Canada at the Hamilton Air Show near Toronto in June. 

It will not appear at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. Fighter Factory owner Jerry Yagen said he asked EAA for an appearance fee to offset expenses, such as he has received at New Zealand airshows where the aircraft is now performing, but was rebuffed by EAA Acting President Jack Pelton. EAA officials said it is impossible to determine who would get such a fee and who would be denied it.  An EAA spokesman asked, “Where do you draw the line?” See comments below.

While in Aspen doing a story on the “most challenging airports” I discovered the pilot-approved places to eat. (By the way if you want some really good instruction in some really mean mountains, leave a comment and I will send you the e-mail of Gary Kraft who instructs at Aspen.) I found jet pilots from two fractional ownership companies at the Main Street Cafe, shown here. I tried to upload a photo large enough to let you read the menu near the front door. This is where the locals go not only for bakery products but for great, reasonably priced, breakfasts and lunches. Put “201 East Main Street” in your GPS. It has its own culture, and you adapt to it, not the other way around. The owner, who hates the cost of living in Aspen for the average person, is one tough little guy who gets his exercise by going up the ski mountains without using the chair lift. Takes him four hours up and 10 minutes down on his skis. He does it three times a week and is quite healthy.

For something more formal, eat at Jimmy’s, the recommendation of mountain flying instructor Gary Kraft. Just sit at the bar and the bartender will tell you what all the other crews and helicopter pilots are up to. They give her rides. Put “205 South Mill Street” in your GPS and go into the courtyard, look upstairs to your right, and that’s it. Terrific food at a very reasonable price compared to unreasonable prices nearby.

We’re not quite done yet. For a terrific breakfast and wildly tasty pastries, go to one of two locations for Frank Thirion French Pastry & Cafe. A French chef runs it! One location is at 317 East Hopkins Avenue, the one I went to by mistake when I was supposed to meet Bruce Gordon and Jane Pargiter of EcoFlight for an interview. It has a television camera linked to the other, and that is how we found each other–they saw me on the monitor at the location in the business park. The other has an address that your GPS will not recognize, so go to the business park near the Aspen airport. You will see it across the road as you leave the airport and head toward town. If you enter the park from that highway, the restaurant will be within sight about 200 feet to your left. The address is 111G AABC, which I know is gibberish. Call them at 970/925-3569 or ask before you leave the airport. It’s five minutes away, or just go into town and find the other one.

Reader Michael Baudet adds Hickory House (BBQ) to the list, and it’s at the edge of the town closest to the airport. Put 730 W Main St. in the GPS. Thanks Michael.

This is where the locals and jet crews go in Aspen.

Here’s a much easier way to get a favorite cup of coffee–in the next town–without all that traffic. Maverick is the only successful powered parachute and flying car on the market ($94,000). There are five flying.

Want to bet on a sure thing? The kids at the University of Maryland that built Gamera II, a human-powered helicopter, have a chance to win $10,000 to defray expenses on their next attempt at the Sikorsky challenge in 2013. They challenge requires them to reach 10 feet during a one-minute flight and remain in a 10-meter area. Watch this video and vote for it so that they win the prize. Before investing your two minutes, here’s an incentive. They have already reached nearly 10 feet in altitude and have exceeded the one-minute requirement during earlier flights. They are a sure bet to do it in 2013 and you can say you helped. They crashed a couple of times and could use the money. Give’em a break. They’re just kids. Gotta help the next generation. Stuff like that.

Sarah Wilson, a former employee of AOPA and a modern-day barnstormer, has resurrected a kids flying club tied to a radio adventure show called “The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen.” The sponsor was the Richfield Oil Company, sponsor of air races and a beacon airway from California to Canada. The oil company used a now-rare 1929 Model 4E Stearman for publicity tours connected to the radio show. Actors Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple were members. Wilson’s dream is to use the successful 1930s flying club, and that same Model 4E , also known as the Richfield Junior Speedmail (restored at Jim Kimball Enterprises) to attract kids and build support for general aviation. Jimmie was generally in trouble worldwide, with bad guys trying to sabotage his airplane and worse (gasp!). There’s a link to a sample of the old radio show at the top of this link. By 1937 the show was in decline and fewer kids were heading to Skelly gas stations to request their Jimmie Allen wings, so the actors involved moved to another boy hero, Captain Midnight. By the time the show reached television in 1954, Captain Midnight was an adult chugging his sponsor’s Ovaltine chocolate drink inside his Secret Club headquarters.

The savvy jet industry publication, Corporate Jet Investor, has an article detailing what might happen next in the stage of the Hawker Beechcraft bankruptcy–soon to emerge as just Beechcraft Corporation. Here is a list by Corporate Jet Investor of companies that are, should be, or have been interested in the company in the past.

Mahindra & Mahindra
India’s largest auto maker supplies components to Boeing and Gulfstream.

Nextant/Directional Capital
Nextant, which already offers the Hawker 400XP aircraft, might want to offer modifications for other models.

AVIC
China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) has joint ventures with both Embraer and Cessna and owns Cirrus Aircraft.The article states the company could still be interested in Hawker. Other Chinese firms might be interested, Corporate Jet Investor said.  Xi’an Aircraft International acquired Austrian composite parts maker FACC in 2009. Hunan Boyun that makes carbon-fiber auto and aircraft parts could possibly be interested in Hawker’s carbon-fiber jet.

BAE Systems
BAE Systems sold Hawker to Raytheon in 1993. It had been hoping to merge with EADS, which owns Airbus, but the deal fell through for political reasons, the magazine said. “Hawker could give it a commercial aircraft business of its own,” the magazine article said.

UPDATE: The most challenging airport is Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Watch for an article in a future edition of AOPA Pilot.

AOPA members nominated 270 airports at the most challenging in the country and I had to pick just one for a story. I am headed towards that airport now, and you’ll see  it in the future. Next to me is a Maryland man in his 50s studying a Gleim book for his instrument written exam. On the aisle is a former Army helicopter pilot who says he burned out after 1,600 hours and is no longer in the Army.

We’re in a one-month-old Boeing 737-800 that seats 175. I am lifting one elbow up to type this without disturbing the instrument student. He and a friend bought a Cherokee Warrior for their training. He plans to keep it after training, and finds his purchase with a friend makes training more economical.

We went through the usual airport hassle to get on this nifty crowded jet. Since it seats 175, Southwest gate personnel started boarding early and I ended up getting on among the last 10 people. All 10 had boarding passes that would have allowed far earlier boarding. Got to keep that in mind for future “jumbo” 737 flights on Southwest, and get up at 5 a.m., not 5:25. Also, need to keep those three traffic jams I encountered in mind. Heck, since it’s a new airliner I might even lean my head back on the headrest without worrying about cooties. Umm, nah, better not go crazy. It’s been out there among the crowds a whole month.

When I flew a 172 last week for a “Flight Training” video on grass landings, I and editor Jill Tallman took off when it was convenient. Nobody got our favorite seats. We weren’t worried about being late for the flight. I asked myself if I had honorable goals for the flight, as in not hijacking it, and I did. I didn’t screen myself or my flight bag, even though there is a screwdriver in there that I could use to overpower myself if I was really intent on taking over me. I wasn’t. My shoes never came off–there was never a line. I didn’t get irradiated with a “safe” dose or any dose. Is there no way to get this through to nonpilots?

I’m not saying general aviation is perfect for everything. Certainly, an airline ticket from Baltimore to Denver, my current destination, is a lot less expensive at $480 and a whole lot faster. But if you are sitting in your living room one morning in Frederick, Md., wondering what the leaves look like in New Hampshire–as I did–then GA is the only choice. I bolted Maryland at 10 a.m. and was home by 7 p.m. in a Diamond DA40. This big airliner won’t take you down to 2,000 feet for a better look and then stop in Massachusetts on a whim at a restaurant you just heard about from a pilot in Keene.  Just some thoughts from Seat 16D.

Here’s a shot we all wish we could make. I’ve never seen pixels shine like this before.