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Now that we’re into April, perhaps there will be some relief from the winds of March. The Third Month certainly blew out like a lion; Friday saw gusts to over 50 knots, snapping wind socks out like a poker. Airplanes tied down outside strained at their moorings as they reached flying speed while sitting still.
Not too many aircraft flew in during the often-inclement conditions of the week; we saw a Cessna Skyhawk or two, a Piper Warrior and a Cirrus, and an Army Guard Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter came by. Of the local fleet, Brandt Hall flew his Avid Flyer homebuilt, Rebekah Knight was up in a Cessna 150 and Drake Cashman went to Garnett and New Century, KS. I made one maintenance test flight to return N704EZ to service. It was sad to see the SkyDive KC Beech King Air jump plane depart for its new home on Wednesday, after several years of carrying parachutists up to 15,000 feet. It will be remembered.
The Harrisonville airport was shut down last Thursday while pavement maintenance was making temporary repairs to the runway. The planned reconstruction of its runway has been delayed until 2024, so some filling and sealing will keep it usable for now. A survey crew was seen at Butler airport this week, taking sightings and marking parameters for installation of a new LED runway lighting system, coming soon.
The biig East Coast Sun ‘n Fun fly-in wound up last week, uneventfully. There wasn’t a lot of new product news forthcoming, traditionally released after a winter of development. Rotax announced its new 916 engine, a little firebreather replacing its 915 motor, now pumping out a Lycoming-sized 160 horsepower for one minute during takeoff, 137 horses continuous. Its first use was in a Cub clone that landed on a postage-stamp size heliport atop a tall building over in Dubai. It took three passes to get the approach just right so the STOL plane could skid to a stop in a few dozen feet. Otherwise, there wasn’t a lot of news from the show.
It was announced on the 31st that FLYING Magazine has purchased the struggling Plane & Pilot magazine, promising to continue it as coverage of the lighter piston-engine segment of general aviation. Those are about the only newsrack aviation publications left; most others have gone to digital-only media or are membership-based outlets instead of general circulation.
Our question from last week asked about the lack of a button atop the AOPA baseball caps, given out to members of the organization. The button is eliminated to avoid discomfort of the “pill” being pressed into one’s skull under a headset or when hitting the ceiling in turbulence. Reader Matt Poland knew the reason. For next week, we want to know the purpose of the small venturi device connected to a tube under the belly of some airplanes; no, it’s not related to the gyroscope vacuum system. Send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
