.JPG)
‘Tis the season…April showers continued last week, suppressing airport activities around the country. The weather is traditionally unsettled over the Easter holidays, and this year was no exception. A few flights were logged by the Butler evacuees at Harrisonville, as the lighting project proceeded at Butler, leaving the runway shut down.
We continually get asked “When are we going to get to buy fuel at Butler airport?” Officially, the goal is to have the new fuel pump ready for use by the time the airport is reopened from the lighting replacement. The two projects are not related in any way, the avgas debacle being a year-long struggle while the light installation has been in the plans for many years. Planes don’t always need runway lights, but they have a continuous appetite for fuel, so having to fill up at Clinton, Nevada or Harrisonville instead of home base requires planning.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice last month that it’s planning to do away with in-flight Flight Service radio frequencies, which is just about the last actual helpful service the FAA offers for General Aviation. Their excuse is that pilots “all have cell phones” and can get weather updates from a host of on-line and broadcast sources, so very few actually call in by radio and talk to a real live weather briefer, only about 300 per day,, the agency claims. Forty years ago, before personal electronic devices, FAA got 22,000 requests per day, over the network of Flight Service radio outlets like the one at Butler VORTAC station, 122.1 mHz. The 122.2 frequency used to be usable anywhere above 5,000 feet, known as “Flightwatch,” but that was eliminated years ago, with a remnant left at Springfield. Clinton and Jeff City still have outlets on 122.4, 122.3 is at Pittsburg and the 122.6 channel is found at Joplin. It’s still nice to have FSS ready to give assistance at the press of a mike button, as a backup for all the fancy screens and uplinks in our panel, but you’d better call them while you still can. If you want to protest the abandonment of air-ground flight service, you have until May 27 to write the FAA, 800 Independence Ave., Washington, DC 20591, Attn: AJR-81. Quote Docket # FAA-2025-0558.
The predictable fall-out from the trade-tariff wars is being seen in the deliveries of new airliners. Delta Airlines has a bunch of new Airbus 350 widebody jets on order, but won’t be taking them because the extra import tax from the European builder will make them too expensive. Of course, Delta is also anticipating a drop-off in its international traffic, so maybe they won’t need them anyway. And China’s Communist-controlled airline industry won’t be accepting the 10 new Boeing 737s it had been expecting to get, even though Boeing has some airliner parts built in China. The Chinese are building a home-grown copy of the 737 for their own use, so it’s logical to cancel the orders for Boeings.
Small helicopter maker Robinson Helicopter is going to bring out a big-brother model to tap a marker beyond its R66 turbine six-seater. The forthcoming R88 will seat 10 and will need a 1,000-hp French Safran Areil engine for lift. The overall enlarged design is similar to other Robinson helicopters.
Last week’s quiz question wanted to know the origin of the name “Skyhaven” for the Warrensburg, MO airport. It was from the associated Skyhaven Motel and restaurant on 50 highway. Next week’s question is from CH-47 ‘copter pilot Beth McCune; what was the nickname of the armed Chinooks used briefly in the Vietnam War? You can send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
