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The past weekend was a little frustrating for flyers, in that fog and low ceilings sat over the Kansas City area and rain areas threatened flights headed south. Last Wednesday, we were ran out of the Olathe area by pop-up thunderstorms drifting south of MCI’s airspace/ And the cold front sitting nearby after the wind shifted to the north made for the following days’ gloomy weather. We did see some air traffic, like the CH-47 Army Reserve helicopter passing through, and some agricultural application AirTractors treating some soggy fields.
In news of the week, it was announced that Boeing is selling off one of its divisions that specialized in support services for general aviation. Specifically, that means ForeFlight flight planning software will no longer carry the Boeing label, and the Jeppesen flight information and training products are divested. Boeing is returning to its roots, building airliners and military planes.
Delta Airlines keeps getting bad breaks in the publicity department. On the heels of losing wheels and other embarrassments, last Monday an Airbus 330 leaving Orlando had its right engine catch fire and 282 passengers had to slide to safety. The same day, an Atlanta-bound Boeing 757 had to turn around with cabin pressure issues. Last month saw a Delta commuter jet flip over after a hard landing at Toronto and a similar aircraft had to return to Atlanta with “haze” in the cabin, generated by a faulty air pack. At least nobody’s been hurt, but old Delta’s bad luck keeps coming it seems.
The FAA is getting upset about a proposed piece of legislation in the Florida state senate. It would allow homeowners to use “reasonable force” against drones flying within 500 feet of their property. The FAA considers drones and the like to be “aircraft” and there are regulations against shooting at anything that flies. As I told a lawyer this week, who was working on a nuisance dispute, you can’t use a local law to preempt Federal statutes. Guess we could always say we thought the thing circling over was a Black Vulture about to attack us...
The weekly trivia question, posed by CH-47 ‘copter pilot Beth McCune; asked for the nickname of the armed Chinook helicopters used briefly in the Vietnam War. The four big twin-rotor gunships were called “Guns-A-Go-Go” in their brief usage. For next week, we’re asking about the start of a war 75 years ago, being commemorated at the AirVenture airshow this summer. What war was it? You can send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
