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Pilots enjoyed a respite from the August heat over the weekend, more like fall with temperatures topping out in the 70’s. It sure helped with ground operations, especially with tight-cabin low-wing airplanes. And the haze gave way to clear blue dry air.
Traffic for the week included an Army Guard Black Hawk helicopter shooting approaches to a hover, a Cessna Skyhawk trainer, several Piper Cherokees, a Cessna 182, a Piper Cherokee Six, and a passing business jet on the VOR-A procedure. Locally, Jon Laughlin flew his Piper Cherokee 180C, Jeremie Platt took his Grumman Tiger to the shop, I logged two landings in the Cessna 172 and Randy Miller was out in the club’s Cessna Skyhawk. Instructor Delaney Rindal kept a steady pace in the Cessna 150s, as did BCS’s AirTractor sprayplanes.
We lost a former flight instructor last week, at the passing of Marty Ghere. In the 1980s and 90s Marty kept a plane at the Butler airport and enjoyed traveling in both his Beech Baron and his Dad’s Piper Cherokee 180D. He wanted to add Certified Flight Instructor to his commercial ratings, so in 1986 I helped him with the process of getting CFI Single and Multi-engine. Marty enjoyed life and will be missed by all who knew him.
The ramp at Harrisonville airport has been cleaned up by the removal of the three derelict Twin Cessna airplanes that had deteriorating in the elements for years. They were dismantled and loaded on trucks last week, two slated for use in teaching student mechanics in training, and another headed for restoration, which will be a tall order. Sad ends for once proud aircraft.
Thursday, August 28th, there will be an airshow at the Branson airport, from noon until evening, so if you have plans to visit there, avoiding using the airport that afternoon. Also, this Saturday marks the monthly breakfast fly-out of the Fliars Club; Fliars should gather at 0730 on the Butler airport ramp to determine a course of action.
The Reno Air Racing association has been tossed out of its 60-year home at Reno, Nevada, now settling into Roswell, New Mexico, where lots of wide-open space is available for their pylon racing events. However, the Unlimited class of souped-up WW-II fighter planes won’t be running this year, for undisclosed reasons. There will be five other classes, Formula One, Sport, biplane, jet and T-6 racing next month.
On the airline side, Delta and United airlines are being sued over charging extra for “window seats,” my preferred ride on big jets. Turns out that not all their planes actually have a window beside each row of cattle-car seating. Due to the irregular pitch spacing, some outside seats have nothing but a blank plastic wall beside them. But the airlines still collected the added “window seat” charge. Just like being stuck behind a post at the ball park.
The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds put on their usual precision F-16 formation-flying demonstration over Lake Michigan in Chicago last weekend, but some lakeshore residents aren’t happy, claiming damage from “sonic booms” generated by the jets. The Air Force says it couldn’t be, because their Mach-meters showed they were well below the sound barrier. Sometimes shock waves form on another part of a plane, though.
Last week’s question wanted someone to give us the definition of “angle of attack” as it applies to airplanes. That’s the lift-producing tilt of a wing to oncoming air. More angle, more lift—up to a point, where the wing stalls. For next time, how old was the last-surviving World War fighter ace, who died last week? You can send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.