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Your Ice Runway Has Been Busy
The weekend’s chill took the appeal out of recreational aviation last week, but some nice days earlier, and the promise of more, encouraged flying. Last Friday’s balmy morning gave way to steadily dropping temperatures as a dry cold front blew through with 30-knot winds in the afternoon. Flight plans got hurriedly rearranged.
Among the week’s visiting aircraft were an Oklahoma-based Cirrus SR-22 and a Cessna 172. Even the regular stops by Piper Archer trainers from Kansas City were at a low ebb. Some military traffic was observed overhead, such as B-2 Stealth flyovers and Army Guard Black Hawk helicopters. Most of the local fleet stayed grounded.
This coming Saturday morning, the last day of the month, marks the usual timing of the Fliar’s Club flyout, so if anyone’s desirous of assembling at 0730 hours on the Butler airport ramp to determine breakfast plans, let’s get together. The days are getting longer, so getting up is less of a burden now.
The Red Bull fleet of stunt flying airplanes, primarily in Europe, is running out of daredevil feats to perform, but an Italian Red Bull pilot flying a Zivko Edge aerobatic plane set a first by landing on a moving train last week. The trick was done on a straight stretch of track in Turkey, where the short train could hit 70 mph. The pilot matched speed to land atop a freight container then took off again.
You know it’s deep winter when the annual announcement of New Hampshire’s ice-runway airport on Lake Winnipesaukee hits the news. The tradition of plowing the snow off the ice at the big lake goes back 60-some years, and this year set a new record for numbers of planes visiting; 774 aircraft have landed there thus far. At cold temperatures there’s enough traction on the ice to easily slow to a stop, as we experienced here a few years ago after an ice storm coated Butler’s aerodrome.
As if pilots of low-flying aircraft didn’t have enough hazards to worry about, what with the rush to embrace drone traffic, the Iowa House of Representatives recently had a bill introduced to turn off those annoying flashing warning lights on wind turbines. Aimed at cutting down light pollution in night skies, the lights would only come on if radar detected an aircraft in the area. Wind turbine blades stick up as much as 400 feet.
Last week’s trivia question was, “Did Anthony Fokker make any German military planes during World War II?” Nope, Dutchman Tony Fokker only worked for the Germans during WW-One; he died in 1939, although his company continued into the 1950s. For next time, what would be the radio call sign used for a civilian airplane that happened to be carrying the US. President, since it’s not Air Force One? You can send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
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