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A few good flying days last week made up for all the lousy weather contained in the stationary front that draped across the Midwest. The chain of low pressure systems coming out of California made it difficult to move airplanes. However, spring finally won out over the weekend and quite a few flights went up. Due to a fog threat in the forecast, only three Fliars showed up for the Saturday morning Fliars Club breakfast flight.
Transient traffic was limited by the weather of last week, but a Cessna Skyhawk, an RV-6 homebuilt and a big Pilatus PC-12 turboprop were among those we spotted. Some of the local planes taking wing were Jon Laughlin’s Piper Cherokee 180, Eric and David Eastland’s Cessna Skyhawk, Les Gorden’s sweet-sounding Beech Twin Bonanza and Jeremie Platt’s Grumman Tiger. I made a non-stop trip from El Dorado Springs in my 1946 Aeronca Champ and Flight Instructor Christian Tucker took a student to Garnett and Olathe in his Cessna 150.
Perhaps all the Euro-centered talk about flying airliners with only a single pilot on the flight deck was damped down last week with the event unfolding on a Southwest Airlines Las Vegas to Cincinnati flight. The captain became incapacitated for unspecified reasons and had to be removed from the cockpit by the cabin crew. The copilot took over and a dead-heading pilot from another airline was summoned forward to assist (“is there anybody back there who knows how to fly this thing?”). The flight diverted back to Vegas and departed again three hours late. No details were given on the captain’s condition or how many passengers opted not to fly. So much for cutting back to one pilot to save money.
A local enthusiast asked me last week, “which is the oldest airplane on the airport?” At that moment, it was a three-way toss-up among a 1954 Beech Bonanza and two similar-age Piper Tri-Pacers, my old Air-Knocker being away in the shop. The point being, airplanes can be maintained in an airworthy condition practically indefinitely, as long as you spend enough money on them. Engines can be overhauled, airframes rebuilt, radios updated, paint and upholstery replaced. The bulk of the general aviation fleet is over 40 years old, built in the heyday of the late 1970s. Parts for them are getting rare and expensive, in some cases, but they still do the job of $400K new Pipers and Cessnas.
The question from last week asked “which U.S. airline makes much of its own jet fuel ?” The answer we wanted was “Delta Airlines.” It bought an oil refinery to supply its fleet, rather than try to hedge against the spot market. Our inquiry for next time is “why do the promotional ball caps given out by the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Assn. have no little button on top, unlike most caps?” Send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
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