Who You Talkin’ To?
Rescheduled flights during the heat of the afternoon seemed to be the way of things aeronautical last week; the promised relief didn’t arrive here in the sunny southlands. Flying northward into Iowa, one ran into showers along the stalled-out cool front, but locally we had hot stagnate haze to contend with.
A few flights came and went; a Cessna Skylane came in for a short visit, a Beech Bonanza shot a landing and I saw one Piper Cherokee on the ramp. Locally, I had the 1946 Aeronca Champ out for a spin and BCS’ AirTractor agplane made some spray runs, often cut short by gusty winds out of the southwest.
News-worthy happenings last week included an airliner mix-up at Phoenix on Friday. Two American Airlines planes were both operating as “American Flight 2409” on the approach control frequency, one arriving from Chicago and another departing. That ain’t supposed to happen; call signs are picked by the airline, assigned to a particular trip, not a certain airplane. Except in this case the outbound stopover in Phoenix got canceled due to a mechanical, and another plane took over the trip, at the same time as the inbound flight. The controller handling the airspace fortunately figured out what was happening and kept them apart until one of the twin call-signs got on the ground.
The future of Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront airport continues to look bleak. The mayor and city council support redevelopment into non-aviation property, despite protests from users of the venerable downtown landing field. There’s nowhere handier to touch down at Cleveland, and once an airport is closed it’s almost impossible to ever get one back. Burke Lakefront supporters have rebuffed in their request for another public hearing on the subject. Another vital asset may be given away through political shortsightedness, like Richards Gebaur airport in Kansas City and Meigs Field on Chicago’s lakeshore.
In the ever-progressive outpost of California, airplane owners are being fleeced by the Los Angeles County tax collector, using onboard equipment they were forced to buy a decade ago when the FAA mandated Automatic Dependant Surveillance Broadcast gear. It turns out that California levies property taxes on “habitually situated” relocation of personal property, so if you land in L.A, County for any length of time, you get billed for part of that year’s worth of property tax. And they use the compulsory
ADS-B transponder output to establish ownership, which was only supposed to be used to improve air traffic control safety. As we said in the service, “BOHICA.”
Electric aircraft developer Beta Technologies is now a public company, after an IPO-generated investor’s input last year, so it issues earnings and status reports. Beta lost $149 million past quarter, up from the $80 million it lost in the same quarter last year. All these losses stem from research and development costs, of course, so Beta’s cooperation with General Electric and other investors aids its viability. I don’t think I’ll increase my holdings at this point.
Last week’s quiz wanted to know why the Browning 50-caliber machine guns in World War 2 combat planes didn’t overheat during extending firing. It was because at high altitude the air temperature was 40 below zero, so there was plenty of cooling. For next time, what kind of airplane was the first to land at the South Pole? You can send your answers to kochhaus1@gmail.com.
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