B. D. Maule dies at 83
Belford D. Maule, founder and owner of Maule Air Inc., in Moultrie, Georgia, died September 2 after a brief illness.
Maule's career in aviation began with a correspondence course in 1928. He joined the Army Air Corps when he was 18 and used his spare time to design a mid-wing monoplane powered by a motorcycle engine.
His plant, now located in Moultrie, was first established in Jackson, Michigan, in 1941. He moved the company to Georgia in 1968. Over the years he developed a line of tailwheel, tri-gear, and seaplane aircraft powered by piston and turboprop engines. They are in use all over the world, primarily in utility roles, but also as military trainers.
Maule, born in Old Fort, Ohio, on November 4, 1911, was a member of the OX-5 Hall of Fame and the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame; he was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame in 1992.
He is survived by his wife, June Aderhold Maule, whom he married in 1934; three sons, Raymond, David, and Gary; and two daughters, Shirley and Janet, all of Moultrie.
Howl Cowl available for Lance/Saratoga
LoPresti Speed Merchants of Vero Beach, Florida, has begun work on a new cowl for the Piper Lance and Saratoga that is claimed to add an estimated 15 miles per hour to the airplanes' cruise speeds.
The "Howl Cowl" is made of carbon fiber and fiberglass and will incorporate access doors for preflight engine inspection and a cowl flap to control cooling. The nose landing gear will be fully enclosed under the new cowl. Improved airflow onto the aircraft's belly accounts for a large part of the speed increase, said Curt LoPresti. In addition, the mod will include a new spinner and back plate, and a modified induction system.
Price for the new cowling is $11,900. LoPresti hopes to have the cowl certified by mid-October and to begin selling them 45 days after certification. For more information, contact LoPresti Speed Merchants at 800/859-4757.
Roll Call for Spitfires
A Spitfire Reunion for 14 of the historic aircraft still flying in the United States will take place during Air Fair '95 in Scottsdale, Arizona, on October 21 and 22. Attending will be members of the Spitfire Society of England and the Battle of Britain War Veterans of the Royal Air Force.
A documentary of the event will be made by Momentum Films of Santa Monica, California, for later distribution. For information on the film, call marketing director Lisa Wildeman at 310/452- 8088.
On the air
The Weather Channel has begun offering one-minute aviation weather broadcasts seven days a week at 5:17 a.m., 6:17 a.m., and 7:17 a.m., on cable channels nationwide.
TV ruled out as GPS blocker
A new study by the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) rules out television stations as sources of interference with GPS signals. Dave Anderson, a branch chief of NTIA in Annapolis, Maryland, said the study shows that television stations do not cause aircraft GPS receivers to lose track of satellite signals, as researchers at the University of Massachusetts had suggested.
While VOR transmitters have also raised suspicion, the airplane's own communications radios are the most likely culprit, Anderson said. The problem does not appear to be widespread. One GPS receiver manufacturer reported only two to three complaints a month, while another reported two to three a week.
Frequencies of 121.15, 121.175, 121.2, 131.25, 131.275, and 131.3 MHz can cause problems with any GPS receiver. Additional frequencies beginning with 121 and 131 have also been found to cause problems. Those frequencies can generate harmonics — unwanted multiples of the original frequency — that match and block GPS frequencies.
Low-pass filters — also called "notch" filters — are now manufactured by several companies to block harmonics. Prices range from $50 to $125. Two vendors who designed filters for Trimble Navigation receivers are FSY Microwave of Columbia, Maryland (410/381-5700), and Trilithic of Indianapolis, Indiana (800/344- 2412). Also, Ted Manufacturing of Shawnee Mission, Kansas (913/631-6211), makes low-pass filters for AlliedSignal and Garmin receivers. The filters are also available from aircraft supply houses such as Chief Aircraft (800/447-3408).
However, it is possible that filters will not cure the problem. Transmitters — and even receivers — can emit additional, spurious frequencies, Anderson said, and they can do it through the faceplate of the radio, bypassing filters attached to the antenna. If the filters don't cure GPS problems, there are more expensive fixes, including installation of aluminum shielding around the communications radio, replacement of poorly shielded cables, or relocation of the communications antenna farther away from the GPS receiving antenna.
A final tip: Try turning the GPS receiver off and back on, in hopes of disrupting the receiver's lock on the unwanted interference.
Philip Kayman, AOPA 1076993, of Chicago, won the Avemco Jazzy J- 3 Sweepstakes. The winner of the 1946 Piper Cub or its cash equivalent is chosen from among those attending FAA safety seminars or calling Avemco for an insurance quote. Kayman, already an aircraft owner, took the cash equivalent.
A new association has been formed for operators of Robinson Helicopters. The nonprofit Robinson Helicopter Association was formed to provide a forum for pilots, owners, and mechanics of Robinson helicopters and to reduce the helicopter's accident rate through exchange of information. For further information, contact the association at 203/872-1113.
Three Schweizer Aircraft 300CB helicopters have been delivered to Helicopter Adventures, Inc. of Concord, California. The two-place trainer is powered by a 180-hp Lycoming HO-360-C1A and comes standard with dual controls, three-blade main rotor with static stops, lights, and VFR avionics. Improvements over the C model include a one-piece upper pulley hub, a new air filtration system within a new aluminum-and-fiberglass chin skin, a spin-on oil filter, and a quieter exhaust system. The Schweizer 300CB lists for $183,500. For more information, call 607/739-3821.
Sentimental Journey honors WASPS
Forty members of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) were on hand in August at the annual Sentimental Journey Fly-In to "Cub Haven" at the William T. Piper Memorial Airport in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.
Honored for their service during World War II, the women spent much of the time at the fly-in conducting forums and sharing experiences of service life, which included ferrying airplanes, flight instructing, and towing targets.
Lock Haven was also the site of the WASPs' first reunion in 1946, when the late W.T. Piper Sr. honored his lady-flier guests and coaxed them into ferrying 92 J-3s to Ohio. More than 4,500 people and 350 airplanes attended the tenth annual Sentimental Journey Fly-In.
McCauley Propellers of Vandalia, Ohio, has been granted supplemental type certificates to install the three-blade BlackMac Quiet Zone Propeller (QZP) on the Piper Comanche 180 and the Socata TB-10 Tobago. McCauley claims that the new propellers improve takeoff, climb, and cruise performance, while reducing flyover and cabin noise.
Fantasy of Flight opens in October
After two years of development, the Fantasy of Flight aviation theme attraction will open Thursday, October 19, in Polk City, Florida, northeast of Lakeland.
Founded by Kermit Weeks, the Fantasy of Flight complex contains 30 vintage aircraft dating from World War I, including a Short Sunderland S.25 that is believed to be the world's only airworthy four-engine civilian flying boat. The attraction will also have a World War II fighter flight simulator.
Fantasy of Flight is located on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa and will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 941/984-3500.
K-C Aviation at Barnes Municipal Airport, Westfield, Massachusetts, is nearing completion of improvements to its facilities, including new taxiways, and has built shops for aircraft interior and avionics work. The upgrades cost $1.5 million.
American Champion Aircraft has formed a subsidiary, American Aircraft Engineering Research Company, for the development of a light aircraft. The as-yet-unnamed aircraft is called John Doe, because the colors of the prototype are similar to those of a John Deere tractor. The company promises that the aircraft, to be available as a kit in a year, will take off in 100 feet, land in 150 feet, and have a 24-knot stall speed. It can be powered by a variety of engines ranging from 70 to 125 horsepower. It is easily field repairable, since the flaps, ailerons, and rudder are identical in size and shape.
NOS Chart choices — Ringed or glued?
The National Ocean Service and the FAA have decided to publish both the ringed and glued versions of Terminal Procedures Publications (TPP).
According to a letter from the FAA, 58 percent of the subscribers preferred the previous glue-bound format, while the remaining 42 percent preferred the ringed format. The letter stated that the more a pilot flew and the more TPP volumes he or she carried, the more the pilot preferred the old glue-bound books. NOS has not determined when the new volumes will become available.
The FAA has decided to eliminate "unnecessary gender references" and has renamed the Airman's Information Manual. Now, it is the Aeronautical Information Manual, effective with the July issue. Additional changes include a switch to a loose-leaf format. Subscribers will initially receive the entire manual and will then receive individual pages on which changes occur.
A St. Paul, Minnesota, man has obtained all the parts to an aircraft that serves as an interesting footnote to history — a 1911 Steck Aerohydroplane. Denny Eggert said he hopes one day to find funding for a permanent building in which to assemble and display the aircraft. The old floatplane, which could also be fitted with landing gear, was flown only a few times in 1914 before it was placed in storage. The aircraft, found in 1990 in a garage in Chicago, uses a 50-horsepower 1909 Gnome "Omega" rotary engine. The entire seven-cylinder engine spins to turn an eight-foot Chauviere propeller. For information, call Eggert at 612/291-7925.
Squawk sheet
The FAA has revised a proposed airworthiness directive applicable to Continental IO-520 and TSIO-520-series engines to include the IO-360, TSIO-360, and LTSIO-360. If this supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking becomes an AD, it will require that some 23,000 engines utilizing a crankshaft produced by the airmelt process be replaced by one manufactured by the vacuum arc remelt (VAR) process if and when the crankcase is split. The proposed AD also requires ultrasonic inspections to detect subsurface cracks in the VAR cranks any time the case halves are split. The current price of a new IO-520 crankshaft is $2,200. There are approximately 58,800 airmelt and VAR crankshafts installed in 360- and 520- series Continentals, and the FAA estimates that the proposed AD could cost operators $3.8 million annually. The FAA feels that this change is significant enough to reopen the comment period. Submit comments in triplicate by October 23, to; FAA, New England Region, Office of the Assistant Chief Counsel, Attention: Rules Docket No. 93-ANE-08, 12 New England Executive Park, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803-5299. The supplemental NPRM is available on AOPA Online in the AOPA Active Rulemaking Library, Crankshaft NPRM, CONCRANK.TXT.
An AD has been issued to operators of Garrett TPE-331 and TSE-331 turbine engines, requiring a record check to determine if any service was performed by Fliteline Maintenance of Wharton, Texas. The AD requires verification of all life-limited components, inspection of those components, and verification of compliance with all previous ADs. Compliance is required within 400 cycles.
Second Peregrine jet crashes
The second prototype of Peregrine Flight International's PJ jet, a derivative of the BD-10, has crashed, killing company President Joseph Henderson. Another version of Jim Bede's kitbuilt jet constructed by Peregrine — called the PJ-1 — crashed late last year, killing Mike Van Wagenen, then president of the company.
According to reports, the PJ-2 suffered a split-flap condition during a go-around at the company's Minden, Nevada, headquarters. Henderson apparently began a go-around and was retracting the PJ- 2's trailing-edge flaps, when a small pin in the actuating mechanism failed. Because of the design of the flap actuating system, this allowed one flap to retract fully while the other remained fully down.
Henderson apparently completed the go-around maneuver but crashed some distance from the airport.
In the previous crash, pilot Van Wagenen was attempting to expand the airplane's flight envelope when flutter of one of the horizontal tails caused structural failure, according to reports from the company. The PJ-2 had been extensively reworked to address the flutter situation. Peregrine spokesmen said the company had been working on certification of the Bede design. — Marc E. Cook
Berkut crash kills pilot during airshow
Rick Fessenden died in an airshow crash of the factory-built Berkut experimental on August 12. He apparently did not recover from an aerobatic maneuver in time to avoid impacting the ground. The airplane crashed in a riverbed south of the Santa Paula, California, airport during an airshow there.
Preliminary examination suggests that the airplane had not suffered structural failure or control-system problems prior to the crash. There was no post-impact fire.
Fessenden had accumulated more than 6,000 hours and was a former Naval aviator, with time in the RF-8, F-4, F-14, and F/A-18 fighters.
The Berkut is a much-modified version of the Rutan Long-EZ, with fully retractable gear and a 205-hp Lycoming engine. Experimental Aviation, producer of the Berkut kit, is based in Santa Monica, California. — MEC
'Silver Bullet' Concorde sets around-the-world record
An Air France Concorde loaded with 48 winners of a Coors Light Memorial Day sweepstakes, several celebrities, and news reporters set a new record for a flight around the world in a passenger aircraft.
Sunchaser II took off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and returned in 31 hours, 27 minutes, and 49 seconds (including stops), for an average speed of 1,114.5 mph. Fuel stops were made in Toulouse, France; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Bangkok, Thailand; Agana, Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Acapulco, Mexico.
Cooperation from Saudi Arabia and the Philippines allowed Sunchaser II to overfly those countries at supersonic speeds. Coors sponsored the event.
The Yankee Air Force, based at Detroit's Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, Michigan, has completed nine years of restoration on a B- 17G. It was delivered to the Army Air Force in July 1945 and immediately placed in storage. Thereafter it served with the Coast Guard on rescue missions and worked at various times as an aerial mapping, firefighting, and spraying platform. It even played a cameo role in the movie "Tora, Tora, Tora." Corrosion from chemicals used in spraying nearly did it in, but it is airworthy again and believed to be one of only 11 still flying. The Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Mondays, and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. For information, call 313/483-4030.
Sault College of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, has become the first college in North America to buy the Zlin 242L for flight training courses. The college will buy seven aircraft over the next year. Sault College offers a two-year program to train pilots for airline and other flying careers. The aerobatic capability of the aircraft allowed the college to add emergency maneuver and unusual attitude recovery to the curriculum. Zlin is based in Barrie, Ontario, Canada; telephone 705/722-3522.
Akrotech Aviation of Troutdale, Oregon, has introduced the Giles G- 202 two-seat aerobatic aircraft. The aircraft is powered by a 200- horsepower Lycoming IO-360 engine and has composite wings, fuselage, and tail. It will be sold as a kit for $54,500, not including engine, propeller, instruments, and upholstery. Power loading is 5.75 pounds per horsepower. For information, call Akrotech at 503/666- 2284.
Kansas City gets new radar systems
A terminal Doppler weather radar and an airport surface detection radar have been installed at Kansas City International Airport.
The terminal Doppler weather radar manufactured by Raytheon can detect wind shear, microbursts, wind gust fronts, rapid wind shifts, and precipitation intensities on and near the airport.
The surface detection radar by Westinghouse-Norden Systems can detect all aircraft and ground vehicles — moving or stationary — on runways, taxiways, and parking ramps, regardless of weather conditions or visibility.
Chieftain earns boost in landing weight
Boundary Layer Research of Everett, Washington, has been issued a Supplemental Type Certificate for landing gear modifications to increase the maximum landing weight of vortex-generator-equipped Piper Chieftains to 7,368 pounds.
While Chieftains equipped with BLR's VGs have a max gross weight of 7,368 pounds, they must fly at least two hours to burn off enough fuel to land at the previous 7,000-pound maximum landing weight unless the landing gear has been modified. The modifications, which involve the main landing gear only, can be accomplished in 14 hours.
Price for the Super Chief II kit is $2,500 plus shipping. For further information, call Boundary Layer Research at 800/257-4847.
Student pilot handles emergency
Laura Longsworth of Northampton, Massachusetts, got more training than she wanted on a solo cross-country flight. The nosewheel came off her rented Piper Tomahawk during takeoff from Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Controllers diverted Longsworth, a 26-year-old reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, to Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield, Massachusetts. She used the soft-field technique she had been taught, stopped the prop horizontally before touchdown, and made a safe landing. The airplane skidded on the nose strut for 100 feet before stopping safely. And she got credit for the cross-country flight.
The reporter plans to complete her private pilot requirements by fall.
Jarrett McFarlin, AOPA 1226386, of the FAA Flight Standards District Office in Little Rock, Arkansas, has established an Arkansas Junior Aviator of the Year contest for youth ages 8 to 16. While the contest for 1996 is limited to youth living in Arkansas, McFarlin hopes to expand the contest nationwide in the future. For information on the next contest, call McFarlin at 501/324-5565.
Full Lotus floats are now available for the Rotorway Exec 90 and 162F. The six-compartment floats contain migrating bladders to help distribute weight evenly in the event an adjacent bladder is punctured. The floats can be used on land or water and are available for $3,745 a pair. Call 604/940-9378.
AOPA members in the news
Richard Cobb, AOPA 648175, of Heflin, Alabama, was awarded a One Design competition aerobatic airplane by Aircraft Spruce & Specialty. Placing an order entered him in the sweepstakes. Cobb, a teacher at Jacksonville State University, is an instrument-rated commercial pilot.
Robert T. Francis, AOPA 1262870, of McLean, Virginia, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a five-year term as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Wendy Grimm, AOPA 926035, the chief flight instructor for Patriot Aviation in Newport News, Virginia, has been named Eastern Region Flight Instructor of the Year by the FAA. In addition to her flying duties, she organized weekend safety programs and developed an introductory pilot training course for elementary school teachers as part of the NASA summer teaching program.
Paul and William Schweizer, AOPA 67724 and 163901 respectively, were presented a lifetime achievement award from the FAA for their contributions to aviation over the past 65 years. The Schweizer brothers built their first glider in 1930 and went on to form the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation in Elmira, New York.
Ray Rhoades, AOPA 412376, was elected president of the Flying Dentists Association. An airline transport pilot and CFII, Rhoades has logged more than 2,000 hours and currently flies a Piper Seneca.
John J. Sheehan, AOPA 240812, of Frederick, Maryland, has formed Professional Aviation Incorporated, a consulting firm assisting corporate flight departments in safety and efficiency matters.
Greg Launer, AOPA 1154967, of Miami Beach, Florida, has outfitted a BAC-111 with his "Theatre in the Sky" entertainment system. Aircraft passengers can watch separate movies in the front or rear of the cabin because of the system's interlinking capability. Theatre in the Sky also uses acoustic noise canceling to cut engine noise by as much as 75 percent.
Robin C. L. Hodgkins, AOPA 885778, of Hoboken, New Jersey (above, left), and his father-in-law, David K. Rice, AOPA 1174176, of Greensboro, North Carolina, have completed a 12-day, 13,000-mile trip to 49 states in a Piper Saratoga. Hodgkins, president of Cogent Information Systems, had just completed an instrument rating two weeks prior to the June trip. "Two and a half weeks is my maximum for that kind of trip, but I would do it again," Hodgkins said.
Jack Rowe, AOPA 572806, an author now living in California, is featured in The Coldest War, a book by James Brady about Marines in Korea. He was also featured July 23 in Parade magazine. He became a private pilot despite loss of an eye and other injuries in Korea in 1952. His novels include Inyo-Sierra Passage, Brandywine, Dominion, and Fortune's Legacy.
Mike Seavall, AOPA 455512, of Longmont, Colorado, won the 1995 Great Cross-Country Race, flying a Lancair IV-P. The 777-nm race began at Jeffco Airport near Denver and ended at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is cosponsored by Aircraft Spruce & Specialty and King Schools. Seavall, who averaged 272.47 knots over the course, received $1,000 cash and a trophy.
Paul Wehrwein, AOPA 799351, was the winner of the Sporty's Pilot Shop 1995 Dakota Sweepstakes. Wehrwein, a plastics broker from Crystal Lake, Illinois, is a private pilot with more than 250 hours.
