Letters

2005 and beyond

Alton K. Marsh has written an interesting article on the future of general aviation (" Future Flight: GA in 2005 and Beyond," December 2000 Pilot). He describes a choice between "obsolete" individual instruments that allow continuous monitoring of parameters such as oil pressure and new computerized displays that present reports of problems observed by diagnostic systems.

There is a third approach that he does not discuss. The computerized display can be designed to show various levels of detail selected by the pilot. Many pilots, such as myself, want continuous reports of parameter values—we don't just want "idiot lights" that go on when a computer decides to turn them on. I would like a colored bar chart of trends in oil temperature and pressure. This type of display can be read at a glance and yet it shows trends in the value of this parameter.

In general, pilots want to be directly involved in the management of their aircraft. With a programmable display they can set the type and detail of information that is displayed on the individual screens.

In a related topic, fully automated small aircraft are depicted in the article. What would the passengers of such craft do when the computer dies? Please be assured that computer failures will occur with automated systems. Just a few well-publicized deaths would kill the concept for a long time in a modern example of the Hindenburg effect.

Nickolaus E. Leggett AOPA 2341342
Reston, Virginia

Winter flying

Steven W. Ells' " Airframe and Powerplant: Cold Weather Whys and Hows" (December 2000 Pilot) on the good and bad features of winter flying was a good article. However, two items struck me as needing more clarification. The mention of isopropyl alcohol should insist on use of the pure variety, not the watered-down version found in drugstores. The mention of kicking the tires doesn't seem to have any beneficial use other than a possible stubbed toe. Seems to me that it would be better to rock the plane back and forth to see if the tires rotate freely. Otherwise, the article contained extremely valuable information that should be heeded by all at this time of year.

Russ Lewis AOPA 519471
Lincoln, Massachusetts

Drugstore "rubbing alcohol" is 70 percent isopropyl alcohol thinned with water, and never should be used in fuel. Instead, use the pure isopropyl alcohol obtained by FBOs for deicing systems—Ed.

On private wings

I particularly enjoyed Thomas B. Haines' " Waypoints: On Private Wings" (December 2000 Pilot). My wife and I spend our summers in northern Idaho at a small private airstrip called Timber Basin. I usually fly up in our Piper Pacer from Southern California and then return via a commercial flight for my wife, our dogs, and our summer lodging, a motor home. Then at the end of the summer, I reverse the process.

Over the past few years I too have found that I can usually beat the airlines point to point, or at least come very close to beating them in my 135-mph Pacer over the 1,100-mile trip—and, I might add, with a lot less frustration.

Bob Andrews AOPA 335618
Claremont, California

Haines' column was right on the mark. As a captain for a major airline, I avoid airline travel as a deadheading crewmember whenever possible, as well as on my days off. Our family made one trip by an airline this year, to a funeral during winter IFR weather. Our Cessna 180 made several trips that could have been made using the airlines, but who needs the hassles and inconvenience? I've expressed my concerns to my airline's management regarding poor service, but our seats are full, so what's my problem? For now I will rely on my trustworthy Cessna Skywagon.

Kyle R. Cook AOPA 1166386
Tecumseh, Michigan

False assumption

Thanks for running " Pilots on Patrol" (December 2000 Pilot) on LightHawk's pilot volunteers for environmental conservation. It may help counteract the false assumptions you and others frequently make that environmentalists are among the enemies of general aviation.

Au contraire. In Chicago, for example, although some conservation voices who knew nothing about aviation were initially co-opted by the lobby to close Meigs Field, pilots within the conservation community have pointed out that the preservation of a small airport does more to help than to hurt the environment, and that the construction of another landscaped public park does more harm to biodiversity.

Kenneth Kaye AOPA 1273234
Evanston, Illinois

More on cell phones

As a retired electronics technician who has spent a big portion of my 40 years in the field running down radio interference problems, I wouldn't even think of turning on a cellular telephone in an operating aircraft (" Letters," December 2000 Pilot). Cell phones are designed and marketed as a consumer product. Most of them are in unshielded plastic cases, and radiate spurious signals, even when just in the standby mode. Cellular equipment specifically for aircraft use is designed and built to much higher technical standards.

Terrestrial cell phone channels are reused over and over again within a relatively small area, so a cell phone at 5,000 feet can tie up its particular channel on many other sites simultaneously. And if one wants to know why FM broadcast radios were banned from airliners, just set your nav receiver to 110.7 MHz and tune your FM radio back and forth around the 100-MHz mark. One needs to be aware that any device with a built-in electronic clock generates a small radio signal even though everything else in it is turned off, and just because one particular cell phone doesn't appear to cause any problem, another of the same make and model may. Any two-way radio shop can show you on a spectrum analyzer just what signals are being radiated from your electronic devices—it can be very interesting.

No, I wouldn't have any problem taking my cell phone with me when flying, but I'd leave it off until the emergency that required me to use it.

Ken Sears AOPA 1264469
Creswell, Oregon

The Carnahan tragedy

While still mourning the loss of their governor, his son, and a campaign aide, folks in Missouri are now being subjected to a real tragedy, as families of the victims scramble to sue everybody in sight ( AOPA ePilot, December 29, 2000). Lawsuits filed recently against Cessna, Textron, Sigma Tek, Parker Hannifin, and Aeroflite are sure to bring the aviation liability issue into the spotlight again, while obscuring true safety concerns.

Although the NTSB has yet to report on the October 16, 2000, accident, it is becoming clear that pilot Roger Carnahan, son of Governor and senatorial candidate Mel Carnahan, experienced an in-flight failure of either a vacuum pump or an attitude indicator while trying to land his Cessna 335 in a storm.

While it's easy to second-guess any pilot's skills, it is an undisputable fact that vacuum pumps and gyros are mechanical devices with finite lifetimes. During any particular flight, there is a calculable probability that one will fail. That is why we instrument pilots train in, and routinely practice, partial-panel operations. Given that a gyro failure is not only possible, but expected, one wonders how the litigants can possibly hold the manufacturers of the aircraft, engines, accessories, and avionics responsible for this accident.

But the courts are not necessarily bound to reason. One would expect that, just below pilot error and acts of God, the NTSB will now be forced to add to its list of most common probable causes a new category: deep pockets of the manufacturers. If these lawsuits are found for the plaintiffs, don't be surprised if we all get priced out of the sky. Once again, safety is served!

H. Paul Shuch AOPA 705486
Cogan Station, Pennsylvania

Pilots' skill

The historic standard by which all pilots are judged is the number of hours accumulated as pilot in command. It occurred to me that there is something wrong with that measurement. I have more than 2,000 hours flying a pressurized Cessna Centurion, which is not a speed demon (160 kt), but is faster than most single-engine planes in the air today. Over the course of my flying career, if I had flown the same number of trips in a Piper Cub, I would most likely have accumulated 4,000 to 5,000 hours.

Perhaps a more accurate measurement of a pilot's skill is the number of trips he or she has made. As you know, once an airplane is off the ground—whether it be a 10-mile or 500-mile trip—the pilot must exercise good judgment in piloting skills. For insurance and a variety of other purposes, I believe that the number of times a pilot has taken a plane into the air would be a better measurement of experience.

Paul Naz AOPA 157153
Harper Woods, Michigan

Hughes' flying boat

I was very glad to see the fine article by Alton K. Marsh on Howard Hughes' giant flying boat (" Goose Crossing," December 2000 Pilot). Also, I am pleased that the aircraft will be displayed "with dignity" beside other great aeronautical achievements in the McMinnville, Oregon, museum.

However, I do fervently hope that it will be proudly displayed by its real name, the Hughes H–4 Hercules, rather than by the disgusting name used in Long Beach, California, which was inflicted on it as a derogatory expression by its, and Hughes', detractors. Sorry to say that the derogatory name, or a shortened version of it, was used in the article about 24 times.

One of the very interesting parts of the fine article was the Jack Real quote that the airplane was underpowered. It was interesting to me because many years ago, my simplified calculations, using an assumed L/D, showed that at maximum gross weight the eight R-4360 engines could probably pull the H–4 along at 200 mph, but provided no excess power for climb at that speed.

Benjamin P. Martin AOPA 815397
Los Altos Hills, California

The prototype's model designation was HK–4 (the K stood for Kaiser). Production aircraft were to have been designated simply H–4—Ed.

We welcome your comments. Address your letters to: Editor, AOPA Pilot , 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701. Send e-mail to [email protected] . Include your full name, address, and AOPA member number on all correspondence, including e-mail. Letters will be edited for style and length.