Few places evoke the grandeur of the United States wilderness more eloquently than Alaska—and few destinations rank higher on any given pilot’s bucket list. Alaska is a pilot’s Mecca—a state so vast that general aviation is the preferred mode of transportation for people and goods. Planning a trip to Alaska means crossing Canadian airspace (and possibly a fuel stop) before returning to U.S. airspace, so international procedures for flying to Canada apply to that part of your trip. Careful flight planning is a must, but for those who venture north, the rewards are great.
WHAT: Cirrus SR22
WHERE: Ketchikan, Alaska
PHOTOGRAPHER: Chris Rose
Spirit of innovation alive and well at Redbird Migration
By Ian J. Twombly
“Are we aviators or are we accountants?” That rhetorical question from Redbird’s Jerry Gregoire summed up the attitude and much of the focus at the 2013 Redbird Migration in October.
As Redbird moves forward, it’s clear the company is focused on controlling the costs associated with all facets of aviation—from learning to fly to owning an airplane. And Gregoire answered his own question. “We’re aviators and we’re going to fix it,” he said.
In its third year, the Redbird Migration is a variation on a traditional conference, bringing together flight training professionals and industry executives quick to confirm their commitment to this important end of the aviation market. Most presentations had the energy of an industry more focused on innovation, big ideas, and the need to take risks to increase the pilot community and flying activity.
Gregoire defended the role of motion in flight training. Redbird has spent the past year studying students who learned maneuvers first in the simulator and then transitioned to the airplane. “The total training time didn’t decrease, but the airplane time did,” he said. Gregoire also introduced Redbird’s helicopter motion training device, a platform he said can save rotorcraft students thousands of dollars in training. The company is expected to officially release the simulator at Sun 'n Fun 2014.
Craig Fuller, chairman of the Redbird board of directors and former AOPA president, presented the findings of the Skyport’s $1-per-gallon avgas experiment. Much to Gregoire’s relief, they found that cheaper fuel did increase activity. Over the period of a few weeks, Redbird pumped 90,000 gallons into 1,016 unique aircraft that came from 300 different airports.
Cessna CEO says Skycatcher has ‘no future’
By Alton K. Marsh
Cessna Aircraft President and CEO Scott Ernest gave updates on nearly the complete lineup of Cessna products during the National Business Aviation Association convention in October—but made it clear there are issues he doesn’t want to talk about.
Those issues include the Skycatcher and the incident involving the Cessna 182 JT-A equipped with an SMA diesel engine that had an off-airport landing August 21 after an engine failure. Ernest spoke to reporters at a press conference held at NBAA.
The diesel-engine Cessna 182 JT-A is moving along the certification track. Asked if the cause of an engine failure has been determined that occurred during testing 30 miles west of Wichita, Ernest deferred, pointing out certification is continuing. Ernest referred further questions to Senior Vice President for Engineering Michael Thacker, who said after the press conference that he could not discuss the type of testing in progress at the time of the engine failure.
Asked about the Light Sport Skycatcher by another reporter during the press conference, Ernest summed up the aircraft by simply saying, “No future.” After the press conference, Jodi Noah, who heads up the propeller-driven product line at Cessna, said the company had Skycatchers available for delivery and that it was still in their product line. A recent check of FAA records suggests that about 87 of the light sport airplanes are still owned by Cessna. None are currently in production, she said. Ernest said after the news conference that the airplane simply failed to find a home in the marketplace.
FAA issues final rule on air carrier pilot training
By Dan Namowitz
The FAA, addressing a mandate from Congress to update air carrier flight training standards and regulations, has published a final rule that stresses basic pilot skills and better tracking of remedial training for crewmembers to avoid “events that, although rare, are often catastrophic,” such as the February 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York.
The rule, to take effect March 12, 2014, requires “ground and flight training that enables pilots to prevent and recover from aircraft stalls and upsets,” which the FAA said would also affect future simulator standards since all flight training will be required in a full flight simulator (FFS) during all qualification and recurrent training. The rule also requires air carriers to use data to track the remedial training given pilots found to have “performance deficiencies, such as failing a proficiency check or unsatisfactory performance during flight training.”
Another provision is training for more effective pilot monitoring. The rule explains that “the pilot not flying must monitor the aircraft operation.” Training under the new rule will enhance pilot focus on runway safety procedures; and will expand crosswind training, “including training for wind gusts.”
Highlighting the rule’s focus on areas of training generally regarded as fundamental to safety—such as stall recoveries and crosswind training—the FAA said the rule’s provisions stem, in part, from the Colgan accident, and also respond to the ensuing congressional mandate to address flight crew training. The agency identified 11 aircraft accidents over a 22-year interval (1988 to 2009) including Colgan 3407, American Airlines 587 (New York City, November 12, 2001), USAir 427 (Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1994), Continental 1404 (Denver, Colorado, December 20, 2008), and Comair 5191 (Lexington, Kentucky, August 27, 2006) that might have been prevented or mitigated by the training requirements in the final rule.
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