March 2011 Archives

Air traffic control conversations from just past midnight on Tuesday (early Wednesday morning, 23 March) show an amazing dose of bravado in the post-9/11 era.

Click on the link below to hear the recording

ATC tapes - DCA tower 23 March.mp3

Rather than repeat myself, here's an excerpt of what happened from a FlightGlobal.com story I posted today:

Pilots of at least two airline flights arriving at Reagan National airport just after midnight on 22 March were given the option of landing at the airport despite receiving no response from the tower when on final approach.

The American flight, and a United Airlines A320 that arrived shortly thereafter, both decided to land at Reagan despite being told that communications with the tower were not possible for unknown reasons. Reagan National is located in one of the most secure flight zones in the US due to its proximity to the US capitol.

Recordings between the Potomac consolidate terminal radar approach control (tracon) and an American Airlines 737-800 inbound to the airport from Miami reveal that pilots performed a missed approach after failing to receive a call back from the tower after being cleared for the visual approach to Runway 1.

After re-establishing contact with Potomac, the pilots learned that attempts to call the tower by the tracon using several different phone systems had also failed.

"Remember a year or so ago, the controller go locked out of the tower and aircraft went in taking it as an uncontrolled airport," the Potomac controller said as the American flight climbed to 3,000ft (914m) over the area. "Think that over".

News reports later suggested that the lone controller on duty may have been sleeping when the incident occurred. Transportation officials are calling for two controllers on duty at all times as an investigation continues.

The Potomac controller told a third inbound aircraft that "we've made a few calls, no one is answering" and that two other aircraft had landed there in the last 10-15min. "I'm going to take a guess and say the controller got locked out," he said. Shortly thereafter the controller said, "the tower's back in business".

What I didn't put in the web story was the actual audio tapes, which I downloaded from LiveATC.net.

What's surprising to me is that the pilots elected to land their aircraft not knowing what was happening in that tower cab. In the post-9/11 world, especially in Washington DC, where general aviation is largely prohibited due to "security concerns", that seems absurd 

In the oddest of circumstances, I came face-to-face, sort of, with the company that many say is poised to ruin GPS.

That company is LightSquared, who with the FCC's permission, is prepping to roll out a new 4G broadband network later this year. LIke other terrestrial broadband systems, it will need about 40,000 cell phone towers to adequately provide coverage.

The potential problem in this case however is that the signals being piped out come down from satellites and are in the "L band", a normally very "quiet" spectrum where very low-power GPS operates. Experts from the aerospace community, including the DOD, DOT, FAA, airframers, avionics makers, etc, etc, etc say all the hubbub on the LightSquared network could make it difficult for GPS units to determine their position, hence not provide a navigation solution for those of us who use it almost constantly. Studies are underway now to quantify the magnitude of the problem.

As a commercial-rated pilot, flight instructor and aerospace reporter who tends to pick up avionics stories, I have been keeping track of the story, as you can imagine.

So starts the odd encounter.

On Monday (March 14), I flew with one of my partners, Reid, in our Piper Archer II to the Charlottesville-Albemarle (KCHO) airport in Viginia to attend the early afternoon unveiling of a scramjet project being led by the University of Virginia. It was a beautiful day for a VFR flight into the foothills of the Shenandoahs.

So, after a very nice visit with Dr. Chris Goyne at the University  (here's the story on that one), we waited for the same cabbie who brought us to the engineering building from the airport. His business card touted that the vehicles were "GPS dispatched".

Turns out the cabbie was a bit late because he had picked up another customer from the airport, and she would join us for part of the ride back to CHO. She was en route to the local mall to buy some reading glasses, after which the cabbie was going to pick her up again later.

The customer was very chatty, and was asking Reid and I about the hypersonic engine mockup and sounding rocket she had seen on the lawn at the school when they picked us up.

I eventually got around to asking why she was in Charlottsville and how she got to the airport (I had assumed she had come in via commercial service in a lowly Dash-8, CRJ or ERJ).

She revealed that she had in fact come in on a Dassault Falcon private jet belonging to her husband, whom the pilots dropped off in Washington DC before bringing her to Charlottesville. They apparently had originated the flight from their home in the West Palm Beach area that morning.

That led to me asking what her husband did for a living, flying her around in such a nice jet. As an aside, I wasn't able to determine what type of Falcon from the conversation as she didn't recall how many engines it had...

Grudingly, she gave up that her husband "was in communications". Oh, with whom, I asked? "You would not have heard of them", she said.

Try me, I pestered.

"LightSquared"

Gulp...

After revealing my ties to the name, she became surprisingly astute (compared to the Falcon mystery), telling us how this type of interference has always been a potential issue for GPS.

She was right, of course, but there's never been a company like LightSquared testing the limits, and doing so with what some say are some shady dealings...).

After we dropped her off, I turned to the cabbie and explained the seriousness of the issue and what was at risk.

He pointed to his GPS unit suction-cupped to the windshield of the mini-van. "You mean this?" he said, wide-eyed.

I never did figure out exactly who her husband was, but I'm guessing he's pretty high up in the company, given her not-too-shabby air ride - a Falcon 20 (pictured above at the airport).

The good news is that Mr. Fogg, who lives at the Whacky Burgers restaurant in Wilsonville (yep, that's the address listed on the FAA inspector's statement), Oregon, is OK.

The bad news is that the beautiful Glastar (N238MA) on floats that he was flying the afternoon of 9 February is not.

According to the FAA inspectors' statement, Mr. Fogg was planning to perform a circuit (on a paved runway) at the Aurora State airport, hence he had the floatplane's landing gear extended.

"The original plan was to make a left turn and stay in the traffic pattern but with other aircraft in the pattern, he extended his depart leg which took him over the Williamette River about 2.5mi to the north," said the inspectors.

Hey! Water? Floatplane? Hmmmm.

"At the time he noticed how calm the river was so he decided to do a landing on the river," the interview revealed.

As all of us pilots know, when you change plans on a whim, that's typically when things go to hell.

This was the case with Mr. Fogg when the Glastar touched down and flipped over as he watched "in slow motion". Fogg told the inspectors that checking the gear position prior to landing was not part of his mental checklist for the Glastar, and there wasn't a written checklist prepared for the aircraft. 

Fogg had lots of time to contemplate his fate after swimming out of the mostly submerged plane.

FAA: "He climbed onto the floats and floated slowly down the river for 1.5 hours until someone on the shore spotted him and called for help." 

Click here for previous Stupid Pilot Tricks stories

Stupid Pilot Tricks #1 - With friends like these

SPT#2: You mess with the bull....  

Bell XworX EVP of engineering, Jeff Lowinger, showed this video as part of his presentation at the CEO's panel at the Heli-Expo 2011 conference in Orlando, Florida on 7 March

During his annual state-of-the-state press briefing at Heli-Expo in Orlando today, Sikorsky president Jeff Pino provided a glimpse into some of the research and development projects in works at the company, including the X2, optionally manned helicopter avionics and active rotor flap systems that will likely replace swashplates one day. Enjoy!

Eurcopter today unveiled the latest evolution of its EC145 (formerly BK117) family, the EC145T2, the helicopter behind the curtain in yesterday's posting. The company performed first flight of the helicopter last year.

New features include an all composite tail boom with enclosed "fenestron" rotor, higher power Turbomeca Ariel 2E turboshaft engines, new main gearbox and four axis digital autopilot.

Below is a video of the unveiling at the Heli-Expo 2011 show in Orlando on 6 March.

AgustaWestland CEO Giuseppe Orsi has revealed that the company is building an optionally manned helicopter demonstrator based on its PZL SW-4 light single.

"We believe that sooner rather than later unmanned helicopters will be a reality," said Orsi at AgustaWestland's press conference at the HAI conference in Orlando this evening (5 March), The picture of the "RUAV" above was taken from Orsi's on-screen presentation.  

The Polish-built, five-seat SW-4 is a powered by a single Rolls-Royce 250 turboshaft engine and is the lightest offering in AgustaWestland's product line. 

Orsi says the aircraft will fly in autonomous mode with a pilot on board in 2012, followed by an unmanned demonstration flight by the end of 2012.

A big blue curtain centred on the Eurocopter stand here at Heli-Expo 2011 in Orlando proved to be too tempting for exhibition workers and some otherwise unauthorized gawkers, including yours truly.

After several people pushed back the curtain to have a look at Eurocopter's newest surprise, which may or may not be the new X4, a worker inside the curtain grumbled that someone needed to stand guard out front to shue away pesky onlookers.

I personally didn't get a look, though the outline of a helicopter inside looking similar to an EC145 from the front.

Across the hall, Bell Helicopters prepared its own unveiling, which may or may not be a new family member in the Bell 429 clan.

Other items of interest in my unauthorized Saturday walkthru include a new six-seat Swiss-made helicopter (the first ever Swiss-made helicopter, according to the company's web site).

Here's the SKYe SH 09 by Swiss airframer Marenco......

Also on static display in the hall is Sikorsky's tried and true X2 demonstrator, which achieved its 250kt level flight speed objective (and more) in 2010.

The new Robinson R66 will be just one of the many stars at this year's Helicopter Association International's trade show and exposition in Orlando, running 6-8 March.

Flight International gives a preview to the state of the state of the industry going into the show, as well as a peak into technology advances and the myriad uses of rotorcraft in our 1 March special feature. Links to the various features are below.

State of the State (by John Croft)

Next phase of Eurocopter X3 testing begins  (by Dan Thisdell)

Tech promise of Eurocopter X4 (by Dan Thisdell)

What's up with the Vertical Lift Consortium?? (by Stephen Trimble)

R66 Test Flight (by Peter Gray)

Maryland EMS operator learns from mistakes (by Fran Fiorino)

Fun will Bill Richards - Using helos to make movies (by Alaina Mabaso)

Myself and Steve Trimble will be reporting live from the show on Twitter and on our blogs (As the Croft Flies and The DEW Line) as well as on the Flightglobal.com web page, using the #HE11 hashtag. 

Please drop us a line or a comment is there's something at the show that you want to hear more about.