May 2011 Archives

If there was an award for "Best Airport Dog", Blue, an Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler) who runs the roost at seaplane operator Kenmore Air in Seattle.

I was visiting Kenmore with our ace test pilot, Mike Gerzanics, to put together an operator report on Kenmore and to go with Mike to fly and video during is flight test of a Kemore DHC-2 Beaver floatplane.

Blue barked his way into my heart immediately as he scurried around the docks, greeting each aircraft that arrived or departed on 19 May and 20 May, the days I visited. My best picture from the trip is below, taken with my cheap old Casio Exlim.

If you know a good Airport Dog, or airport animal of any variety, drop me a line and I'll post a story about it.

Meanwhile, look for Flight International's Seaplane special feature to run in the magazine and on the web (www.flightglobal.com) on 5 July.

Below is a picture of the Beaver that Gerzanics (on the right) flies for the report. With him is Kenmore chief pilot John Gowey.

They did it! The University of Maryland's School of Engineering, along with "pilot" and peddler Judy Wexler has, unofficially for now, set a world endurance record for a human-powered helicotper!

The 5:30pm final flight attempt today, Wexler and "Gamera" had clearly cleared the floor at all four corner posts and the pilot's seat, according to bystanders, rising at least several inches in the air.

Kristin Maynard, an NAA official at Maryland to witness the test, said "It looked pretty good from where I stood", but acknowledged that the record will remain unofficial until video from flight is verified by both the NAA in the US and FAI in Switzerland.

Congratulations U of M!!!

Next, the team will attempt to win the Sikorsky Prize, which among other requirments, demands that the helicopter rise up to at least 3m (10ft) in altitude at some point during the flight.

Judge - any attempt is pending until proven. Looked pretty good from where I stood. At this point it's unofficial.

Following some test flights yesterday (May 11), studends and teachers at the University of Maryland in College Park will try today to liftoff and hover in ground effect with a 101lb quad-rotor pedalled by a 107lb althlete named Judy Wexler.

Click this hyperlink for a live feed starts at 11am east coast US time this morning.

Last night I posted a story showing a test run, which will be similar to the action today.

Good Luck U of M!

Forget that a select group of University of Maryland engineering students and teachers are on the brink of setting a world record for the first official human-powered helicopter, aka Gamera 

What's important about today's event is that the cyclist/engine for the quad-rotor behemoth is a dead ringer at camera distance for Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw (or Sarah Jessica Parker, if you happen to live in the real world).

Testing began this morning (in anticipation of a record attempt tomorrow) starting with several test runs with Carrie, I mean, life sciences graduate student Judy Wexler pedalling the innovative quad's four rotors to 14rpm, about 4rpm less than what will be needed for liftoff

It's actually a ground effect vehicle, so "liftoff" is a relative term..

The team at around lunchtime however decided some heavier duty tweaks were needed after three test runs however, so it's back to the shop for some adjustments before another attempt at 3pm in College Park, Maryland today.

While several others have accomplished a human-powered liftoff, there is as of yet no official record, according to NAA official Kristan Maynard here at the Comcast centre's volleyball court, the temporary location for the Maryland flight test team.

Maynard says today won't be an official attempt at potentially two records (one to become airborne; a second unclaimed record involves hovering for a certain amount of time) he hasn't yet mapped out the test area as teh rules require the vehicle to stay within a 10m square. Hopefully we'll have an update late today...

Federal investigators are trying to determine why a 2010 PiperSport LSA (N420PS) crashed near Brooksville, Florida late on the night of 6 May, possibly after an in-flight explosion and breakup at altitude.

Tragically, the lone pilot and flight instructor, 23-year-old Scott Tezak from Illinois, was killed. Tezak was apparently flying the aircraft back to Illinois for friend who had recently purchased it in Florida.

Media reports and web tributes paint Tezak as an avid skydiver and all-around good guy, who was engaged to be married to the mother his young daughter.

Maybe it was linked to his skydiving experience, but news stories say Tezak was found 3/4mi from the wreckage, with his belongings in a bag nearby.

Witnesses told local news reporters that the "pilot actually landed on his feet", and that the plane had been in a flat spin and had come apart in the air.

"We kind of figured he had jumped out," another witness told the Hernando Today. "It looked like he had tossed out all of his things before he jumped.";

The NTSB has yet to issue a preliminary report.

Piper discontinued its licensing relationship with the manufacturer of the LSA - Czech Sport Aircraft - in January this year citing different business perspectives between the two manufacturers. 

The first time I flew the Eclipse Aerospace EA500 back in 2007, I compared it to a magic carpet ride. I flew it again on 28 April (from the backseat), and I still think it's a magic carpet.

With its final slate of upgrades and new IS&S-built avionics, the EA500 is about as complete a package as you could hope for in a small jet, plus it's economical and a lot of fun to fly.

Here's the story Flight International's test pilot Mike Gerzanics wrote in this week's magazine, and here's the video I made during the visit with Eclipse Aerospace in Albuquerque on 28 April. Enjoy

Pilots for Canadian aerial firefighting company, Conair, take the notion of Safety Management Systems (SMS) to a new level. I've watched general aviation and corporate pilots perform pre-takeoff safety briefings for years (I don't have experience with airlines) and have never seen a briefing with quite depth and tempo as I saw watching Conair pilots Chris Baldwin (left) and Jeff Brousseau.

The two were prepping for an IFR training flight and water dumping run in a Convair CV580 twin turboprop as part of a training mission from the Abbotsford International Airprot (YXX )in Abbotsford, BC on 4 April.

Look for Flight International's full Aerial Firefighting feature package (which contains a large article on Conair) in the 24 May issue.

Courtesy of YouTube, here's a video of the kind of work Conair does on a daily basis in fire season...

No matter who or what ultimately turns out to be the cause of the doubly fatal crash of a Cubcrafters Carbon Cub light sport aircraft at the Everitt airport in Colorado on 23 April, it will likely be too little too late to convince a certain group of Colorado children that general aviation isn't a fundamentally treacherous endeavour.

According to the NTSB's preliminary accident report, the pilot of the Carbon Cub (N143FJ) was at the airport that windy Saturday afternoon to "give a demonstration flight" to a group of Girl Scouts.

"An adult member of the group told the pilot he had never flown in a light airplane before, and he was invited to accompany the pilot," the investigator writes.

What happened next was captured by a cell phone video -- and the memories of a bunch of unfortunate kids, I'm guessing. 

The video shows the Carbon Cub taking off an "assuming a steep climb angle", says the NTSB. "The airplane leveled off, appeared to be stationary momentarily, then fall off on its right wing and spin to the ground. High winds prevailed at the time of the accident."

Goose Creek airport (28A) in North Carolina was the scene of an odd sort of ultimate fighting contest between a Kitfox ultralight and an old Ford pickup on 3 March.

According to the NTSB preliminary report, the pilot/owner was attempting to land on Runway 4 that afterrnoon in "somewhat gusty" crosswinds. "The touchdown itself was not the best, as the the plane bounced," wrote the pilot "After the third bounce I decided to go around and try again."

Unfortunately, when he applied full power, he says the plane "veered left" and struck an unoccupied truck that was parked roughly 25ft to left of the runway.

"The plane spun around adn came to rest between the truck and the runway," says the pilot, who was uninjured. He stated in the report that the aircraft received damage to its frame, fabric and fibreglass cowl, as well as broken propeller blades and "destroyed" landing gear.

It's clear from a picture of the aftermath that both contestants won the battle - but lost the war.