FAA News
Few chart prices affected by FAA shift
Price increase affects only terminal procedures
By AOPA Staff
The FAA’s switch to private printers for aeronautical charts and terminal procedures is nearly complete, with six FAA-approved print providers on board. Additional printers could generate competition and keep chart prices low.
The only charts facing a slight increase are terminal procedure publications. The increases were set to take place in December. This increase in price reflects the FAA’s inability to raise prices of its products, by law, since 2012.
The increasing use of electronic charts has reduced the sale of paper charts, thus making them more expensive to produce. By allowing multiple printers to produce them, most charts—including sectional and low- and high-altitude en route charts—will not be affected by price increases. Pilots can also download charts for free off the FAA’s Digitals Products webpage.
AOPA has closely monitored the FAA’s plan to switch from government printing to private companies, and has been successful in securing the Alaska VFR Wall Planning Chart as one replacement product for the world aeronautical charts. Also, the FAA agreed to produce two new Caribbean VFR Aeronautical Charts. The charts are intended to fill gaps AOPA identified that would exist without the WACs.
“What is now occurring at Santa Monica will have far-reaching consequences throughout the United States if the FAA allows this to continue.” —AOPA President Mark Baker on the continuing fight to save Santa Monica Municipal Airport in California.Headlines that affect you
Recent news from the aviation world
AOPA urges FAA to stop dismantling SMO
AOPA is asking the FAA to take quick, decisive action to stop the strangulation and dismantling of Santa Monica Municipal Airport. —AOPA.org
AOPA asks Supreme Court to hear aircraft liability case
AOPA is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case involving aviation products liability, an issue that could have a significant impact on the cost of flying. —AOPA.org
CAP crews document Hurricane Matthew damage
The Civil Air Patrol’s Florida Wing provided more than 13,000 aerial images of damage caused by Hurricane Matthew to federal, state and local disaster-relief agencies, the wing’s commander said. —GA News
FAA lists more instrument approaches for cancellation
The FAA, continuing to remove redundant and underutilized ground-based instrument approaches from service as new technology comes on line, has announced the fate of 125 of 198 procedures it had listed as candidates for cancellation. —AOPA.org
EAA reports on Experimental accidents
In September, EAA completed its annual tracking of Experimental category fatal accidents, finding that such accidents involving Experimental aircraft were well under the FAA-established “not to exceed” limit. —Aero-News Network
'Missions for America'
CAP soldiers on after 75 years of service
By Julie Summers Walker
The world was on the brink of war. On December 1, 1941, aviation leader Gill Robb Wilson—AOPA's first member, and editor of its first publication and other like-minded pilots won approval for the Civil Air Patrol, establishing a national aviation organization to defend the United States under Presidential Administration Order 9. Six days later, the United States. was attacked at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and was drawn into World War II.
In the 75 years since the CAP was established and immediately began hunting Nazi U-boats on the U.S. coast, the organization has assisted in the war effort, developed aerospace education programs, established search and rescue missions, supported radio communication with satellites, assisted on disaster relief operations, cooperated in the U.S. organ transplant programs, participated in drug interdiction missions, and joined forces with the Drug Enforcement Agency—as well as groomed thousands of young men and women for service to their country.
Hundreds of famous people have served in the CAP, including Willa Brown, the first female African-American officer; Air Force Gen. Carl A. Spaatz; Col. Phil Neuweiler; Mercury astronaut trainee Irene Leverton; aerospace educator Jack V. Sorenson; test pilots A. Scott Crossfield and Chuck Yeager; and Air Force Maj. Nicole Malachowski, the first female Air Force Thunderbird pilot. The CAP also is notable for its diversity—one in four members in the CAP is female and are important to its flying missions.
In honor of its continuing dedication to “Missions for America,” the current CAP slogan, in 2014 the organization was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
A gala dinner will take place at the Smithsonian’s Steven Udvar Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, on December 1, 2016.
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Departures
Arnold Palmer heads west
Famed golfer loved to fly
By David Tulis
Arnold Palmer, a man remembered as both “The King” of the fairways and an accomplished pilot, died September 25 in a Pittsburgh hospital of heart complications at age 87.
Palmer cut a swath through the golfing world in the 1960s as he ushered the sport into prime time during a four-year roll of dominance. He was named Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year in 1960. Later in life, he set several aviation records. Known to his army of fans simply as “Arnie,” Palmer has both a golf tournament and an airport named after him.
His success on the links allowed Palmer to begin flight lessons in a Cessna 172 at his Latrobe, Pennsylvania, hometown airfield, which is now named Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. Near Palmer’s hometown and the golf course where he learned as a youth, his presence among aviators will be forever secured by the airport’s Pleez Two departure that directs pilots past the ARNIE intersection southwest of Palmer tower.
He was flight instructor Eli Krinock’s prize student, soloing in six hours. Palmer later went on to fly twins and jets, connecting the golf and aviation worlds by flying to tournaments worldwide. Spectators would look to the sky for Palmer to make a low pass with a wing waggle in his Cessna Citation jet when he would depart a golf tournament.
Palmer piloted a Cessna Citation X to a closed-course speed record of 476 knots in 1997, and set an around-the-world speed record in 1976 when he circumnavigated the globe in 57 hours, 25 minutes, and 42 seconds.
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RED BULL AIR RACE
Goulian sets track record
But Vegas races are blown out
By Jim Moore
Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. Michael Goulian, one of two U.S. pilots in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, arrived in Las Vegas for the finale of the 2016 season hungry for victory, having not stood atop the podium since 2009. Goulian set a track record in his first race October 16, but desert winds ended the rest of the weekend's flying.
Pylons bent, then toppled as the wind exceeded 30 knots, and with no letup in sight, race officials decided to cancel the rest of the race schedule, having managed only five of eight head-to-head flights. Qualifying was called off for the same reason the day before, and nobody walked away with points. Race Director Jim DiMatteo said the wind, gusting to more than 30 knots, “exceeds our ability to conduct the race in a safe manner.”
The Americans—Goulian and Kirby Chambliss—managed the wind well, posting the fastest and third-fastest first-round times, respectively. That was 48.294 seconds for Goulian’s track record, and 49.406 for Chambliss. Martin Sonka (48.998 seconds) was the only other pilot who managed to break 50 seconds over the extremely windy course. “I was super aggressive because I didn’t know what the afternoon held,” Goulian said. “The conditions weren’t above our limit as pilots, but they were right at the limit. It was a day to fasten your seat belt tight.”
Fellow American Kevin Coleman finished third in the hunt for the Challenger Cup, the prize given to pilots developing their skills to compete in the Master Class. “I’ve learned a lot this year,” Coleman said. “I’ve got a win in my first season and lots of podiums. I’m hoping I can continue to build on this and have even more success next year.”
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UPDATE
Swift Fuels 94UL flight test
Getting the lead out
By Dave Hirschman
This fuel didn’t look right, and it didn’t smell right. I’d had the tanks filled the previous evening with 94UL—an unleaded product from Swift Fuels that is chemically identical to 100LL without tetraethyl lead.
The new Swift fuel is FAA-approved for engines that can operate on 80/87 octane aviation fuel, or the 91-octane fuel that the 160-horsepower Lycoming IO-320 in my Experimental-category RV–3B requires. On departure morning, however, the fuel in the strainer was clear, like moonshine. And it had a dank, musky odor.
“It’s 100LL without the lead,” said Jon Ziulkowski, vice president for commercial operations at Swift Fuels, a small Indiana firm based in Lafayette. “The base components are the same. About 65 percent of the piston fleet can run on 94UL today.”
Engine start and run-up were normal, and I climbed at full power on a warm, muggy morning all the way to 11,500 feet. Fuel consumption during the full-power climb was unchanged from avgas (11.5 gallons per hour with a rich mixture setting).
In cruise, the only differences were that the cylinder head temperatures (CHTs) ran about 10 degrees hotter (at 360 degrees) and the exhaust gas temperatures (EGTs) were 50 degrees cooler (at 1,350 degrees) than the same density altitude and power setting with 100LL.
Swift sells 94UL at 40 United States airports in 11 states, mostly in the Midwest, and the largest concentration is in Wisconsin. Three fixed-base operators (FBOs) in California—the state with the strongest opposition to leaded avgas—have begun selling the unleaded fuel. FBOs can set their own prices, and 94UL typically sells for about one dollar per gallon less than avgas.
Swift came onto the aviation scene in 2008 when researchers at Purdue University announced they had invented an unleaded avgas made from bio fuel. The company still uses bio fuels in some of its other products, but 94UL is derived from traditional hydrocarbons.
Swift’s other GA fuel, UL102, is one of two finalists the FAA is evaluating as a potential replacement for leaded avgas for the entire piston aircraft fleet. That process is expected to reach a conclusion in 2018.
Email [email protected]
Web: www.swiftfuels.com
Events
Balloon Fiesta welcomes cast of characters
More than 1 million visitors descended on New Mexico’s Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in October for the annual nine-day event, which pumps more than $175 million into the state’s economy, according to organizers. A kaleidoscope of color filled the brisk air as 550 pilots jockeyed for position after takeoff each morning. Attendees from as far away as Australia, Brazil, and Great Britain clapped and cheered as the 10-story behemoths rose one by one. “It’s so colorful,” said local resident Saul Jaquez. “I’ve heard it’s the most photographed event in the world, so that tells you something.” The event began in 1972 with just 13 balloons and is now one of the world’s largest spectator events. —David Tulis
Web: www.aopa.org/pilot/balloonfiesta
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