Max Trescott Aviation Trends Aloft

Sharing Airspace with Drones

2012-02-09T13:39:57-08:00

The 145-page FAA reauthorization bill just passed by the House and the Senate contains dozens of directives from Congress to the FAA. One of them, which forces the FAA to speed up the introduction of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System, may inevitably lead to more mid-air collisions. To date, UASs have been authorized solely along the Mexican border and within restricted airspace. In the near future, pilots may be sharing all airspace with these unmanned aircraft.

Small, low altitude UASs will be here very soon. Within 90 days of signing the bill, the FAA will be required to “enter into agreements with appropriate government agencies to simplify the process for issuing certificates of waiver or authorization with respect to applications seeking authorization to operate public unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace system.” Under this provision, any government agency can apply to operate an unmanned aircraft weighing 4.4 pounds or less, in daylight conditions, less than 400 feet AGL as long as they remain within Class G airspace and at least 5 statute miles from any airport, heliport, seaplane base, spaceport, or other location with aviation activities.

Rules for larger UASs, weighing up to 55 pounds, must be published within 27 months. As part of that process, within 270 days the FAA needs to “develop a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.” Part of that plan requires that the FAA “ensure that any civil unmanned aircraft system includes a sense and avoid capability” and establish standards for pilots and operators of UASs.

At least one UAS has already had a mid-air collision. In August 2011, over the skies of Afghanistan, a 450-pound UAS hit a C130 cargo plane, damaging the plane and forcing an emergency landing. The drone was destroyed.

Near mid-air collisions are also occurring. In August 2004, a dramatic series of images from a German-built Luna UAS documents its own near miss with an Airbus A300B4 airliner with more than 100 passengers on board. The two aircraft missed each other by less than 50 feet. The UAS crashed after encountering the airliner’s wake turbulence.

The reauthorization bill’s requirement for UASs to have a “sense and avoid capability” will help, but is unlikely to avoid all collisions. Research in the last decade has produced a variety of systems that equip UASs with some combination of video cameras, transponders, radar and even microphones to detect nearby aircraft.

Many current UASs flying over Iraq and Afghanistan meet ASTM standard F2411 – 07, which requires unmanned aircraft to detect other aircraft within plus or minus 115 degrees of its heading and within an elevation of plus or minus 15 degrees. After detecting an aircraft, the standard requires a UAS to avoid a collision by at least 500 feet. For flying in the National Airspace System, the FAA could required UASs to have 360 degree surveillance to detect faster aircraft overtaking from behind, something not required under ASTM F2411 – 07.

Technology will help, but eliminating all accidents and mid-air collisions between aircraft and UASs will be impossible. Already the NTSB database documents at least seven UAS accidents in the United States. In the future, pilots will need to use all of their resources to avoid an increasing number of unmanned aircraft in the skies.

Help Honor Triple Ace C.E. "Bud" Anderson

2011-10-12T11:01:29-07:00

Would you like to help honor a WWII Triple Ace? Then sign up to attend the Aero Club of Northern California's Crystal Eagle Award dinner on October 22 at the Hiller Museum at San Carlos Airport. You'll find full details at http://www.aeroclubnorcal.org/CrystalEagle_Next.html At the dinner, you can also bid on many cool aviation items in the silent auction, that raises money for aviation scholarships.

C. E. “Bud” Anderson, a triple ace who scored 16.25 aerial victories over German Luftwaffe aircraft while flying the P-51 Mustang “Old Crow’’ in the World War II skies of Europe, will be the 29th recipient of the Crystal Eagle Award, presented annually by the Aero Club of Northern California to honor those whose achievements are among the highest in aviation.

The San Jose-based aero club will hold the awards dinner at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos. The club is the regional affiliate of the National Aeronautic Association.

Anderson, who was born in Oakland, enlisted in the U.S. Army as an aviation cadet in 1942. After earning his wings and commission as a second lieutenant, he flew two combat tours against the Luftwaffe in Europe.

Assigned to the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group at RAF Leiston, England, he became the group’s third leading ace. In his P-51 Mustang, he flew 116 missions without being hit by fire from enemy aircraft and without turning back from any mission.

In his 30 years of military service, Anderson flew more than 100 types of aircraft, logging more than 7,000 hours flight time. He was a test pilot and chief of fighter operations at Wright Field, chief of flight test operations and deputy director of flight test at Edwards Air Force Base, and served two tours at the Pentagon.

Anderson commanded three fighter organizations including in 1970 the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing in Vietnam. He retired as a colonel in 1972, then managed the McDonnell Aircraft Company’s flight test facility at Edwards AFB until 1984.

Anderson co-authored the book “To Fly & Fight -- Memoirs of a Triple Ace’’ in 1990. In 2008, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

The Aero Club also will present National Aeronautic Association Certificate awards to Bob Overby, managing director of Jeppesen Data Plan in San Jose, and longtime Hayward FBO Mike Coutches, for their life-long contributions to the advancement of flight.

Social Media and Google Plus for Pilots

2011-09-21T09:39:52-07:00

Recently someone replied to one of my maxtrescott.com blog articles that they hadn’t seen me posting as often to my blog and they wondered why. There are several reasons, but a big one is that I’m now spending a little more time posting on Google Plus and a little less time writing blog articles. So I would like to invite my blog readers to join me on Google+. That doesn’t mean my blog is going away…it just means that we can connect even more regularly elsewhere.

I find that it’s faster and easier for me to create on Google+ that to post a new blog article. Generally I post shorter comments on Google+ and longer comments on my blog. But I can use an unlimited number of words in each Google+ post, so eventually it could replace my blog. By the way, on Facebook, I’m limited to 500 characters, though I bet they'll change that soon. So I generally write new posts on Google+ and edit them down to fit on Facebook.

If you haven’t tried Google+, now’s a great time. For the past few months, you needed an invitation to use the service and I was lucky to get one from an acquaintance who works at Google HQ. But now it’s open to everyone. Just go to http://plus.google.com. Or use one of my 150 invitations by clicking on

https://plus.google.com/i/RBXvBLFeblA:Eu3iElgCWAc

Hope to be adding you to my Aviation Circle on Google Plus soon!

$100 per Flight Aircraft User Fees Proposed in Deficit Reduction Plan

2011-09-19T14:56:56-07:00

Here we go again. I’ve long said that all pilots will need to fight even more diligently in the future than we’ve fought in the past to preserve our aviation privileges. A press release today from the AEA, Aircraft Electronics Association, signals that once again we need to rally all pilots to fight proposed user fees. Deficit reduction is important, but preserving our industry is also important.

Currently the proposed $100 per flight fee would only apply to aviation operators flying in controlled airspace. It’s not clear how the FAA would identify which flights would have to pay the fee; the proposal exempts “public aircraft, recreational piston aircraft, air ambulances, aircraft operating outside of controlled airspace and Canada-to-Canada flights.” But if you think you don’t need to worry because you only fly a piston airplane for pleasure, think again.

General aviation pilots in countries outside the U.S. have generally pointed to user fees as the major cause of decline in aviation activity in their countries. Whether it’s the 20 pound (think $30) per landing fee charged at some airports in England, or the more than $100 per ILS approach fee charged in Australia, user fees hurt all pilots. While they may initially only target business flights (e.g. perhaps turbine aircraft), it’s a sure bet that they will eventually be extended to all aircraft.

Fees of this nature typically create a downward spiral that is difficult to stop. When fees are applied, aircraft owners either fly fewer hours or fly in a manner to avoid the fees, such as by scud running in marginal VFR to avoid the cost of flying an instrument approach. As a result, user fee revenues decline and agencies seek to increase the fees by extending them to more aircraft. If we allow user fees to be applied to any class of aircraft, eventually they will be extended to all aircraft.

The end result is a sad one. Just look at the small levels of general aviation activity in countries with user fees to see what may happen here. Not only would user fees force pilots to fly their aircraft less, but it will also seriously impact the market for new aircraft, which will lead to further job losses in Wichita, Duluth and other major cities where GA aircraft manufacturers are located.

Shortly, I expect we will all receive email notifications to contact our congressional representatives to let them know that levying user fees will kill our industry, while only temporarily bringing in limited revenue. When that call comes, make your voice heard. And in the meantime, support our industry associations that continue to raise money so that they can pull out all of the stops to help fight seminal battles like these.

Help Save Historic Blimp Hangar One at Moffett Field

2011-08-15T17:34:39-07:00

Here's a photo I took 2 years ago when I was at Moffett Field flying teenagers for EAA's Young Eagles program. Sadly, the hangar looks different now. If you're in Silicon Valley and look at the south end of Hangar One at Moffett Field, you'll see that a large amount of siding has been removed, exposing the hangar's inner framework to the elements. Unfortunately, the $32 million from Congress to re-side the hangar has run into resistance, which isn't surprising in the current environment.

There is an online petition to encourage the appropriation of funds for this project. Please consider going to http://www.tinyurl.com/4yll2tv and adding your name to the online petition to ask that funding be allocated to help preserve Silicon Valley's most iconic, historic landmark. Once, it's re-sided, it will become available again for use. For example, some have proposed it become a West coast extension to the Smithsonian's Air & Space museum. Without re-siding, the hangar cannot be used for anything, will lose its economic value, and will eventually collapse. The current situation is analogous to removing the roof of your house before you have money to put on a new roof! So it's imperative that funding be found for re-siding. Otherwise the hangar will deteriorate very rapidly, since it's framework will be completely exposed to the elements. Please add your name to the petition now!