Most air travelers have very short memories. And most have no idea what model plane they’re on.

(Written on 2020年 12月 25日)(Permalink)

DC-9 —> MD80 —> MD90 —> MD95 —> (rebranded) B-717. Plus a bunch of intermediate models. Solid and reliable with a long history. Very few big changes in this development path.

(Written on 2020年 09月 28日)(Permalink)

Hmmm. Textron website says “ Takeoff Field Length 3,300 ft”. Probably accelerate-stop distance. Not bad.

(Written on 2020年 08月 14日)(Permalink)

The Caravan has been an incredible success. Rugged and reliable plane, with FedEx as primary customer (tho makes an awesome float plane too). Anyone know the SkyCourier’s TO and landing distance numbers?

(Written on 2020年 08月 14日)(Permalink)

I’ve had two close calls with drones in the last two years. One in the Class D at 2200’ at KRFD and one at 8000’ 20 nm south of KDBQ. Both very near and very worrisome. Reported it to ATC each time but the operators were never found.

(Written on 2020年 07月 09日)(Permalink)

U42 (South Valley Reg’l Airport is at elevation 4606’ with a 5800’ runway. It was 8am so relatively cool, so density altitude wasn’t an issue. But John Lenihan is right about 4 adults in a C172, and 4606’ is high enough to lose some of its ability to climb. As a general rule, a normally aspirated engine loses 3% power per 1000’. So about 15% reduction for this airport. The spiraling down observed in the article could be a classic stall-spin. Though possible to be a structural failure (tho less like.y). Of course, we have to wait for the NTSB to sort this out. May they Rest In Peace ... may we all fly safely this season.

(Written on 2020年 07月 04日)(Permalink)

I’ve been working North 40 Flight Line Ops since the 1980’s. Camping under the wing of our 182. Kids grew up, since infants attending, and volunteer also. Terrible shame to miss this event. 10,000 aircraft arrive over the weekend and 25 square miles of incredible aviation activities. Best airshow pilots in the world perform every afternoon.

(Written on 2020年 05月 08日)(Permalink)

In the upper Midwest (Michigan. Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc), almost no airline traffic but a ton of general aviation. Easy to get an arrival reservation into KORD now.

(Written on 2020年 04月 17日)(Permalink)

Gotcha.

(Written on 2020年 04月 02日)(Permalink)

Looks like an American Airlines tail, so could be Mesa (which flies commuter routes for American and United). Besides Mesa, American also uses Air Wisconsin, Envoy, ExpressJet, Piedmont, PSA, Republic, SkyWest and TransStates. Looking at the flight log for KSBP, I see lots of SKW flights. So maybe more likely SkyWest?

(Written on 2020年 04月 02日)(Permalink)