I just received a news release. It seems I was wrong about Lightsquared and the threat to GPS. Lightsquared went bankrupt. Its remains became Ligado Networks and the new improved FCC granted them a Redo. This is after a low powered test of the Lightsquared plan in the Nevada desert disrupted GPS for 1000 miles at the flight levels from a single station running at reduced power in the L-band GPS guard band. On April 25, a collection of GPS users, aviation groups, agriculture groups, nearly every important GPS user group in the country just wrote a letter to the Congressional Leadership prostesting the FCC's decision to reverse its decision from a decade ago asking for a Stay of the newest FCC order allowing Ligado to proceed with the original disruptive implementation plan as early as September 2022. I was criticized for keeping an ADF and a VHF ILS system in the aircraft as backup to GPS navigation. I'm keeping the stuff in the airplane until sanity returns to our governmen

(Written on 04/29/2022)(Permalink)

I hope you're right, but I fear they will take steps. Most consumer receivers have an FCC Type Acceptance certificate that specifically states it will accept any interference and will not cause harmful interference. Ham radio has to solve any interference it creates out of its bands. Aviation equipment used in navigation has an FAA TSO number certifying it meets technical standards. But, as has been made clear by the recent AD, the FAA can change its mind pretty much when it wants to as to compliance. You are right the phone companies don't care, unless someone starts transmitting on their guard bands and then the FCC will DF the signal and cart the broadcaster away.

(Written on 04/29/2022)(Permalink)

We went through this with Harbin's LightSquared when the FCC sold the GPS guardband frequency at auction cheaply to Lightsquared. The physics of radio signal generation and transmission require spacing between frequencies. That's why the original FCC, charged with administering the spectrum before it became an Obama/Biden profit center, placed the guardbands and strictly limited radiated power in these guardbands. The GPS fiasco we dodged is exactly the same situation. The FCC was prepared to let Lightsquared put ground stations blasting away, equivalent to having your teen age kid's stereo at full volume next to your closed bedroom door while you're having a quiet conversation. To make those two uses compatible, you'd have to build a soundproof wall and door as thick as a bank vault. The only reason the FCC and Lightsquared (who contributed heavily to Obama/Biden campaigns) got stopped was the Military, Airlines, General Aviation, State Highway Departments, Garmin, John Deere a

(Written on 04/29/2022)(Permalink)

It has, and they do. And they will. FAR 67.307(c) directly addresses the issuance and validity of the medical certificate in these cases. FAR 67.313(c) further addresses qualifications pertinent, and FAR 67.407(c) states in pertinent part: The authority of the Administrator to reconsider the action of an Aviation Medical Examiner is delegated to the Federal Air Surgeon, the Director, Aeromedical Certification Division and the Regional Flight Surgeon. Where the person does not meet the standards...any action taken under this section is subject to reconsideration by the Federal Air Surgeon. And 67.409 Denial of Certificate: Any action taken pursuant to 67.407(c) ...is a denial of the certificate. Finally, 67.413 and 415 discuss revocation and what the airman can do about it. The FAA airman registry for the airman contains an entry, but lists No Certificates and No Medical Certifications, yet it was reported that he was a private pilot. At one point he had a least a Class III

(Written on 04/25/2022)(Permalink)

My guess is if he tries to get a new medical after revocation, there's a huge red flag waiting for him in OKC. His medical app will indicate he has been revoked, his youtube vids discuss depression in detail elsewhere, and the reason for his revoked medical and pilot certificates will flag him requiring a special issuance which will be very expensive. More likely than not, though, this snowboarder will do whatever he wants until he is caught again.

(Written on 04/23/2022)(Permalink)

This has been debunked. Deutsche Welle reported a detailed forensic analysis using both satellite imagery (US feeds) and forensic analysis of the feeds. The satellite imagery showed the bodies in the street in the positions later found, unmoved, before the Russian military withdrawal. Next, the film analysis (dashcam) in the truck showed a purported hand waving was in fact, distortion caused by raindrops on the windshield of the filming vehicle. The "getting up and walking away" was reported by an image in the rear view mirror, which was caused not by the corpse moving, but by optical distortions in the right sided convex mirror. This is readily explained by optics physics. Der Spiegel, another German paper reported that the German security services intercepted contemporaneous radio Russian military radio transmissions identifying the locations of casualties in Bucha. There's a lot of information independent of the dashcam drive through video that corroborates what happened.

(Written on 04/08/2022)(Permalink)

This is where I get most of my mogas since my based airports do not sell mogas. I think you meant 100% alcohol free fuel. I do test every batch for alcohol and have found alcohol contamination occasionally. To use mogas you need an STC either from the EAA or Peterson. I got mine from Peterson back when 87 still had lead in some stations. Since there's no longer leaded mogas either one works.

(Written on 10/30/2021)(Permalink)

In other news, the FAA has just issued an approved model list of engines that can use the GAMI G100UL fuel. Any engine on the list which covers more that 600 aircraft and engines can use G100UL. This includes many engines. Curiously, I did not see any of the IO/O-500 series engines on the list from either Continental or Lycoming. Also missing was the O-470-U although all of the low compression 470s including STC'd fuel injected versions were included.

(Written on 10/29/2021)(Permalink)

I have used 94UL which was available at two airports I use. Airnav will report some of these if you do not select any option when searching for local fuel. There are a few in Wisconsin, but one switched back to Mogas, which is also unleaded and ethanol-free at airports. The Swift Fuel UL94 (according to Swift) meets/exceeds specifications for AvGas 80 which went out of production sometime in the 1990s. It can be used without modification in all 80 Octane aircraft. In others (100/100LL or 91/94) an STC is available from Swift.

(Written on 10/29/2021)(Permalink)

Because taxpayers are benefiting from the system. You, crk112 benefit every time you buy something from eBay that comes from Asia. You benefit when you buy a fish that was air freighted from the coast, fresh off the boat. You benefit when you get fresh veggies at the grocer. Someone benefits when the blood you need to save your life from a car crash is shipped in a GA airplane to make sure there are adequate supplies when and where they are needed. Or the heart needed in Ann Arbor can get there from Des Moine for the transplant. Just as they are benefiting from the highways and seaways. I would no sooner cede control of the high seas to the shipping companies either. We saw what happened in the 19th Century when the railroads controlled interstate commerce. It wasn't pretty and we were poorer as a nation for it.

(Written on 07/15/2017)(Permalink)