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~ author D. S. Cooper

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Tag Archives: Amputee pilot

Flying With The Flock

27 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

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Amputee pilot, aviation, Flying, KTAN, Taunton Municipal Airport

Pig Roast.jpg

It’s that time of year for fly-in events, large and small. Seaplane pilots will be headed to Greenville,  Piper Cub aficionados have taken a sentimental journey to Lock Haven,  and nearly everyone will be winging to EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh.

Best of all, nearly every weekend someone will open their hangar door and invite their friends to stop by. This month we had a pig-roast at Plymouth (above), the EAA Pancake Breakfast at Cranland, and our own Taunton Pilots Association breakfast-on-the-grill at KTAN. Like a car show, we like to look at airplanes and talk to other owners and pilots about flying. (By the way, studies at leading universities have shown that one out of three of the flying stories told at these aviator conclaves may be true!)

And if the truth be known, like the old warriors at the VFW post or the ladies playing canasta every Thursday, sometimes we just like to be with our own kind.

After all, doesn’t everyone know that airports — especially municipal airports — attract posers and pretenders with their political agendas and backroom deals? But when it’s just us pilots and our friends and our airplanes, we can forget about all that self-important drama for a day. Whether we’re a millionaire in a jet, or a homebuilder in a beautiful new ship that came together in our garage, or just some old guy like me in an ordinary old Piper Cherokee,  we’re all just people who share the same sky.

Happy flying!

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Who Killed Bader Field?

13 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

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Amputee pilot, aviation, Flying, Taunton Casino, Taunton Municipal Airport

 

Bader skyline

Bader Field used to be the Atlantic City Municipal Airport (KAIY). It’s still there in  the very shadow of the boardwalk casinos, but as an airport, Bader Field is dead. The runways are all closed and a minor league baseball stadium and concert venue dominate the grounds.

Historic Bader Field was the first place ever called an ‘air-port.’ It opened in 1910 and the Civil Air Patrol was founded there in 1941. Glenn Curtiss, Charles Lindbergh and Admiral Richard Byrd flew there, and for three decades it was the site of the Black Pilots Association and the Powder Puff Derby. The first attempt to cross the Atlantic by air (a dirigible) departed from there and during the 1960s and 70s Allegheny Commuter Airlines flew flights to Philadelphia and New York, until Atlantic City International Airport opened at the former Naval Air Station, fifteen miles away.

Bader_NJ_86Jun_Dash7

The airport was 68 years old and operating smoothly when it saw a dramatic increase in charter flights as the first boardwalk casino opened in 1978, less than five miles away. Four engine airplanes carrying 40 passengers were shoe-horned onto the 2,948 foot runway by Resorts International, and in one year (2001) Bader saw 10,683 takeoffs and landings. In 1986 Atlantic City received a grant for improvements from the FAA, along with an obligation to operate the airport for 20 years. But only four years later in 1990, the city appealed to U. S. Senator Frank Lautenberg for legislation that would remove that grant obligation so that the airport could be closed due to ‘unsafe levels of air traffic.’ Others say that the land had become too valuable and a proposal to build 4000 time share condominiums on the airport’s 143 acres was the reason, but in any event Lautenberg’s legislation failed and Bader Field remained opened, even as the city stopped properly maintaining the facilities.

Then in 1996, without consulting the FAA, the city began constructing Sandcastle Stadium near Runway 29/11 on the airport property. A court battle ensued, but after a settlement the stadium opened in 1998. By 2006 less than a dozen aircraft were based at Bader Field,  and transient airplanes accounted for nearly all of the air traffic there.

On May 15, 2005 a Cessna Citation jet bound for the casinos attempted to land at Bader with a 10 knot tailwind. The jet  overran the end of the runway and splashed into the Intracoastal Waterway. All aboard were rescued by a passing boater, but the jet’s right engine was never shut down, and the Citation’s wet and  wild gyrations after all hands abandoned ship were caught on camera. The accident is still a popular video on You Tube.

It’s too late to save Bader Field, which Atlantic City closed as soon as the grant assurances expired, ninety-six years after it opened. But a Casino is being built a few miles away from my home airport, and many of the pilots and aircraft owners here fear that our community airport could repeat Bader’s sad history if we don’t learn from it. Unfortunately, there are some futurists here in Taunton who espouse only tremendous benefits and opportunities from ‘the whole new era’ of the casino. Some of them seem to be putting personal gain ahead of what is best for our airport, for there is certainly money to be made from ‘expansion’  when the gaming industry comes to town.

And to those who say that extending our runway at Taunton to 4,000 feet would never allow jets into our little airport, please consider that after the jet crash at Bader Field, the NTSB found an airport diagram on the control yoke directly in front of the pilot which read “airport closed to jet traffic.”

Proving once again that if you build it they will come.

 

 

 

 

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A Whole New Error?

08 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

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Tags

Amputee pilot, aviation, Flying, Taunton Casino, Taunton Municipal Airport

setp“Further evidence of the trend to turboprop aircraft replacing piston power.”

That’s what one of my home airport’s commissioners recently said about this picture; a brilliant prediction since the headline hyping Cessna’s new turbo-prop airplane read “proof of a growing trend in aviation,” and many of the popular aviation magazines have been telling us as much for years. Yes, the single-engine turbines are coming!

This commissioner’s business must be doing very well if he is going to buy into a seven-figure turboprop. More power to him. I like the turbines, and I’ll never pass on the chance to fly aboard one of them and see what these remarkable machines can do. The power and sophisticated gadgetry in the panel is amazing! For sure, I’d love to own and fly a sleek new TBM 900, but my 1964 Cherokee 180 is the best that I can do right now, and it serves my flying needs perfectly. It’s also safe to say that not many of the pilots at Taunton Municipal Airport will be trading in their Pipers and Cessnas for turboprops any time soon, no matter what the industry gurus divine in their crystal balls. When our airplanes finally wear out, it’s much more likely we’ll be building and flying Van’s RVs, Zeniths and other homebuilt ships at a fraction of the cost.

I think that this local fascination with the presumed future of aviation is really about Taunton’s nascent casino, which is being built less than three miles from our airport. You’ve seen the gaming industry commercials, with the beautiful young couples spinning the roulette wheel to a jazzy guitar riff, dressed to the nines for drinking and dining and going to shows. Those commercials are a far cry from reality, but there’s no doubt that in addition to the multi-million dollar airplanes, “a whole new era” at Taunton would see more Polo, Ralph Lauren and European sports cars around the flight line, in contrast to the pickup truck and dungaree look which we currently enjoy.

Some of the most avid pilots at Taunton smell plenty of jet fuel when they’re working, flying Boeings 737s, Air Force C-130s and Citation jets, but they keep their personal airplanes at our community airport for the “grass roots” experience of barbeque grills and carefree kids on bikes and J-3 Cubs in the pattern. It would be a shame to lose that to some up-tight commercial airport to serve the casino.

It’s not that I don’t want aviation to progress. There’s plenty of room for the new turbines, as long as they don’t build their corporate hangars on the grass/gravel crosswind runway that our tail-draggers and classic airplanes often use. Real progress would be getting self-serve fuel and removing the old phone poles and downed tree branches laying around. Real progress would be improving access to our airport so that anyone interested in flying airplanes could get through the fences and join the fun.  And don’t forget that New Bedford already has two long runways, instrument approaches, jet fuel and glitzy facilities for the high-rollers, all within fifteen miles of Taunton.

 

 

 

 

 

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Hangar Flying

14 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amputee pilot, aviation, Flying, Taunton Municipal Airport

Hangar Flying

So, yet another Sunday morning of poor flying weather, with marginal VFR conditions over Taunton but lower clouds all around. Oh well, that’s New England!

Luckily the Taunton Pilots Association had planned their first monthly hangar breakfast for this week. It was a shame that friends could not fly in to join us, but we’ll hope for better weather next time.

Frank, Al, Steve and Nina did the setup and cooking. Luckily we didn’t run out of food! We’ll have more “vittles” (as Frank says) on hand next month.

HONORED GUEST

We were fortunate to have TPA Life Member Sue King in attendance at breakfast, even though she had to drive from the summer cottage on the Cape to be with us. Her family started our airport over ninety years ago, and where we were standing in the hanger was once the King Dairy Farm. Ironically, she couldn’t get through the gate without one of us “newcomers” going out to let her in, since for reasons none of us can fathom, management does not allow the gate access codes to work on the weekends!

LOW CEILINGS STRIKE AGAIN!

Also in attendance was Almost-a-Private-Pilot Max Frattasio, age 17, who completed the oral exam and pattern work of his private pilot check-ride this week. When the examiner asked him about starting out on the cross country phase, Max wisely replied that the 1,400 foot ceiling was a bit too low to venture to New Haven. So hopefully, he will complete the cross-county and air-work requirements to obtain his private pilot certificate before our next breakfast flight.

Happy Flying!

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Flying Uncontrolled

07 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

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Tags

Amputee pilot, aviation, Flying, Taunton Municipal Airport

crosswind entry

Our breakfast flights often take us to non-towered airports.

That was the case this week, when we flew to Plymouth for breakfast at Plane Jane’s. It happened to be some the finest flying weather of the year, so the traffic pattern was full of airplanes and the radio chatter was intense.

Now, we can safely land a lot of airplanes in short order, such as for the pancake breakfasts at Cranland, which might attract 30 ships as soon as the grille warms up.  But two airplanes occupying the same airspace at the same time is always a concern, especially since our fields of view are limited by cowlings, wings and cabin floors.

Communication is helpful. Courtesy is helpful. Rude (and often erroneous) comments on the radio are counter-productive. So maybe the most important thing we need to control when flying at an “uncontrolled airport” is the transmit button under our thumb.

Happy flying!

Gerry and Rich

Being and old guy who never flew for a living, one of the things I really enjoy about flying is watching young pilots come into their own.

So I flew to the Vineyard on Saturday for dinner with two Taunton pilots who flew to Oshkosh with me in my Skylane in 2009 (Gerry also made the trip in 2007 and 2008). At the time they had newly minted instrument ratings, and they got to use them on those trips! Both went on to fly Cessna 402s for Cape Air and now they’re both Pilatus PC-12 captains for a fractional ownership operation. Which means multiple legs on most days, in all sorts of weather and a lot of experience with advanced avionics and systems.

So well done, Gerry and Richard!

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Pilots – A Tough Crowd

30 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

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Amputee pilot, aviation, Flying, Taunton Municipal Airport, Writing

Pilots

Some pilots are a little too quick to criticize their fellow aviators.

Luckily, our group isn’t that way. I was reminded of that when we flew to the Vineyard’s main airport for breakfast this morning.

It’s the time of year where some of the guys had “family stuff” to do, so we met at Taunton with 8 airplanes and headed across Buzzards Bay with 5. After about 20 minutes of flying, the tower controller did his usual great work getting us sequenced for landing between Cape Air flights and jet traffic, despite the haze.

Over omelets and home fries, somehow the subject of our conversation turned to the many foibles and escapades of one former member of the group, who apparently lost his medical and gave up flying. It was gentle ribbing, really, and several of his ground loops and unplanned adventures were related as funny stories. (I got it! I got it! … Aw shit.)

When we get started on those hangar stories, nobody is safe. But more often than not, we enjoy some self deprecation and say,  “I’ve done worse than that!”

Not all pilots are that generous. Some inexperienced aviators can’t resist critiquing someone else’s less than perfect landing, even when theirs are nothing to write home about. But somewhere around the time an airman checks out in a variety of airplanes and gets a few advanced ratings, and then starts flying tail wheels or aerobatics or seaplanes, a mind-shift may occur. After that, we’re all just doing the best we can and enjoying this great sport called flying.

Of course, there’s always an exception, and in this case it would be the old curmudgeon who taught Wilbur and Orville to fly and never caught a wingtip in the grass or busted an assigned altitude. So we all just smile and ignore those blowhards, even if they really are as great as they believe themselves to be.

I remember one bad landing a few years ago, when a friend who is a very fine pilot bounced a heavy landing in his airplane, with full fuel and six of us onboard. There happened to be a flock of charter jet crews standing around in their Ray Bans and gold stripes to witness the “arrival,” and my friend was mortified to have to walk past the professionals to get to the restaurant, with all of us still laughing.

“Are you kidding?” I suggested. “Those jet guys wish they were flying their own airplane with a few buddies, so they could get out laughing after a terrible landing, without worrying about losing their jobs!”

It’s all in your perspective.

Happy Flying!

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America’s No Fly Zones

16 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amputee pilot, Flying, Presidential Vacations, Taunton Municipal Airport

pic

This is the time of year when we really appreciate flying our airplanes to the Cape and Islands.

Sadly, there hasn’t been much enthusiasm for flying in Southern New England lately, even though August has brought some great weather, with relatively calm winds and abundant sunshine. This is because President Obama is vacationing on the Vineyard … again.

From Friday August 7th, until Sunday August 23rd, a 30 mile “Temporary Flight Restriction” has been set up around the island. Any unauthorized flight in this zone will result in swift and severe action against the pilot by the United States Secret Service … again.

To be fair, it is possible to do some limited flying during the TFR. I flew my Cherokee into the outer ring to visit a friend in Falmouth yesterday, and the FAA made it easy. All I had to do was to file (but not necessarily open) a VFR flight plan, get a discrete transponder code, and stay in radio contact with Cape Approach and Departure. The controllers were friendly and helpful, but there were certainly Secret Service agents looking over their shoulders watching for one misstep, one wrong turn, one wingtip brushing the forbidden zone of the 10 mile inner ring, which would result in unleashing the hounds.

It isn’t fun flying when you know that you could loose your license for 90 or 180 days at any moment. Not to mention submitting to detention and an ardent Secret Service interrogation, where your personal political views may be considered “motive” for disrupting the chief executive’s serenity.

Of course, 9-11 is the reason why presidential vacations cost the taxpayers millions (billions?) of dollars in travel costs and security. The exact dollar amount is “classified” and obscured in dozens of bureaucratic accounting streams, but an island boondoggle certainly adds more to the national debt than a few weeks at Camp David.

So if you want to take off from an obscure grass airstrip around here (there are many) in your J-3 Cub or Ultralight, forget about it. If you run a flight school or a skydiving operation, suck it up. And if you make it to Edgartown or Vineyard Haven only to discover that blocks of streets are barricaded and shut down because the Pres went into town for an ice cream cone, take heart: He will soon be back among his billionaire buddies, golfing and brainstorming for new ways to make life better for the hard working middle class.

Okay, that was a cheap shot.

But what does it say about America when our leader may take such extraordinary measures to seal off and claim one of the most beautiful and desirable locales in the nation as his private and exclusive domain … again?

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Out of Paper

02 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

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Tags

Amputee pilot, aviation, Taunton Municipal Airport

Pitts

Pilots don’t like to run out of altitude, runway, fuel … or paper.

By paper I mean the aircraft’s registration, annual inspection, transponder certification or any of the other paperwork that is required for flight. And I was unable to fly my own airplane to breakfast again this week — even though my magneto was fixed — because I didn’t have a required piece of paper; my medical certificate had expired!

It was my own fault for waiting too long to make an appointment with my FAA Medical Examiner. I probably could have seen another examiner before the end of July, when my two years was up, but I’d rather hold off a day or two to see the same FAA doc who has been familiar with me and my medical history for many years.

So I hopped in with Robbie for a flight to the Vineyard, which is something we won’t be able to do for most of August, since President Obama will be vacationing on the island for a few weeks. It was a beautiful calm morning for flying, and breakfast at the main airport was just fine.

“You guys look like you’re out on parole.”

Celebrity sightings are common on the Vineyard, and usually we just smile and go on our way. But actor/comedian Bill Murray, who does not do many Hollywood interviews, is notoriously friendly in real life. So when our gang literally ran into him with his own group of friends at the gate to the flight line, Mike said hello and Bill obliged our motley crew with some banter and the quip about us being out on parole. Which was reasonably astute, since we are a bunch of working guys who do look a bit scruffy for our breakfast flights.

Third Class Medical Reform

Speaking of medical certificates, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is wrangling with congress right now to do away with the FAA’s  inefficient and cumbersome medical requirements for private pilots. They would like to move to a self-reporting system for medical issues, similar to the state drivers’ license system or the relaxed medical standards for light-sport pilots, which have been working well in smaller airplanes for many years. I’m all for that! So I was a bit miffed when I learned that the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is one of the staunchest opponents to the reform legislation.

However, upon reflection, I can see airline guys’ side of the issue, since the total elimination of the third class medical requirement might allow some pilots to fly beyond their physical limitations at airliner altitudes, such as a person with a history of heart trouble or sleep apnea choosing to fly at 17,500 feet in an unpressurized aircraft. Supplemental oxygen would be required at that height, usually delivered via a nasal cannula. Especially a night, that could lead to big trouble. And there are other scary scenarios.

So I really don’t know. I believe that my fitness to fly family and friends low and slow in my little Cherokee is between me and my personal physician. I wish that the FAA would allow private pilots of single engine four seat airplanes to self-report medical issues and remedies. But who knows if the other guy would push the limits too far?

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Sky Hitching

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

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Tags

Amputee pilot, Flying, Plane Jane's, Taunton Municipal Airport

Base to Final 28M

It’s always something with airplanes.

No magneto for my Cherokee yet? No problem, I hitched a ride to breakfast with Greg in his nice Cessna 177 Cardinal. The weather wasn’t great, so we stayed close to home and ate at Plane Jane’s at Plymouth Airport once again. Not a bad deal at all, since Jane’s is our favorite spot for a fly-in breakfast or lunch.

My sick Slick magneto should be back from overhaul in Tulsa this week. It’ll be good to get the Cherokee flying again. However, my third class medical certificate expires at the end of the month and I couldn’t get an appointment with my examiner until August 4th, so I’ll have to fly with someone else next Sunday as well.

Like I said, it’s always something with airplanes!

How To Purchase (or Sell) an Airplane

They say that the two happiest days of a pilot’s life are first, when he buys an airplane, and second, when he sells it.

So our group wandered over to our friend Bob’s hangar at KPYM after breakfast to look at his Citabria, which he was selling to make way for a new airplane. It so happened that our friend Fred was looking for a tail wheel airplane, so we enjoyed watching the horse trading. Of course, we left them alone for the final price negotiation, but I can’t think of a better way to buy an airplane than from a friend. Especially so when another friend (Mike) has been doing the annual inspections on that airplane.

Some pilots consider the GCBC with flaps to be the best model of Citabria (Airbatic spelled backwards). I’m sure Fred is going to have a great time with it, and we’re all looking forward to seeing what shows up in Bob’s hangar next.

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Flying May Happen

19 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Doug in Breakfast Flights

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amputee pilot, Flying, KTAN, Taunton Municipal Airport, Young Eagles

Young Eagles

Unlike this happy Young Eagle, no flying for me this weekend.

My Cherokee was diagnosed with a sick magneto on Thursday, which had to go to Tulsa for overhaul (hopefully under warranty.) So I had to hitch a ride to Cranland (28M) for the EAA Chapter Fly-In Pancake Breakfast. Which was great. But the highlight of the week was the second round of Young Eagles flights on Saturday morning. Some of our local pilots took 16 more Taunton High School JROTC students up for their first flights in an airplane. The sky was overcast but absolutely calm, and the kids were great, all smiles and polite appreciation. It seemed to be a complete success.

The only sour note – and it was a big one – was our airport manager.

He came over and demanded that we have a $1,000,000 (yes, million!) insurance policy for the “event,” naming the airport as beneficiary. Which is news to all of us, since we’ve been inviting friends to come to the airport and fly with us for years, with no mention of “event insurance.” The Young Eagles were our invited guests, and each pilot and airplane was covered by EAA insurance for Young Eagle flights. The was no invitation for the general public to go flying, no aerobatics, no formation flying, no low passes, no “spectacle.” Just free airplane rides for some very deserving young people.

We polled some other airport managers who told us that Young Eagle flights were no different than any other “not for hire” flight, and that pilots were welcome to bring anyone to their Public Use Airports for a flight. But that wasn’t good enough for our manager, who is not a pilot. He stated that the Young Eagles “Didn’t know what they were getting into,” (whatever that means) even though each had a signed permission slip from a parent. In fact, many of the parents attended to watch and photograph the flights.

Unfortunately, the manager’s tone and conduct was rather shameful for our airport, especially when you consider that our user fees pay for his contract. (The airport does not receive a dime from the city.)  But as Melinda, the president of our association succinctly told him in a letter, “Flying may happen from time to time at the airport.”

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