"It would be nice to get closure" -- Steve Fossett

There's big news today from the search for Steve Fossett. A hiker in eastern California has located belongings that appear to have been those of the famed aviator. While they have not yet found the crash site, this is welcome news that will likely lead to new discoveries of what transpired during the final hours of this mans life.

Who was Steve Fossett?

Personally, I've always been impressed by his accomplishments and persistence. To his name are 90 aviation related records, including:

• First Solo Flight Across the Pacific in a balloon


• First Non-stop Solo Flight Around the World in a balloon


• First Solo Unrefueled Flight Around the World


• Longest Distance without Landing

His drive and determination allowed him to press on to accomplish many of these goals despite great obstacles, with the around the world balloon flight in particular only succeeding after 6 separate attempts!

On the morning of Monday, September 3rd, 2007 he departed in a Bellanca Super Decathlon for what was intended to be a survey flight. Unfortunately, he did not return and a search was started a mere six hours later. While many resources were spent, the effort to find him and the crash site ultimately turned up fruitless. The events of today open new hope that we might finally discover what happened on that day.

More Aviation Security Insanity

I'm sure Bruce Schneier would be proud:

The investigation began in February of last year, when investigators first learned testing of the drone was underway. Officials said the drone was being designed to carry more than 600 pounds of explosives.

"It could be in the air for 8-10 hours and there's potential harm if it is carrying a large amount of toxic material," NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in explaining why his department's counterterrorism officials were concerned.

Read the Scary Sounding WNBC Report for more information.

Apparently this guy was working on the thing at night (perhaps moonlighting after a day job), never flew it therefore never needing registration, and ultimately successfully sold the aircraft to a company for further development. Presumably it netted him some cash, and participation in good old fashioned American capitalism. He never did more than run an engine on the ground, so no FAA involvement was necessary, or even useful. And lets be honest, had he told the FAA, the outcome and investigation would likely not have been different.

Despite the hysterical reporting, it seems that the police did the right thing by questioning the fellow, and then letting him go. It sounds like they had enough common sense to realize that nothing was amiss here.

On the other hand, I am very disappointed by this remark from a fellow aviation blogger (and usually a good one at that):

Police say the engineer never registered the drone with the FAA or told any authorities about it. Further drawing concern was the fact that the man behind the project was an Egyptian national who came to the U.S. on a Sudanese passport.
Yup, that wouldn’t raise suspicion.

The engineer was building it at the former Calverton Airport in Suffolk County, NY. Calverton is the airport that won’t die. No one really knows what it’s still doing there, since it’s a private airfield with just about no airplane.

There are a few problems here:

1. Why is an aviator seemingly begging for an airport to close?


2. What does him being an Egyptian have to do with anything? Are we to profile pilots by race now? Ugh... Ugh... Ugh...


3. What would we say today about a few Ohioans building a cargo carrying aircraft in their bicycle factory?

Innovation. R&D. Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. Business Development. These things are evil and scary now if they involve and aircraft that can potentially be remotely controlled? REFUSE TO BE TERRORIZED!!!!

Review: Flight Design CTLS

2FLYTV.com has posted a fairly thorough review of the Flight Design CTLS:

Flight Design did not become the best-selling light sport aircraft in the country by being the best looking kid on the block. In fact, the FD is more like that nerdy guy in high school who got straight As and then hooked up with all the chicks. In other words, looks are deceiving. It is more than just a solid performing aircraft. Despite its funny looking design it has won this low-wing guy over.

This is well worth checking out, and is one of my favorite LSAs on the market. Overall, I still tend to favour the Jabiru 230-SP due to its greater capacity.

Is there a skybike in your future?

Sam Bousfield would like to think so. The Skybike is planned to be a three-wheeled two-seat vehicle with unique telescoping wings:



While I mentioned this in passing earlier, in my Airventure (Oshkosh) wrapup post, I think it is worth a closer look. While there are aspects of that design that some sharp readers may think would make it impractical, it should be remembered that these pictures are intentionally holding out on us.

It seems that several control surfaces have been redacted from the drawings due to patent registration issues. Swift Engineering has apparently designed a somewhat conventional "folding" tail, along with a system of "tiperons" for roll control. Similarly, some of the control surfaces will be used during ground operation in order to enhance road handling.

The fuselage is a load-bearing carbon fiber design, with an integral 120hp motorcycle engine packed behind the cockpit. Interestingly, airborne propulsion is expected to be via a ducted fan design, with air inlets in front of the rear wheels. The aircraft is expected to be built as a flying prototype by summer of 2009, and will initially be offered as a kit with a price of approximately $50k (expect that to rise as development progresses) and potentially later as a built SLSA.

It will be fascinating to see how this develops over the coming year.

Wrist writing formalized and simplified?

Yes! According to avweb:

Jack Cribbs is a woodworker from Plymouth, Mass., who needed a better way to write down measurements. Realizing what he needed was a pad and pen attached to his wrist, he went into his shop and put together WristWriter in about two hours. "I almost didn't try it on," says Jack, "because it looked too goofy even for me. But I decided to give it a week." It worked so well he has used it ever since and started selling it at home shows.

Sporty's is now selling the WristWriter for $19.95, and honestly as goofy as it looks, this really does sound like a useful tool for pilots keeping track of flight details while enroute. The product even uses water-resistent paper for better handling of potentially wet conditions during preflight.

Would you fly with a tool such as this?

Beyerdynamic introduces another Bose/Zulu killer, and at a better price!

According to the KitplanesMag Blog:

Beyerdynamic debuted its new HS 600 DANR (Digital Adaptive Noise Reduction) headset at AirVenture, offering a discount to the first 50 "test pilots." Using proprietary software, a microprocessor in the headset adapts to the noise level in the cockpit and reduces background noise. The digital design will allow product updates to be accomplished as needed.

As you can see from looking at it, this is an attractive package with more of an audiophile background than that of traditional aviation headsets. The units are German built, and come with a five year parts/labor warranty with service centers placed in the US. They are planning to offer custom coloring, and text imprinting via the Beyerdynamic USA website as well. Final pricing is expected to be in the $699-$749 range. It will be interesting to see the first thorough reviews on these units to see if they are truly all they are advertised to be (and thus competitive with the popular Zulu and Bose units).

Electric Flying... We really are closer than you think...

Randall Fishman has been working on Electric powered aviation for years, and his latest aircraft at Airventure is a real treat. The ElectraFlyer-C concept shown at Airventure is capable of a 70 mph cruise at a 33% power setting, yielding a time aloft of 1-2 hours. And all of that can be had for a 6 hour charge that costs a mere $.75 USD!

While the limitations of the technology currently limit its usefulness to trikes, and motorgliders, it is exciting to see the continued advance. Batteries are expected to improve in performance by 3-4 times over the next 20 years, and that could yield enough of a performance boost to make this a truly practical option for aviation. I look forward to seeing the continued work from the Electraflyer team!