The Danger in Flying

You can maintain your aircraft carefully and still have the unforeseen happen. On July 5th of this year I was on a flight back from Utah. I was over Taylor Park and starting to climb from 13,000 ft to 16,000 ft to climb over some clouds that were starting to build in the morning skies over the Grand Mesa and the Collegiate Peaks. As I pulled back to climb I heard a loud pop. I thought it had come from the tail but you can't see the tail well from the pilots seat. You can't pull over beside the road and check, so I went back to the business of flying the plane and donning oxygen for the higher altitudes at which I would be flying for a while. About twenty minutes later I landed safely in Salida at KANK the Salida airport where I base my Bellanca. Later, in inspection of the plane I found that one of the eight flying wires that support the tail had broken at the threaded area where it attaches to the vertical stabilizer. I was fortunate that only one had broken and that the other seven had continued to do their work, leaving the tail level and the controls free. After my mechanic and I had viewed the damage we came to the conclusion that since these wires were probably 40 years old, we should replace all eight flying wires. These wires can be seen in the picture in front of my hanger on this post page.
Here is where the internet becomes so valuable. I have gotten to view a number of opinions about how my flying wires were made and how they make them today. One thing that is different today is they "roll the threads" rather than "cut" them with a die, which may curtail a chance of a "stress riser" from the cutting. The FAA has no lift limit on these wires and that, plus input from the Bellanca engineer has lead us to a discussion on the tension settings may have been the culprit for the failure. It appears that the wires may have been too tight or not of equal tension. So I have taken to asking for opinions on what the tension settings should be. There is only a short terse one sentence description in the service manual. At Oshkosh this year, one wag suggested that since I was a musician I should tune them to B flat. At any rate we are currently carefully installing a new set of eight flying wires that were just manufactured in Scotland at Brunton's. We will have them equal in tension and I look forward to them lasting another 40 years, which "might" be longer than I will be flying this plane.
These older airplanes do take care, but in their simplicity they are a joy to work on and maintain. This Bellanca CruiseMaster returns the care with wonderful flying qualities.

Will by the River

Memorial Day

I have been thinking on the state of General Aviation a lot lately. This Memorial Weekend we had intended to fly the Bellanca to a Reeves Family reunion in Kirksville Missouri. The weather here in Salida Colorado, unusually, was what encouraged us to stay home. It has been a while since I have seen this much rain, for a number of days in a row, here. So I find myself here on Memorial Day, thinking of my service in the US Navy and about our government today.
Mary and I recently made our" search for spring" trip to Washington DC. We have children to visit there and of course "Spring". It comes so late here at our 7000 ft. elevation. In the course of touring the Capitol and it's new visitor center, we got to experience security firsthand how security is practiced there. It is ridiculous. We had to go through three different levels of security to go and sit in either of the House or Senate Galleries. It would seem like once you have come through security into the visitor center that would be enough. As we moved around the Mall, in and out of buildings and Museum we were constantly being checked. But this is the same mentality that empties the Capital if a Cessna 152 two passenger airplane, weighing less than a honda, gets disoriented and happens to fly near the Capital. ( though rental trucks still move freely through the streets of Washington DC.)
So ever since 9-11 anyone who holds a pilots license in the United States or who is training to obtain one, is backgrounded by the FAA and I assume homeland security. I would not continue to be allowed to hold a pilots certificate if I could not pass this scrutiny. Yet the TSA has decided that any little airport in America that has a commercial (small commutor planes) flight has to have security badges for anyone on the ramp. So if I fly from Salida over to Montrose Colorado to visit an engine rebuilder I have to have a badge (about $200) or be escorted! This is overkill security on a population that is already scrutinized constantly (unlike rental truck drivers) But if you are not a pilot would this be on your mind as a concern? Of course not, in fact, you might find it reassuring even if you didn't have all the facts. We have given way to many rights away for a false sense of security. The TSA and Homeland Security should not be allowed to create rules looking for a problem. Clearly this is a government agency that should be reigned in, but it can only happen if everyone says enough. User fees, security rules, all work because of divide and conquer. We are in this together folks, and a restriction placed on me today will at some point have something similar placed on you tomorrow. Let's start encouraging our Federal Government to act on common sense instead of fear. Let us on this Memorial Day think of those who died fighting for our freedom and reaffirm our commitment to insisting that we keep the freedoms that were so much our light to the rest of the world. As we look forward from today to the 4th of July lets remember this is the "land of the free, the home of the brave".
Will, by the River.

At the Beginning

One has to start somewhere and in blogging it is here for me. I have, for some time, thought of expressing things this way, but only recently have found myself starting to utilize the new social media, such as Facebook, twitter or Linkedin. It is my hope to muse about music, aviation, politics and this lovely stretch of the river I see passing on it's way to the Mississippi. I love old sports cars, motorcycles, and airplanes and I suspect there will be times that they will be what I write of.
As I write this today, Chaffee County in Colorado is grappling with granting a permit to Nestle to truck water out of our drainage to Denver and put it in plastic bottles. As always with government, what might be the allowable reason to grant or not to grant has nothing to do with the enviromental insanity of my previous description of Nestle's intent. It seemed like there was so much incentive to be smarter about the use of our enviromental resources after the high fuel prices of the Bush administration, this seems like a step backwards. It is proposals like the Nestle proposal that shows the greed of capitalism at odds with the good of community. I hope they fail at there endeavor.
I also would like to make mention in this beginning of KHEN-LP radio in Salida Colorado. I find being a Jazz DJ on Wednesday afternoons to be a lot like this missive. You put music out there but don't get a lot of feedback on how it is recieved. It is, "listen to this" and you don't have to know if it is paid attention to or not. But these little lp fm license radio stations are a great place for community. Wonderful place for people to express what is important to them and in that regard a great resource for the community they broadcast to. If anyone should want to know more about KHEN they will find it on the web at www.khen.org. You can find a link there to stream our broadcast output.
This week in April it appears spring has come to the high country of Colorado, with temperatures in the 70's, but those of us who have been here a while, know this could be false hope as promised by a weather forcasst for rain or snow this weekend. I for one won't be setting out any garden plants this week.
The day beckons me out. Will by the River