If you have been keeping up with commercial aviation at all, one of the most talked about subjects lately is the subject of Very Light Jets (VLJs). If you didn’t know, a VLJ is a small jet aircraft that is typically approved for single pilot operation. They usually only seat 4 to 6 passengers and have a maximum take off weight of under 10,000 pounds.

In recent articles about these jets, it was pointed out that Adam aircraft’s A700 has a lavatory, but one of its main competitors, the Eclipse 500, does not.

Adam Aircraft claims that a bathroom on a plane is essential and that it will be a deciding factor for passengers who will fly on these jets. DayJet, a company planning on using the bathroom-less Eclipse 500, claims that their flights will be between 40 and 80 minutes long and it won’t be a problem. He pointed out that most people commute in their cars for that length of time without having to stop.

Personally, I think it will still come down to price of each seat.

The Atlantic online edition has an interesting article about the role that Bangor, Maine’s airport is playing in helping with unruly passengers.  Their geographical location provides them with a somewhat unique opportunity and they are capitalizing on it.  Essentially, they have assembled a “quick turn-around” system for airline flights that have to land in case an unruly passenger is causing problems.  With little traffic at the airport, problem passengers can be taken care of in as little as an hour.

Read more here.

If your significant other is not as into aviation as you are, then maybe they enjoy music and you can use this to your advantage. The Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base, near Macon, Georgia is hosting a concert series at the museum in September. The concerts will be performed by the Band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. The band has a rock group, called Reserve Generation, a jazz ensemble, called Blue Notes, and a Celtic group called Southern Aire. Each group will perform on consecutive Tuesdays in September, in that order, starting on September 12. The last concert will be October 3, and will consist of Broadway and Hollywood tunes.

I last visited the museum in 1995 when I was working for Georgia Tech Research Institute on a military contract. We took advantage of some free time to shoot over to the museum for a couple of hours. I actually visited the museum in the early 80s, when my dad was stationed at Robins AFB while in the Air Force. He actually finished his 20 year Air Force career there in 1985. We lived about a 45 minute drive south of the base “out in the country” between Hawkinsville and Eastman Georgia.

The museum has a great assortment of aircraft, including none other than the SR-71 Blackbird.

You can find out more about the museum at their website.

Brian Hollnagel is a risktaker – and he’s reaping the rewards. When Delta airlines wanted to get rid of some of it’s older, less efficient jets, he jumped at the chance to buy them. Now some of those planes have found homes as far away as Russia.

A few years ago, he heard about a 737 that needed a new home. He helped broker the deal, and never looked back. Soon he founded BCI Aircraft Leasing, Inc., managed to raise $5 million dollars, added a loan from Bank of America, and bought more aircraft, which he then turned around to lease. The company now owns more than 90 aircraft.

You can read more about Brian here.

Baron Tayler is trying to raise awareness of powered parachute flying by completing a 3600 mile cross the U.S.A. trip in a specially built powered parachute.  The trip, which started in May, consists of over 50 stops along the route to give interviews and educate the local public on powered parachute flying.

Tayler has an additional focus in that he is making local law enforcement and rescue personnel aware of the benefits of using a powered parachute in both law enforcement and in search and rescue.  He formed a non-profit group that volunteers its time and ‘chutes in the event that they can be used by local authorities.

While he admits that a helicopter is the best resource that can be used in search and rescue / law enforcement events, the powered parachutes offer a tremendous advantage in that they are very inexpensive to operate.  Because of the cost, many agencies simply cannot afford to own a helicopter and in the event of a natural disaster, those resources are quickly utilized.

You can read more about his trip and the organization at:  PCEFoundation.org and Red Baron Coast To Coast.

The Alaska Region Forest Service has a great reason to celebrate this summer – they have had 10 years of flying with no accidents.  Considering the harsh environment that Alaska provides for aviators, they should be celebrating.  General aviation, when compared to the airlines, has a pretty poor record of safety.

The reason?  Training is probably the biggest factor, although quality, well-maintained equipment also plays a role.   

Additionally, the Alaska Region Forest Service has placed a huge emphasis on safety in general.  That is, each employee who flies must take an annual aviation safety course, must attend a pre-flight safety briefing, and must wear float/survival gear when flying.  Subsequently, each employee is empowered with not flying if they deem the weather or air-worthiness of the aircraft to be questionable.  

Each pilot who is contracted by the Forest Service must meet strict safety standards and must have their aircraft inspected by the Forest Service.

 [Source: Vertical Mag]

There have been plenty of articles written this past week related to the foiled attempt by Muslim extremists to blow up U.S. bound jets. One that caught my attention was how ‘the Europeans’ were trying to create a ‘hijack proof plane’.

I read with trepidation what sort of measures would make up such a plane, so here is a summary of them:

• Collision avoidance system that will detect if an aircraft is being flown into something like a building
• Computer system that can automatically guide a plane to the nearest airport and land it.
• Computer system to detect ‘suspicious passenger behavior’
• Chip based system to match luggage with passengers on board
• Cameras to match passengers who check in with passengers boarding the plane
• Electronic ‘nose’ to sniff explosives on passengers as they enter the plane
• Threat assessment system to provide pilots with options based on given threats
• Data protection system to secure all communications between aircraft and ground
• Secure cockpit door with biometric scanning to even detect the person entering is not under duress
• Collision avoidance system that prevent plane from flying outside of a permitted trajectory

Ok, don’t sign me for one of those flights! There is NOWHERE I have to be that would make me fly under that sort of system. Apparently part of the research includes studying whether or not people would mind being under that type of surveillance or not.
The sad thing, however, is that many people would gladly give up vast personal freedoms for some sense of ‘safety’.

You know what? Life is risky. There is no such thing as ‘security’ in the sense that people want it.

I have the feeling this approach to creating an automated system is an attempt at being politically correct to a before unseen level. We are much too worried about profiling a person based on similar religious, ethnic, or physical appearances.  I don’t care what you do, even creating a computer system to determine inappropriate behavior is based on some level of bias. Until we admit that certain people need more scrutiny than others we are going to keep on strip searching blue-haired grandmas and newborns.

Furthermore, the biometric / facial recognition techniques involved will most certainly lead to abuse in some way. It is just human nature.

And, don’t think for a minute that the cost of this won’t be passed on to the passenger – even if the government picks up the tab. The government does not grow money – they tax the people.

Found this on Google Video…cool!

-8978773662349105082