On The Fly…

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An Oregon pilot made sure American troops knew the Sun ‘n Fun crowd was thinking about them. Dean Zinter, of Portland, collected signatures on two signs at the Florida fly-in’s warbird area. Thousands of people added their names to the signs, which will be sent to a Marine aviation unit in the United Arab Emirates…

Pattern work in the Washington and New York ADIZ areas just got a bit easier. FDC NOTAMs 3/2762 and 3/2763, effective at 6 a.m. on Friday, April 11, 2003, allow VFR traffic pattern operations (not including practice instrument approaches) at towered airports provided a request for closed pattern work is made prior to taxi, or before entering the pattern. Then aircraft must continuously operate their transponder on code “1234” when assigned by ATC. Pilots who remain within the VFR traffic pattern do not have to file a flight plan…

A small plane’s airspace incursion helped scrub a missile launch Sunday. The Air Force postponed the launch of a Titan rocket with an $800 million military communications satellite aboard after the plane skirted the edge of the 10-nm restricted airspace around Cape Canaveral. The plane changed course after the FAA contacted it. There were also technical glitches that contributed to the launch’s delay…

A 12-year-old boy was hit by an airplane wing Saturday at Sun ‘n Fun. The boy was hurt after being hit while walking along a taxiway. He’s in fair condition in hospital…

Australian pilots can now find most of the everyday information they need on the Internet. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has set up a dedicated online page for safety, regulatory and operational information that links directly from its home page. Are you listening, FAA?

Edgar E. McElroy, one of Doolittle’s Raiders, died Friday in Lubbock, Texas. McElroy, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, was 91. At age 29, he volunteered to join a daring mission in carrier-borne B-25s to bomb Tokyo. McElroy was an aircraft commander on the raid and dropped bombs and incendiaries on the city.

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