Solar Flares
Your story says, “Right now that’s not a problem because the sun is in a quiet phase, but it’s expected to get active again in 2011,” (AVwebFlash, Oct. 2).I believe that, if you check sources, you will find that we are now in a period when activity is increasing and will continue to do so until it peaks in 2011. The problem for GPS service will start much sooner.John Pruitt
Actual IMC
Regarding the Question of Week, Oct. 5 (“How many hours of time, in actual IMC, do you log each year?”):Actual time is less than I would have expected after departing into marginal conditions only to find conditions not as predicted or expected. In those cases IMC was not logged. However, the flight was not cancelled as it would have been before the instrument rating.Richard Wagley
Picture of the Week
Just a quick observation. It seems that each week the [POTW] submissions increase in quality … a lot! The volume must be way up, too.The range of aviation subject matter and the “whimsy” in some is incredible!Then, of course, there are those shots of great beauty.Through it all, the photos always seem to hit home, to me, and make me remember why I love to fly!Just had to say, “Keep ’em comin’, people.”Dave Leonard
Arrival at Oshkosh
Rick Durden -Thank you for the great article on the increasing obnoxious behavior by arriving pilots to AirVenture (The Pilot’s Lounge, Oct. 8). I have been a FLO volunteer since the middle 70s and am now the chairman of the traffic side of FLO. You hit the nail on the head.After one low arrival, I showed up at the FAA afternoon meeting with a sign stating, “I am not the orange dot”!Bud Popken
Jim Morgan
AVwebFlash, Oct. 12). Watching and listening to the news reports from NYC, one couldn’t help but relive some of the horror they lived through five years earlier. Little doubt exists that many thousands of NYC’s citizens experienced a post-traumatic stress syndrome following the events of 9/11 only to have it retriggered by yesterday’s events. It’s ironic, though, that the “temporary” TFR in place over NYC, designed to protect its citizens, may have in fact contributed to this tragic event. Oh, to be sure, the final NTSB finding will more than likely state “pilot error,” but will it mention anything about the airspace restrictions and the “box canyon” the pilot and his instructor found themselves in?Bruce Elliott
Anti-Fire Foam
Gary Miedema wrote (AVmail, Oct. 2):
Years ago a product called Explosafe was introduced to solve this very problem (NewsWire, Sep. 25). According to EAA, it is still available.
The Explosafe was, I believe, an extruded-aluminum, perforated materiel that could corrode and clog the fuel system. The reticulated foams are used in helicopters and rely on the purity of kerosene and high maintenance budgets to avoid degradation into clogging particles. The reticulated foam in race cars relies on instructions not to leave fuel in the tank except when racing. Gasoline with its various benzenes, plus alcohol, plus water, presents a triumvirate of solvents that can degrade all available fine materials, which could stop the explosive flame-front. This problem exist to a lesser degree with bladders, and bladders have their own pro’s and cons.However, the other tactics to avoid post-crash fire were delineated in about 1964 by the Army for successful use in Vietnam. The costless design ideas of 1964 remain completely ignored in light aircraft designs to date. We have only our own laziness and snobby machismo to blame for GA’s problems.Francis X. Gentile
