Letter of the Week:
Undetected Crashes
Noting the incident at Nashville Airport, I, too, once had an undetected crash on what is now Runway 20C — it was runway 20L at the time — in the early 1970s. I was the non-flying pilot in a Cessna 195 during the attempted landing.
During the rollout, the FP lost control of the airplane and, due to heavy braking on one side to correct adverse yaw, the left landing gear snapped off, and we came down on the left wing. After quickly assessing that neither of us was hurt and there was no threat of fire, I called the tower, simply giving the N-number in the call-up. The tower responded by clearing us to taxi to the ramp.
It seems that at the time, there was a considerable dip in the runway that prevented the tower from seeing aircraft in that area of the runway. That was at a time when the tower was atop the passenger terminal at a very low elevation. I had to inform the tower of the crash. After advising them there was no fire and no injuries, the dispatched a pick-up truck to the scene to arrange removal of the airplane to the ramp area.
Marv Donnaud
Missed the Deal
The reason there is a residual effect after the promo of $1 gasis that it was advertised to run the entire month of October. I was planning to fly over there a lot from Houston, when I was told they ended the program prematurely. What a disappointment.
Steve Berry
Flying Affordability
Regarding the “Question of the Week”: A lack of time is the problem. I have a 1956 Cessna 172 that is very affordable. I simply cannot get to the airport as often as I like; however, I average once per week.
Al Briguglio
Jets on Grass and Gravel
I saw the video presentation on the PC-24. I hope it will prove as great a workhorse as the PC-12. One has to bear in mind, however, that whatever the take-off runway length is for a paved runway will increase when taking off from an unpaved runway.
Alex Kovnat
AOPA Competition
Here is a more accurate version of your headline: AOPA Further Erodes Its Effectiveness as an Aviation Advocacy Organization by Expanding Its Profit-Making Operations into the Aviation Insurance Business.
You should have charged AOPA for an advertisement. There are no “myriad scenarios” in the aviation world that 15 insurance companies and thousands of aviation insurance brokers have not been successfully handling for their clients for almost a century.
The real story here is that AOPA continues to solicit membership fees from those involved in aviation and then decides which of its members it will complete with, all the while getting a pass from the aviation news media.
Can you say “conflict of interest”?
Jack Harrison
Skycatcher Demise No Surprise
Cessna’s declaration that the Skycatcher has no future is no surprise. Now, the best way to keep GA from slowly dying from overregulation and skyrocketing costs is to encourage the FAA to increase the weight limit for sport aircraft. All those 150s, 172s, and similar aircraft would find lots of pilots leaping at the chance to renovate an older model for less than half the cost (or less) than a Skycatcher.
Dick Haldeman
