Top Letters And Comments, August 4, 2023

Who You Gonna Call?

Good article on SAR coordination. It’s a complicated system with many players but letting everyone know exactly where you are can have a dramatic effect on search and rescue time. I have an ARTEX ME406 in my Maule and carry an ACR ResQLink 400 PLB and Garmin InReach Explorer SE in my survival vest. The ELT and PLB are registered with NOAA the InReach is registered with FAA Flight Service. I keep the information up to date. The InReach transmits my position to my family and the FAA (when on an IFR flight plan) every 10 minutes. I also have an ADS-B In/Out transponder in my airplane that transmits my position to the FAA every minute if I’m within line of sight of an ADS-B ground station or to another nearby aircraft equipped with ADS-B In. I subscribe to Garmin’s SAR insurance with my InReach. When I fly, I text my route and intended points of landing to my wife and daughters before I take off. All of this might sound like communications overkill, but I’ve been a CAP mission pilot and scout plane pilot for a State Forest Service for many years and there’s no such thing as overkill when it comes to SAR.

Andrew M.

Great article and very informative. I’m a retired A&P and was unaware that SAR insurance existed. Registering your ELT could be a lifesaver as the downed pilot(s) and passengers could be in a life or death situation and the quicker the rescue then the chances of a better outcome increase considerably.

Richard B.

AirVenture 2023: NASA Shows The Super Guppy

Poll: What New Thing Impressed You Most At AirVenture?

• Sheer scale of the event and the love for aviation.
• Vintage Aircraft!
• Accelerated Aviation Instruction 0 to CFI in 5 months.
• The overwhelming dominance of big money players overrunning the true spirit of experimental aviation.
• Falken FlightView EFIS v3
• Air shows
• Tecnam Aircraft and the P-Mentor
• Razorback P-47 restoration!
• So many young people in attendance.
• Camping ground size
• The attendance was off the charts.
• Wisk automated air taxi
• The programs in the Theater in the Woods were awesome!
• Delta A350
• Southwest 737 parked at Aeroshell square
• R-2800 Double Wasp retrofit kit for the Mooney M20F and Baron 58
• The sheer numbers of planes on the field!
• P-51 Thunderbird
• Shark Aircraft – what a great bunch of folks and what a neat airplane!!
• Thermostat set to “cool” at my accommodation.
• Aeromarine Merlin Lite
• Safari XL
• Red Bull helicopter performance
• The Aeroshell T6 team
• Porter PC 6
• The amount of promotional money being spent on drones/autonomous UAMs/”available soon” AC & helicopters etc. without working prototypes. Seriously, have the investors seen what’s going on?
• Warbirds
• Guppy!
• The sad fact that 4 people died and a very original AT6 was destroyed.
• Garmin Height Advisor
• NASA’s X-59 supersonic test aircraft
• Scalewings P-51
• Headset Mounted Oxygen cannulas
• The VL-3 aircraft, wow!
• Headset-mounted Oxygen cannulas
• Nothing. Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but this year was underwhelming.
• Lightspeed Delta Zulu headset
• The disgusting delays by AOPA, EAA, GAMA, NBAA on unleaded avgas.
• Homebuilts
• Blackfly by Opener. All eyes should be on electric or hybrid vehicles. ICE engines will be outlawed and obsolete in 10 years. Haven’t you noticed? The planet is the hottest it’s been since humans evolved from apes.
• Great organization, great people, clean grounds.
• The new friends I made while camping.
• Oratex6000 BetterAircraftFabric
• MOSAIC
• Van’s RV-15
• Safefly two SIM installation
• Tecnam trainers becoming the future of flight training.
• Not a “thing”, but the turn back data presented at the PPC Wednesday evening.
• Jetsheilds for RVs
• The number of planes tied down on the grounds.
• Gravity Industries Jet Suit
• All of the new Flying Eyes Optics eyewear styles.
• Nothing significant from last year or the year before.
• The rising level of poor airmanship demonstrated during arrivals and departures.
• Boeing air taxi
• Military displays
• New? None of that stuff is new. Show us 100UL or even 94UL.
• Pilatus PC6
• Not being there. I don’t do lines nor throngs of people.
• Everything brought to AirVenture
• Rans S-21
• I saw this wicked cool 172 some guy owns.
• Junkers new trainer
• Nothing. GA needs Mogas and lower-cost engines that burn Mogas or diesel/Jet-A. Otherwise its decline will continue.
• The Connie restoration
• MagniX EPFD project
• Live video from so many cameras. Just like being there.
• Kay’s Speedster
• Garmin GFC500 certification for C205 coming
• BushPlaneDesign Ascender
• It sure wasn’t the new Skyhawk interiors.
• Commercialization of the event.
• How miserable the heat was!
• M26 Magnigyro
• The crowd! The parking, campground.
• Kitfox with Rotax 916
• An underwhelming year, nothing excites me with AirVenture. Those new Catalinas that were announced in FL were quite interesting, though.
• Beechcraft Denali
• Fatal air accidents
• Super Guppy
• Boycotted it.
• The volunteers are so nice and helpful.
• Staying at home!