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June 26, 2023

Airborne 06.26.23: Oshkosh SOON!, NetJets Criticized, A-10 Retiring

Also: Wheels Up Stock Fall, Aura Aero, ZeroAvia ZA2000 Hydrogen-Electric Engines, Destinus

Four weeks from today, the ANN, Airborne, SportPlane Resource Guide and Aero-TV crews will be heavily involved in bringing you our usual comprehensive unparalleled coverage of all things Oshkosh. If the weather holds, and based on the stunning numbers seen just a few weeks ago at Sun ‘n Fun, this year’s Oshkosh event could set records. And along with that, this will be ANN CEO, Jim Campbell’s 50th visit to Oshkosh. NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP)—the labor union representing the three-thousand-plus aviators currently in NetJets’ employ—has filed a lawsuit against the Columbus-base

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Worker Killed in San Antonio Airport Ramp Tragedy

Accident Under Investigation

A ramp-worker at Texas’s San Antonio International Airport (SAT) lost his life on Friday, 23 June 2023 after being ingested into the operating engine of an arriving Delta Air Lines Airbus A319. The aircraft, then operating as Delta Flight 1111, had arrived from Los Angeles and was taxiing to its SAT arrival gate. The decedent, whose name remains undisclosed, was in the employ of Unifi Aviation, the U.S.’s largest provider of ground-handling services.

SAF Used At An Increasing Rate

To promote the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), Daher—the French industrial conglomerate with foci across the aerospace, defense, nuclear, and automotive industrial sectors—announced on 23 June that the TBM-960 and Kodiak-100 the company displayed at 2023’s Paris Air Show had been fueled with a blend of SAF and conventional Jet-A1.

At the Confluence of Art & Information

Developed by pilot, aircraft-owner, and entrepreneur Richard Freilich, METARmaps are syncretisms of visual art and real-time meteorological observations manifested in unique and useful wall decoration. METARmaps consist of meticulous recreations of VFR Sectional charts—or sections, composites, or collections thereof—imbued with tiny processors controlling the illumination and color of LED lights representing METAR-reporting airports within the chart’s geographical boundaries. Subject LEDs depict generalized, real-time weather conditions prevailing at the airports represented thereby.

Soft Talk and a Big ALPA

After three-weeks of voting, Amerijet pilots, on 23 June, ratified the tentative agreement. Of the 120 eligible pilots who took part in the vote, eighty-percent favored the new deal. In addition to pay-raises exceeding 45-percent, the three-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) includes improvements to pilots’ schedules, work rules, and retirement security.

Sol System Caravansary

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration—better known by its NASA moniker—is making ready to dazzle AirVenture attendees with a series of attractions and displays worthy of the agency’s $32.5-billion 2023 budget. In addition to displays of unique aircraft and advanced technologies, EAA’s 24-through-30 July throwdown at Oshkosh, Wisconsin’s Wittman Regional Airport (OSH) will see NASA tender a salmagundi of marvels by which the agency will highlight the saliency of space in the aerospace hierarchy.

EAA's WomenVenture Schedule Announced

While the Best Parts are Sold Out, There's Still Plenty to Do

The schedule for "EAA WomenVenture" has been published ahead of July 26 for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, celebrating 3 decades of female combat aviation. The 70th edition of the annual fly-in will once again be a gathering point for the surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, of World War II. The yearly gathering of warbirds is a fine place to reminisce and inculcate a passion for aviation in the kids who turn out to take part in a range of activities and presentations.

Heroic Efforts Save One of Two Victims

The United States Coast Guard rescued one person found stranded on a channel marker and recovered a second, unresponsive individual from icy waters after a vessel capsized on the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon. At 14:25 PDT on Sunday, 11 June 2023, a shore-bound witness notified Coast Guard Sector Columbia River watchstanders of a boat having capsized and two people entering the water east of Tongue Point—a peninsula on the Columbia River’s south bank, some 11-nautical-miles east of the waterway’s confluence with the North Pacific Ocean.

Bay Area Commutes to be Electrified with Futuristic Air Mobility

Eve Air Mobility announced its plans to offer a number of eVTOL commuter routes throughout the Bay Area and San Francisco, California. The plan will be assisted by Eve investor United Airlines, who will use the routes as a "quick, economical and lower-carbon way to get to hub airports and commute in dense urban environments." The announcement will start the slow process of building the requisite infrastructure for eVTOL flights throughout the Bay Area like routing, approval, and vertiports.

Houston Start-Up Developing Hypersonic Global Travel

Airbus Ventures has announced its investment in Venus Aerospace, a Houston-based hypersonic startup developing a means by which to cost-effectively transport materials across the globe in as little as one-hour. Joining an extant team of investors in the enterprise, Airbus Ventures will lend financial support to the ongoing maturation of Venus Aerospace’s hypersonic scheme.

Airplane Was Operating Within The Range Conducive To Moderate Carburetor Icing At Cruise Power

On June 3, 2023, about 1635 central daylight time, a Temco GC-1B airplane, N3830K, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Bristow, Oklahoma. The pilot sustained serious injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. A witness saw the airplane performing touch and go takeoffs and landings on a private turf airstrip near Bristow. The witness owned the private airport and had sold the airplane to the pilot in January of 2023.

Aero Linx: Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE)

SAFE is a member-oriented organization of aviation educators fostering professionalism and excellence in aviation through continuing education, professional standards, and accreditation. Together with our industry partners and the Federal Aviation Administration, SAFE provides the aviation community with resources to advance the profession and to assist aviation educators in developing skilled, knowledgeable, and safe members of the aviation community. We invite you to get to know us.

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (06.26.23): Land And Hold Short Operations

Land And Hold Short Operations Operations which include simultaneous takeoffs and landings and/or simultaneous landings when a landing aircraft is able and is instructed by the controller to hold-short of the intersecting runway/taxiway or designated hold-short point. Pilots are expected to promptly inform the controller if the hold short clearance cannot be accepted.

"From our initial investigation, this incident was unrelated to Unifi’s operational processes, safety procedures, and policies. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not be sharing any additional information. While police and other officials continue to investigate this incident, we defer to them on providing further details." Source: A swift, if not premature, pronouncement from Unifi Aviation, the U.S.’s largest provider of ground-handling services, after one of it's staffers stepped too close to an operating jet engine and was fatally injured as a result.