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June 05, 2023

Airborne 06.05.23: Starliner Delayed-Again, RAF Discrimination, Bill Barber Award

Also: AAL Parks Jets, Boeing Owns Wisk, AEA 1Q/23, CubCrafters Stock Increase

Boeing is standing down from a planned 21 July launch of its Starliner. Boeing vice-president Mark Nappi stated Boeing personnel had spent the holiday investigating issues and elected to delay the test-flight which would have seen NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore conveyed to the ISS. A series of emails reportedly written by RAF pilot selection board members has graphically instantiated the service’s worrying and worsening proclivity to prioritize inclusivity over excellence. Written between 2020 and 2021 and leaked to a legacy Commonwealth news outlet, subject emails illustrate a purposeful and concerted push to systematically exclude W

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Pilot Shortage Compels American Airlines to Park 150 Regional Jets

The Out-of-Time Machine

Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines—the world’s largest airline by the metrics of fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenger miles—set forth on 31 May 2023 that approximately 150 of its regional aircraft remain parked for want of qualified pilots.

NPS & FAA Threaten Accessibility to U.S. National Parks

The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) and the FAA are about the short-sighted business of rewriting the regulations by which air tours over U.S. national parks are conducted. Extant drafts of the agencies’ Air Tour Management Plans (ATMPs) call for radical and reactionary measures the likes of eliminating air tours in their entirety in some U.S. parks and, in others, cutting such undertakings by as much as 86-percent.

Honor to be Presented at EAA AirVenture

Nathan K. Hammond has been named as the next recipient of 2023’s Bill Barber Award for Showmanship. Among the airshow industry’s most prestigious honors, the Barber Award recognizes excellence in airmanship, airshow performance, and panache. The list of the award’s winners reads like an airshow hall of fame roster.

Drone-Maker Looks to Shine at Upcoming Houston Expo

Autel Robotics is making ready to showcase its wares at the upcoming 7th Annual Energy Drone & Robotics Summit. The event, to be held in Houston, Texas from 12 through 14 June, will see Autel debut Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) the likes of its transportation and delivery optimized Titan model, and a new Enterprise series drone dubbed the Autel Alpha.

Barking up the Right Tree

Australian-born, the Aeropup is a remarkably robust, fully-customizable, go-anywhere, two-seat, STOL/LSA aircraft. The machine’s rugged, CNC-precision-manufactured chromium-alloy tubular-steel frame surrounds the occupant compartment, protecting those within after the fashion of a high-performance road-vehicle’s roll-cage. The Aeropup’s rugged airframe may be paired with either a conventional (tailwheel) or tricycle (nosewheel) undercarriage, and is borne aloft by an innovative and efficient wing comprising three spars—the principal of which features a lattice-structure at once stronger and lighter than conventi

RAF Communiques Cite 'Useless White Male Pilots'

Racism’s New Face

A series of emails reportedly written by RAF pilot selection board members has graphically instantiated the service’s worrying and worsening proclivity to prioritize inclusivity over excellence. Written between 2020 and 2021 and leaked to a legacy Commonwealth news outlet, subject emails illustrate a purposeful and concerted push to systematically exclude White male recruits from and fast-track women and minorities into pilot positions.

Klyde Fights the Frustration Of Being On The Road...

FMI: www.klydemorris.com

New Northwest UAV Model Going International

From humble beginnings in an Oregon garage, Northwest UAV (NWUAV) has evolved into a premier provider of propulsion systems for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) industry. On 01 June 2023, Northwest UAV announced its newest heavy-fuel UAV engine—the NW-230 EFI HF—has been granted EAR 99 export approval, thereby dramatically expanding the company’s market reach. The NW-230 EFI HF engine is designed for 198-352-pound (90-160-kilogram) UAVs. Purpose-built to operate on heavy fuel (JP5/JP8/TS-1/Jet A), NWUAV’s latest offering is more efficient than gasoline engines converted to run on heavy fuel.

The Inverse Function of Boeing and Going

For purpose of resolving two newly-discovered issues plaguing its Starliner capsule, Boeing set forth on Thursday, 01 June 2023, that it was standing down from a planned 21 July launch of subject spacecraft. The first of the two observed issues involves so-called soft links in the lines by which the Starliner capsule is joined to its landing parachutes. Boeing discovered the links were not as durable as previously believed. The second issue pertains to the P-213 glass cloth tape with which wiring-harnesses throughout Starliner are wrapped.

Moving Beyond Kitty Hawk

Boeing has acquired full ownership of Wisk Aero, the California-based, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) joint-venture undertaken by Boeing and Kitty Hawk Corporation—the latter now being wholly divested from the enterprise. Kitty Hawk’s sale of its stake in Wisk follows the company’s 2022 decision to abandon work on its aviation and aerospace ventures and gradually shutter its operations in their entirety.

He Told The Avionics Technician That When Engaged In Heading Hold Mode The Autopilot Would Place The Airplane Into A Steep Left Bank

On May 17, 2023, about 1237 central daylight time, a Beech E-90 airplane, N522MJ, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Winslow, Arkansas. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 personal flight. The pilot had contacted an avionics repair facility at Drake Field Airport, Fayetteville, Arkansas (FYV) to discuss autopilot issues he was having with the airplane.

Skydivers Over Sixty to Receive Path of Excellence Award

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Founded in 1992 under the guiding premise “You don't quit skydiving because you get old; you get old because you quit skydiving,” Skydivers Over Sixty (SOS) has evolved into an international organization comprising upwards of 2,650 members hailing from thirty nations. October 2023’s Hall of Fame Celebration at Eloy, Arizona’s SkyDive Arizona will see SOS honored at the Path of Excellence BBQ.

Aero Linx: The Cub Club The Cub Club is an organization of aviation enthusiasts interested in preserving and promoting the restoration, maintenance and flying of the long-wing fabric Piper Cubs. The Cub models include the E2, J2, J3, J4, J5, L4, HE-1, PA-11, PA-12, PA-14 and PA-18. The Cub Club believes in preserving these strong and simple airplanes that are fun to own and fly.

Takeoff Hold Lights (THL) The THL system is composed of in-pavement lighting in a double, longitudinal row of lights aligned either side of the runway centerline. The lights are focused toward the arrival end of the runway at the “line up and wait” point, and they extend for 1,500 feet in front of the holding aircraft. Illuminated red lights indicate to an aircraft in position for takeoff or rolling that it is unsafe to takeoff because the runway is occupied or about to be occupied by an aircraft or vehicle.

“We would deploy properly to markets that aren’t being served. We would do that today. It’s just we don’t have the pilots.”

Source: From comments made by American Airline CEO Robert Isom, while addressing attendees of the 39th Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference—an yearly highbrow hootenanny hosted by global asset management firm AllianceBernstein.