Scenic flights and other projects

It has been a while since I have written about my scenic flights here. On average it seems like I go on one scenic flight every three to five weeks. It is important for me to fly, to continue my aviation journeys in the ways that I can.

For example, I hope to go on scenic flight tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. And hopefully the weather will. But if the weather looks like it will be marginal visual flight rule (MVFR) weather or worse and not good for a visual flight rules flight then I won't go. I decided that I am going to plan a course using dead reckoning. I had to learn dead reckoning when I was studying for the FAA private pilot written exam two years ago. I figure that the number crunching will be a good exercise, perhaps the pilot will want to use my dead reckoning and perhaps he won't. But I'll get the practice crunching the numbers.

Dead reckoning according the Pilot/Controller Glossary in the 2012 FAR/AIM (note 1):

"Dead reckoning as applied to flying, is the navigation of an airplane solely by means of computations based on airspeed, course, heading, wind direction, and speed, ground speed, and elapsed time."

Most of my previous scenic flights over the last two years have been done where the pilot has used VOR navigation.

I also have a couple of other aviation related projects that I am working on. One involves reading and studying more about weather. Briefly, I'm reading a meteorology text called Meteorology Today by David Ahrens. I like this text, so far I am able to follow along (more or less) reading and studying on my own. Self study of a college level meteorology text may not be everyone's cup of tea.

If not there is another book on weather written for the general population called The Weather Book: An Easy-to_understand Guide to the USA's Weather by Jack Williams. Williams wrote the book based on his work for USA Today on their weather page, he is also a pilot.

Finally, I am always interested in issues affecting aviation safety, and am doing some background reading and research on aviation safety related topics for future blog posts.

And all this is in addition to writing on aerial wildland firefighting as we enter the late winter and spring fire season here in America.
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Note 1: 2012 FAR/AIM (Federal Aviation Regulations Aeronautical Information Manual). U.S. Department of Transportation: From titles 14 and 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Updated and published by Aviation Supplies and Academics, Inc. (ASA): New Castle, Washington.

Honey Prairie Fire Update - Feb 16

While I was out and about, so to speak, checking news on the web earlier today, I saw a reference on the Fire Publications Blog to an article updating the Honey Prairie Fire. What interested me is the report that no smoke had been observed for three weeks. So, I went to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge's Honey Prairie Fire Status Page to find out the latest, and found a press release dated Feb. 16, 2012 (pdf file). Here is an excerpt from this press release:

"No smoke has been seen in three weeks along the two mile perimeter where the Honey Prairie fire crept underground burning peat and roots in a hardwood swamp on the west side of the refuge. It is still too early to call the fire out since it is possible it could flare back up. According to refuge manager Curt McCasland, “We recently responded to a small fire on the east side of the refuge. Firefighters found a burning pile left over from an area burned in July.” He added, 'Given the ability of fire to smolder through the winter in the wood/debris pile, we will need to continue to monitor the fire perimeter and look for other areas where this may still be occurring.'"

Finally, I checked InciWeb for the latest status on the fire, here. As of today, Feb. 17 2012, the last inci web update was on Dec. 15, 2011 with the fire at 76% containment.

For the Tuskegee Airmen

I saw the movie Red Tails, a movie based on the story of the Tuskegee Airmen the first Black fighter squadron, last week. It was in its third week showing at the movie theaters, so I don't know if it still showing in a theater near you. If not, you might have to wait for the DVD to come out. Anyway, watching the movie gave me some motivation to go out and found some information about this famed WWII fighter squadron. There is a nice US Air Force tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen that I found on archive.org, I can no longer embed the video, but you may go to archive.org to watch the video. According to the information on archive.org, the video is in the public domain and available for download Plan on about 15 minutes to watch the video.

Take a few moments to listen to some of their stories which I found on the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum Webpage, more videos may be found there. Note the movie referred to by Claude C. Davis in the second video may be The Tuskegee Airmen (HBO, 1995):

More details on the wing crack in a P-2 tanker

Some of you might be interested in reading the article that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote last Saturday following up on the crack found in one of Neptune Aviation's P-2's. Bill reports on (and provides a link to) a news release from the American Helicopter and Aerial Firefighting Association where Dan Snyder of Neptune Aviation provides a little more detail on the process that Neptune went through after they discovered the wing skin crack.

USFS announces large air tanker replacement strategy

No doubt some of you already know that last Friday (Feb. 10, 2012) announced its strategy for replacing large airtankers. Perhaps you too follow Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today and have already read the article he wrote about the USFS strategy on Feb. 10, 2012. Those of you who haven't read Bill's article may want to do so.

According to the USFS news release announcing their strategy to replace large airtankers for wildfire efforts,

"Recommendations for the next generation of airtankers include:

• Capabilities of carrying a minimum of 1,800 gallons of mixed retardant with more than 3,000 gallons preferred.
• A minimum cruise speed of 345 mph for quick fire response over long distance.
• Powering by turbine engines, which are more reliable, more fuel efficient, and require less maintenance than older aircraft piston engines.
• Capabilities of operating from most federal airtanker bases.
• Forest Service contract structural integrity program requirements must be met."

I know of two media reports on the USFS strategy, one from the Washington Post on Feb. 11 that I learned about from Bill Gabbert's article written earlier today. I'd like to thank some friends who made me aware of an article in the Missoulian on Feb. 11.

We will have to wait and see how the USFS implements this new strategy. You may recall that the USFS has an RFP for turbine tankers with submission date of Feb. 15, 2012. That is in two days. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for news and will report back, so stay tuned.

Reduction in NJFFS contract fixed wing aircraft

Some of you who have checked my blog within the last two weeks may have already seen the NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS)  2012 Spring Fixed Wing Contract Schedule. I'll repeat it here for purposes of simplicity.

Division A North
Alpha 2 - AgCat 300 based at Aeroflex Airport - 3/26-5/4
Alpha 3 - AgCat 300 based at Aeroflex Aorport- 4/7-4/21
Division B Central
Bravo 1 - Air Tractor 602 based at Coyle Field 3/31-5/7
Division C South
Charlie 1 - Air Tractor 602 based at Downstown Airport 3/30-5/6

If you have been following my blog for a year or more, then you might be thinking that there are fewer SEATs on contract this year. And you will be right.  I can only speak for NJFFS fixed wing (SEATs) contract aircraft going back to 2009, the year that I started writing about aerial wildland firefighting on this blog.

If you check out the links at the end of this article, you will see that for the 2009 through 2011 fire season there were two SEATs on contract in each of the three NJFFS Divisions for periods ranging from 33 to 44 days, give or take. There may have been a seventh on a short term contract, e.g. an AgCat was on a five day contract in Division C in 2011.

I don't have information to link to on contract aircraft prior to 2009. But there is an article from 1999 on Downstown Air in the September 1999 edition of Ag Air Update. In 2009 this article was still available on the archives of Ag Air Update. This article has been removed from the Ag Air Update website so it is no longer available on the internet, but I did take some notes. Downstown has provided fixed wings (SEATs) to the NJ Forest Fire Service under contract going back to 1969. In addition to reading that the NJFFS first contracted with Downstown in 1969, the article made reference to Downstown contracting with the NJFFS for nine AgCat bi-planes (eight of their own plus one they leased) and a Dromader that floating between bases as needed.

So the 1999 article on Downstown tells me that there were as many as ten fixed wings under contract with the NJ Forest Fire Service in the late 1990s.  I don't know about the number of SEATs on contract in New Jersey between 1999 and 2008, but I can speak to the last three years (2009-11). That is during each of the last three years there were six fixed-wing (SEAT) aircraft under contract during the spring fire season with a possible seventh on a short term contract. Look at the coming fire season where we will have one fixed-wing (SEAT) in each division during the spring fire season with a fourth on a fourteen day contract in Division A.

Six or seven fixed-wings on a NJFFS contract down to three or four on a NJFFS contract in 2012.

Three or four SEATs are not enough.

NJFFS 2009 SEAT contracts
NJFFS 2010 SEAT contracts
NJFFS 2011 SEAT contracts

Revised March 20, 2014

Lockheed P-2V tanker inspections - update

I reported yesterday on the crack in the wing skin on one of Neptune Aviation's tankers and the FAA EAD. I just read an article from The Missoulian The Missoulian reporting on the crack in the wing skin on one of Neptune's tankers, the FAA Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD), and the required inspections. That article, written today (2/9/2012), may be found here.

Updated Feb. 10, 2012: Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported yesterday (Feb. 9, 2012) that Neptunes and Minden's P-2's passed the FAA mandated inspections. The Neptune P-2 with the cracked wing skin is being repaired.

Lockheed P-2s to undergo inspections under FAA EAD

A few hours ago I got word that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued what is known as an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) (go here to download a copy) requiring inspections of all Lockheed P2V aircraft including but not limited to the 9 P-2 tankers owned by Neptune Aviation and the 2 P-2 tankers owned by Minden Air. Apparently Neptune found a 24 inch crack on the wing skin of one of their tankers.

The EAD calls for inspections of all the P-2s within one day after the operators received the EAD. The operators then have ten days to report back to the FAA on the results of the inspections, whether the results be favorable or unfavorable.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports here on the inspections.

At this time, we will have to wait and see how all this shakes out.

Dromader crash in So. Africa pilot ok

I heard from a couple of sources, including this wildland fire hotlist thread that a Dromader (SEAT) loaded with fuel and water crashed soon after take-off in South Africa. Reports are that the pilot, who was airlifted to a hospital, is ok. The Dromader was one of the aircraft fighting a fire known as the Veldfires near Stanford, South Africa. More information may be found here.

Honey Prairie Fire still burning after 9 months

It has been awhile since I have written about the Honey Prairie Fire, you may recall that I first wrote about that fire in May 2011, with updates in June 2011, and reported that the NJ Forest Fire Service sent a crew to help out with the fire last June, see this article. I embedded some videos from youtube showing fire ops at the fire in July 2011. My last update was in late-Sept. 2011 when the fire had burned over 308,00 acres and was at 76% containment.

I was curious about what was happening with the fire, so I went and checked inciweb today. According the last update on inciweb (Dec 15, 2011), available here, the Honey Prairie Fire has burned over 309,000 acres since it started from a lightening strike in late April 2011. The fire is remains at 76% containment, and as of mid-December  2011,12 firefighters were assigned to the fire. Quoting from the Dec. 15, 2011 inciweb update:

The Honey Prairie Continues to burn deep down into the dry peat on the west side of the refuge. .... There is no visible flame but is still smoking. ... The water table needs to come up high enough to extinguish the fire. The US Drought Monitor indicates that the area remains in severe drought. In the last 30 days, a weather station near the fire recorded 2.6 inches of rainfall.

As you can see from the graphic below, the drought is still persisting in much of Georgia. Note to that drought persists in Texas where massive wildfires burned last summer. Droughts are developing in southern CA and portions of the southwest. I'll write a little more about droughts on Wednesday.

obtained from http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html on Feb. 6, 2012

More info on the Honey Prairie Fire on the web:
Inciweb page on the Honey Prairie Fire
USFWS - Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge -- Honey Prairie Complex Fires
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on Facebook (public)

DC-6 Conair T-50 take-off

Florida wildfires

Flordia holds a special place in my heart so my thoughts always turn to Florida at this time of year because winter often means wildfires. Action newsJax reports here about the increased fire danger so far this year. According to the Florida Forest Fire Service Wildfire Information Page from Jan 1, 2012 through Jan 29, 2012 there have been 402 state wildfires (5510 acres burned) and 16 federal wildfires (3,757 acres burned).

Many of you have probably heard about the 10 deaths from automobile crashes attributed to fog and smoke, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on this here, and here is an article from the Palm Beach Daily News on the automobile crashes highlighting the wildfire threat in Florida.

I embedded a map from the folk at ERSI. This should be a customized link to the map embedded above which I obtained about 6:45 PM today (Feb. 1, 2012). As I write this, there are three larger fires in Florida, and another in Oklahoma. To be honest, I am not quite sure if the image I embedded is static or changes over time. So, perhaps you are seeing something different from what I am writing about. In any event, it is a nice resource. Clicking on the fire icon should give you information about the fire.
The Florida Forest Fire Service has their own fire mapping system that may be accessed here.

I'll be checking in on wildfire activity in Florida from time to time, so stay tuned.

Update on USFS RFP for Turbine Tankers

I have been wondering what has been happening with the US Forest Service RFP for turbine tankers (see the article that I wrote here). I suspected that at some point Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today would write a piece following up on the excellent articles he wrote on Dec 1, 2011 and Dec 2, 2011 reporting on the USFS RFP for turbine tankers.

When the USFS issued the RFP on Nov. 30, 2011 responses to the RFP had to be in by Jan 10, 2012 with the award date being January 31. Well, January 31 is tomorrow. On January 28, Bill Gabbert reported here that the USFS has reissued the RFP with a new response date of February 15, including a link to a question and answer page about the RFP. The revised award date is “to be determined".

We have 12 heavy tankers this year that will be on contract, including the BAe-146 which is currently under going maintenance (see Gabbert's January 28th article). We need more heavy tankers in the U.S.

Twelve is not enough.

In 2001-2 we had some 40 heavy tankers on contract. Perhaps our friends in Canada will help us out again this year when their fire season winds down, whenever that is. According to the 2012 Federal Contract Airtanker List it won't be until May 25 that all eleven P-2s are on contract. The start date for T-40, the BAe-146 tanker, is still to be determined.

Twelve is not enough.

Obtained from http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/logistics/aviation/aviation.htm on 1/27/2012

Tankers going on contract soon for 2012 U.S. fire season

PR Web is reporting that Neptune Aviation has moved up their maintenance schedule and pilot recurrency training to have their tankers ready earlier than in previous years for the upcoming 2012 fire season. Recall that Neptune has nine P-2V's and a BAe-146. The BAe-146 may still be undergoing maintenance at Tronos. The first tanker will be ready on or about February 26. You will want to read the PR Web article. In addition, Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on this yesterday. Bill reports that Minden is going to have a tanker ready to go on contract early this season.

I just found the 2012 Federal Contract Air Tanker List from the National Interagency Coordination Center's (NICC) Aviation Page. I just downloaded my copy a pdf file from this link on the NICC aviation page. According to the list that I just downloaded (revised 1/23/12), Minden's tanker 55 goes on contract on Feb. 15 with Neptune's tanker 45 following on Feb. 26. The last Neptune P-2 goes on contract May 25. There is not date specified on this last for when Neptune's Bae-146 (T-40) goes on contract, with a TBD being listed.

Avro RJ85 / BAe 146-200 Airtanker

This just in! Conair Group in Canada and Falko have entered into an exclusive agreement to market the Avro RJ 85/ BAe 146-200 as a type 1 airtanker carrying at least 3,000 gallons.

Conair Group is based in Abbotsford in Southwest British Columbia. Conair is currently converting one Avro RJ85 / BAe 146-200 that they purchased in late 2011 for use as an airtanker. The plan is to have it ready by the 2013 fire season.

You may read more about this joint venture in this news release from aviationpros. I'd like to thank a good friend who sent me this article late last night.

Not quite in the clouds

I continue to work on learning to identify clouds. I went an scenic airplane flight with a great young pilot yesterday. It was a great flight, but a bit on the bumpy side. We were not flying very high, about 2,500 ft AGL going west and about 3,000 ft on the return flight going east.

As we were flying back, I told the pilot that I was studying weather, including identifying clouds. So we started talking about the scattered clouds that were about 1,000 ft or so above us. He pointed to one cloud just ahead of us, and said that is a cumulus cloud, and when we fly under it we will feel some turbulence. And yes, I felt the turbulence as we flew under the cloud.

I don't feel like am exactly in a position to say much more on clouds. But my flight yesterday did get me thinking about resources on the web where those of you are interested can go and learn more about clouds.

The National Weather Service has an online school of weather broken down into several topics. There topic on synoptic meteorology includes lessons on clouds and cloud classifications.

If you go to the cloud classification page, you will see that clouds are divided into high, middle, and low level clouds. Within each level are nine categories of clouds. You will see a sky watcher chart on this webpage with clickable pictures. You can learn about the 27 categories of clouds plus some special clouds. For example, here is a picture and some information about a cumulus cloud that may have been similar to the ones we flew under yesterday.

NASA has some nice resources for learning about clouds, including the aforementioned Sky Watcher Chart (you can download) and links to other resources on clouds, some of which are geared towards young people. I can tell you that this older person enjoyed these resources. Here is the NASA page on an Introduction to Clouds. Note, I tried to access this page on Feb. 13, 2012 and it seemed to be either offline or unavailable to the general public. In the event that this outage is temporary, I'm including the url here.

If you want to learn how clouds affect aviation interests, Pilot Outlook has a page on clouds.

Washoe Fire in Reno NV

I heard about the Washoe Fire that has burned about 4,000 acres in Reno Nevada yesterday. You may have seen reports about this fire on national news and weather outlets. I saw one report on the Weather Channel earlier today.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reports on the Washoe Fire here.

California Fire News reports on the fire here.

There are two threads on the Wildland Fire hotlist forums. These are: West Basin initial attack on Washoe Fire and West Basin QandA on Washoe Fire.

More on Aero Union

I made a very short post here saying that Aero Union is having an auction on Feb, 28. There inventory of P-3 Orions, parts, various intellectual property and other assets. Specifically, sealed bids will be opened on Feb. 28.

I'd like to thank a good friend who told me that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote an article yesterday reporting on some recent correspondance he had with Mr. Gourley, CEO of Aero Union Corp. According to Gabbert, Mr. Gourley said that Aero Union is going to appeal the US Forest Service's decision of July 29, 2011 to terminate Aero Union's contract.

I don't know if I can add anything to what Bill Gabbert has already said, so I'll leave you to your own devices to go and read Bill's article. He includes a copy of Mr. Gourley's letter at the end of his article.

air frame icing

I've been thinking about and reading up on airframe icing recently. Every pilot that I have talked to has agreed that situations where airframe icing may be encountered should be avoided. A typical comment from one of my pilot friends on the subject of icing might be:

"airframe icing scares the wits out of me!"

I was wondering the best way to share some information about airframe icing with you and I found this short two minute animation showing the effect of airframe icing. Wings create lift, and icing disrupts the flow of air over the wings. In this animation you will see:

• ice build up on the wings disrupting the airflow over the wings
• ice build up on the propellers (watch the props slow down)
• ice build up on the wind shield
• and ice build up on other surfaces (tail, fuselage, etc)

You will want to see the information that the person who uploaded the video to youtube (trustyetverify) made here. The animation does not show one likely outcome, stall and crash. But you will get the picture. Pay careful attention to the changes in air flow during the animation. In the first few seconds you will see "normal" air flow before ice build up interferes with the air flow.

Before, or perhaps after you watch the video, if you want read a little more about airframe icing, here is a short article on the subject. Included in this article are two embedded videos, a 25 second animation on airframe icing and a 7 minute video from NASA on tail icing.

Spending time with Weather

I don't need to tell anyone reading this blog how important weather is to aviation interests. Whether they be fixed-wing or rotor-wing aerial firefighting and support operations, general aviation interests, commercial, etc. etc. I spent a lot of time with weather when I was in ground school two years ago preparing for the FAA private pilot written exam (which I passed).

Over the last couple of weeks, I have decided that I want to spend more time learning about weather as applies to aviation. But also about weather in general. To that end, I have spent some time reviewing things like the different types of clouds and how to identify them, air masses, weather fronts, etc. I'm spending more time with aviation weather charts along with looking up at the sky to (try) identify the clouds.

I'm not quite sure where I am going to this in my blog at this point. I'm still figuring that part out.

In the meantime, here in northern NJ a cold front passed through early today, its passage was marked by snow squalls. The winds kicked up a couple of hours before the cold front arrived, and we were under a wind advisory all day, due to end at 6PM. Winds were sustained at about 20 mph with gusts in the range of 35 to 45 mph. Winds will die down over night. Or so they say.