Interestingly, four months ago a presenter at DEFCON 17 named Righter Kunkel gave a presentation on how antiquated and potentially insecure the FAA’s system – specifically the system for processing flight plans – was.   He pointed out that anyone with very little information could easily flood the system with thousands of bogus flight plans and cause chaos.

That talk was published on the web, publicly, a few days ago.

So, is this what happened?   Naturally, we’ll probably never know.  It might be that, it might be an unrelated failure, it might be that the system finally went over capacity and someone responsible for monitoring it was asleep at the switch.  The truth of the matter is this, many of the systems in place are outdated and needed to be updated.  And this outage will definitely put a huge spotlight on that fact in the public media.

This is where I get concerned.   Sure, maybe it was past time to turn the light on in that closet and see all the roaches scatter.  But my concern is centered around a long-running fight in the aviation community about FAA funding.   There is a group pushing for “user fees” for FAA services, and lately they’ve gained some traction.

The traditional model for funding the FAA and its associated services was through public funding taxes, taxes on things like aviation fuel, and surcharges levied on commercial aviation tickets.  This model has worked in the past, and spreads the cost of aviation services out amongst the public.  In a debate about whether to privatize the Air Traffic Control system, President Clinton referred to ATC as being “inherently governmental.”    Why?  Because safety should be the only bottom line when it comes to services like Air Traffic Control.

So what does that have to do with the funding debate?   Bear with me for a second.

In the user fee model, there will be a fee for Air Traffic Control services.   This means, as a pilot, that I’m likely going to be faced with the following:

• Get an FAA weather briefing:  FEE
• File a flight plan:   FEE
• Get VFR “Flight Following” radar service:  FEE
• File a “pop-up” IFR flight plan enroute: FEE

What’s the problem with this?   Many of these actions are voluntary for flying.   As a pilot, I get to decide when to get an FAA weather briefing.  I also get to decide whether to fly IFR, and whether to file a flight plan, and whether to get radar service in congested areas.

Today, the only factor influencing that decision is safety. I get flight following from ATC when safety dictates that it would be prudent.    I file flight plans when safety dictates that doing so would be prudent.  I contact ATC for services anytime safety dictates that I should do so.  That’s my only decision criteria.

With user fees, I’ll also have to consider the cost of these decisions.   In “marginal” cases, I will be financially incented to make the less safe decision because it will save me money.  I’m not saying that I personally will do things that are unsafe, I’m saying that the pilot population as a whole will be affected.  Their decision making process will be skewed by the possibility of having to pay for services that keep everyone safer.

It’s not just my safety that puts in jeopardy.  It’s everyone’s.   Are you, as someone who flies in our nation’s airspace system (either as a pilot, passenger, or customer of the airlines) okay with that?

If not, please write to your government representatives, especially now, and tell them that.   Tell them you want the FAA Funding Re-authorization bill to exclude user fees and keep safety as the only criteria for making ATC decisions in our nation’s airspace system.   And support AOPA’s advocacy program keeping general aviation safe and affordable for everyone.

The proponents of user fees are going to use today’s failure to trumpet their cause.  I agree that the system should be modernized, but I don’t think lack of charging user fees to the pilot population is what was keeping it back.  Don’t let our government compromise your safety under the guise of improving something they’re responsible for anyway.

- K.C.

The spreadsheet includes a simple macro to make printing the worksheet portion easy. If you get the “Macros Enabled” warning, that is why.

To download, click the image:

Enjoy!

Lima had to have three cylinders replaced due to cracks. Two had really low compressions and one had an exhaust leak. Since they were also cracked they had to be replaced instead of overhauled. So that set me back a bit. Anyhow, she’s running better than ever now and I decided to take the “run-in” opportunity to take a few pictures.

Enjoy!

I decided to go sightseeing over downtown, after checking some schedules to ensure there were no college/pro games going on. My only regret is that I landed before that amazing fall moon rose.

This flight also gave me the opportunity to try some night aerial photography with my Canon Digital Rebel XT.   Previous attempts to take photos from a plane at night had proven fruitless, but this camera is much more capable than my previous ones – the results came out pretty good!

After wandering around the ramp with cameras, we ran into a local pilot parking his aircraft. We inquired where a good place to have lunch would be, and he pulled out a sectional and gave me the following directions:

“Oh, what you want is Stanton’s Barbecue. What you do is fly on a heading of about 265 back over the town of Laurinburg. You’ll come to the small railroad town of Gibson, NC. Turn left, follow the highway to the south. When the road forks, take the right fork, and you’ll see Stanton’s next to a grass airstrip.”

Sure enough, after being sure I’d never recognize that little town I spotted a town square with railroad tracks and a white water tower. Nonfucious confirmed the “Gibson, NC” on the side of the tower, so we turned South and flew along the road and found the airstrip. Good BBQ, too!

To anyone who wants to try Stanton’s without using pilotage from Maxton-Laurinburg airport, the coordinates are N 34 43 60.00 W 79 40 00.00.

I was curious to know if anything of the theme park remained. I’d never actually been in the park, but I remembered the approximate location from my childhood in Charlotte. I found the site in Google Earth and plotted the location on a sectional chart. I had assumed it would be too close to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport to fly over, but it turns out it’s a couple of miles outside the Surface-area Class-B airspace, under an 1800 MSL shelf. Tight, but flyable.

I plotted my route carefully, planning a stop at Lancaster airport (LKR) to refuel and stretch my legs before beginning the more attention-requiring low-level flight to PTL. I made special note of all towers in the area, and highlighted the “highest obstacle clearance” numbers in the quadrant I would be in. I can fly 1000 feet AGL from LKR to the PTL site and be 400 feet below the floor of the Class-B airspace.

The flight was executed exactly as planned, without incident. In fact, the folks at Lancaster Aviation were having a hotdog cookout and even fed me lunch for stopping by and filling up!

The PTL site is mostly gone. The tower is still there, as is the “Kings Castle” structure. The water park which used to occupy the “island” in the center is completely gone. The water park entrance building and bridge are still there. As is the amphitheater and TV studio.

There are a couple of enroute pics, too. Enjoy!

1:30 pm: I check the local METAR and radar, and everything is better than forecast. Some puffy clouds and a few building cumulus around 5500 feet, no echoes. I need to go to Aircraft Spruce at Falcon Field (FFC) to buy oil, an oil filter, and a new rudder NAV position light, so I pack my stuff in my car and head out to Covington.

Dennis, another local pilot who I often see hanging around the airport, offers to ride with me. On top of being a generally nice guy he’s both more experienced and has more ratings than me, so it’s always a pleasure to have him along. We depart into a gentle 5 knot wind under building (but not menacing) cumulus clouds with a planned stop at Tara Field (4A7) for gas. (I hadn’t refueled after flying back from Clearwater, FL recently because it was late and I was tired.)
We encounter some light rain en route, but visibility is decent in the rain and even better than when we departed once we’re beyond it. We refuel at Tara, hopped over to FFC, and catch a ride to Aircraft Spruce.

After picking up the supplies and getting dropped back off at FFC we notice that the clouds have become remarkably more menacing looking in the 45 minutes we spent on the ground. So we pack into the plane and head out without delay. A Diamond Katana departs runway 31 ahead of us and also turns to the East.

Ten minutes after departing we encounter an isolated segment of heavy rain in our path, this time too heavy to penetrate VFR. I maneuver to the North to avoid it, being ever mindful of the nearby class-B airspace shrouding Hartsfield-Jackson Int’l Airport. Looking back, we notice that the rain has engulfed FFC completely. “I guess we got out of there just in time!”

Visibility in the vicinity of Falcon Field and Tara Field was good, so avoiding the now-developed thunderstorms wasn’t a problem, but we did encounter a couple of “a little too close for comfort” cloud-to-ground lightening strikes in the process. Dennis and I talked about how we had always heard of people who had dealt with direct hits by lightening in small planes, but didn’t really want to experience it firsthand. Besides, where there’s lightening there’s turbulence, rain, and often hail.

After some more circumnavigating around developed storms we pass Berry Hill airport, over half way to Covington and the last airport we’ll encounter en route. I make a note of the conditions around it in case we need to turn back. Ahead there is less indication of storms – no clearly defined sheets of rain or lightening bolts – but visibility is also not as good and the sky is notably darker. Visibility where we are has come down to about six miles and rain is streaking the windscreen. We are both diligently scanning the sky for other evidence of hazards.

I dial up the new AWOS at Covington. It reports “Wind 130 at 5 knots, Visibility 5 – Thunderstorms, Lightening Detected in all quadrants.” Ha! “In all quadrants” indeed. I guess it doesn’t matter which direction we approach from then! The good news is that the wind has shifted to favor 10, and we’re coming from the West so a straight-in approach is feasible. I remark on this to Dennis and he agrees, the less time we dawdle in the air the better, as these storms seem to be building all around us with breathtaking speed.

10 miles out, I call my position and advise I’m inbound for runway 10. My ground speed indicates a tailwind, but Covington’s AWOS still indicates 5 kts wind out of the East. Actually, given the conditions, my ground speed could be the result of me fighting updrafts – looking at the clouds there are obviously no shortage of those. Visibility is now a consistent 5 miles. The sky is a darkish gray-green.

6 miles out, visibility is between 4 and 5 miles, still VFR. I have descended to 2500 feet. It is raining. I still can’t see the airport, but recognize landmarks in the area.

4 miles out, the runway becomes visible, as does the ridiculously bright VASI lights. I’m a little South of the field, so I maneuver for a 3 mile right base and call my position.

2 mile final, the rain increases, as does the wind. I decide to make this a “no-flap” approach, the wind certainly doesn’t need any assistance tossing us around. The winds are gusty and variable in direction, but managable. I keep my speed up.

Crossing the perimeter fence I increase bank into the wind and slip the plane to increase drag and reduce altitude without gaining any more speed. I add 10 kts of flaps as we come over the numbers to help slow us down. We touch down just beyond the 1000 ft marker effortlessly and make the mid-runway turn-off. Not bad, given the conditions, I think to myself.

We taxi to the tie down. While tying the plane down the rain becomes a downpour and lightening moves into the area. Once again, we were damned lucky with our timing.

I prefer to not have to be “damned lucky” with anything involving flying. Sometimes it’s just in the cards. 40% chance of scattered storms became the radar picture you see here. It turns out that temperatures got above forecast today, so the storm development happened much more rapidly (and consistently) than anticipated.

I wonder if the decision to press on from Berry Hill to Covington was a foolish one, but the conditions ahead didn’t look as bad as the conditions where we were, and we were only 10 minutes away, so turning back was an option too… and we arrived uneventfully. The potential for trouble was just greater than I like it to be. Certainly a helluva way to remind myself to be ever mindful of the potential for “pop-up” thunderstorms as we enter the Summer storm season.

Happy Flying!
- K.C.