Aviation Interest

Saturday May 4th 10AM-3PM – San Carlos, CA. – Come see this beautiful Grumman Mallard along with other fantastic seaplanes on Saturday, May 4th at Seaplane Adventure at the Hiller Aviation Museum. Seaplane Adventure features a fly-in of “amphibious” aircraft from around the western United States. These planes can operate from land as well as…

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013 starting at 9:30 am PDT – Please let your members know about our free event & lunch. https://www.facebook.com/events/328047307318315/ GCC and the GCC Aviation & Space Club together with the FAA Safety FAASTeam is pleased to host a presentation offered by select Aviation Experts for this year’s 2013 National Safety Stand Down. Thousands of pilots across the country will come together as a Safety Community to participate in a dynamic, interactive program devoted to Local Safety Issues, Loss of Control, and the number one aviation fatal factor – Human Error. RSVP: http://www.faasafety.gov/SPANS/event_details.aspx?eid=49787

Santa Rosa, CA. – An array of experts in a variety of aircraft technologies, from batteries to aerodynamics to photovoltaics, are gathering in Santa Rosa, Calif., for this week’s 7th annual CAFE electric-aircraft symposium. Representatives from NASA, IBM, Pipistrel, MIT, UCLA, and more, are convening to share the results of their latest research and contribute to creating the next generation of flight. “There’s a great deal of promise that we can have emissions-free airplanes,” event organizer Dr. Brien Seeley told AVweb on Thursday. General-aviation aircraft that are quiet, vibration-free, and easy to operate have “the potential to really proliferate,” he said. The meeting will be held Friday and Saturday.

The “Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013” (H.R. 1765) was introduced on Friday, April 26, by Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa). It was signed by President Obama on Wednesday, May 1. You see, Congress and the President can get things done…when they want to. The full title of the bill is “To provide the Secretary of…

When I was a young girl, my father would take the family to various airport days and aviation events in California. I grew up with prop tags, airshow hot dogs, and the sounds of warbirds. As an adult, I have loved attending and putting on events at general aviation airports. It is sad for me in 2013 to see the downsizing or cancellation of some of our wonderful airshows and aviation events because of financial concerns from the sequestration budget cuts.

From the cancellation of Indiana’s 2013 Indianapolis Air Show to expected decreases in the amount of military participation at Lake in the Sky Airshow in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., to the postponement of military and small hometown shows, the shockwaves continue. Yet as we remove some shows from our calendars, we can add smaller shows or events instead. – Get involved, support local airshows, fly-ins

The first annual California Aviation Awareness Day event to be held on April 24, 2013, between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm on the north steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento.  The purpose of the event is to inform the public and legislators about the importance of aviation to California.  Many of our members have been helping get us organized as this was not initially a planned event for ACA.  But, it made sense that ACA take the lead and we will have more information at the September conference on planning for the event in 2014.

California Aviation Awareness Day Sponsorship

WHY SUPPORT AVIATION DAY?

The historical level of state support is insufficient to sustain the infrastructure

MARTINEZ, CA — Contra Costa County looks for clarity on adding lights as part of tighter rules for meteorological towers. Following the state’s lead, Contra Costa County is poised to tighten its rules for marking meteorological towers that might prove hazardous to aircraft.

However, county planning commissioners postponed taking action this week, asking for more information about adding aviation light beacons atop towers 150 feet and taller.

The item will be brought back to the planning commission at its April 23 meeting.

The state approved legislation last fall in response to the January 2011 fatal crash of agricultural pilot Stephen Allen after his airplane struck a 198-foot tower on Webb Tract that he likely did not see. The tower was erected in 2009.

It appears the FAA is backtracking on an earlier directive that forbade at least some of its FAA Safety Team (FAAST) representatives from talking about pending tower closures. On Wednesday the FAAST Safety Team issued a general note of advice about operating at non-towered airports (the FAAST Team doesn’t like the term “uncontrolled”) and touched on all the points covered by myriad other sources on the topic since the closures became a real possibility. (Click here for a PDF of the e-mail.) Closures of 149 towers were supposed to start April 7 but on April 5 the FAA delayed that until at least June 15 citing the spate of legal challenges to the closures. Also on April 5, a regional FAAST assistant manager on the East Coast told his safety team that any discussion of tower closures was off limits. (Click here for the PDF.)

FAA’s 149 airport-tower closures cleared for takeoff – WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration is moving ahead with plans to close 149 small air-traffic-control towers across the nation as part of mandated spending cuts.

“We don’t have the money to keep them open,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation Tuesday.”It’s a big headache for us.”

The FAA on April 5 postponed the closures until June 15. LaHood said was mostly so lawyers could review the decisions and give local governments a chance to find the money to keep them open.