Week in brief November 25 2011

Cessna has told US Flying that it is raising the price of its popular latest model, the C162 Skycatcher LSA, from US$114,000 to US$149,000 in 2012 to reflect true production costs. Cessna’s director of communications Dianne White told Flying that the increase was due to the manufacture wanting to make the production of the Skycatcher sustainable. It’s worth nothing that the new price tag is for a C162 that comes with a number of avionics and other options as standard that weren’t standard at the original price.


Organisers of the New Zealand event have announced that a rare Russian Yak 3 fighter will perform at the 2012 Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow after undergoing a three-year major overhaul near Blenheim on NZ’s South Island. The Yak 3 had suffered serious damage in an accident in the US before it was purchased by its current owner; it’s currently undergoing flight testing, which is due to be completed in January. 


Are you interested in evolutionary aircraft designs that could in the near future radically shake-up light aircraft design standards? So are we, which is how we stumbled upon the FanWing project. From the clearly limitless imagination of American Patrick Peebles being being developed in England and Italy, the FanWing looks like the bastard child of a combine harvester and a helicopter cockpit, but university studies have concluded that it could lift 5732 pounds (2600kg) using only 100hp thanks to its incredible lift efficiency. Can’t picture? Then click here to read a story on the FanWing from the US AOPA website, then click here to get the full story from the FanWing website.


Have you heard the seminal (and hilarious) rockabilly standard One Piece At A Time, written by Wayne Kemp but popularised by a 1976 recording by the inimitable Johnny Cash? If not, the song’s about a factory worker at General Motors who literally steals a Cadillac one piece at a time by smuggling all the pieces of the car out of the workplace with him every day – “One piece at a time/And it didn’t cost me a dime”, sang Johnny Cash. Well, here’s an aviation-themed take on a similar matter. Local media report that a former Cessna employee has pleaded guilty to selling stolen aircraft parts on eBay after smuggling piece by piece out of a Cessna assembly factory. The 34-year-old Wichita resident faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in the slammer and a fine of up to US$250,000. Sounds like someone could pen a song about the matter…


Now here’s a case for some crack investigators in the US – earlier this week a Beechcraft Duke loaded to the hilt with marijuana landed at an uncontrolled airport outside of Houston at 1915, damaged its nose in a hard landing and skidded off the runway into the grass. But when emergency crews arrived at the field the pilot/s had vanished, leaving their aircraft and stash behind. Some mainstream media amusingly reported that the aircraft landed itself, but more sensible folk have suggested that the pilot bailed as soon as the aircraft stopped to avoid the Fuzz. A manhunt has so far come up empty handed.


The Experimental Aircraft Association in the US has made a logical move to extend its Young Eagles program to adult would-be aviators. Based on the successful EAA Young Eagles flights for youth, the EAA Eagle Flights program will focus on one-to-one flight experiences and pathways that help adults toward discovering more about flying and eventual pilot certification. While there’s a handful of organisations and flying clubs in Australia that run Young Eagles programs, or something similar, we’re not aware of these programs being extended to the adult market. Here’s hoping that changes….


Australia’s next generation of fighter pilots are set to graduate as F/A-18 Hornet pilots as they prepare to return to RAAF Townsville to participate in Exercise HIGH SIERRA. The pilots from No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit at RAAF Base Williamtown will be put through their paces during the final phase of the six-month long operational conversion course. Exercise HIGH SIERRA kicked off on Monday and runs through to December 8 and represents the last three weeks of the F/A-18 operational conversion course, which converts fighter pilots from the Hawk Mk127 Lead-in-fighter aircraft to the F/A-18 Hornet.