I may not be flying at the moment but Vincent from PlasticPilot and Jason of www.m0a.com are doing astounding things. I’ve mentioned their Flying Across America project before: they’ve teamed up for a flight across the US to promote General Aviation.

We will fly from Daytona Beach, on Florida’s Atlantic coast to Catalina Island, in the Pacific, about 25 miles west of the Californian coastline. Our planned route is Dunnellon – Daytona Beach – Destin – Baton-Rouge – Houston – Sweetwater – El Paso – Prescott – Chino – Santa Catalina

On the way home we’ll fly Whiteman – Santa Maria – Las Vegas – Sedona – Roswell – Georgetown – Lafayette – Pensacola – Daytona Beach – Dunnellon.

We will organize events at our stops to promote General Aviation and pass our message. Contact us if you’re anywhere near one of our stops and want to meet us or help us with local organization.

And the exciting news is they’ve started! They took off from Dunnelon last week and did a videolog recapping the first day:

They are in Houston now and updating Flying Across America as they go. There’s a write-up of each day so you can tag along vicariously and there’s a Facebook page you can follow Flying Across America’s Photos which has dozens of photographs of each day.

Do I even need to mention how insanely jealous I am? But it is so much fun to follow along with all the details. Vincent and Jason are posting a wide range of great content, ranging from planning and weather to flying experiences to photographs from all over the US and visits to interesting museums and air shows.

Here’s my favourite shot from today, Day 4 of their journey:

How can you not love these guys?

I hope they are having a wonderful, wonderful time and I will be following the rest of the trip on the Flying Across America site and the Facebook page.

If you happen to be located at one of their stops, be sure to arrange to meet them – and tell them hello from me!

I spotted these photographs on the Star Telegram’s Sky Talk blog along with a few posts detailing how a Boeing 777 lost a door at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

The flight from Sao Paulo used the autopark system at Dallas/Fort Worth, which means that ground workers are not involved and thus it isn’t simply a case that chocks were not used. At the moment, it is still unclear what caused the accident. Gate D33 has a slight incline and the plane apparently rolled back 100 metres (over 300 feet) while the passengers were disembarking. The movement physically ripped the door off of the plane. Amazingly, no one was hurt.

Andrea Ahles spoke to American Airlines and received the following statement:

Flight 962 parked at the gate one (1) minute early Tuesday using our docking guidance system. Therefore, it was not appreciably early. Using the docking guidance system is completely normal at the airports where it is installed – DFW being one of them. We have them at all of our gates at DFW. Installing them was an American initiative, and they’re installed at other airports we serve, such as Miami, as well. Whether the plane had been docked with the guidance system or by our ramp personnel, the use of parking brakes or wheel chocks are part of procedures that occur after the plane has stopped at the gate. Again, American has yet to determine the cause of the incident, and nobody should speculate publicly about the cause until all the facts are gathered and interpreted.

No speculation? What fun is that?

In a further statement to the press, a spokesperson for American Airlines stated that it was unclear whether the crew had failed to set the brakes properly or if there was a physical failure.

Meanwhile, there are a few comments from people supposedly in the know.

An anonymous poster on the Dallas AIRLINE BIZ Blog stated that it was a pressure failure:

When the Captain attempted to set the brakes, the system lost all pressure and the aircraft began rolling backwards. He twisted the tiller that controls the nosewheel steering and eventually slowed and stopped the aircraft. A valve in the hydraulic braking system had failed and has since been replaced – along with the door.

Meanwhile, on the PPRuNe thread, Plane to jetway: Can I have my door back? it was stated that the parking brake valve malfunctioned which fits in with the description of losing pressure.

This further image was posted on Bizzarre AA 777 incident at gate — door ripped off plane – FlyerTalk Forums with the classic comment, “I did this to my car’s side-view mirror once, backing out of the driveway.”

I know, I shouldn’t laugh.

I couldn’t find anything on the American Airline site although they’ve clearly released a statement that’s being quoted all over the local news. Still the reporters seem to be focusing on the lack of chocks although the statement is very clear that the lack of chocks was not seen as a contributing factor. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if the NTSB end up offering a recommendation to use chocks as a back-up measure on any gates with an incline.

A collection of aviation news and views that caught my eye this week:

Watching the crash

Me and my mom were in the car waiting at the traffic light on Ingra Street and we heard the plane. “That plane sounds really low,” my mom said. As I agreed with her I saw the plane come over the Ingra House. It clipped the top and then I saw the plane rock back and forth. I looked out the opposite window and it was still shaking. I was thinking “there is no was that this plane is going to go over that small yellow house.” Then, right as I was thinking that, me, my mom, and my brother saw it hit the ground. We all gasped. Right that second my mom pulled out her phone and called 911. As she was calling them, I was also on the phone with my dad. My dad was worried sick. My sister had no clue about this because she was at gymnastics at Arctic Gymnastics.

Kids flying Delta take off from MSP, land in wrong cities | StarTribune.com

Nine-year-old Kieren Kershaw, who was flying from Spokane, Wash., to visit his grandparents, knew something was wrong when he saw an airport sign that said Cleveland. “My mouth dropped open,” he said. I tried to stay calm. I didn’t want to freak out.”

Via The Wings Stayed On!: When Otto Goes Bad…

Acronym list… – PPRuNe Forums

FPL (foolish place to land?)
LARS (Swedish guy?)
GPS – Grown-up’s Playstation System
IFR – I Follow Roads
IMC – I’ve Mucked up and can’t C

BBC News – Frosty welcome for lucky plane stowaway

He survived because the plane flew at a low altitude to avoid stormy weather.

The man apparently got under a fence at Schwechat airport in Vienna and climbed into the undercarriage of the first plane he saw without knowing its destination.

A Closer Look: 747-8F engine damaged in Victorville

7 Videos of Airbus A380 testing

The test program of the Airbus A380 did last for 15 months and was well documented. I picked the best YouTube video for you. You’ll see the Airbus A380 in extreme flight attitudes but also extreme take-offs and landings, plus some destructive tests of engines and brakes…

Did you know there’s a Facebook fan page for Fear of Landing?

Facebook | Fear of Landing

If you use Facebook, you can “like” the page and you’ll get notifications of the aviation links I post in the right sidebar (no more than one a day) and new posts on this blog. I’ll be adding photographs as well. If there’s something else you think might be fun to include, do let me know!

Dear November 666 Echo X-ray,

This past year has not been good for flying, for either of us. If I’m honest, the past two years have been pretty grim. Keeping up-to-date and flying takes a lot of time and both Cliff and I have been so busy, it’s difficult to make time for you. And then when I’ve wanted to fly, you’ve invariably been in the wrong place: sunning yourself at Málaga airport when we had a weekend free in Scotland, passing the time at North Weald when we were sitting in Málaga and so on and so forth. I’m not trying to put the blame on you, but from a logistical point of view, it’s been a bit of a nightmare.

I haven’t actually flown at all in 2010. Twice this year, I managed to align the stars such that you and I were in the same country at the same time with spare time to go on a trip and both times, the weather has been such that you didn’t want to go. Sure, I could have put in the time to get my instrument licence but I didn’t want to complicate things. Anyway, it’s not just about the weather.

Meanwhile, you started to act starved for attention, insisting on regular maintenance even though we weren’t flying – or even wanting extra maintenance because we weren’t flying. You’ve not made a big secret of it. Engineers who I barely know have told me that you need to go flying more, that you are feeling neglected. It has been clear for a while now that our relationship isn’t fulfilling your needs.

Sometimes it is difficult to make a change. I’ve felt for a while like I was stuck in a rut but it was just too much effort to do something about it. Sometimes people stay in a relationship not because it’s good but because it’s convenient.

After all these years together, I was used to you and your quirks. I loved taking you to new airfields, showing you off. Every pilot was jealous that you were with me, it was a buzz. But in the end, we weren’t going anywhere, we weren’t doing anything. Our relationship was based on nostalgia, not passion.

There’s no easy way to say this. I think it’s for the best if we don’t see each other any more.

It’s not someone else – no one could ever replace you! I will enjoy being without a commitment, I think. It’ll be nice to be able to try out a number of different planes, a few lessons here, a few hours there. A lot more convenient and a lot less pressure. I’ll be hanging out at the clubs to see what I think, maybe have a fling with an aerobatic plane. But you probably don’t want to hear about that.

It’s not you, it’s me. I know you want a commitment, someone who wants to fly you all the time. And that’s not right for me, not right now. Maybe someday.

So, it seems like this is goodbye. I’ve loved being with you, don’t you ever forget that. Do you remember the time the autopilot broke right as we were flying over the Alps with my mother in the back-seat trying to work out what was happening? Or how about when I took a wrong turn and you ended up half a foot deep in mud? And then that time when I missed the runway and we took out a landing light at Oxford. Yeah, good times. We had a lot of good times.

Well, I guess this is it. I’m sure you’ll be really happy with your new pilot. He seems a nice bloke, down to earth. He’s really crazy about you.

You take care of yourself, OK? And if you find yourself at a loose end, give me a call. I’d love to get together for a quick circuit or two, find out how you are doing.

I’ve got to go. I just, I got a bit of dust in my eye. I’ll be fine. You go on, get flying. You’ve been on the ground too long.

Love,

* Sylvia *

After much discussion, Cliff and I have decided to sell the Saratoga II TC. The plane was snapped up by a Dutch pilot who was looking for a cruiser and loves Pipers and I’m sure he’ll be very happy with the Saratoga. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to exploring different options and hopefully spending more time flying and less time worrying about maintenance and paperwork issues.