The principle of the monthly readers polls is easy: I give my point of view on one question and ask for yours. But this time I’ll do an exception. No panic, there’s a question. But no opinion because I’m really not sure what to think…

What do you think about the RedBull Air Race? Is it a great way to promote aviation and attract new people? Or is it an insane, useless even that is bad for aviation’s image? Let me know…

The idea of this post was born when I saw the next raffle plane of the 1940 Air Terminal in Houston. This is a vintage 1957 Cessna 172. 1957… This aircraft is now 53 years old, and it flies like a new one. It has been well taken care of, and even if its panel is not the most modern around, it has all what is needed to fly safely. The radios have been updated and a GPS has been installed, but the airframe is unchanged. The original engine was probably replaced when it reached its maximum certified time, according to the certification standards.

I don’t know if some Airworthiness Directives required changes that affected the aircraft’s structure, but if not it is simply the same good old Cessna 172 that was built back in 1957. I love the idea that a 53 years old aircraft is still flying. This makes an aircraft a great investment. Unlike a car that has lifetime somewhere between 5 and 10 years, aircraft (or at least airframe) have an unlimited lifetime.

This at least applies to good old aluminum airframes. But what about the new, composite airframes like the ones of all Diamond and Cirrus aircraft. Composites react to long exposure to the sun differently than metal. This is why these aircraft have to be mostly white, to reduce effects of the sun. Composite airframes have been around for fifteen years now and until we’ll have “real life” data, the discussion will probably remain open. If you’re interested in a deeper details check this post on Oshkosh365.org, the discussion board of the EAA. Some of these guys build aircraft themselves, I’m sure they know what this is all about.

And if you want to own a 1957 Cessna 172, you can buy tickets for the 1940 Air Terminal raffle plane for $50. Get a chance, and this is to support a great museum!

When the rules about Light Sport Aircraft (LSA for short) got defined I first thought “uhu, this is not for me”. Only two seats and a maximum speed of 120 kts are two big turnoffs. Both limit the use of LSAs for travel. I like fast, complex aircraft. The first LSAs that came around were also not that exciting. With all due respect, the Cessna Skycatcher is a very conventional aircraft. Except for its avionics, it’s not very appealing to me.

But the more LSAs I see, the more I think that having one could be fun. Not something like a SkyCatcher, but some more innovative LSAs. If you’re not thinking about the Terrafugia Transition or the Icon A5 at this point, you should read more about those. Long story short, the Terrafugia Transition is a “roadable aircraft” with folding wings and the Icon A5 is a very stylish amphibian LSA.

These are much funnier than a classically designed LSA. They are designed and built from new perspectives, without the influences or classicism of what we use to fly nowadays. They don’t have the same goals either, but this is the whole sense of LSA. May be the whole misunderstanding comes from the name itself. Light Sport Aircraft. The FAA should change that to Light Funny Aircraft – because this is what these new manufacturer provide. Aircraft to fly for fun. No long range, fast travel machines, but fun aircraft to fly for the sake of flying.

The last one I stumbled upon is still in the design phase but it looks very attractive. Like the Icon A5 it’s an amphibian. It is called EQP2 Excursion and is developed by Equator Aircraft. I know, most of the pictures available are marketing only. But the Icon A5 started the same way, and it’s now flying and getting ready for certification in 2011.

Sorry, but I have to write it. This new one is just sexy. And this kind of flying machines could really attract a whole bunch of new people to aviation. Now, let’s start a petition to rename the category Light Funny Aircraft. Who wants to sign?

I love to travel. Preferably by the air. Preferably as pilot in command. But I also enjoy traveling as a passenger, because it is still traveling. Traveling from A to B is often more than moving from A to B. It’s often like changing worlds, almost changing life. What I noted during recent trips is that the change does not take place slowly, but often at precise, symbolic points.

When flying across the North Atlantic ocean, it is when crossing the southern tip of Greenland that I say to myself “Ok, I’m changing place now”. Between Europe and South America, the symbolic point is Gibraltar. Leaving Europe behind, or coming back to it.  Crossing the equator is always a symbolic step in each travel. I’d love to cross these three points as pilot, but none of them is easily accessible to private pilots… may be one day.

But there are symbolic points in almost all trips, even shorter ones. I crossed the English Channel a couple of times, and even something like the turn of the Rhône valley near Martigny marks the limit between two different areas. Mountains on one side, and the Geneva Lake area on the other. Flying in the Alps offers lots of such changes. Some alpine passes mark differences between different climates, between different linguistic areas. Fly across them and you land in a completely different place… that’s almost magic.

If you also have such symbolic turning points I’d love to read more about them. Will someone mention the Bermuda’s triangle?

Yesterday I received new wings. Small ones, in the form of a lapel pin from AOPA. This was a “Thank You” from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for me reaching five years of membership. This celebration left me with a slightly bitter impression…

Why bitter ? Because I started flying in August 2001 and have been an active pilot for nine years. What’s the reason why I was not a member for the first four years? Well… you know… I don’t really have one. When I was flying in Geneva I was member of both the US and Swiss AOPAs. The two are not really of the same size in terms of number of members but they pursue the same goals: represent and defend General Aviation.

When there are discussions involving General Aviation the AOPA is almost always there to represent pilots. The association is well known from the authorities, also in smaller countries. I won’t list here all what AOPA is doing here, this would be too long. But I want to mention two things: the AOPA pilot magazine, published monthly and the ASF. The AOPA pilot magazine can be found on the desk or in the restrooms of all pilots houses. It’s a great reading and this is one of the reasons why I got membership in the US AOPA as well.

The ASF is the AOPA Air Safety Foundation. Safety is a hot topic for all smart pilots and there’s a lot to learn from the ASF. Their website offers a lot of safety resources:

• Accident databases
• Online courses
• Quizzes
• Real pilot stories
• Webminars

Some of these are available to anybody, some others are for members only. One more reason to be a member. Or to become one if you’re not already. Learn from my mistake, not being a member for 4 years was not smart. I preach about aviation being a community and was not part of the largest pilot association myself. Facepalm and Mea Culpa.

It’s not possible to sit in an aircraft for 62h50 in 23 days beside Jason Schappert and not experience some kind of side effects. Just in case you missed that, Jason is the CFII behind www.m0a.com and we did fly across America together in his Cessna 150. We probably became as close as members of a crew can be during this trip, and well beyond cockpit work. I can’t say how many coded words and private jokes we developed or how many times we wanted to strangle each other.

Now that the trip is over I could reveal secrets and embarrassing things about Jason… but I won’t. I respect Jason because he’s both a friend and a great aviation professional. And because he’s a friend, I’m sure that he won’t mind seeing this picture on my blog… This was in a TexMex restaurant in Houston where Jason made the arguable decision to eat a red pepper…

So far I flew with 14 different instructors or examiners in the right-hand seat and a lot of other pilots. I was also in the co-pilot seat a lot of times and know the habits and way of working of different pilots. From this point of view, Jason is one of the best I ever flew with. I saw him in various situations and could appreciate his pedagogic skills. Want more? Ok. His passion for aviation does not stop after landing. This guy is probably the ultimate flying enthusiast. He just never stops. He has all possible ratings, more than 4.000 hours, he runs a great flight instruction website, authored flight training books, talked at Sun’n'Fun and Oshkosh. Shall I continue?

If you read Jason’s blog you already know that he’s launching a online ground school for pilots. But what I know thanks to the month I spent with Jason and that you can’t even imagine is what this online ground school really is, and how dedicated he is. He spent part of his nights finalizing each and every detail, reviewing and editing the hours of video, polishing the website’s design, preparing the launch, making sure that the customer experience will be just perfect. I must admit that the concept is really cool – a video-based online ground school, always up to date, unlike books or DVDs. M0a’s online ground school is more than videos that you can see online or on your iPad, it also includes interactive quizzes, and time online with Jason himself, private forums, training documents…

You think that I got brainwashed, don’t you? I had a preview of this material and I saw how Jason intends to run it and I believe this is the future of flight training. Click here to check Jason Schappert’s online ground school yourself and let me know your opinion.

The whole aviation world (except me) was at EAA AirVenture 2010 in Oshkosh last week. Whether you were there (not like me) or somewhere else (like I was), there’s so much to see that it’s unlikely that you’ve seen all of it. Here’s a not so brief recap of what aviation bloggers reported from Oshkosh 2010.

Paul from askacfi.com published this collection of pictures. AirPigz posted 6 photo streams showing different aspects of the show:

Part 1: It’s all about to begin!
Part 2: Sunshine & AvGeek Hapiness
Part 3: Getting settled in
Part 4: Avgeek nation
Part 5: Sunny Thrusday (and wearing down)
Part 6: Seaplane base serenity

Scott Spangler of JetWhine uses to go to Oshkosh on the setup day, otherwise known as Day 0. Rob Mark also posted a photo album on JetWhine, centered on people he met at Oshkosh.

Max Trescott spend three days at Oshkosh looking for new products. He reported about them in a three part series: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Dan Pimentel, a.k.a. Av8rdan also posted several times about his trip to Oshkosh. Click here to read his report about weather, meeting with the guys of myTransponder, and Jack Roush’s landing accident, amongst others. Dan explores in a second post why Oshkosh is a week-long event. As many, he explains why it’s good to go there for more than 48 hours, and what he missed by being there only for two days. Hum, at least, Dan, you were there. Not like… me. By the way, thank to all of you for sharing.

Video bloggers were in Oshkosh as well (unlike me). My two favorite videos are this demonstration from ForeFlight’s new features. I was lucky enough to get a demonstration in Houston during my flight across America, and I’ve been quite impressed.

Talking about the iPad, look at that. This aircraft is simply exhilarating.

This is not exactly what I had in mind when I wrote this post about Steve Jobs revolutionizing the aviation with the iCockpit, but hey, why not?

Last but not least, if you wonder what PilotLife is  and where Jason got his METAR tee-shirt, click on the picture below:

When I passed my private pilot checkride the part I was the most afraid of was the steep turns. Even if I know how to fly good steep turns this maneuver makes me nervous and I’ve never been really good at it. I was happy that the examiner wanted to see them quite early in the flight, at least this was done.

For this month’s poll I’d like to talk with you about the part of the checkride that made you nervous. I’m sure there’s a lot to learn, for upcoming flights and for new pilots.

Are VORs on the decline? Will they die and vanish? Long story short: yes, VORs will die.

I’ve been in aviation for more than ten years now and I’ve heard lots of theories about the end of the VOR system. Because VORs have to be installed at specific location, they are expensive to build and maintain. And because of their limited coverage, many of them are needed to cover wide areas.

GPS is much better. It offers a worldwide coverage and it is much more accurate than VORs. GPS is also easier to use. No frequency to tune in, no need to select a radial or to identify a Morse code. GPS provides a direct position, where VORs require a second station or a DME to establish a position.

Despite all of these drawbacks, VORs are still around, and I bet that they will still be there in ten years from now. Aviation evolves very slowly. Installations like VORs have a life-cycle of several decades. Modifying procedures and publications also costs a lot of work, effort and money. Switching the whole system from VOR to GPS can not be done in one single “big-bang” step.

VORs are also used as backup in case of GPS failures. Not total failure of the GPS system, but failures of the receiver on board aircraft. In a GPS only system, the only navigation system left is radar vectoring. Before predicting the death of the VORs, the same oracles predicted the death of the NDBs. This finally happened – or is still in progress – but way later than they predicted.

GPS continues its extension. In the US there are now more GPS than ILS approaches, and almost all en-route navigation is based on GPS. I don’t know what could replace the VORs as a backup system at this time, but I’m sure that as soon as there will be one, VORs will die.

This post is coming live from American Airlines flight 1597, from Jacksonville to Dallas Fort-Worth. I’m on my way home after the Flying Across America project, and the MD-82 I’m flying in has in-flight WiFi from GoGo Inflight, so this is really live, not just a post I written in an aircraft and published later.

I’m not sure having Internet in flight is really a must, but it is funny to try it. I uploaded a new picture to my facebook profile and sent some tweets. Oh, and I can also track this very flight online on FlightAware, which is quite cool.

It looks like we’ll have some rain over Louisiana today before landing at Dallas. I also checked the gate of my flight out of Dallas – the connection time is a bit short.

More seriously, being able to check mails and keep in touch with the world in flight is a good thing. I travel a lot within Europe for my work and flights are often delaying some actions by lack of Internet connectivity. This service is not for free, it costs $9.95 per flight, in this case a 2 hours flight, and is available only over the continental US. I would love it for the next flight, from Dallas to Frankfurt, which will last for 10 hours…

As all innovations, this one requires some new rules and a good etiquette. Gogo suggests to limit the use of their services to e-mail and “decent” internet browsing. I guess that using skype or other similar voice over internet services is possible but I’m not sure my neighbor would appreciate that. This is why I like internet in flight but am against cell-phones in flight. Sending text messages would be ok, but I really don’t want to seat between two other persons engaged in two different phone calls…

PS: this flight just received a new route clearance, probably to avoid weather over Lousiana. This sounds like a good plan these cells look quite active, and I was a bit worried. Too bad our Captain did not inform us. Thank you Internet.