January 15, 2013 Eagles' Nest

The Liberty Gazette

January 15, 2013

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Welcoming students to the start of the New Year at Clear Springs High School in League City is a partially constructed airplane in the center of the main hallway. Amid the school’s glass and brick, neatly laid out are the fuselage, wings and engine of a Van’s Aircraft RV-12. On top of the box containing the engine a video monitor plays a slide show of the aircraft as it is undergoing a metamorphosis from a kit of metal parts to a completed airplane. Posted high above the airplane is a plaque declaring, “PLTW Aerospace Engineering – there are no limits… the sky is just another place to play,” followed by “Eagle’s Nest Project – Mentors build the students--- Students build the airplane.”

Linda: Back in late Spring Ernie Butcher, RV builder, aviation photographer and friend gave us a call and wanted to talk about a very special project that introduces aviation to the next generation of pilots and aviation professionals through hands-on experience building an airplane. Eagle’s Nest links mentors, schools, and the aviation industry in a manner that promotes education in these core areas, working under the umbrella of Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a rigorous and innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education program used in middle and high schools across the U.S. One of the most exciting aspects of this project is that although it’s founded in aviation, aerospace and STEM education, students pursuing other fields of interest such as journalism, speech, business and art participate to provide support from their particular field. Clear Springs High School is a PTLW-certified school. Houston – we have an Eagle’s Nest.

The students can use this airplane, once completed and signed off by the FAA as airworthy, for instruction toward their private pilot license. Those who participate in building the airplane will have the opportunity to receive 20 hours of flight instruction at no charge. All the other students at the campus where the project plane is built will have the opportunity to receive an introductory flight and five hours of flight instruction, paying only for the flight instructor, not the airplane.

Mike: The Clear Springs campus is the third school in the country to start an Eagle’s Nest Project, which was launched in the League City school this past fall. The sponsor for the project is Friends of RV-1 an organization dedicated to the historical preservation of the VanGrunsven RV-1 (the first rendition of what has become the best-selling experimental aircraft of all time), and for the purpose of supporting, fostering, and engaging in aviation and aerospace education. Because of their success with Eagle’s Nest, Clear Springs has been singled out as one of only ten schools in the country to be called a model by PLTW, which says the school exceeds expectations.

The first Eagle’s Nest Project plane built by the students at Jennings County High School, North Vernon, Indiana has been completed and its first pilot has soloed in it. On his 16th birthday with both his father and grandfather present, Austin Malcomb got the traditional treatment of having his shirt-tail cut off after he soloed in N901EN, Eagle's Nest One.

Linda: Today, there are seven Eagle’s Nest Projects either completed or underway. Each is fostering students' understanding and respect for the airplanes they build and helping promote a love of the freedom of flight, while including almost the whole student body contributing from a variety of interests.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

January 8, 2013 Wacky Jack

The Liberty Gazette

January 8, 2013

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: There’s just no mistaking an old piston radial engine. It bellows a low throaty sound, admired by airplane lovers and engine geeks the world over. While standing out in an open field taking pictures of approaching airplanes at a fly-in at Fort Parker Flying Field in Groesbeck I searched the skies for the source of that sound. When the bright yellow bi-plane crossed over the trees the throaty sound ceased as the pilot throttled back the power, leaving a whining sound as air passed over the “singing wires” that aid in bracing the wings. As the airplane drifted down preparing to land on the short rolled-grass runway the pilot must have decided it didn’t feel right and pushed the power forward for a go-around. Almost instantly an eardrum-shattering whack came as the propeller blade tips momentarily went supersonic, for full go-around power. The pilot made another circuit around the traffic pattern and all the people wandering about the field gazing at other airplanes stopped to watch as he made another approach, and a beautiful landing.

Linda: Manufactured in Troy, Ohio in 1941 by the Weaver Aircraft Company (WACO, pronounced Wah’-kō), this particular Waco was first used to train college students, then transferred to the Army Air Corps Air Training Service where it joined others like it to train more than 60,000 pilots for the military during WWII. The Tally family of Justin, Texas, are the current owners and they’ve named it Wacky Jack by combining WACO with images of a bumble bee and a yellow-jacket wasp. They’ve even made up a “birth certificate” that includes “parents” (Weaver Aircraft Company) place of birth, and date of birth along with all dates of “rebirth” (rebuilding and modifying). Godparents are Continental (engine) and Curtis Reed (propeller), and “accomplishments” are in speed and horsepower. The list of “residences” ends with the Tally family; its highly skilled pilot, Tracy Tally, attracts attention at fly-ins with his graceful landings in the eye-catching vintage airplane.

Tracy gives rides in the way old barnstormers did in the 1920s and even into the 1930s: he accepts tips to help offset the operating costs of the airplane, but that’s it. While he shares the airplane’s history and introduces people to the era that was the golden age of aviation, his overwhelming desire is to use it as a means to share his faith in Christ. Beautiful glossy, colorful information cards give the basic specifications of the airplane, some of its history, a bit about his family’s seed business, and a bit about Tracy’s relationship with Jesus. Links to a couple of Christian websites are included.

Mike: In 1939 Tracy’s grandfather, E. C. Tally, bought a farm near Justin, Texas and started growing wheat and oats. In 1958 he incorporated and the farm became the Justin Seed Company. Like many farms, this one has been passed down through the generations and these days you’ll find Tracy at the helm. In addition to the grass, flower, grain, and many other varieties of seed, Justin Seed Company has expanded to sell feed, fertilizers, turf and erosion products, and equipment.

A hard-working family, Tracy’s parents provided him with the tools and means to succeed in this business and he uses what he’s been given, including Wacky Jack, primarily to win souls for Christ and secondarily for business.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com



January 1, 2013 PHI, it stands for Find A Solution

The Liberty Gazette

January 1, 2013

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: It was the late 1940’s in Louisiana and Jack Lee’s problem was common amongst his fellow oilmen: traversing rugged country to potential drilling sites proved challenging for seismology crews. When Texas and Louisiana began developing oil rich coastal lands following WWII, the 4-wheel drive jeeps, trucks, and swamp buggies the crews used often got stuck in the marshes and mud, making for difficult and dangerous travel. Lee, president of a seismology company, wanted a solution to this dismal situation. He approached Robert L. Suggs and M.M. Bayon with an idea: use helicopters to carry crews and equipment to job sites. Three Bell 47D helicopters and a workforce of eight kicked off Petroleum Bell Helicopters, Inc. Today’s Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. is known simply as PHI.

Before long, a wide spectrum of companies in the Gulf Coast oil business lined up for services from the small start-up, each with its own unique needs. By 1952, the then three-year-old company had spread beyond the Continental U.S., supporting drilling operations in Bolivia, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Greenland. Acquiring larger helicopters that could lift more and fly further, PHI was the first helicopter company able to support rapidly expanding offshore oil drilling, which they still do today. There are people here in Liberty who have flown to an oil rig on one of many PHI helicopters.

PHI flourished under the leadership of Robert Suggs. After his passing in 1989 his widow, Carroll, assumed leadership of the company and it has thrived even in poor economic times through sound business decisions and adherence to a strong diversification plan. Carroll made customer service and a commitment to safety the company’s priorities. The helicopters are painted a distinctive yellow as much for safety as for brand recognition. Lots of businesses claim “safety is number one,” but PHI has achieved an enviable record earning them many recognitions, perhaps most notably the FAA’s High Flyer Award.

PHI’s inventory of choppers has grown and shrunk with the demand for service over the years. At one point in the 1980’s 417 PHI helicopters were in operation, the largest non-military fleet of helicopters in the world. That would mean somewhere around 2,000 rotor blades spinning around in the air, working to support energy, mining, and other industries. And all those rotor blades require frequent inspection and preventive maintenance. Today, with tens of millions of hours flown, a widely diversified fleet provides services to oil fields around the world and in the aeromedical industry as well. It takes a huge maintenance facility and highly skilled mechanics to keep those rotors blades running millions more hours, and PHI, now based in Lafayette, Louisiana, offers their outstanding maintenance service to other helicopter companies.

Linda: Though now we have more roads allowing better access to drilling sites, the Gulf Coast still presents challenges. As a team, Lee, Suggs, and Bayon created an industry which is now populated with competition, but PHI is the grand-daddy of them all in both longevity and size. When next you see a large yellow helicopter overhead, think of Jack Lee who saw a need and found a way to fill it, and of Carroll Suggs, whose entrepreneurial skill carried the company through rough times to find solutions.

Happy New Year from Team Ely. May 2013 be your year to fill a need, find a solution, achieve success.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 25, 2012 A gift

Liberty Gazette

December 25, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: I had a long but important trip ahead of me. My first fuel stop would be Memphis, and I looked forward to lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in nearly 30 years. Then on to Cincinnati to see some “Grands” (I later learned that I landed right behind singer Alan Jackson…oh, so that’s why there were groupies at the airport).

Myles, now 10, was born with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency, better known as “the boy in the bubble disease.” He has no functioning immune system, a disease so rare it took a year after his first illness at five months before getting a diagnosis. Two previous bone marrow transplants failed, and while preparing for the third try, cancer popped up in the way again. Lymphoma. Second time. But that’s treatable, and only postponed the transplant. Meanwhile, supportive head-shaving parties held by friends and family around the country ended up in a nice YouTube video, “Shaved Heads for Myles,” with “Stand by Me” sung by Indiana University’s a cappella group Straight No Chaser. And we sent thank-you cards and a Superman cape to our hero, the anonymous young man who donated his healthy bone marrow to save my grandson’s life.

Our family takes turns helping during these times by either staying with Myles in the hospital or with his two young siblings at home while my son-in-law is at work. I enjoy both options, but there’s something special about staying with Myles. Between treatment interruptions we do school work, bible study, build Legos and watch movies – lots of movies, like Red Tails, Spiderman, and The Avengers, which we saw over Thanksgiving. I think he picked Red Tails just for me.

I admire my daughter for the medical warrior she is for Myles, and the great mommy she is to all three. Changing doctors for the third transplant was a wise choice; Myles has been discharged from the hospital several months earlier than expected. While the first 100 days post-transplant are critical, he’s doing remarkably well – well enough to be in isolation at home rather than in-patient.

He was well enough even before discharge to get 4-hour passes. The day after Thanksgiving we went to Lunken Municipal Airport on a pass. Little Princess Caroline stayed behind with Mommy, and I took Myles and four-year-old Liam out to the airplane and strapped them in, explaining everything I was going to do so they’d understand what they were experiencing. Since we’d just watched Red Tails we imagined we would shoot down an enemy if we saw one in the sky. We did several touch-and-go’s, staying in the traffic pattern around the airport because Myles can’t really go anywhere yet. We looked for his doctor’s house in the neighborhoods below and saw the Little Miami and Ohio rivers flowing along side the airport. And I saw him smile. Not just from his lips, but from his whole being beamed this happiness, as those big eyes gazed out the window, taking in the great view from aloft.

It thrills my soul to have been with him when he felt well enough to go up; an indescribable gift for which I will always be grateful, and it gave him a unique story to tell when we returned to his hospital room that afternoon. One of the nurses asked, “How was your pass today?” Myles held his composure like a man and said, “Good. I went flying with Nanny.”

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 18, 2012 Stand by for re-route

Liberty Gazette

December 18, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: Years ago when a pilot ventured by the field where fourth-grader Charles Queen flew remote control airplanes and suggested a visit to the local airport, Charles discovered a $2 investment would get him a flight in a Piper TriPacer. By age 14 his journey into flight training began and good grades earned him a Civil Air Patrol Cadet scholarship.

Two incidents of engine failure didn’t discourage his love for flying. The first time, as a seven-hour student pilot he landed the plane safely after the engine stopped on takeoff when ice formed in the carburetor. Another incident occurred during aerobatics. Lacking a fuel system that kept positive pressure when the plane was upside-down, the engine quit due to fuel starvation but was quickly restarted once he rolled it back over to a normal flight attitude.

A degree in mechanical engineering got him a job designing jet engines for Pratt & Whitney and he earned two patents, one related to jet engines and the other, nuclear research.

And then he bought a Cessna 310, just like the one Sky King used to fly. He flew Angel Flights and took his pastors to church conferences and out of town funerals. That’s when he put “Isaiah 40:31” on the tail, which is what got our attention when we stopped for fuel in Knoxville, Tennessee. And that’s how we came upon Charles Queen.

Linda: Returning to Knoxville one evening from Philadelphia the beautiful October weather had turned messy and Charles would be flying “in the soup”. He’d filed his instrument flight plan, expecting air traffic control to clear him on his requested route. But the controller’s next words changed that: “Stand by for re-route.” He’d have to extensively re-plan and review his entire route as he headed into the thick clouds where he’d have no visibility and more than moderate turbulence. He touched down safely in Knoxville but the experience stuck with him.

Then the morning of May 8, 2003, Charlie’s alarm buzzed, as usual, but his left arm wouldn’t move to shut it off. Then he tried to get out of bed, but his left leg wouldn’t move. Mildred called 911, and during the 68 days in the hospital, doctors told her that her husband would never walk again.

The stroke ended his flying and the design work he was doing for research equipment for a nuclear fusion program. However, he has since walked to the top of Clingmans Dome in the Smokey Mountains – the highest point in Tennessee – and volunteers at the hospital twice a week working with stroke patients and the chaplain. It hurts to walk but he keeps going.

“I know God is in control of everything and allows things to happen for a reason,” Charlie says. “I don’t always know what the reason is, but I know I have to trust Him. I’ve had such a blessed life with my loving wife and three wonderful daughters and a great job that let me travel the world. I never questioned Him when things were going well, so why question Him when things changed?”

Charles Queen’s nine grandchildren will someday have their grandfather’s autobiography to help them appreciate what they have, and trust God in the hard times, even when it’s hard to understand, even when God says, “Stand by for re-route.”

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 11, 2012 Catching up with Billy Werth

The Liberty Gazette

December 11, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: A new poster depicts a Pitts S2C (biplane) just a few feet above a runway, inverted. You’re looking at the airplane from behind, as though it is flying past you, very close. The upside-down tail is within reach, a gloved hand almost touching it; a snapshot of an air show routine performed by the Werth brothers, Billy, a pilot, and David, a motorcycle stuntman and racer.

I caught up with Billy last week before he left for ICAS – the International Council of Air Shows annual convention in Las Vegas. Growing up in an aviation family and flying since 1988, Billy is a military pilot (Aircraft Commander on the air re-fueler KC-135R), a Chautauqua Airlines captain on the Embraer 145, and a modern-day barnstormer, dazzling air show crowds in his newly acquired Christen Eagle and giving rides and lessons in the Pitts through his company, Grayout Aerosports, of Indianapolis.

He’s often spotted practicing aerobatic maneuvers over my sister’s house, so it’s not unusual for me to get a text message from someone in the family, “Billy’s up practicing!”

We first met him at the fuel pump at the airport near her house several years ago. Back then Billy was very close to getting his ground level waiver, meaning the FAA would allow him to do aerobatics without limitations on how low he could go, a valuable commodity to an air show pilot.

Today, he’s a hot item. And while that’s certainly a testament to his skill and training, he also married a marketing guru with a background in broadcasting and event planning, who does a great job selling Billy as a product. Haley, who I remember as a toddler in pigtails growing up a couple doors down from us, is a burst of energy and an asset in the air show business.

The routine with brother David is a bit edgy to some airshow executives, so for now they’re performing a wing grab, rather than the depicted tail grab. “Some airshow executives think we didn’t think this through, that we pulled it out of a hat and tried it once – but that’s not it. We’ve taken all the possible safety steps. We’re in constant communication during the routine, weather has to be just right, and we practice, practice, practice. Nothing we do in a show is new to us; it’s planned out, choreographed, and practiced.”

The act opens with a game of chicken between airplane and motorcycle. Then the boys settle down to race. Then there’s “the grab”. “It’s the ‘High Five,’” Billy explains. “Brothers fight, compete, and make up. If you have a sibling you get that, and we relate to the audience on that level.”

Rides and lessons help support the costs of performing. Non-pilots can get a taste of aerobatics; for pilots, aerobatic lessons are important for keeping valuable skills current. Whether you’re flying a small Cessna or a Boeing 757, as Billy emphasizes, you can lose those skills. “One day that auto pilot might go out. When you’re looking around asking, ‘where are we going and why are we in this hand basket,’ you had better take a long hard look at that. You need good stick and rudder skills. Sometimes you have to turn off all that fancy equipment and fly the airplane.”

Have a look at their website, www.GrayoutAerosports.com. You’ll be impressed!

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

December 4, 2012 Flying Clubs

The Liberty Gazette

December 4, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: When I started flying I rented airplanes from a small local flight school. Like most kids my age, I couldn’t afford to buy an airplane. Even if I could have, with limited exposure to the field of aviation at that time I wouldn’t have known what would be the best machine for me. Renting offered an opportunity to learn to fly more within my budget and experiment with a few different airplanes. Scheduling was sometimes a challenge, and there were always checkout requirements – proving to an instructor you could fly a certain model airplane before you’d be allowed to rent it – which added to the cost.

Like most flight schools, the one I patronized relied on the airplanes they rented to be available for student training, so once I earned my private pilot certificate it was more difficult to use their airplanes for pleasure trips. Charging by the hour, most flight schools will establish a daily minimum if an airplane is taken for the whole day; it’s a means of bridging the gap of what they need in rental revenue and the desires of their licensed customers.

I learned to fly before I bought my first car so I guess you could say it was my passion for flight that forced my first auto purchase. My local airport had no flying club, so ground transportation became necessary. The motivation was always flight.

Air South Flying Club at Fullerton Municipal Airport had a wide range of airplanes and while not all flying clubs are for the same purpose, here members had access to all the airplanes owned and operated by the club at a discount price and without daily minimums. This included larger faster airplanes with six seats, and even twin engine airplanes. Even today it is nearly impossible to find an airplane with more than four seats for rent outside of a flying club.

Clubs come in all different sizes and are created for different purposes. They might have just one airplane or many. Some are commercial ventures, others a social center. I interspersed my advanced flight training with the club’s instructors with aerial adventures to Santa Catalina Island and snow ski trips to Idaho. Club events such as photo-flight contests and dinner fly-outs encouraged members’ mutual support.

In the 1970’s Beech Aircraft Corporation sponsored flying clubs across the country called Beech Aero Centers. They even had a custom designed modular club house. The idea was members could check out in a particular model airplane at one Aero Center and that check-out was good at any Aero Center, saving them any further check-out expense if they wanted to fly an airplane in another part of the country. That practice faded over time, but now it’s making a comeback.

Presently there are around 600 flying clubs in the United States. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has set a goal to grow that to 2,000. With the return of universal check-outs making flying more affordable more people will be able to participate in this wonderful activity, and expand their horizons. We think a flying club could work well here in Liberty.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 27, 2012 Jerrie Mock

The Liberty Gazette

November 27, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: On a spring day 48 years ago a red and white Cessna 180, a single-engine airplane, touched down in Columbus, Ohio completing a fairly long cross-country flight – 23,206 miles long to be exact. Exiting the aircraft before a cheering crowd of 3,000 the pilot, Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock, a 38-year old housewife and mother of three stepped into history; now it seems an almost forgotten history. Quite a journey, the flight ended exactly where it began 29 days and 21 stopovers before.

Her story, in the back pages and nooks of history books, few people know: that she was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe solo. Many people think Amelia Earhart was the first to fly solo around the world but she only completed about 75 percent of the trip before she and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared someplace over the Pacific Ocean.

Today organizations such as Earthrounders help pilots organize circumnavigation attempts, but this was in the days before Al Gore invented the Internet. Jerrie planned the entire adventure herself in the basement of her Ohio home. She flight planned using old world navigation charts given to her by a former Air Force pilot friend and her husband Russ supported her by securing sponsors and equipment donations.

Jerrie fell in love with flying the day she first rode in a Ford Tri-Motor at the age of 12. She dreamed of visiting far off places, yet it wasn't really her intent to be the first to make such a trip. Things just sort of came together and it sounded like a lot of fun.

While in the final phases of planning she learned that Joan Merriam Smith was planning to make a similar flight, only in a faster twin-engine Piper Apache. Smith wanted to be the first woman to round the globe solo and she was going to make a race of it. Jerrie moved her planned departure date up and she launched sooner than she felt she was ready.

Through the course of the “race” she faced dangers from ice over the North Atlantic to sand storms over the Sahara Desert. Her brakes’ mechanical problems weren’t the only concerns about the airplane; the long HF radio antenna necessary for communication over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans wasn’t entirely cooperative either. Navigating around the escalating conflict in Vietnam, she finally achieved her goal but the significance of her feat was drowned out by the war that sprung to the front pages of every newspaper in the U.S.

Named for her airplane, Three-Eight Charlie published in 1970 chronicles the adventures of Jerrie and her Cessna 180, but the book had a limited release so many people even in aviation circles don’t know about her.

Jerrie lives in Quincy, Florida, her beloved Charlie, also known as The Spirit of Columbus, hangs from the ceiling in the Smithsonian Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, in all its glory for all to see, encouraging others to dream about launching on their own adventures.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com

November 20, 2012 Houston Airport System's Aviation Club

The Liberty Gazette

November 20, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Mike: NASA’s Johnson Space Center has made Houston a leader in the aviation and aerospace industries by supplying research and development, guiding the future of those industries. Among the many destructive decisions coming from Washington is cancellation of programs that would keep the United States strongly at the forefront of space exploration and aviation. But with the dispersal and forced retirement of key employees, the City of Houston is stepping forward with plans to grow the next generation of industry leaders and workers. 

Houston Airport Systems (HAS) has created the Aviation Club, initially at two Houston area high schools, to provide focus and support for students who’ve shown a desire to enter this field. The club will engage students in science, technology, engineering, and math, which is critical if America is to maintain its leadership in space exploration. Currently offered at Sterling High School and Carnegie Vanguard High School, plans are in the works to expand the program across the Houston ISD by next year. Sterling already has an aviation magnet program so it makes sense that this should be one of the “starter” schools.

Houston continues to lead the nation in the creation of jobs during a difficult economy mostly due to more entrepreneurial business-friendly laws and tax structure. This new education program focuses on one of the city’s strongest sectors, with the ultimate goal to build a workforce to accept the challenges for tomorrow’s aviation and aerospace jobs. While there are certainly some lower paying non-technical jobs in the industry, the city of Houston realizes that the skilled technical jobs the aerospace and aviation industry provides are the ones that really help the city’s economic structure.

Mario Diaz dreamed of aviation when he was growing up. Today Mario is the Director of the Houston Airport System. He feels early exposure to the industry was critical for his career path. As a teenager, he became fascinated with aviation, became a pilot and later an executive for airports in three major U.S. cities. He has long wanted to create an initiative that would launch the passion for flying in the next generation of aviators and space pioneers. Looks like Houston is the lucky winner.

Bob Mitchell is the president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership. Understanding that students have many career choices but also face many distractions, Mitchell believes the new Aviation Club will introduce them to some of the most exciting career opportunities available now and in the future.

In monthly two-hour sessions students will learn from mentors and through enrichment activities. The criteria for participation in the club include being a student from Sterling High School or Carnegie Vanguard High School campuses in grades 9-12 (later to be expanded to all Houston ISD schools), be in good standing with a minimum GPA of 2.5, maintain satisfactory attendance at meetings throughout the year and have a desire to exploring post-secondary educational and career opportunities in aerospace or aviation.

The program is designed to encourage growth in all these technical fields as well as encourage a solid work ethic, and discover a passion that makes them look forward to each work day.

                                                   www.ElyAirLines.Blogspot.com

November 13, 2012 Airline Airports

The Liberty Gazette

November 13, 2012

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: Our space here is usually devoted to the good and wonderful stories that come from the world of general aviation. There’s good reason for that – we have a very important general aviation airport here in Liberty that is a vital part of the National Airspace System. Supporting our airport and its critical role as part of our nation’s network of landing facilities, as well as promoting its huge potential as an economic generator for our area is a way for us to contribute to our community. We don’t often reflect on airports served by commercial airliners, but found a couple of current studies on airline passengers sort of interesting.

One study is being undertaken to measure the stress level of passengers as they enter airports that serve airlines, and how that stress affects them while at the airport. All airports, not just big commercial ones, compete for business and it behooves them to be the best they can be. A bad reputation can easily lead to loss of tourism, convention and business dollars, so they actually study this stuff. In fact, I’ve seen charts and graphs produced by Skyscanner, showing the minor ebbs and major flows of stress levels from the point of entry to a major commercial airport, through check-in, to the purposed illusion called “security” that violates our rights (that’s my description, not Skyscanner’s), and finally locating the gate. Once the passenger has made it successfully through all these obstacles stress levels begin to finally drop a bit. Once beyond the unconstitutional, humiliating and pointless groping travelers become captive to grossly over-priced goods and services (again, that’s my frank and honest description), just as the stress levels begin to ebb. And do you know what airport planners call this time? Happy hour. You, the traveler become somewhat “happier” and the airport becomes – you guessed it, much happier, because it is in this time you will contribute to their non-aeronautical revenue. An Airports Council International survey showed non-aeronautical revenues (parking, magazine and coffee sales, etc.) accounted for 46.5 percent of airports' income worldwide in 2010, so you can see how important happy hour is.

Another question opened up in our discussion forum on whether or not to inform airline passengers of wait times through checkpoints. Now these discussions take place in an international arena, and the American reaction to such theory favors strongly the preference for truth, no matter whether that truth is good or bad news – just tell us the truth, whether the wait in this line is three minutes or thirty minutes. I found it interesting that airport management from other countries were less interested in telling the truth than they were in controlling public behavior. Alas, our own government has clearly moved in that direction as well. But we the People have not.

When it comes to that control mechanism veiled as “security”, the feds are working on “risk-based security” and the potential of identity management. They say it’s so they can streamline the process and make it more efficient and less stressful.

It used to be that the benefit of going by air was the convenience and speed realized over that of travel by train or car. Unless and until this farce called TSA is abolished, you might say you’re better off driving, but I’d say go get your pilot license and fly yourself.

www.ElyAirLines.blogspot.com