Redbird Skyport, Bar VK Ranch, US Aviation- General Aviation is Alive and Well in Texas

We rode the airlines from Newark to San Antonio to attend the grand opening ceremony for the Redbird Skyport a revolutionary new flight training center in San Marcos Texas this past week. Continental had a $266 round trip ticket for that pairing and we really couldn’t afford to be out of the office more than three days.

Believe me we tried to justify the math as our most recent airline trips have been as pleasurable as sitting through root canal therapy. I figured the $600 we spent on tickets would have got us to San Marcos and it would likely be another $600 to get home -just in fuel.

We left EWR on Monday and arrived at 11AM CST. With nothing to do until 6pm Tuesday evening, we headed to Denton to visit our Texas Friends from Oshkosh. Jim recently had sold his hangar at Denton Airport (DTO) and purchased an airpark home in Sanger with the money.  Airpark living has been a retirement fantasy for Judy and I for several years so we really wanted to see what it was like.

Driving on I35 north for three and a half hours we arrived at Jim’s where they graciously planned a party for the Yankees.  We toured Jim’s five bedroom  Man Cave (his wife will not spend the night there yet- “too primitive”) riding around on a golf cart to see the runway, fishing pond, pistol range and some really over the top homes sitting alongside a three thousand foot turf runway.  The entire Denton contingent we met at Oshkosh eleven years ago was in attendance. Jim Bill Larry and Howard usually camp in Vintage but we met them the one year they camped in the north 40- and this was the first time we met their wives.

We caught up over a dinner of BBQ brisket, pinto beans, potato salad and copious quantities of red wine. All through the party whenever you would walk through the house you could see Jim’s pristine 1963 V35 Bonanza under the lights in the adjoining hangar. I wondered whether he intentionally left the hangar lights on for that view and then thought - I would.

We spent the night at Jim's and arranged with Howard for a tour of the US Aviation Flight School in Denton where he is the Chief Pilot and Designated Pilot Examiner. US Aviation has sixty some odd airplanes and an elaborate simulator lab, proving to me that everything really is bigger in Texas.  Primarily training foreign students from all over the world, they run an ab initio program for numerous airlines, taking applicants through their Private, Instrument, Commercial, multi engine ratings finishing them up with King Air 90 simulator and flight time in one of the four King Air 90’s in their fleet.   

It was a real refreshing experience to see a well-funded flight school in a clean modern facility with well-kept aircraft and literally a hundred pilot/applicants going through their program. You would never think that there has been a downturn in aviation by visiting their facility.

We drove to San Marcos, checked in at the Embassy Suites, and headed downstairs for the shuttle to take us over to the airport.

The Redbird folks have created this FBO/Flight Training Center/Flight Experience Center and training laboratory out of nothing in less than a year. The facility is first class and includes a simulator lab with several of their FMX , a MX2 “hummingbird”,  numerous  TD and TD2 table top units as well as the first MCX a dual control FMX type motion simulator.

The MCX simulator elicited the same “we’ve got to get one” response out of me that the original had when we saw it in the NAFI Learn to Fly Discovery Center in Aeroshell Square at Oshkosh in 2009.

Dual controls solves a few of the challenges with instructing in the FMX primarily for Pitch Hitter

training, CFI applicants and for primary training where the need to explain, demonstrate and correct are concerned.Judy made sure that we steered clear of the sales staff that I’m sure were itching for someone to write a check for one.

We had a wonderful dinner buffet  with a  endless supply of beer and wine and listened to a list of distinguished speakers laud the Redbird team for bringing their idea to fruition. I will be keeping a close eye on the progress the Skyport people will undoubtedly be making. I had a few long conversations with many people at the AOPA Summit about the need for the FAA to revise the private pilot practical test standards to allow more than the current 2.5 hours of sim time that can be counted towards that rating. Everyone agreed and on Friday I saw a press release stating that the Skyport people have received a waiver allowing them to do just that.  

That’s a beautiful thing and will undoubtedly spur more student starts and finishes as the mechanics of stick and rudder skills will be learned and perfected in the simulator then brushed up in the airplane. It’s an exciting time and of course everything is bigger in Texas.

Just go buy a plane already

Bonus depreciation ends on 12/31/2011.  I glommed the following from an Aviation Tax Consultants Web site.

“New aircraft purchases and new equipment purchases for used aircraft can now be expensed in the year of purchase through December 31, 2011.  For 2012, 100% bonus depreciation returns to 50% bonus until it expires on January 1, 2013.  In addition, new aircraft purchases (but not new equipment on used aircraft) will receive a one year extension on the placed in service requirement under certain circumstances.  The additional first year depreciation deduction is allowable both for regular income tax purposes and alternative minimum tax purposes.  Qualifying property must be new, used primarily for business purposes, and meet other tests necessary to qualify for modified accelerated cost recovery system depreciation (MACRS).  The new bonus depreciation excludes property acquired under written binding contract in effect prior to January 1, 2008”.
Airplanes are the cheapest I’ve ever seen since I started flying and the interest rates are also at historic lows. Our airplane is possibly my most prized possession. An hour or two in the Mooney is the best therapy I can think of for diminishing the stresses of the day to day. So what are you waiting for?   If you think you won’t use your own aircraft enough to make it worthwhile let me suggest this.  Its 7:30 on Sunday morning, the sky is clear with high cirrus and light winds and the forecast is it will stay that way. I’m going to take Judy over to Westhampton Beach (KFOK) for breakfast at the Diner in the terminal and we’ll be back to watch the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys game at 1pm. That plan wasn’t even a thought until I sat down with my tea and laptop this morning and looked at the sun streaming through the kitchen window.
If you’re renting airplanes from a school or club, chances are the airplanes are already booked today. Owning your own means your airplane is waiting for you when you’re ready.   

Strange Weather

Like many of you I got up last Saturday morning really interested in seeing whether the forecast for the area was correct. The local weather man had said a winter storm warning was in effect for 3 to 6 inches of wet snow with as much as 6 to 12 inches in the higher terrain. We live at 950 MSL which can only be considered high if everything else around you is at sea level.

When it started snowing in earnest we decided to close shop and head home.  I had worked late the night before and we had a wedding and go to that night so when I got to the house I decided I’d take a nap for an hour then shower and dress for the wedding.

When I woke up the snow was really coming down. We already had about five inches on the ground and it was falling furiously. I hopped in the shower and suited up for the wedding. We got in the truck and started backing down the driveway. When it came time to turn around, the truck was still moving in the same direction and no amount of control input was changing that. I brought it to a stop and tried reversing course. We just sat there and spun the tires. Four wheel drive wasn’t much help and I quickly came to the conclusion that we would need to plow the driveway prior to leaving for the wedding. Unfortunately the plow wasn’t already on the truck so we bailed on the festivities resigning ourselves to the fact that we weren’t going anywhere.

Well it continued until midnight and when it was finally done we were left with 19” of heavy wet snow, on October 30^th. We lost power around 7PM and now a full seven days later the power still hasn’t been restored. Turns out this was one of the worst storms in many years and the worst October storm in my memory.

The leaves hadn’t yet fallen from the trees and the rapid snowfall accumulated on them causing branches to snap off and take down  transmission lines.

So we’ve had two one week long power outages in as many months, the first from Hurricane Irene and our unexpected snowstorm. It seems odd that this should be happening but only if we view these storms as isolated events. 2011 has seen its share of bizarre weather.

Weather Underground meteorology director Jeff Masters, who wasn't involved in the study, said in the United States from June to August this year, blistering heat set 2,703 daily high temperature records, compared with only 300 cold records during that period, making it the hottest summer in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl of 1936.

Anyway the weather will be what the weather will be, and I believe that these wide swings and storms define what the new normal is. As pilots we’ll have to learn to adapt to it.