AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018 - 16

LETTERS
airfoil is also not a venturi.) By
Newton's third law of motion,
"for every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction,"
an airfoil forces air to curve
downward and the reaction
forces the airfoil upward.

aircraft had conceptually similar static pressure corrections
except for lacking dependence
on wing sweep.
Paul Raveling
AOPA 562013
El Dorado Hills, California

Voice in your head

Samuel Feldman
AOPA 565688
South Plainfield, New Jersey

HANGAR TALK

As usual, "Test Pilot" was
highly worthy. The one thing
I'll note, as someone who
wrote central air data computer software for seven
military jets, relates to the
static source error question. The stated answer is
amply true for subsonic and
supersonic flight, but static
pressure gets certifiably weird
in the transonic regime, mainly
about Mach 0.7 to 1.3. As speed
increased in that range, the
necessary error correction
curves looked unpredictable
except for an overall tendency
to have the biggest errors near
Mach 1.
The causes, of course, were
the details of how localized
shock waves formed on the
airframe, and the peak magnitude of errors was surprisingly
large, at least to me. In the
B-1B and F-111, the Static
Source Error Correction curve

Regarding Barry
Schiff's "Test Pilot"
question about singleblade propellers:
There was also a
certified single-blade
propeller made in the
1930s. It was made
by Everel, I think,
and used on J-2 Cub,
Taylorcraft, et cetera.

Jerry Griggs
AOPA 409039
Goddard, Kansas

depended on five variables,
only one being the measured
static pressure. The other

I just read Thomas A. Horne's
confessions in the article "On
Instruments: An Approach to
Remember" and appreciate his
second (and third) guessing.
Thanks for sharing-a good
reminder to all of us to develop
and listen to that "little voice"
in the back of our head.
Todd Smith
AOPA 6341292
Creve Coeur, Missouri

Memories

I graduated from U.S. Air
Force pilot training in January
1957. I was assigned to the
1739th Ferry Squadron at
Amarillo Air Force Base,
Texas. I had dreams of flying
wonderful new multiengine
aircraft to exciting destinations all over the world.
After all my qualifications
were complete, realism set in
and my first mission in April
was to ferry a C-47 from
Sacramento to Tokyo. Once
we g o t s t a r t e d , i t o n l y
took us five days to deliver

Northwest Arkansas isn't the first place pilots
think of when they consider backcountry flying, but that's about to change. "There's a
network of backcountry airstrips in the Ozarks
that will delight and test pilots of all skill levels," said AOPA Pilot Editor at Large DAVE
HIRSCHMAN, who traveled to the Trigger Gap
airfield with AOPA Senior Photographer Mike
Fizer (See "WINGS AND WHEELS," page 58).
"You don't have to go to Alaska or Idaho to find mountainous, remote, challenging places
to fly-or learn the skills required for such places." A grass runway is being added at the
Bentonville Airport for specialized backcountry flight training, and the network of out-ofthe-way airstrips in the region is expanding. "Mountain bikers made this region a mecca
for their sport by creating a vast network of riding trails-and backcountry pilots are doing
something very similar," Hirschman said.

16 | AOPA PILOT January 2018

the aircraft with stops in
Honolulu, Midway, Wake,
and Iwo Jima. I went on to fly
C-47s well over a thousand
hours in rescue and reconnaissance. Today, I wouldn't trade
a single minute of that experience for anything, except
for possibly a chance to fly
one again, a feature article,
or a new watch. Thanks for
the nostalgia ("Pilot Briefing:
Breitling DC-3 Wraps Up Its
World Tour").
Jim Rizor
AOPA 1203992
Henderson, Nevada

Errata

The May 2017 "Test Pilot"
incorrectly described the size
of the Explorer 1 satellite. It
was 80 inches long and 6.25
inches in diameter.
In "Pilot Products: Free
iPhone App Provides X-Ray
Vision" (November 2017 AOPA
Pilot), we used images from
another Seattle Avionics FlyQ
product to illustrate the new
FlyQ InSight app.
In "Simply the Best "
( D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 7 AO PA
Pilot), we incorrectly spelled
Williamson Flying Club member Denny Ankrom's last name.
In "Gear Guide"
(December 2017 AOPA Pilot),
the Wash Wax shown was
a one-quart bottle, but the
price given was for one gallon.
Additionally, the bottle shown
was from a discontinued product line.
AOPA Pilot regrets the
errors.
We welcome your comments.
Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland
21701 or email (pilot@aopa.
org). Letters may be edited
for length and style before
publication.

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2018

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