Continental Purchases Thielert

On 23 July 2013 Continental Motors announced that they had purchased Thielert Aircraft Engines for an undisclosed sum.

At first blush this purchase by Continental looks like a great match. Thielert has been in bankruptcy for five years now and run by a temporary administrator who has been looking for a buyer through the Long Recession. The company has other concerns, as founder and ex-president Frank Thielert has been charged with fraud over misrepresenting the value and finances of the company during earlier attempts to find buyers and investors. Frank Thielert was arrested and jailed in mid June 2013 by a German bankruptcy court judge as a potential flight risk.

Continental Motors has been pursuing diesel aircraft engine technology itself and is actively working on its TD-300 engine, a derivative of the French SMA SR305-230 diesel engine. So with that interest in diesel engine technology and Thielert's need for a buyer, the purchase seems like a good move for both companies.

But there are also larger forces at work here. It helps to recall that in December 2010, Continental itself was purchased by AVIC International, and AVIC is wholly owned by the government of the People's Republic of China. That all adds up to the Thielert purchase being just another part in the Chinese government's large and growing portfolio of western aerospace firms. At this point it isn't clear how far they want to go in buying up companies, but time will tell if they just want a slice of the light aircraft business or something larger than that.

As part of the purchase the Thielert name will disappear. The company will become a division of Continental and will be called Technify Motors GmbH. Given the troubles the company has endured this is probably a good move on Continental's part.

Here is my revised current list of western aerospace firms bought out so far by non-western interests:

• Cirrus Aircraft - Government of the Peoples Republic of China
• Continental Engines - Government of the Peoples Republic of China
• Enstrom Helicopter Corporation - Chongqing Helicopter Investment Co, China
• Epic Aircraft - Engineering LLC, Russia
• Flightstar Sportplanes - rights, tooling and parts inventory purchased by Yuneec International, China
• Glasair Aircraft - Jilin Hanxing Group, China
• International Lease Finance Corp - 90% New China Trust Co Ltd, New China Life Insurance Co Ltd, P3 Investments Ltd and China Aviation Industrial Fund
• Liberty Aerospace - 75% owned by the Kuwait Finance House, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House of Bahrain
• LISA Airplanes - 75% owned by Heima Mining Company, China
• Piper Aircraft - Government of Brunei
• Superior Air Parts - Weifang Tianxiang Technology Group, China
• Thielert Aircraft Engines - Government of the Peoples Republic of China

External links

• AVweb
• Continental Diesels: Crunching the Numbers, by Paul Bertorelli, AVweb
• Wikipedia

Vintage Wings: "Calling All Volunteers"

By Dave O'Malley, Vintage Wings of Canada

It's just 8 weeks until the first vintage aircraft touches down here at Gatineau for the Wings over Gatineau-Ottawa en vol Air Show. Just 8 weeks to prepare and there is still lots to do. We are looking for volunteers of all ages to move mountains, spread the word, impress guests, inspire children, look good, escort veterans, secure aircraft and show lines, put up signs, park cars, pick up trash, sing songs, sell swag and share smiles.

WE NEED YOU!

You'll get a cool shirt, new skills, lasting memories, lots of sun, and a heart full of pride.

External link

• Vintage Wings: "It's Showtime Baby and We Need You"

Further Details About the 2013 CAHS National Convention and AGM

by Timothy Dubé, CAHS Convention Chairman

The Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) returns to Ottawa-Gatineau for its 50th Convention and Annual General Meeting on 11 - 15 September 2013 - the Big Five O!

Both the Program and Schedule of Events has been finalized and can be downloaded by following the links below or on the CAHS website under "Events." To be part of this very special five-days, complete the Registration Form and Schedule of Fees and return it with your cheque to us today.

More information on the event - including awards ballots and 50th Anniversary mechandise pre-order forms - will be distributed to CAHS Members shortly.

For more information, please contact the Convention Chairman, Timothy Dubé.

We hope to see you in September for the Big Five O!

Event Schedule and Details

Celebrating 50 years is a BIG deal and the Big Five O promises CAHS members just that – a BIG deal!

In addition to two-days of historical presentations (see links to view the Program with the list of speakers and their subjects), the Big Five O will include a number of special events and tours. These begin on Thursday evening with a BBQ and tour of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM), with the bonus of seeing the ongoing restoration of Canadair C-54GM North Star 17515. On both Friday evening and all day Saturday, the CAHS will be special guests at Vintage Wings of Canada's Wings Over Gatineau-Ottawa air show. On Sunday, CAHS members will return to the CASM to be witness to the annual Battle of Britain parade and flypast. The BIG FIVE O wraps-up on Sunday evening with an early-Autumn Harvest Feast and the presentation of CAHS awards.

Program of Events (217 KB PDF document)

Registration Information

To attend this year's Convention, simply download and complete the Registration Form and Schedule of Fees and return with your cheque to the address below! The forms can be downloaded below or at www.cahs.ca under "Events".

Registration Form and Schedule of Fees - 2013 CAHS Convention (78 KB PDF document)

Location and Accommodations

Headquarters for the Big Five O will be the Albert at Bay Suite Hotel in downtown Ottawa. Each newly-renovated, one-bedroom suite includes one or two queen-size beds, a spacious living room (some with a pull-out couch), private bath, and a fully-equipped kitchen. We have secured a rate of just $139.00 plus taxes, per night, single or double occupancy. Make your reservations now by calling 1-800-267-6644 or 613-238-8858 and asking for the "CAHS Annual Convention" Group Rate. The deadline to secure this rate is 12 August.

Is Your Aviation Document Booklet Expiring?

by Patrick Gilligan, COPA

Did you know your Aviation Document Booklet (ADB) must be renewed every five years from date of issuance?

This fall, pilots, flight engineers and air traffic controllers will begin renewing their Aviation Document Booklets (ADB). Transport Canada first introduced the ADB in 2008 with a five year expiry date, so the majority of ADB holders will need to renew their booklets this year.

How do applicants renew their ADB?

To renew an expiring ADB, applicants are required to submit a completed Application for an Aviation Document Booklet form (TP 26-0726) and a passport style photograph to the TCCA regional office that holds their pilot licensing file. Transport Canada requires four to six weeks to process a completed application. Applicants should submit their applications at least 90 days before the expiry date. There is no fee for renewing your ADB.

Background

Transport Canada provides an ADB to flight crew members and air traffic controllers in order that they may exercise privileges of aviation-related permits, licences and ratings, and possess evidence of medical validity. Note that a Student Pilot Permit (SPP) is a standalone document. Students should not apply for an ADB if they only hold a Student Pilot Permit (SPP).

The ADB replaced paper licensing documents. The ADB enhances the security of licensing documents and provides pilots with a more durable product.

The ADB must be renewed every five years to ensure the photograph is current. Some ADB holders may require earlier renewal for other reasons (for example, if a pilot holds a Level 4 Language Proficiency).

External link

• TC Aviation Document Booklet webpage

More About The 2013 CAHS National Convention and AGM

The 50th Canadian Aviation Historical Society National Convention and Annual Meeting will take place in Ottawa from 11 - 15 September.

Final planning is underway and a detailed event program, schedule, and registration form will be issued in a separate CAHS e-Newsletter bulletin shortly. This same information will also promptly be mailed out to Members as a hard-copy Convention Registration Package.

Some general information on the Convention:

• The event opens with a meet and greet on Wednesday evening.
• Thursday and Friday will feature speakers' presentations.
• Thursday evening will feature a tour of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.
• On Friday evening and Saturday, convention attendees will be special guests at the Vintage Wings "Wings Over Gatineau - Ottawa Air Show."
• The convention concludes on Sunday with a visit to the CASM for the Battle of Britain parade, and our annual awards dinner.

External links

• CAHS Convention webpage
• CAHS Homepage

Reviving Aerobatics Canada Chapter 5

By Jonathan Rotondo

We are reviving Chapter 5 (Ottawa-Gatineau) of Aerobatics Canada!

We will be holding a meeting during the first week of July at the Rockcliffe Flying Club.

Here are the details:

• Where: Rockcliffe Flying Club, main classroom
• Date: Tuesday, July 2nd at 7:00pm
• Time: 1900 hrs

We will be joined by former president and Canadian aerobatic champion Jay Hunt as well as local aerobatic pilot Peter Ashwood-Smith. Many of you have seen Peter fly routines in his Pitts S-1T at Gatineau.

Jay and Peter will give us a brief talk about the benefits of reviving the Chapter, what goes into running one and what we need to do.

Here is a brief meeting agenda:

1. Elect 2 or 3 people to serve in leadership roles
2. Agree upon a small membership fee
3. Set a goal for the season (practice day and judging clinic in the fall)
4. Discuss how we can continue to spread the word about the chapter so that more pilots can join us
5. Take a group photograph

We may add any other points as they come up. Please let me know if you are able to attend and whether you wish to take on a leadership role.

I hope to see you on July 2nd!

Rockcliffe Canada Day Fly-in Is On

There was some confusion last year as to whether the Rockcliffe Flying Club was continuing its tradition of running a Canada Day fly-in or not. Despite the lack of announcements in 2012 the fly-in was held, although attendance by aircraft flying-in was predictably quite light, due to the lack of publicity.

Even though RFC's calender once again doesn't indicate the event exists, there is a volunteer recruitment page for the event and it is mentioned on the club's Facebook page as well, so it seems to be on again this year!

So here are the details:

• What: Canada Day Fly-in Breakfast
• Where: Rockcliffe Airport, Ottawa
• Organized by: The Rockcliffe Flying Club
• Date: Monday 01 July 2013
• Time: 0700-1200
• Also: The Canada Aviation and Space Museum will be offering aircraft rides to the public

See you there!

External link

• Rockcliffe Flying Club website

Rockcliffe Flying Club Starts An IFR Club

By Rockcliffe Flying Club

The idea of an IFR Club stems from a suggestion from one of our club members. The purpose of the informal meetings is to bring together IFR pilots (or someone thinking about becoming IFR rated) to meet once a month and discuss what they are passionate about….flying and not just flying but instrument flying. Come out and meet experienced IFR pilots and newly rated IFR pilots and have a coffee, relax and enjoy the conversation.

Here are just some examples of the things that might be discussed:

• IFR in Canada and the USA: how does it differ?
• A number of us feel more comfortable in the IFR system and file IFR even on completely clear days. Is this a VFR-cowardice?
• Does the 2-year re-ride deter Canadian pilots from getting IFR ratings? They don't have it in the USA and a much greater percentage of private pilots are IFR-rated. Is the re-ride useful?
• Does anyone understand the new preferred low-level routes in the Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal corridor? Does it matter, do we just file "direct" and see what comes anyway?
• What are the minimum number of instruments with which you feel comfortable flying IFR?
• Is an ADF anything more than additional and unnecessary weight these days?
• Below what temperature in the winter do you feel comfortable that you're not going to meet ice in a cloud?
• Is an onboard StrikeFinder or StormScope needed any more now that we have uplink weather information on our GPSs? Which is better: the immediate response of the StrikeFinder or the bigger picture of the uplink weather?
• When are we going to get ADS-B in Canada? Is it worth buying a portable ADS-B unit for flying in the USA?

Details

• Where: Rockcliffe Flying Club Lounge
• When: Last Thursday of the Month
• Time: 1930 – until finished!!

Drop by last Thursday of every month! See you there!

Iroquois Fly-In Breakfast 21 July 2013

by Keith Poore, Iroquois Flying Club

The Iroquois Flying Club will be having its annual fly-in breakfast on Sunday 21 July 2013.

Here are the details:

• Event: Breakfast is served at the campground
• Location: Iroquois Airport (CNP7)
• Time: 0730 – 1130 hrs.
• Menu: Eggs, Ham, Baked Beans, Roll, Coffee and Juice.
• Price: $6.00, children 6 and under $3.00

Innovative VProp Finds New Home

The VProp automatic variable pitch propeller was originally designed by Thomas Strieker and produced by Silent Aircraft GmbH of Verl, Germany, but has been unavailable since it went out of production in 2011.

Intended as a purpose-designed propeller for the Jabiru 2200 and 3300 engines, in its two and three-bladed version respectively, the rights to the design have now been passed to the well-established propeller manufacturer, Hoffmann Propeller GmbH & Co. KG of Rosenheim, Germany.

Hoffmann are not currently offering VProps for sale, but are engaged in further developing the design to make it available for a wider range of engines with a wider range of power outputs. Hoffmann Propeller Technical Engineering's Stefan Bichlmeyr is leading the development effort.

The innovative VProp design uses aluminium blades mated to an aluminium hub through vibration dampened ball-and-socket joints. The pitch of the blades is controlled automatically, without pilot input. The blades are kept at an optimal angle of incidence through a co-axially-mounted, counter-rotating vaned spinner mounted in front of the blades on the hub. The vanes drive an internal generator which measures the prop's rpm and the speed of the aircraft. An electronic control unit mounted inside the hub takes this information and compares it to optimal profiles set on the ground and then uses an electric motor-driven pitch change actuator to optimize the blade pitch for the aircraft's speed and engine rpm.

The VProp's pitch range is limited by mechanical stops and if electronic control is lost it mechanically reverts to a safe pitch angle automatically, as a fail-safe.

Because there are no cockpit control runs the VProp is entirely self-contained and internally powered, making it simple to install and maintain. In flight it reduces pilot workload over traditional constant speed propellers, as there is no pilot input required.

In the past the VProp has been available only for experimental installations, but Hoffmann hopes to eventually certify the design.

Note

This article also appeared in the August 2013 edition of COPA Flight.

The Ottawa Flying Club Needs You!

From the Ottawa Flying Club

In reality we need you, your hands and your skills!! The club is in need of repairs, cleaning, just general cleanup, so if you can help out it would be greatly appreciated.

Date: Saturday 15 June 2013, 1000-1500 hrs, with a thank you BBQ at 1500 hrs

Some tasks that need to be done:

• Painting window sills outside
• Painting and repairs inside
• Raking
• Sweeping
• Window washing
• And much more

Members and students are all welcome to chip in!!

Contact Marc Desjardins if you are able to give us some of your valuable time.

Does your SPOT Leave Crumbs?

Flight 8 member Chuck O’Dale’s followers did not get the 1300 miles of bread crumbs promised by his SPOT. He is still waiting to hear SPOT’s explanation. He wonders if he inadvertently disabled the bread crumb feature. If so, folks should be aware how easily and unknowingly this can happen. If not, then why, and how often, does SPOT disable this important safety feature without the knowledge of users?

Chuck notes that, “the people that I rely on to check on my position reports got the following message:

Feed with Id: 0bf8QgAGfWBUNBPU9KmvdPDTACicaqCFm not found.”

On the positive side, Chuck also notes that OK messages were received, but not his position reports. And all the bread crumbs were ultimately stored in his SPOT account.

Is SPOT the ELT supplement that many of us believe it is?

2013 CAHS National Convention and AGM Update

By Conference Chairman Tim Dubé

The Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) returns to Ottawa-Gatineau for its 50th Convention and Annual General Meeting, 11 - 15 September 2013 – the Big Five O in Ottawa, Ontario.

Celebrating 50 years is a BIG deal and the Big Five O promises CAHS members just that – a BIG deal! In addition to two-days of historical presentations – you’ll have to wait for the Program and Registration Form for our list of speakers and their subjects – the Big Five O will include a number of special events and tours. These begin on Thursday evening with a BBQ and tour of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM), with the bonus of seeing the ongoing restoration of Canadair C-54GM North Star 17515. On both Friday evening and all day Saturday, the CAHS will be special guests at Vintage Wings of Canada’s Wings Over Gatineau-Ottawa air show. On Sunday, CAHS members will return to the CASM to be witness to the annual Battle of Britain parade and flypast. The Big Five O wraps-up on Sunday evening with an early-Autumn Harvest Feast and the presentation of CAHS awards.

Headquarters for the Big Five O will be the Albert at Bay Suite Hotel in downtown Ottawa. Each newly-renovated, one-bedroom suite includes one or two queen-size beds, a spacious living room (some with a pull-out couch), private bath, and a fully-equipped kitchen. We have secured a rate of just $139.00 plus taxes, per night, single or double occupancy. Make your reservations now by calling 1-800-267-6644 or 613-238-8858 and asking for the “CAHS Annual Convention” Group Rate. Final planning is underway now and we expect to have the Registration Forms, with full program details and costs, in CAHS members hands by mid-June.

External links

• PDF of this full announcement
• More information will be posted on the CAHS Events webpage
• CAHS Homepage

Flight 8 Diaspora May Update

A month ago I described that I was working on boosting Flight 8's presence on Diaspora (D*), attracting new followers there.

By the 10th of April I had managed to attract 120 followers. In pursing this strategy of following anyone interested in aviation subjects we now have 217 followers and growing each day.

As I previously reported D* is a very active, interesting and dynamic on-line community, with lots always going on. The focus does seem in general to be more European, left-leaning and oriented towards issues like free software, politics and human rights, but Flight 8 does create lots of aviation content there. This should make the community more interesting to a greater number of people and hopefully attract more users to come and join us there.

Of course, since all my posts are public, anyone can search for and read them without signing in or creating an account, just by viewing Flight 8 on Diaspora.

Anyone who would to join D* can sign up for an account on any one of a number of pods. My personal account is on Diasp.org and that seems to be a good pod. The Flight 8 account is on the main pod: joindiaspora.com.

External links

• Flight 8 on Diaspora (no need to log in to view the Flight's public posts)
• My personal account on Diaspora (also no need to log in to view my public posts)

Further to: Can You Trust the TC AIM?

On 4 April 2013 I posted a complaint about Transport Canada’s AIM, specifically with respect to inconsistencies between two sections dealing with proper radio techniques. See http://copa8.blogspot.ca/search?q=eighteen for details.
Well Transport Canada agrees with my comments as noted in Ron Carter’s message to me. Thanks Ron Carter for getting back to me in a timely fashion.

“Dear Mr. Shaw,
As you are aware, the concerns you expressed in your submission of April 5, 2013, were entered into the Civil Aviation Issues Reporting System (CAIRS) and were assigned file number GO-2476. Your concerns were with respect to the current AIM, which says to say “runway eighteen” on one page but says to use digits, as in "runway one eight" on another page. As a result of my review of the file I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with the following information:
I believe RAC section 4.5.6 “Use of MF and ATF” has it wrong, and the wording in RAC 4.5.6 will therefore be amended to read as follows: "runway one eight", effective October 17, 2013.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for sharing your views, as all comments we receive are appreciated.
Sincerely,
Ron Carter
Chief of Flight Standards / Chef des normes de vol Telephone / téléphone: (613) 998-9855 Facsimile / télécopieur: (613) 954-1602 TTY / ATS (613) 990-4500 ron.carter@tc.gc.ca Transport Canada | Place de Ville (AARTA), Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N8 Transports Canada | Place de Ville (AARTA) Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0N8 Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

Project North Star To Visit CFB Trenton

By Bill Tate, Vice-President, Project North Star

Our first planned Special Event is for Friday 14 June 2013, which is a trip to 426 Thunderbird Squadron at CFB Trenton.

While at 426 Squadron our tour will take in the training aspects of the new C-130J Hercules that the RCAF is taking delivery of, replacing the older C-130 models.

The tour will consist of:

• 10:00 Arrival and welcome by 426 Squadron Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Damon Perrault, in the foyer
• 10:05 Intro to the Sedley S. Blanchard Air Mobility Training Center (AMTC)
• 10:15 AMTC Tour (split group)
• 12:00 Lunch (Yukon galley) - $10 per person
• 13:00 AMTC Tour (split group)
• 14:00 Departure

Here are some of the tour highlights:

• Fuselage Trainer (FuT)
• Integrated Procedures Trainer (IPT)
• Tactical Flight Training Device (TFTD)
• Weapon System Trainer (WST)
• Hercules Observer Trainer (HOT)
• Night Vision Integrated Simulator (NVIS)

After 426 Squadron we will visit the RCAF Memorial Museum along with the restoration shops where we will have the opportunity to talk to their volunteers.

After the museum tour we will have an early dinner at Tomasso's Italian Grille before returning to Ottawa. At this time we have only 11 seats left.

For booking please email to confirm you are coming and mail a non-refundable deposit of $30.00 payable to PNSAC and a post-dated cheque (14 May 2013) for $40.00 payable to PNSAC and in the cheque memo please indicate Trenton trip.

Please mail the completed booking information, including Name of Participant (in full), Date of Birth (dd/mm/yyyy), Preferred Contact Information (e-mail or telephone) and cheques to:

PNSAC
PO Box 44005
541 Montreal Rd
Ottawa ON K1K 4P8

Flight 8 Diaspora April Update

As I mentioned in my last post a month ago, about Flight 8's presence on Diaspora (D*), I was about to commence a new strategy to attract followers there. This is my report of the last month's efforts.

As I noted previously, I had not pursued finding followers on D* and had instead just simply posted interesting content daily and waited to see how may people would just pick it up and follow my posts there. That resulted in a total of 38 followers accumulated over a year of postings, which isn't too bad on a network of 405,000 people, by just passive means.

In the last 30 days though I set out to find more people to follow and thus to attract more to follow the Flight 8 posts. I did this by mostly signing up people who commented on items posted by people I was already following. I wasn't very diligent about this, but it has resulted in the account now having 120 followers!

Since this has been fun to do over the last month, I will continue this approach and see how many I can sign up over time.

D* remains a very active, interesting and dynamic on-line community, with lots always going on. The focus does seem in general to be more European, left-leaning and oriented towards issues like free software, politics and human rights, but I think organizations like Flight 8 bring some diversity and balance to content there. This should make the place more interesting to more people and hopefully attracting more users to come and join us there.

One thing that is worth mentioning is how polite everyone is on D*. Even though we come from many different places, have different points of view and many people post under pseudonyms, I have yet to see really anything in the way of incivility there, let alone even one single flame. People are remarkably respectful of diversity and that makes it a fun community to belong to.

As you can tell, I think it is fun project to be part of. The software works well and is still being steadily developed by a community of programmers. The two things D* really needs are more users and good quality content. I am enjoying contributing!

Anyone who would like to interact with interesting people from around the world on D* can sign up for an account on any one of a number of pods. As mentioned before, my personal account is on Diasp.org and that seems to be a good pod, in addition to joindiaspora.com, where the flight account is.

External links

• Flight 8 on Diaspora (no need to log in to view the Flight's public posts)
• My personal account on Diaspora (also no need to log in to view my public posts)

Ottawa International Freezes General Aviation Fees

The Ottawa International Airport Authority has announced that they will not raise GA fees at the present time.

The Airport Authority had indicated last year that they intended to raise fees in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which a year ago had been running at 2.5%. With the cooling economy though the CPI registered only 0.5% over 2012. The authority explained:

We are pleased to announce that, because this increase was so small, we have decided to defer the increase until February 1, 2014. February 1 coincides with the timing of our annual changes to all other aeronautical rates. Accordingly, at the end of November We expect to announce an increase in general aviation fees as Well as any applicable changes to other aeronautical rates, to take effect on the following February 1. We will base the increase in general aviation fees on the increase in CPI from January 2012 to October 2013. On a go forward basis, We plan to continue to use February 1 for any subsequent fee changes for General Aviation. We trust that you will find this deferral to be acceptable.

Canadian Owners And Pilots Association President and CEO Kevin Psutka responded to the announcement, saying, "thank you for deferring an increase. Any relief on the cost of aviation is appreciated."

Can You Trust the TC AIM? With Caution!

TC’s Aeronautical Information Manual, (AIM) is getting more and more out of date. If it is not doing its job get rid of it! I find it depressing to constantly find inconsistencies in TC’s venerable, Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM). Aside from the fact that I was assured they would make section 4.5.2 Traffic Circuit Procedures — Uncontrolled Aerodromes, more adequately reflect the Canadian Air Regulations, that has not happened yet. My suggestion is to follow the regulations not the AIM!

Here is another example of TC’s lack of care. In the section describing how we are to talk on the radio, the newest AIM, and likely all previous editions, says in section 5.7 Use of Numbers,

“All numbers except whole thousands should be transmitted by pronouncing each digit separately.”

That is certainly how I was taught. Fair enough, but then why a few pages earlier in Section 4.5.6, Use of MF and ATF, does it give this example of correct usage,

…“Examples:
Directed: FREDERICTON RADIO, THIS IS PIPER FOXTROT
X-RAY YANKEE ZULU BEACON INBOUND LANDING
RUNWAY EIGHTEEN.”

Hey TC it’s “runway one eight”.

Come on Transport Canada, Canadians, hell pilots, expect and need better!

COPA Flight 8 and Twitter

Adam Hunt said, “COPA Flight 8 has now been doing social networking on Twitter and Diaspora (D*) for about 14 months, having started in January 2012, so I thought this would be a good time to give an update on how it is going. I manage the flight's D* account, while Mike Shaw handles Twitter, so I will leave it to him to provide an update on that.”

OK, ok, I will bring the Twitter business up to date. First, Twitter, as you likely know is a business that allows free access to sign up, tweet and read tweets, i.e., Twitter postings. I am far less active on Twitter than Adam is on Diaspora.  (The name “Diaspora” sounds like a digital laxative, or something.) Adam does a posting every day or so. I managed a tweet every three days or so. My tweets tend to be topical although several include photos of aircraft taken in China’s Aviation Museum.

I have 107 followers, not many by Twitter standards, but given my limited activity not bad. Most are in North America, a few in Europe and a couple in places like New Zealand. I follow 153 twitter users, most again in North America. I tend to follow users that point to news items, interesting stories or publish interesting photos. For example, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield’s postings from the Space Station are amazing. I also follow non-aviation twitters associated with photography and video. As well I follow some economic tweeters. I would follow other COPA Flights but I can only find one other flight using Twitter, Flight 10 from the Saskatoon area.

I haven’t put much effort into seeking followers. I have had almost no comments or re-tweets and I have not commented on many tweets by others. I do not automatically follow those who follow me. I find the number of tweets is just overwhelming even though I follow  a mere 153 others. I like most on Twitter I lurk. I find the newsy links to be especially interesting.

The bottom line, I doubt that twitter has brought any new members or a great deal of interest in Flight 8, but I have found it a fun interesting experience. Certainly better than Facebook. I will continue my limited Twitter efforts. See you on Twitter at @copaflt8.