Airplane Loans
How is it that those with poor credit can relatively easily pick up a car loan for $30,000 payable over five or 10 years, but with even mediocre credit one cannot get a loan for an airplane for the same price?
From a logical perspective, this boggles the mind.
Aircraft, especially used, single-engine aircraft, are assets that doesn't depreciate nearly as quickly as a car. Compared to the accident rates among cars, airplanes are a far more sound investment. Insurance and ownership costs are comparable. The only major difference is the quantity. The number of cars requiring poor or mediocre credit loans is orders of magnitudes greater than that of aircraft. Regardless, there is an opportunity for some bankers to make money, but generally speaking, if you want an airplane loan, even for as little as $20,000 you need to have a credit score (FICO) greater than 720.
Also of note is the quantity of "skin in the game." Most car lots can provide financing with "0 down" where as many airplane loans require 20% to 50% equity before the bank will talk to you.
This is nothing new; these terms and conditions were in place before the terms "credit crunch" were on anyone's radar. And even now, the dichotomy still exists.
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Why I will never set foot in JFK Again
In the past month I've had two flights through JFK. Both connections had been canceled for various reasons. Although some agents claimed weather, others said the same flight was canceled due to airplane maintenance or crew availability. I never got a straight answer. I did get a day to "play" in Manhattan out of the deal, but that still meant a day of missed work and the associated headaches therein.
I think it goes back down to physics, at the end of the day. New York has three major, yet under-sized airports. JFK at least has two, parallel runways that can be used simultaneously. EWR does, too, except ground traffic to the second runway must cross over the first, which can hamper simultaneous operations. LGA has two runways that intersect.
Compare that with designs of other airports, like Indianapolis, that has three runways, two parallel with the terminals inside the parallel runways. This means that ground operations from each individual runway to not interfere with the other one, making operations more efficient. Looking at bigger airports, like ORD, DFW, DTW and ATL, they have three or four or more parallel runways in a staggered configuration and can handle many more flights than a single NY-area airport.
The FAA and Port Authority know that the NY Airspace cannot continue to operate in its current manner. There have been multiple task-forces and lots of blame-game politics around it. Big airlines blame the small, general aviation pilots for the problems. The best part of that fallacy is most general aviation flights do not use those airports or the airspace that commercial aircraft use!
It's pure physics; nothing more and nothing less. You cannot fit "10 gallons" of airplanes in a 1 gallon jug. Six air carriers cannot responsibly dispatch six flights at the same time from a single airport, let alone three! I implore anyone to simply browse to the JFK flight schedule and look at the number of departures that should happen at one point in time. It's physically impossible.
There are a few ways to solve this. The first would be to revert to a more regulated environment where airlines bid on takeoff and landing slots, used to ensure that there is a static, continuous flow of aircraft. This method is in use elsewhere (like London Heathrow) which only has two runways, but it keeps operations there running well.
Additionally, the FAA needs to look at regulating which airlines can use which airports. For instance, many airlines have flights that service all three airports, or even just two of the three. They also have flights serving secondary airports in the area, like White Plains and Islip. Limiting those airlines to one airport may help with the flow of traffic.
Disappointingly, no-one has stepped in with a plan worth following or any steps towards a concrete solution for the NY-area problems. Most PANYNJ propaganda relies upon the FAA's "next-gen" air traffic control system, which integrates GPS location with the radar system that is currently in use. Although this will provide greater accuracy in determining where airplanes are, I fail to see this technical solution as the panacea that is supposedly claimed. Airplanes of all shapes and sizes will need costly upgrades solely so they can fly closer together. That may help in the air, but once on the ground there are still only so-many runways for airplanes to land and take off on, and so many bits of taxiway that can be used between those runways and gates.
So I'm angry. Someone, somewhere should make a decision and set a direction. Without that I've missed two connecting flights; one causing me a missed day at work. The other one was the flight home after a nice European vacation, punctuating what was otherwise a great trip with waiting in cesspool otherwise known as JFK for several hours.
Where the FAA regs fail
Earlier today I was flying and was about to solo again until my CFI caught a paperwork error. It is not so much as an error as it is an oversight of inconsistent expiration dates of FAA paperwork. I wrote the AOPA about this. Below is what I wrote. Have any of you out there ran into this?
Greetings!
This is a heads-up and maybe something that AOPA could lobby for to help fix the FAA regs.
When I started my flight training I received a 3rd class medical, which would not expire for three years. However, my student pilot certificate, on the same physical form, expired after two years. Recently I started up my training again, so when my CFI went to endorse me for a solo his eyes popped out of his head, because the student pilot portion of my certificate had expired. My medical was still good under the old 3 year rule, too! Instead of soloing for the first time in two years I wound up driving across town to the FSDO to fill out another form and receive another goldenrod piece of paper. So now I am legal again and will be soloing in the near future, but I am wondering if AOPA can help lobby so that the timelines on a student pilot certificate will match with the associated medical.
After talking with the FBO and my CFI this issue seems to happen a lot. In fact, a few weeks back I was told a student pilot was sent for his checkride and the examiner sent him back because of the same paperwork lapse that I experienced (probably why my CFI was so eagle-eyed and got things fixed this morning.) That poor student was out the rental fees for his solo x/c time (he had to re-do it since he was not flying with a valid cert.)
Is this an issue that others have experienced and is there anything planned or in the works to fix this?
Thanks!
Can’t sleep. Clowns will Stinson me.
I'm tossing and turning my hotel bed which lies underneath the flight paths for Teterboro and Newark. I can't get to sleep for the life of me. I'm either too hot, too cold, or the wallpaper-thin hotel walls are just too noisy.
So what do I think about when tossing and turning? World events? Keira Nightly? Yes. And Airplanes.
As I was tossing and turning my brain kicked into overdrive as to how to finish the project. What avionics to put in the cockpit. What paintscheme and even what powerplant to put in it. Since money is no object, why not go for a 300hp diesel engine.
I'd go with the following paint, except instead of the red I'd leave it as unpainted carbon fiber. I'd also use the "NC"-style N-number in small letters on the tail, as well as the Stinson "arrow and bow" logo. Also I'd have the large NC numbers on the wings high and low. They'd be raw-carbon fiber in the white (just taped off when painted.) Tres-sexy in my mind.
The cockpit would be ultra-modern. Dual Aspen PFD/MFD hooked to a Garmin 530 and Mode-S transponder. For the uninitiated it would just mean pretty pictures instead of lots of guages.
So that is what I think about when I can't get to sleep. Its sad, I know, but I am what I am, says Popeye.
If I were a rich man…
I have objects of material lust. Some consider it a weakness; others a strength as it is important to have goals. I consider it a frustration, as I never have enough money to accomplish some of the neat things I'd like to do.
As this aircraft requires a recovering, I'd take the money and recover it in carbon fiber. Even with the "weaksauce" 150hp engine the weight savings with carbon fiber over old-fashioned cotton or ceconite would be pretty amazing. At least I think it would be.
Aviation Chat
As some readers know I'm wrapping up my pilot's license and I've purchased an airplane. I own a 1969 Grumman Yankee AA-1. It's a nice two-seat airplane that is speedy and sips fuel.
Initially when someone goes to get a pilot's license they receive training in Visual Flight Rules (VFR.) You can fly but only when the clouds are out of reach and visibility is good. The next step is to get instrument rated (aka IFR.)
My airplane is a good VFR craft. It has basic radios and the type of radio you need to go into controlled airspace (called a transponder. It lets the air traffic control tower know who and where you are.) It also has an older-style radio called an ADF. ADF works and it's been in use since before WWII. It uses AM-radio waves to tell you where a broadcast is coming from. With that info you can steer to and from a known point. Since ADF uses AM radio waves you can also use an AM radio station and base your flight path off of the local AM broadcast tower.
It's also old and limited technology and can be considered arcane, antiquated and quaint when compared with today's GPS technology that tells you exactly where you are and displays a map on an LCD screen. And that map can be overlayed with satellite weather data, terrain information and other aircraft traffic. See below for the display from the Garmin MX-20.
After I get my pilot's license I plan to get IFR rated. Therefore I should add some equipment to my aircraft.
However, right now I'm unemployed and even once I have a job I'll have limited funds. Thankfully e-bay provides a nice and cheap secondary market for aviation parts.
I don't really have to worry about getting defective crap, either. The FAA heavily regulates what goes into aircraft and most parts are sold certified with proper FAA forms.
This leaves me with the question of what to get.
I have a handheld GPS which can be used for IFR purposes, but I don't think it can be used as a primary IFR instrument, only as a backup.
I'm looking for a few devices.
1) A cheap IFR GPS. Something like a KLN-90 or KLN-89. They're ugly but they're IFR certified and as long as you have a PC with a serial port you can continually load data to them.
2) GPS breaks sometimes. The mainstay of the IFR world is a navigational system called VORs. The same frequencies used for VORs are also used for slightly older (but highly-used) instrument landing approaches. Therefore a VOR receiver that also has a glideslope to tell you how high you are from the runway and what angle to approach it at is useful, too. These are more expensive, but useful.
3) A second radio. This way I can listen to automated weather reports without having to stray from air traffic control.
On top of all of this there is a brand loyalty thing. Some people swear by Garmin, others by Narco and others King. Some manufacturers, like Garmin, make an all-in-one system that has a radio, navigation radio, and pretty LCD GPS. However, they aren't cheap. By sourcing separate parts it cuts the costs down significantly.
My compulsive searching of ebay in trying to find the perfect deal is leading to marital stress. It's hard to put down the computer when looking at toys.
