Flight Safety Information June 22, 2012 - No. 128 In This Issue Fire Threat Up as Vintage Air Arsenal Shrinks Airplane part crashes through man's roof Air Zim given 90-day IATA deadline Alaska Airlines jet out of Seattle blows tire on landing in Calif ARGUS PROS Aviation Auditing At the airport, an uplifting experience Human-Powered Helicopters: A 600-Year-Old Dream in Sight An antique airplane lands in the valley Inflatable airplane was oddity of sky in 1950s Fire Threat Up as Vintage Air Arsenal Shrinks With a low roar, the 1954-vintage warplane barreled down the runway and heaved itself into the air, wobbling for a moment as its engines toiled to pull skyward. "They're not exactly leaping off the runway," said Paul Buxton-Carr, a Canadian pilot, as he watched the potbellied plane, designed to hunt submarines, climb toward its latest mission: dousing wildfires in the American West. As federal authorities confront the destructive start of what threatens to be one of the fiercest wildfire seasons in memory, they are relying on a fleet of ancient planes converted from other purposes to do the dangerous, often deadly, work of skimming the smoldering treetops to bomb fires with water and flame retardant. The contractor-owned planes, refurbished from military use and leased by the United States Forest Service, have been hobbled by accidents and mechanical problems, leading to growing safety concerns and calls for a major overhaul. A decade ago, the government had 44 large tanker planes at its command. Now, with fires raging from California to Colorado to Wyoming, the regular fleet is down to nine. "The bottom line is the fires are getting bigger as the fleet gets smaller," said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and the chairman of the Senate's forestry subcommittee. "That is a prescription for trouble." Modern airplanes are available, some able to skim up a bellyful of water from a lake without even stopping to land and thus to conduct dozens of drops a day, but these are too expensive for the private contractors who fly the forest missions. Even the supply of younger military hand-me-downs has dried up. "There are no lightweight bombers being surplused anymore," said Vincent Ambrosia, a forest fire expert at NASA. The antisubmarine planes now in use, including the one that Mr. Buxton-Carr watched taking off here, were declared surplus after the Navy began replacing them with the P-3 Orion in the 1960s. So far this year, attrition has reduced the fleet by three. In early June, one tanker attempting a low-altitude bombing run in western Utah hit the rising terrain and crashed, killing the two pilots on board. Another was forced into a hard touchdown after its landing gear failed to deploy. A third was grounded after its owners discovered a "significant crack" during an inspection, federal officials said. Pilots and Forest Service officials say the old tankers - typically a model called a Lockheed P2V, which saw military service during the Korean War - are safe, easy to fly and meticulously maintained. But independent panels and aviation experts have urged the government to update the antique fleet. "We've failed to invest," said James E. Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, who led a blue-ribbon panel that examined the aging tankers in 2002, after two fiery crashes drew national attention. "We're stepping back to these old tankers and old aircraft, and we've done nothing to develop any new technology." In 2009, an audit report by the inspector general for the Department of Agriculture said that the Forest Service believed its already dwindling fleet of tankers would be "either too expensive to maintain or no longer airworthy" by this year. The report urged the Forest Service to increase its efforts to modernize the planes. But the best way to use firefighting planes is not even clear. Although firefighting planes have been used for about 50 years, experts question whether it is better to use fire retardant instead of plain old water. Should the drop be made on a fire, or in a spot in advance of where the fire has reached? Next month, the Forest Service will begin a study to see what technique works best. A sensor-equipped aircraft will fly 10 to 15 minutes behind the water bomber, to perform the forest equivalent of a bombing damage assessment. Experts say this may be a particularly dangerous moment to let the government's firefighting resources decay. Fire and weather experts have warned that climate change and drought are likely to provide abundant fuel for more and fiercer "superfires" across the West in the years ahead, putting more strain on firefighting resources even as people build houses deeper into the backcountry. The Forest Service has taken some steps to modernize the fleet. It announced this month that it would add three new tanker planes this season, bringing its fleet up to a dozen, and four more next year. And it has already increased the number of aircraft by temporarily leasing planes from firefighting outfits in Alaska, California and Canada. But even with the additional planes, the government's resources are stretched thin, critics say, and they worry about the toll on the aerial firefighters. Sixty-three have died in aviation accidents since 1999, more than those killed by flames, heat, falling trees or automobile accidents, according to federal data. Federal officials have blamed mechanical problems for some of the fatalities, including a notorious 2002 crash in which a C-130 tanker's wings folded up midflight. But more of the crashes were attributed to pilot error and split-second mistakes made while navigating the treacherous terrain and conditions of aerial firefighting. "It's dangerous work under any circumstances," Senator Wyden said. "I'm concerned that having these aging tankers is putting patriotic, dedicated firefighters who want to serve our communities at risk." There are alternatives to the old tankers, but they are expensive. For example, Bombardier markets a plane designed as a tanker that can land on a short runway or a lake. It does not land to reload; it skims the water's surface at approximately 100 miles an hour and fills its internal tanks with 1,600 gallons in 12 seconds. In contrast, warplanes converted to tankers can take 15 minutes to fill from waiting water trucks, and the airports where they do so may be much farther from the fire than the nearest lake. But the Bombardier plane's price is "in the mid-$30-million range," said Derek Gilmour, a company vice president. Governments - including those in Spain, Italy, Greece and some Canadian provinces - have bought the planes, but private contractors serving the Forest Service have not. Despite the age of the converted tankers and the hazardous flying conditions, pilots said they were confident in their training, planning and the safety of their planes. But, they said, sometimes the worst happens. In 2008, a 45-year-old tanker bound for a fire in California crashed just after takeoff in Nevada after its left engine caught fire. The three men on board were killed, including the co-pilot, Gregory Gonsioroski, who had been at the controls. The National Transportation Safety Board largely found crew error as cause for the crash, saying they had failed to follow emergency fire procedures and failed to dump their heavy load of fire retardant - a standard response to an in-flight emergency. Mr. Gonsioroski's widow, Kim Irigoin, said she had tried unsuccessfully to seek federal death benefits that are extended to other workers like police officers or firefighters who die in the line of duty. She said the federal crash report was a "bitter pill," one that she believes understated the role of the fire in causing the crash. "We knew our guys were exemplary pilots," she said. "They just didn't have enough time to recover." http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/us/fire-threat-up-as-vintage-air-arsenal- shrinks.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Back to Top Airplane part crashes through man's roof A piece of a small airplane fell off during an instructional flight and crashed through the roof of a Bangor, Maine, man's home, officials said. During a checkout flight for a newly licensed pilot June 12, the flight instructor noticed something wrong, the Bangor Daily News reported. "We got to around 1,500 feet and we heard a loud bang and the plane started shaking," said Rick Eason, faculty adviser for the University Flying Club in Orono. The plane made an emergency landing at Bangor International Airport, where Eason said he was contacted by the airport's control tower and "asked if I lost something from my plane." It turned out a piston wrist pin, a part 4 inches long that connects the arm and head of a piston inside a plane engine's cylinder, broke off the Cessna 172 and hit a Bangor man's home. The small piece did an estimated $5,000 in damage to the home after it fell through the attic and sheetrock ceiling of the house and came to rest on the hardwood floor of the foyer. "We've never had anything like this. We haven't had any in-flight problems like this," the flight instructor said. Eason reported the incident to the Flight Standards District Office in Portland, a regional division of the Federal Aviation Administration. "We don't know why it happened," said Soren Hansen, the flying club's mechanical officer. FAA spokesman Jim Peters said a federal inspector has confirmed the incident and the investigation is waiting for Easton to send a report after the aircraft is repaired, as well as the Bangor homeowner to record the details of the accident. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/06/21/Airplane-part-crashes-through-mans- roof/UPI-83281340318438/ Back to Top Air Zim given 90-day IATA deadline AIR Zimbabwe has been given 90 days to comply with international air safety standards or risk losing its membership of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the organisation said on Thursday. IATA said contrary to media reports, the troubled airline was still a member but risked losing its membership if it failed to comply within 90 days. "IATA remains committed to developing aviation on the African continent. Safety is a key component in ensuring that Zimbabwe can benefit from all that safe skies can bring," said Mike Higgins, IATA Regional Vice President for Africa. IATA conducts a biennial Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), which measures an airline's system of operations, covering the operation of flights, boarding procedures and other aircraft safety issues. "In order to retain IATA membership, Air Zimbabwe, like all other IATA member airlines, must submit to and pass the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)," IATA said. Since the introduction of the IOSA certification, the airlines body says there have been improvements in the hull loss rate, an issue it said was of significant importance in the building of safe and sustainable aviation in Africa. "As always IATA is ready to assist Air Zimbabwe wherever possible in renewing its IOSA certification and continuing to benefit from the financial and other services IATA members participate in," said Higgins. Air Zimbabwe has faced various operational difficulties including debts said to amount to about US$140 million. The company suspended international and regional flights in January after aircraft were seized by creditors in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Limited domestic services were resumed last month. The airline has been pressing the government to take over its debt and help replace its ageing aircraft. http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-8314-Air+Zim+given+90- day+IATA+deadline/news.aspx Back to Top Alaska Airlines jet out of Seattle blows tire on landing in Calif. Authorities say an Alaska Airlines plane blew a tire as it landed at John Wayne Airport in Southern California. Alaska spokeswoman Bobbie Egan says Flight 508 from Seattle, a Boeing 737-800, had already landed safely at the airport in Santa Ana Thursday when air traffic controllers noticed one of its four rear tires was flat. Egan says the plane stopped on a taxiway while a fire crew inspected the landing gear, but took no action. There were no injuries. Airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge says shuttles took passengers to the terminal. Egan says the flight's 157 passengers were delayed about an hour. She says the plane was towed to the gate where it is getting an inspection and tire change. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the agency is investigating. http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/06/alaska-airlines-jet-out-of-seattle-blows- tire-on-landing-in-calif/ Back to Top Back to Top At the airport, an uplifting experience Thanks to Sharon Bates, Albany International flies high on the arts scene Who knew Albany International Airport had a reputation as the Guggenheim of America's airport arts scene? Among those who commission paintings and sculptures for airport concourses, Sharon Bates, director of the Albany airport's art and culture program, is considered a trendsetter. On Sunday, curators from two dozen U.S. airports, all of them larger than Albany, will come to town for the 10th annual American Association of Airport Executives Arts in the Airport workshop, a two-day event. "The reason why we're hosting this in Albany is because Sharon Bates has developed one of the most robust art and culture programs for an airport its size anywhere in the country," said Greg Mamary, producer of special projects for the AAAE, based in Alexandria, Va. Previous workshops were held at airports in Atlanta, San Francisco, Toronto and Denver. "Albany was one of the airports I looked at closely in setting up our program," said Greta Blalock, art and entertainment coordinator at the airport in Portland, Ore., which gets about 12 million passengers each year. "We're delighted we were selected to host this workshop. Sharon has created a nationally recognized program," said John O'Donnell, CEO of Albany County Airport Authority. During a fiscally challenging period of declining passengers, O'Donnell considers the $150,000 spent annually on art a good return on investment. Most of the budget goes to $2,500 stipends for artists to reimburse them for materials, shipping and installation costs in the two-year contracts. "We think it raises the travel experience here," O'Donnell said. "The artwork helps make the airport a place of discovery." It also makes everyone a critic. About 3 million passengers move through the Albany airport each year and another 1 million-plus venture as far as the security check area to pick up and drop off passengers. And airport workers from baggage handlers to airline counter employees view the art daily. That's a lot of critics. "Everyone has an opinion, that's for sure," said O'Donnell, who hears a wide range of comments on the art, mostly positive. A case in point is the recently installed Sanford Mirling installation titled "Bellflower." The bright pink and yellow nylon and foam sculpture hangs sensually with all the floral parts on view: stigma, style, ovary, ovule and petals. It fills a big overhead skylight. Passengers who look up as they walk down the middle of Concourse B get an eyeful. It gives the impression, to some, of peeking up a flower's skirt. "There's been some reaction to it, yes," Bates said coyly. "Some people see a sexual element." Art is in the eye of the beholder, of course, and some beholders are not totally on board with Benjamin Entner's 23-foot-tall inflatable sculptures of stereotypical tourists that dominate a wall adjacent to the Southwest Airlines ticket counter. Entner's "American Gothic" is a sly and whimsical take on the iconic Grant Wood painting. Instead of a dour pitchfork-wielding farmer and his wife, Entner has created a couple of camera-toting, knee sock-wearing, amped-up travelers. "Why aren't they smiling?" a Southwest employee asked O'Donnell. Bates relies mostly on the deep pool of accomplished visual artists on the faculty of colleges or who live in the region. For the past 18 years, she's been lining up artists whose work delights, challenges and provokes. The heavy traffic benefits artists and the airport alike. She's sold about $300,000 worth of art exhibited at the airport, which takes a 35 percent cut - lower than the 50 to 60 percent commission galleries get. For Bates, "American Gothic" will become a case study at the workshop. When it arrived from the artist's studio in California, it was unpacked and inflated with a bathroom fan motor. The sculptures turned out to be a few feet longer than anticipated. "We're working it out," Bates said. "It's pretty amazing that after 14 years we've had very few problems with these large installations. They're not widgets." Colin Boyd's "Cormorants and the Whale" underscored the challenges of an unconventional exhibit space. The 40-foot skeleton of a whale being carried off by hungry cormorants hangs over an escalator leading down to the ground-level Cape Air gate in Concourse B. It took workers two days of wrestling with hydraulic lifts, wire and bolts to tame the leviathan. "Lucky, it's made out of foam," Bates said. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/At-the-airport-an-uplifting-experience- 3653718.php Back to Top Human-Powered Helicopters: A 600-Year-Old Dream in Sight Colin Gore, a PhD student in materials science at the University of Maryland, carefully hooks his bike shoes into the cranks of a motor-less helicopter. He sits in the spider-like machine's central hub, surrounded by four delicately engineered carbon fiber arms, each of which supports a super-light rotor. The machine spans the length of a basketball court, yet it weighs only 75 pounds. With Gore's slim frame in place, it now weighs 210 pounds. And it's ready for flight. In a reclined position, Gore grips the helicopter's hand cranks and begins to move his hands and feet like the pistons of a four-stroke engine. Slowly, as the motion of his arms and legs reels in a line attached to each of the four rotors, pairs of the helicopter's blades begin to spin in opposite directions. Moments later, Gore is doing what has been dreamed about for centuries: He is flying a human-powered helicopter. More than that, though, he is breaking a world record. The man-and-machine combination hovers a foot or two above the ground -- as if dangling on a string -- for 40 seconds, the longest amount of time such a feat has been accomplished. Gamera II HPH sixth flight, 6/20 ~40 seconds "It's already one of the highlights of my life," Gore told me -- and that was even before his flight. But 40 seconds, world record notwithstanding, isn't what Gore and his team are seeking. Gore, along with 35 fellow engineering students at U of M, are chasing after the Sikorsky prize: a 30-year-old contest that promises $250,000 to the first team that can build a human-powered helicopter to fly for 60 seconds -- at three meters off the ground. The challenge is a daunting one. Human-powered airplanes have been built before, certainly, and to amazing success. The first one, a seven-winged bicycle-powered craft, was flown in 1923, just two decades after the first heavier-than-air flight. In 1988, a machine built by MIT set a record flying for seven hours across 70 miles. But man- powered helicopters, although first sketched by Leonardo DaVinci in the 15th century, have been a persistent engineering challenge. The previous record in the race for the Sikorsky prize was set in 1994, when a Japanese team hovered for 19 seconds. Only three teams have achieved any flight at all. "Human-powered airplanes have been flying for some decades and a lot of people wonder, 'Well, what's so much harder about a helicopter?'" says William Staruk, a graduate student and the team's project manager. "The problem is that a helicopter has to lift itself vertically into the air directly against gravity." An airplane, on the other hand, has to generate only enough forward motion to overcome the force of drag. "So we end up requiring on the order of three times more power than a human-powered airplane does." The helicopter Gore is powering is called the Gamera II, which is an updated design of a craft that flew for 11.4 seconds last year. It borrows its name from a flying giant turtle monster from Japanese horror movies. (It's also a reference to the school's mascot, the Terrapin.) With promising preliminary testing, it seems possible that this design will break through the minute barrier. The Gamera II is 30 pounds lighter and several times more powerful than its original design. The improved efficiency is owed mainly to a redesigned truss system. In fabricating the Gamera I, the team utilized standard carbon fiber tubing for structural support. Now, they use a proprietary "micro truss" system in which spindles of carbon fiber are wrapped around a truss of three small carbon-fiber rods. Each three-foot section of truss is half the weight of the traditional tubes and, yet, 50 percent stronger. Two 200-pound men could stand on one end of the tube without it breaking (that is, if those men could balance on a one-inch-wide triangle). Staruk won't tell me how the trusses are made, other than that they're produced on a machine that's like of loom for the space age. The team hopes to patent the design. For all of the high-tech materials involved, a lot of the craft's structures are handmade. Carbon fiber composites can literally be sewn into place, which makes it very useful in intricate structural work, but introduces an element of human error. "If one little thing goes wrong, the whole thing can fail," Staruk says. And it does. When I arrived to meet with the team at the flight test on Monday, they were in repair mode. During an earlier flight, one of the arms supporting a wing had failed, sending one half of the wing into the ground and the other half into the body of the machine. Science, of course is not always exactly a science. So the team has spare parts (which they replace amid unending loops of dubstep music). While the team's chances of capturing at least the time portion of the Sikorsky challenge are good, they'll face some competition this summer. AeroVelo, a team out of Toronto, Canada, is currently fundraising on Kickstarter to fund a human-powered helicopter design. In 2010, the team successfully built a human-powered flapping-wing plane, an ornithopter, which was the first of its kind. They've already exceeded their goal of $30,000, and say they're aiming to have a craft manufactured by August. But Staruk isn't afraid of the competition. "We're excited to see what they can do," he says. You also have to wonder, though: Why? What use is an enormous human-powered helicopter whose whole point is to hover off the ground for (in the best case scenario) just a minute? Not much, especially seeing how's there's no way to steer the device. "No one's ever going to use our helicopter for a practical use," Staruk says. "The value of the project is mostly in the education aspect." When you pick the machine apart into its components, you find advances in engineering. In addition to the micro trusses, Staruk and his team have also gained novel insights into the ground effect -- the phenomenon that gives propellers an extra boost in power when they're close to the ground. They found that they can amplify this effect if they use blades that point flat or upward at the tips. (Most helicopters have blades that twist downwards.) "It's not common that students get to work on a project where they get to design and build something to fly that's never been done before," Staruk says. Besides all that, though, there's the fact that impossible-sounding challenges can often push science forward on their own. One little discovery in one area might lead to a big one in another. If the dream of a human-powered helicopter is realized this summer, by the Gamera team or another one, the field of aviation could benefit in a tangible way. And even if it doesn't, the project's success could still inspire a new generation of engineers -- the ones who will go on to invent the next big thing. As Gore puts it: "Things do not have to be practical to be exciting." http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/human-powered-helicopters-a- 600-year-old-dream-in-sight/258785/ Back to Top An antique airplane lands in the valley Last year, travel experts estimate over 672 million folks used either planes or jets for travel within the US. It's quite a jump from the 1930's, when planes hauled around 400- thousand Americans across the country. Thursday, News 10 went for a ride in the airplane that started the commercial flight boom, the Ford Tri Motor, a museum in the sky. Its sounds are unique; the high pitched roaring of the engine, the pistons spitting, and finally the propeller spinning. All are the sounds of early aviation; replaced by turbines and sleek designs. "This is a 1929 Ford Tri Motor. It was built by the Ford motor company. This particular airplane launched Eastern Airlines and this type of airplane launched the airline industry," Rand Siegfried, the pilot of the Tri Motor said. Siegfried is the pilot of the plane nicknamed the "Tin Goose." It has an aluminum exterior, vintage controls, and spacious interior, all marvels of 1930's mechanical ingenuity and comfort. "It looks like a train car, little wood, the painting, just like a train car why? People were comfortable with it," Siegfried explained. Over 80 years later, the Ford Tri Motor that launched Eastern Air Lines is still running and on display for at the Frasca airport in Urbana, Illinois. But these days, passengers have a very different destination. Once the plane takes off, their headed back in time. "The sights out the window, the sights in side the smells, the sounds are all '29," he said of the flight. High above the modern sprawl, the Tin Goose glides through the sky, with Siegfried at the helm. Its operating controls resemble a Model T more than a jet and with a mind of their own. "I think of it as a gracious old lady. She'll do anything you want. As long as it's what she wants to do," he smiled saying. On her descent back down, a gentle landing bump jolts you back to the 21st century. It's a vehicle from the dawn of aviation, with a new purpose today. "It's both a comforting and a comfortable airplane. Everybody goes in they come back smiling. They've been on a fun airplane ride, but they've also been in a time machine," he ended saying. http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/illinois/an-antique-airplane-lands-in-the-valley Back to Top Inflatable airplane was oddity of sky in 1950s The concept had sky-high potential. Unfortunately, it went over like a lead balloon. In the mid-1950s, Goodyear Aircraft Corp. of Akron, Ohio, designed, developed and produced an experimental airplane that could fold up into a bundle and fit in the trunk of an automobile. The Inflatoplane was an aeronautical oddity made of rubberized nylon fabric that pumped up like a tire. Within 10 minutes of unloading, the lightweight aircraft was filled with air and ready to fly. Goodyear engineers heralded the contraption, which maintained its shape by internal air pressure, as the first of its kind in the United States. "Named the Inflatoplane, the new Goodyear aircraft plane, developed under joint Army- Navy auspices, can be flown from a small field and attain speeds that will satisfy anyone wishing to avoid the bumper-to-bumper Sunday afternoon traffic," the company boasted. The prototype was a one-person craft 19.7 feet long with a wingspan of 22 feet and an empty weight of 205 pounds (or 329 pounds with its 20-gallon gas tank full). With the pilot seated in the front, the Inflatoplane resembled a glider â€" albeit one composed of mattress stuffing. The fuselage, tail and cockpit were made with two walls of rubberized fabric connected by nylon threads. A two-cycle, 40-horsepower motor was mounted above and behind the wing. The only other metal parts were a few instruments, control cables and a support connecting the wheels and pilot's seat to the fuselage. Goodyear said the airplane could carry a 200-pound man up to 72 miles per hour at a ceiling of 10,300 feet, and required a clearing about the size of a football field to take off or land. Akron test pilot Richard Ulm, 36, was the first to put the Inflatoplane through its paces in 1956 at Wingfoot Lake in Suffield Township, Ohio. "Most unusual plane I ever flew," he told reporters afterward. He said it provided "a cushy ride" that softened the usual bumps when taxiing for a takeoff. "The plane flies much the same as any light plane," he said. "By being seated at the front, however, I felt oddly like a glider pilot." The Inflatoplane instantly caught the attention of the national media, earning such colorful nicknames as "The Flying Mattress," "The Flying Inner Tube," "Flying Dumbo," "The Pocket Airplane" and "Bag O' Wind." Articles appeared in Newsweek, Life, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Flying and Aviation Week. On ABC radio, Paul Harvey commented: "What's new? Goodyear Aircraft has an airplane you can fold up and put away in the truck of your car; well, almost. The thing inflates with a tire pump, looks like a glider, flies like an airplane." On CBS radio, Arthur Godfrey exclaimed: "Gee, it would be wonderful! I've got to try that one, boy." The U.S. military was quite interested in the inflatable airplane for surveillance, aerial reconnaissance and military rescues. Goodyear believed the airplane could be packaged in a wing pod, dropped from a wing rack, shoved out a cargo hatch or parachuted to stranded pilots in enemy territory. Within 10 minutes, the pilots could rescue themselves and fly to safety. U.S. Air Force Gen. Earle E. Partridge, commander of the North American Air Defense Command, and Brig. Gen. Robert K. Taylor III, also of NORAD, inspected the airplane in person in Akron. Development engineers J. Thomas Blair, Maurice L. Landford, John W. Phillips, Bruce Bain and Ken Olinger began to teach one-week Inflatoplane classes to military personnel at Wingfoot Lake. Goodyear streamlined the design over the years, enclosing the cockpit, simplifying the controls and mounting the engine to the top of the wing instead of the fuselage. In 1957, the company introduced a heavier, two-seat Inflatoplane that could reach 16,000 feet at 80 mph. Engineers also tested a water-ski attachment on Wingfoot Lake. "Success of the operation leads us to believe that takeoff and landing operations on snow, mud and other slick surfaces could be negotiated by the Inflatoplane without difficulty," Blain noted. "We also believe that ski landings on harder surfaces are feasible, because of the plane's light weight and low landing speed." Granted, not everyone was on board. Some critics mocked the airplane, wondering what might happen if someone accidentally stuck it with a pin. They may have had a point. Pilot Ulm narrowly escaped death in April 1959 when the plane crashed into the Patuxent River during a test flight in Maryland. The wing collapsed and hit the propeller, forcing Ulm to bail out with a parachute to safety. Two months later, disaster struck at Wingfoot Lake. Army Lt. Malcolm Wallace, 26, of Greenville, Texas, was training on an Inflatoplane when it began to spiral out of control about 700 feet up. "The engine sounded like it was going to conk out," witness William Church told the Beacon Journal. "Then the plane went into a spin and the left wing seemed to deflate. The pilot stayed with the plane for a while, then jumped out." Wallace didn't have enough time to open his parachute. He plunged to his death in a marshy area near the lake. Needless to say, the death raised questions about the airplane's practicality. If it could crash on a sunny day in Ohio, what would happen under enemy fire in a war zone? By the early 1960s, the military lost interest in the Inflatoplane - and so did Goodyear. The company produced a dozen models before pulling the plug on the Flying Mattress. In the 1970s, the three surviving Inflatoplanes were donated to the Smithsonian Institution, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. Today, the rubber plane remains an amusing novelty among aviation enthusiasts. Oh, what might have been. If only the idea had taken off, we might all own portable airplanes in our car trunks. http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/HBY-INFLATABLE-AIRPLANE-8294242/HBY- INFLATABLE-AIRPLANE-8294242 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP, FRAeS, FISASI CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC