Future Predictions

This book was originally published in France in 1911. Aviation was a daredevil sport, conducted in open cockpit single engine aircraft with negligible carrying capacity and unreliable engines. The artist Xaudaro mocked the pursuit of aviation by cartooning ludicrously implausible activities involving aircraft...

.. such as transporting sixteen passengers at once. Note the flight attendant, all the passenger baggage in the rear hold, and the baggage attendant. Both the transit time and the fare on Concorde were at least double that 'predicted' in the caption. And how many hundreds do we cram into one airplane now?

Here he has correctly demonstrated the importance of proper loading and baggage securing on a cargo flight. And I'm sure I told you that there was a dog on my first revenue cargo flight, moving house from one province to the next for a family, including a large dog. The dog rode in the passenger cabin, not on the horizontal stabilizer.

I've carried the mail, and I've picked up objects using a hook attached to my plane, but not quite this way. I love future predictions, whether or not they ever come true. I received e-mail from an editor at Popular Mechanics the other day. He was looking for the author of the information on Landing During an Earthquake. I couldn't help him, but I let him know how much I enjoy the visions of the future in his magazine. Someday I'm going to get my flying car.

The skydiving guy e-mailed back to say that he had just hired everyone he needed. I guess the combined delay of tax guy passing the information on to me and and skydiving guy getting my resume was enough for the pilots to be hired. That's how it goes. I would have liked that job, I think. Simple constraints, people having fun, an operation where I know I can operate safely, and lots of scope to excel in efficiency and customer service. It's kind of wry how quickly I imagine myself in a position. I'm mentally deciding which street I'll live on in the city of another job I've applied to and haven't heard back from. I can't help it! I predict I will get the job.

Road Signs

As you might guess from my enjoyment of describing my adventures, I love words. And the astute blog observer has probably noticed that I love signs. So you might believe that instead of blogging on a given day, you might find me laughing my head off at funny road signs. But I sent that to someone and he sent me back more funny road signs. Do not visit these sites if you are susceptible to laughter-induced injuries.

Just so as to have a scrap of originality in this post, I looked through my collection for a funny sign of my own that I hadn't posted. I didn't find one, but there's a sign in that picture and a flying car. As testimony to my extreme professionalism I will tell you that my heart ached to go to the museum and find out about that winged car, but I was on minimum rest, with my schedule allowing me only time to check in, sleep for the required period and check out again, so my curiosity was not satisfied, but the law and safety requirements were.

Also, I am keeping my New Year's resolution. I flew an arrival from the southeast giving me a teardrop entry into a shuttle descent for the the Rwy 11 ILS/DME at Port Hardy, British Columbia. I had to go missed on the first approach because I suck at making fine throttle adjustments on MSFS and I F2/F3ed my way into a destabilized approach.

Nooooo! Don't Take My Future!

Just to show you how serious I am about owning a flying car, I started on that to do list. I picked up the phone and called the regional Transport Canada office. And I am crushed. The airplane is not only not registrable in Canada until the manufacturer applies for it, but it's possible that I won't even be able to fly it in Canada.

I started with a generic question, "Would there be any impediment to registering a new, US-manufactured, FAA-certified aircraft in Canada?" The receptionist said tht was a tough one and transferred me to a superintendent. Before I even mentioned which airplane I had in mind, he said that there were US aircraft that could not be imported to Canada because they had never received certification. Doesn't this seem silly? Shouldn't two technologically advanced, safety-conscious countries like Canada and the US be able to agree on a reciprocity arrangement for the certification of manufactured products?

"So," I said, ready with a fallback plan, "I would have to keep it N-registered and fly it on an FAA licence." That's not much of an obstacle.

"Only for 90 days," he says.

"But," I sputter. "How come I know people who have owned November-registered aircraft for years in Canada?"

"Not as private owners. They must be owned as corporate entities."

"I can be a corporation." (Add incorporate to to-do list).

"But," he continues, "If the manufacturer doesn't apply for Canadian airworthiness certification, the aircraft cannot be operated in Canada."

So now I have to raise $200k and shift a government bureaucracy. I have a busy two years ahead of me.

The Future is Here!

I made a to-do list today.

Before Buying My Terrafugia Transitions Flying Car

• check with Transport Canada
• that it can be registered in Canada
• if it needs separate aviation and car insurance
• check with car insurance company on
  • how to insure it
  • how to transfer licence plate from old car
• check with aviation insurance company on coverage options
• telephone some US and Canadian airports to find out how to get airside access from the parking lot
• find out from Terrafugia
  • available delivery dates
  • can I get mine in yellow?
  • maintenance schedule/parts requirements
• Design and make silver spandex jumpsuit
• Get asymmetrical spiky haircut
• Get bizarre sunglasses
• Practise using Skype video phone
• Arrange financing (buy lottery ticket)

Did I miss anything?

People, it costs less than a new Cessna 172. And it's a FLYING CAR! How can this not be my new goal?