 POSTCARD
FROM ARGENTINA
Fly-Low flies in Argentina… The
Internet acquires readers from all places. On February 1,
2005, I received an e-mail from Alejandro Estevez, who
lives in Argentina. We posted some pictures of aviation
in Argentina he sent on our website and have them on page
seven of this issue. I am always amazed at the reach of
the Internet or our paper issue. We have had subscribers
in Mexico, request from Uruguay and Argentina.
FSS IS GONNA
CHANGE!
Like it or not, the decision is made
and the blade on the guillotine has fallen on Flight
Service Stations (FSS) as we know them. About twenty
years ago, FSS took a major overhaul and FSS improved.
AOPA seems to think that this new marriage will be a
fruitful one (see page two)…. We’ll see, won’t we? I
prefer to hold my applause until I taste the pudding. I
am not perhaps as optimist as those at AOPA. I hope we
see at least the same quality as I experience in the
Central Time Zone. With my luck, the FSS 800 number will
be direct to some teenager in India looking at a black and
white TV with 1960’s radar… I’m joking, but the last
person I called with a warranty problem on my computer,
I’ll swear was in India or Pakistan.
There are a lot of good folks at FSS,
as we reported some months ago, many of them will retire
rather than make the change to other locations. I don’t
find FSS quality to be poor, today. If we get what we’re
promised, it will be good. If not, I want the old FSS
back… Not going to happen…. Keep your fingers crossed.
To help your local FSS, call them every chance you get.
They need the numbers to keep that location.
VIRGIN ON
THE COVER
I couldn’t resist that. The cover is
a photo of the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer. It is
scheduled to depart about the time FLY-LOW reaches your
FBO. The lift-off window might close, but for now it is
February 24, 25, or 26th.. Since the departure
will be from Kansas, it would be an opportunity for those
of us in Central America to see it first hand with just a
short flight to Salina, KS. It appears they expect the
Global Flyer to circle the globe, non-stop, in about
sixty-six days.
SWIMSUIT
ISSUE
We were a bit disappointed that the
mail box wasn’t filled with tons of good looking babes in
bikinis this month. Maybe they are still being
photographed and processed for next month. We still plan
to have a swimsuit issue in the future. Persistence is
our motto at FLY-LOW. Well, that’s one of our mottos.
We can’t remember the other one.
AUTO FUEL:
GOOD OR BAD?
Our first two stories about the use
of auto fuel in aircraft engines have brought much
attention. I had no idea of the diverse opinions we found
after those stories. It is nice to see the opinions. It
was interesting to see the anger expressed by pilots when
mechanics made their opinions known. The opinions of the
mechanics went from no use of auto fuel to a mixture of
auto and avgas. Not one mechanic we interviewed
recommended the use of one hundred percent of auto fuel.
In the next issue, we interview those
who sell the auto fuel STC, EAA and Todd Petersen. Along
with their story, we will try to present the reader with a
synopsis of all three stories. In fairness to all, we
have tried to give the reader all of the diverse opinions
we found. We probably haven’t made history with this
series of stories, but we have tried to be fair to all.
In doing that, I hope we have made the reader/pilot a
safer user of auto fuel. There have been several items
brought forward that could save the auto fuel user of
heartbreak situations. If you failed to read the first
two stories, we have them posted on
www.fly-low.com for your convenience. |
