I hope you all had a safe and sane Friday the 13th.

Here are some articles that you may have missed this week:

It’s just a big model airplane…
This is from the Delta County Independent, a paper in Colorado. A model airplane builder decided it was time to move up in size. He is 2 years into building his own airplane and plans to get his private pilot’s license in it when he finishes.

Sailing didn’t work out – let’s try flying.
This is from Annapolis, MD. Remember that teen who tried sailing around the world and had her hopes drown by a rogue wave? It takes until the end of the article to find it, but now she’s learning to fly so she can try the circumnavigation in the air. Aaah, youth…

A play about an airplane?
This is from the Pittsburg Tribune-Review. It seems that a play is about to open in Pittsburg that will relate the history of Miss Pittsburg, a Waco 9 aircraft that is currently hanging in the Pittsburg International Airport. The Waco flew the first airmail flight from Pittsburg to Cleveland in 1927.

Is the Synergy the next great airplane design?
This one is from the Flathead Beacon of Kalispell, MT. An aircraft designer in Kalispell, MT thinks that his design is the future of aviation. A scale model of the plane has flown, maybe he’s on to something…

Another attempt to preserve our aviation heritage.
This is from Bakersfield, CA. It relates the efforts of a few dedicated individuals restoring aircraft to flying condition.

The FAA recently published their proposals for revamping airline training.
This article is from Buffalo, NY, near the site of the Colgan Air crash that brought the pressure to bear on the FAA for the changes. This seemed to be big news for a while this week. To me it brings up the question of what the commuter airlines were doing for training. All of these ‘new’ proposals were already in place when I received my training at Northwest 20 years ago – training as a crew in the simulator, scenario-based training, classroom sessions with the flight attendants and tours and instruction in how the dispatchers do their jobs and what resources they have available. This makes it sound like the commuters just gave the guys the keys, told them where the plane was parked and said ‘good luck’.