Fly-in conversations, lost baggage woes, limiting airport passenger volume, and a missed runway crash investigation.

Max Flight and our Main(e) Man Micah attended the fly-in on July 10, 2022, at the Spurwink Farm in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. This annual event is held at the grass strip on the Farm and is hosted by EAA Chapter 141 on the first Sunday after Independence Day. The fly-in is well-attended with a wide variety of aircraft flown in for the pancake breakfast.

We captured conversations with several who were in attendance, including some listeners and friends of this podcast:

Fred Wilcoxen tells us about his Bede BD-5 micro-homebuilt airplane.

Douglas Corrigan relates his story about getting the aviation bug as a youngster and now working ATC.

JD is a retired military pilot who now flies long-haul cargo in a Boeing 777. He flew up from New Jersey in his Cessna 177B Cardinal.

Mike Smith brought his beautiful Sonex up from Massachusets.

We talked with Bill Barry, the former NASA chief historian and now glider enthusiast.

Spurwink Farm is a 40-stall private boarding facility owned by the Sprague family. We spoke with MaryLou Sprague who tells us how she and her late husband Phineas (Phin) started a relationship with EAA Chapter 141 and how the airstrip came about.

Video by Steve Martin: 2022 SPURWINK FARM FLY IN!

Finally, the “Oreo Cows.” Are they Lakenvelder cattle (Dutch Belted cow) or the Belted Galloway? Let us know.

Airports are experiencing severe operational problems as a result of staff shortages and increased travel. This has impacted baggage processing and thousands of bags are piled up at some airports. Through September 11, 2022, London Heathrow wants to limit the number of departing customers to 100,000. Heathrow’s pre-pandemic levels were between 110,000 and 125,000 daily departing customers.

Emirates says they won’t agree to limit passengers at Heathrow. They plan to continue operating six daily A380 flights into the airport. Emirates said Heathrow gave them 36 hours to reduce capacity on its daily A380 flights. “Their communications not only dictated the specific flights on which we should throw out paying passengers but also threatened legal action for non-compliance.” In a statement, the airline said, “Until further notice, Emirates plans to operate as scheduled to and from (Heathrow).”

Delta Airlines responded to the huge volume of lost baggage at London Heathrow by using an empty Airbus A330-200 to fly the bags home. The bags flew in the baggage bins, not in the passenger cabins.

Icelandair has a different passenger-friendly solution: Fly their own baggage handlers on the plane instead of relying on overworked and under-staffed airport workers. Icelandair took this action for flights to Amsterdam’s Schipol airport.

CommutAir, operating a 50-seat Embraer EMB145 as a United Express flight, missed the runway on March 4, 2019, and ended up in the snow. Of the 31 passengers and crew, thankfully only three suffered minor injuries. The NTSB investigation revealed that the instrument landing system was out of adjustment by about 200 feet to the right of the runway. At least six other pilots previously encountered the problem, but none filed a company safety report.

UMA Acquires New Airplane for Expansion of Aviation Education Program

Use these tips to keep your time at the airport as easy as possible

From the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center:

Max Flight, David Vanderhoof, Max Trescott, and our Main(e) Man Micah.