AirVenture Almost Here; New Wings at Van‘s; And a New Look for the CAP

The paint is dry on the freshly painted runway dots at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, a sure sign that this year's EAA Oshkosh AirVenture extravaganza is ready to go. The fun starts on July 25 and runs through the following weekend. In addition to a number of military display teams, AirVenture will be hosting more than 10,000 aircraft at Wittman and surrounding airports, along with hundreds of thousands of attendees. At the show, EAA will open its Education Center for the first time at AirVenture, where it will host the EAA Pilot Proficiency Center. The weather forecast for the week, though we are still more than 10 days out, looks promising, with warm (not hot) temps in the outlook along with fair skies. Plane & Pilot will be there all week. Hope to see you there!

With Oshkosh coming up and spy pics of its new high-wing engineering text article plane already up on the Internet, Van's Aircraft officially announced the existence of its new kit plane, the RV-15. The company is keeping mum on the details, but video it shared over the weekend on its site clearly (or in some cases not so clearly) shows that the RV-15 (which sticks with Van's long-held naming conventions) is a sheet-metal high-wing, four-cylinder taildragger with a constant-speed prop and room for four seats, though Van's hasn't weighed in on the number of seats except to say coyly that, yes, there will be seats. The company will be at Oshkosh in less than two weeks to fill in, hopefully, a number of details on the new mode, the first-ever high-wing kit from the Oregon company.

The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) launched a rebranding effort, including an all-new logo that is decided futuristic while still being symbolic of the organization's position within the Air Force family, its mission and, yes, its history. CAP's Board of Governors voted unanimously April 23 to adopt the new logo, which "accomplishes several things and includes some unique benefits," said Randy Bolinger, chief of marketing and communications. "The bottom line is, we are not the Civil Air Patrol of the 1940s, and the new corporate identity makes that obvious," Bolinger said. The V-shaped logo combines nods to the CAP's unique position as a national youth initiative that has aviation as its heart. It also, if you know where to look, references the CAP's spirit of volunteerism and partnership with the Air Force as a Total Force partner.

In advance of the opening of AirVenture on July 25^th, EAA has cut the ribbon on its $6.2 million Education Center, previously known as Project 21. The 30,000-square-foot Education Center is sited as an addition to the EAA Museum. According to EAA, the new center will be a place where individuals and groups can utilize to "experience all of EAA's resources on a year-round-basis." The Education Center's resources are indeed impressive, with 16 Redbird flight simulators that will help pilots improve their overall aeronautical decision-making skills. A big part of the new facility is the EAA's new 15,000 square-foot Youth Education Center, which will provide "youth, their parents, and their teachers access to interactive and project-based activities that inspire and nurture the next generation of aviators. The education facility has five hands-on tech labs and four modifiable classrooms."

Leaders from General Aviation testified on Capitol Hill this week in front of the House Transportation Subcommittee on the state of the segment, and it was a mixed report, with leaders from both GAMA and NATA highlighting the challenges ahead even as the segment enjoys a surge in demand and opportunity NATA president Timothy Obitts told Committee members that one of the major risks to the National Airspace System is the growing number of illegal charter companies and the lack of sufficient enforcement and judicial oversight of the enforcement process. GAMA head Pete Bunce said that GA as a whole is battling headwinds created by supply chain issues that have affected just about every GA manufacturer and a shortage of workers across the board, all challenges facing dozens of other segments following two years of pandemic-related disruption.

Aircraft busy fighting fires in Yosemite National Park are facing the usual risks, including high terrain, smoke-limited visibility, and risk of midair collisions, but this year in the High Sierra, they are also facing a most unusual risk, airborne tree limbs, some of them quite large, big enough that pilots are reporting near misses with the flying vegetation. According to a story on Yahoo News, pilots are very concerned about the safety of flight because of the airborne tree parts. The science behind the phenomenon is well understood. With particularly intense fires, the rising air currents carry debris with them, the stronger the updrafts the greater the weight and size of the objects it can lift up a thousand feet or more, until the updrafts decrease in intensity enough that the objects fall back to earth.

Redbird Flight, makers of a line of popular flight simulators, will host its inaugural Pilot Proficiency Challenge at Oshkosh AirVenture, which kicks off on July 25^th at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The contest will measure pilot improvement over the course of 90 days, as measured by the company's Redbird Pro performance tracking and AI mentoring app. The challenge works like this: While at AirVenture, pilots who finish a training session on a Redbird sim will be automatically entered into the challenge. Pilots will then have the next three months to improve their flying proficiency using Redbird Pro as part of their subscription. Along the way, the company will be publishing a leaderboard so participating pilots can keep track of their contest rank. At the end of the challenge, the most improved pilot will win; Redbird will announce the winner on November 1^st, 2022. The winner will get a Redbird TD2 home sim setup that Redbird says is worth more than $12,000. For more information, you can check out Redbird's Challenge site.

A new charitable flight provider, Elevated Access, has launched its program to provide flights for those in need of care. So far, more than 750 pilots have signed up to pitch in by providing those flights in their own airplanes. Unlike other similar flight provider organizations, Elevated Access will target for the service people who are seeking abortions and gender-affirming health care. After the United States Supreme Court's decision to override the longstanding Roe v. Wade decision, which had granted people the right to choose abortion, Elevated Access has emphasized its intention to provide rides to people seeking abortions in states where it is now outlawed to states where it is legal. It will provide in-state flights, too. Likewise, the organization has focused on people seeking gender affirming health care, which is still legal in all 50 states but are seeking care outside their home area. Those interested in volunteering or donating to the cause, can go to the organization's site to get more information, including required experience for signing up to fly missions.