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jacewilliams1 · 4 years

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Remembering my brother, who taught me to fly

My CFII brother, Harry, taught me to fly. Before that though, we were pretty much just like most other brothers close in age. Growing up on a Northern Indiana dairy farm gave us plenty of times to interact, compete, learn new valuable things, and seek out adventures that would leave mountains of memories.

He was just two years ahead of me, and often things he was interested in, I was also. We had uncles that were involved in WWII aviation, with one as a flight gunnery instructor, a second as a B-29 crew chief, and a third as a a B-24 pilot. A small grass strip and a little flight school, run by our uncle and his friend, on the home farm made aviation a normal thing in our lives. We saw planes and pilots doing all sorts of things, some not considered safe or normal. Needless to say, we were quite interested and thought this was pretty much a normal thing.

When you grow up around Cubs and grass strips, aviation seems normal.

We got to drive tractors at a pretty young age (me at age 12), doing needed field work. We competed in making our tracks straight when plowing ground, mowing, or raking hay. We tried being efficient when exchanging wagons behind field harvesters, or making a 180-degree turn while running field equipment. We got real handy running a loader or spreader, driving a truck, or even maintaining machinery. We rode motor scooters and ponies. We knew what hard work was to be. This all became a good foundation as we became men and chose our life’s work.

Before age sixteen Harry began flight lessons, soloed shortly after, and got his private license at 17. I watched him solo a Piper Cub and a Tri-Pacer on one day. You could already see he was in his element. Finishing high school in the early 1960s, he became a line boy for my uncle at a neighboring airport, built time, and began working toward getting his A&P certification as well.

It was mid-1960s when Uncle Sam came calling. Drafted into the US Army, he was fortunate to end up in Alaska for 13 months at a supply depot. They provided parts to the missile contingent in the area during that Cold War period. While on leave, he was hired by a local flight school and flight charter service in Anchorage, completed his commercial ticket, and got his CFI. He did bush flying and provided flight lessons for several fellow soldiers, even his unit commander.

During his time in Alaska he had the misfortune to place a Cessna 170 on its back in a peat bog while transporting hunters to a remote location. The soft ground wasn’t suitable for landing an aircraft. Bringing in reinforcements, he said they righted the aircraft using two long poles and some hefty rope, then used two sheets of plywood cut down the middle to roll the plane a quarter mile, eight feet at a time. Except for some soft earth in the nose and on the tail, the plane was cleaned off, checked out, and flown back to its home field.

Back from the Army to the lower 48 states, he once again began working for our uncle. He once shared an episode there of another upset. Seems a student pilot in a Cessna had just returned from a local flight as a thunderstorm was arriving at the airport. Slipping out to the arriving plane as the student came by the airport terminal, and climbing in to assist hangaring the aircraft, Harry and the student quickly found themselves upside down on the ramp as the squall line arrived and began its downpour. As normally expected, the student was taxiing with the elevator up as if the wind was from the aircraft front. But this time the squall line was coming from the rear, which changed the physics and the up elevator made it easy for the wind to end the flight with the Cessna on its back.

Harry began working part time for a charter outfit flying Learjets and building hours. He briefly managed a neighboring airport as part of our uncle’s company. Then he was hired by a few local companies as a corporate pilot flying first a Cessna 195, progressing to a Cessna 421, then Beech King Air, and finally a Hawker jet. One of his early bosses told him that the reason he accepted any flight cancellations from Harry was that he truly trusted him completely. Harry met his wife and married during those years. He retired in his early sixties as corporate aviation manager, as health issues affected his flight status.

During Harry’s years as a corporate pilot he had the unfortunate occurrence of running off a snowy runway through a snow bank in Port Huron Michigan in the Cessna 421. A wet runway at his departure airport provided frozen brakes at his destination. His boss was sympathetic as the insurance settlement made it easier to justify acquiring a newer, updated aircraft.

Another brief story for Harry involved landing in a strong crosswind with several passengers. It took the third approach to safely land the plane, which was greeted with a resounding applause by his passengers. He had told them if he was unable to make that landing, they would have to divert to another airport with a runway more favorable to the wind, further delaying their arrival home.

On another occasion he took off into strong headwind in a Cessna 150. Once at a reasonable altitude he dropped the flaps, cut the power, and proceeded to back up enough to alight on the same runway without completing a pattern or making a turn. I would have paid to have seen that.

A lifetime in aviation meant a lot of interesting stories.

All through Harry’s corporate flying career he had a robust following of those actively using his talents to pursue their aviation interests. As a CFII he signed off many achievements by his students and fellow aviators. I can only imagine the number of students he trained in an environment where he allowed them to try and end his life early.

I took flight lessons from my brother later in life, acquiring my private license at age 62. Now age 73 and still flying a little, I look back fondly at those hours in training. He was a great instructor, demanding but extremely knowledgeable and experienced in a whole variety of aircraft.

One of my most ingrained episodes with him was when I flared a Cherokee high on approach, then lowered the nose to compensate for the ballooning. As expected, the aircraft arrived on its nose gear first, followed by the main gear being planted on the runway. My brother’s loud response, heard even without headgear, was “What the HELL was THAT?!” This was followed by a needed lesson on how to adjust the landing to avoid a repeat of that poor performance, and his apology to the nose wheel as he manned the towbar while hangaring the plane.

We were very fortunate to live just a few states away from Oshkosh. Most years found us making that trip by car and enjoying at least three days in aviation wonderland. In 2008 we flew a beautiful Beech Super 18S tri-gear (N90TT) for a friend of Harry’s to the big show, where it won a bronze Lindy. I rode as copilot, handling the radios, and have an hour logged flying that beautiful aircraft on our return trip. Good memories.

We lost my brother to leukemia in 2014, just short of his 70th birthday. We celebrated his life in the very corporate hangar in which he had spent many hours. We had two missing man flyovers, one before and one after the memorial service. His trusty red Jeep Cherokee and a small taildragger were on display, along with a table from the airport terminal where he shared morning hangar tales and coffee and donuts with his aviation friends as was his routine. His pocket protector with his ever-present pens and notepad were laid upon the table beside of his aviation handheld radio, and his cap and leather flight jacket hung over a chair.

I had the honor to give the eulogy. I asked the some 150 people in attendance how many had taken flight lessons, had biennial reviews, or got signed off on a new certificate from him. Over one-third of the attendees raised their hands. On display was a series of photos of Harry propping a J-3 Cub with an inscription: “Harry A. Sheetz, June 13, 1944 – May 21, 2014, Pilot, Mentor, Friend.” The Warsaw (IN) Municipal Airport community was blessed by his life for over 40 years.

He had in his flying career amassed 18,250 flight hours. That’s two years and a month in the air. His widow gave me his logbooks, and I often pull them out to look inside. Two things stand out. Reading just over halfway through his last large completed logbook, I have identified over 200 different airports he had flown into during his corporate pilot career. I suspect everything from a kit plane to various Pipers, Cessnas, Mooneys, and others can be found in those logbooks. There are likely many more entries of interest yet to be found.

I was the last of the family to see him alive in his hospital bed. The equipment keeping him alive was being shut down and no further treatment was offered. My eyes are moist thinking of him. His final flight entry was from a local flight in a Cessna 172 on April 12, 2014. A simple entry that evokes a familiar, serene scene reads “night rides & photo.” Love and miss you brother.

The post Remembering my brother, who taught me to fly appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2020/04/remembering-my-brother-who-taught-me-to-fly/

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dani-qrt · 6 years

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Billions in U.S. solar projects shelved after Trump panel tariff

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s tariff on imported solar panels has led U.S. renewable energy companies to cancel or freeze investments of more than $2.5 billion in large installation projects, along with thousands of jobs, the developers told Reuters.

FILE PHOTO: Solar panels covering 900 acres are seen at the Comanche Solar facility in Pueblo, Colorado, U.S., April 6, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

That’s more than double the about $1 billion in new spending plans announced by firms building or expanding U.S. solar panel factories to take advantage of the tax on imports.

The tariff’s bifurcated impact on the solar industry underscores how protectionist trade measures almost invariably hurt one or more domestic industries for every one they shield from foreign competition. Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, for instance, have hurt manufacturers of U.S. farm equipment made with steel, such as tractors and grain bins, along with the farmers buying them at higher prices.

White House officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump announced the tariff in January over protests from most of the solar industry that the move would chill one of America’s fastest-growing sectors.

Solar developers completed utility-scale installations costing a total of $6.8 billion last year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Those investments were driven by U.S. tax incentives and the falling costs of imported panels, mostly from China, which together made solar power competitive with natural gas and coal.

The U.S. solar industry employs more than 250,000 people – about three times more than the coal industry – with about 40 percent of those people in installation and 20 percent in manufacturing, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“Solar was really on the cusp of being able to completely take off,” said Zoe Hanes, chief executive of Charlotte, North Carolina solar developer Pine Gate Renewables.

GTM Research, a clean energy research firm, recently lowered its 2019 and 2020 utility-scale solar installation forecasts in the United States by 20 percent and 17 percent, respectively, citing the levies.

Officials at Suniva – a Chinese-owned, U.S.-based solar panel manufacturer whose bankruptcy prompted the Trump administration to consider a tariff – did not respond to requests for comment.

Companies with domestic panel factories are divided on the policy. Solar giant SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) opposes the tariff that will help its U.S. panel factories because it will also hurt its domestic installation and development business, along with its overseas manufacturing operations.

“There could be substantially more employment without a tariff,” said Chief Executive Tom Werner.

For a related graphic, click tmsnrt.rs/2LjM1RQ

Slideshow (3 Images)

LOST PROFITS, JOBS

The 30 percent tariff is scheduled to last four years, decreasing by 5 percent per year during that time. Solar developers say the levy will initially raise the cost of major installations by 10 percent.

Leading utility-scale developer Cypress Creek Renewables LLC said it had been forced to cancel or freeze $1.5 billion in projects – mostly in the Carolinas, Texas and Colorado – because the tariff raised costs beyond the level where it could compete, spokesman Jeff McKay said.

That amounted to about 150 projects at various stages of development that would have employed three thousand or more workers during installation, he said. The projects accounted for a fifth of the company’s overall pipeline.

Developer Southern Current has made similar decisions on about $1 billion of projects, mainly in South Carolina, said Bret Sowers, the company’s vice president of development and strategy.

“Either you make the decision to default or you bite the bullet and you make less money,” Sowers said.

Neither Cypress Creek nor Southern Current would disclose exactly which projects they intend to cancel. They said those details could help their competitors and make it harder to pursue those projects if they become financially viable later.

Both are among a group of solar developers that have asked trade officials to exclude panels used in their utility-scale projects from the tariffs. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it is still evaluating the requests.

Other companies are having similar problems.

Scott Canada, senior vice president of renewable energy at solar project builder McCarthy Building Companies, said his company had planned to employ about 1,200 people on solar projects this year but slashed that number by half because of the tariff.

Pine Gate, meanwhile, will complete about half of the 400 megawatts of solar installations it had planned this year and has ditched plans to hire 30 permanent employees, Hanes said.

The company also withdrew an 80-megawatt project that would have cost up to $150 million from consideration in a bidding process held by Southern Co (SO.N) utility Georgia Power. It pulled the proposal late last year when it learned the Trump administration was contemplating the tariff.

“It was just not feasible,” Hanes said.

STOCKPILING PANELS

For some developers, the tariff has meant abandoning nascent markets in the American heartland that last year posted the strongest growth in installations. That growth was concentrated in states where voters supported Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

South Bend, Indiana-based developer Inovateus Solar LLC, for example, had decided three years ago to focus on emerging Midwest solar markets such as Indiana and Michigan. But the tariff sparked a shift to Massachusetts, where state renewable energy incentives make it more profitable, chairman T.J. Kanczuzewski said.

Other developers are forging ahead, keen to take advantage of the remaining years of a 30-percent federal tax credit for solar installation that is scheduled to start phasing out in 2020.

Some firms saw the tariff coming and stockpiled panels before Trump’s announcement. 174 Power Global, the development arm of Korea’s Hanwha warehoused 190 megawatts of solar panels at the end of last year for a Texas project that broke ground in January.

The company is paying more for panels for two Nevada projects that start operating this year and next, but is moving forward on construction, according to Larry Greene, who heads the firm’s development in the U.S. West.

Intersect Power, a developer that cut a deal last year with Austin Energy to provide low-cost power to the Texas capital city, is also pushing ahead, said CEO Sheldon Kimber. But the tariff is forcing delays in buying solar panels.

The 150-megawatt project is due to start producing power in 2020. Waiting until the last minute to purchase modules will allow the company to take advantage of the tariff’s 5-percent annual reductions, he said.

‘A LOT OF ROBOTS’

Trump’s tariff has boosted the domestic manufacturing sector as intended, which over time could significantly raise U.S. panel production and reduce prices.

Panel manufacturers First Solar (FSLR.O) and JinkoSolar (JKS.N), for example, have announced plans to spend $800 million on projects to increase panel construction in the United States since the tariff, creating about 700 new jobs in Ohio and Florida. Just last week, Korea’s Hanwha Q CELLS (HQCL.O) joined them, saying it will open a solar module factory in Georgia next year, though it did not detail job creation.

SunPower Corp, meanwhile, purchased U.S. manufacturer SolarWorld’s Oregon factory after the tariff was announced, saving that facility’s 280 jobs. The company said it plans to hire more people at the plant to expand operations, without specifying how many.

But SunPower has also said it must cut up to 250 jobs in other parts of its organization because of the tariffs.

Jobs in panel manufacturing are also limited due to increasing automation, industry experts said.

Heliene – a Canadian company in the process of opening a U.S. facility capable of producing 150 megawatts worth of panels per year – said it will employ between 130 and 140 workers in Minnesota.

“The factories are highly automated,” said Martin Pochtaruk, president of Heliene. “You don’t employ too many humans. There are a lot of robots.”

Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Brian Thevenot

The post Billions in U.S. solar projects shelved after Trump panel tariff appeared first on World The News.

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cleopatrarps · 6 years