General Aviation News

American Champion updates wing design

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ROCHESTER, Wisconsin — American Champion Aircraft Corporation (ACA) has released an updated wing design for new-production Super Decathlon and Xtreme Decathlons in response to an airworthiness directive affecting aircraft with a new-style aileron first delivered in 2012.

Also released was a wing reinforcement retrofit kit for aircraft already in the field.

American Champion is providing the parts free of charge for the aircraft that have been delivered; a special discounted installation rate will also be available for aircraft that return to the factory. All new aircraft will be delivered with the reinforcements installed. [Read more…]

Commuting sometime provides surprises

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Arthur Billingsley sent us this series of photos and a video of an eventful commute from his home in Jacksonville, Florida, to his primary office in Reston, Virginia. “While I have a local office in the Jacksonville area, I routinely commute from JAX (28J) to DC (KHEF) in my 1974 Cessna C310Q,” he explains.

“Recently, on a return commute from Washington, D.C., to Jacksonville, the stars aligned and my sons were able to fly back to Florida with me,” he continued. “While they have both been flying previously with me over the past 30 years, as they have grown and located in different areas, it has become rare to fly with both at the same time. One lives near Quantico, Virginia, and the other lives in Newport News, Virginia. So they both decided to come to Florida to celebrate the 4th of July holiday.”

“As for the flight, it is not often that a pilot packs hot departure (density altitude), isolated intense weather cells, moderate rain (IMC), sunset, night approach and landing into one flight,” he said. “Couple that with the boys as passengers and it made for a special flight. Here is a video and some pictures.” [Read more…]

From Argentina to Alaska: Part II

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Dino Karagozian, a Bonanza owner, fulfilled a dream in 2011 when he flew his 1964 Bonanza from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Fairbanks, Alaska, over 35 days.

Joining him on the trip was Juan Carlos Bisi, also known as JB, a professional pilot.

Dino put together a daily report on his adventure, as well as took many photos.

We’re running his report in three separate installments. (Read Part I here).

This installment takes our intrepid travelers from Oshkosh to Alaska. The final installment will follow them home, including a stop at the Grand Canyon and a visit to the Beechcraft factory in Wichita. [Read more…]

Adaptor introduced to make G5 compatible with range of autopilots

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Garmin’s G5 electronic flight instrument will soon be compatible with a wide-range of third-party autopilots available on the market.

Using the new GAD 29B adapter, the G5 directional gyro (DG)/horizontal situation indicator (HSI) can interface with a variety of autopilots to provide heading and course error to drive the autopilot.

With a compatible navigation source, the G5 can also interface with select autopilots for coupled flight in heading and navigation modes. [Read more…]