An innovative engine being watched with eager anticipation by pilots and airframe manufacturers has been scrapped by Rotax, a division of Bombardier Recreational Products. The liquid cooled REV V-6 will reach certification this month, according to a BRP-Rotax statement, but will not be manufactured and marketed. Neither is the technology for sale, said Luc de […]
FAA warns ‘mogas’ users about ethanol: Alcohol and airplane engines don’t mix, agency says
The FAA finally has taken notice of the potential problems posed by ethanol to users of automobile gasoline in airplanes. The Experimental Aircraft Association and many aviation publications, including this one, have been warning pilots flying on ‘mogas’ about the hazards of ethanol – a form of alcohol – for several years. In a Special […]
Gen. Jacob Smart dies at 97
Retired Air Force General Jacob E. Smart died Nov. 12 at his home in Ridgeland, S.C. He was 97. Smart planned the audacious low-level raid on Romania’s Ploesti oil fields and refineries during World War II. A third of Nazi Germany’s oil was produced and refined at the Ploesti fields. The legendary raid was flown […]
Ed Davis, Viet-nam POW, dies at 67
Retired Navy Capt. Edward A. Davis, who was 67, died Nov. 7 of pancreatic cancer near his home in Lancaster, Pa. Davis was a North Vietnam prisoner of war for 7-1/2 years. After retirement he became an outstanding motivational speaker, focusing on management under difficult circumstances – a subject he knew well. Davis had flown […]
Put a plane on your plate
Montana pilots can support general aviation — and a local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association — by choosing a new vanity plate the next time they renew their car tags. EAA Chapter 517 in Missoula is working with the state to offer the aviation-inspired license plate. Chapter President Steve Rossiter credits newsletter editor Frank […]
Smithsonian or bust…
Charles E. Taylor joins Smithsonian’s aviation pioneers A bronze bust of Charles E. Taylor now sits proudly at the Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. Dubbed the father of aircraft maintenance, Taylor was the Wright brothers’ mechanic. Kenneth MacTiernan, director of the Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Association, was the driving force behind raising both the awareness […]
Joining the jest set: VLJ’s take center stage
It was the year of the jets at last month’s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention. Not just any jets, either. The big interest was in VLJs, the Very Light Jets just now starting deliveries to customers. Oh, there were other airplanes at the convention and a lot of buzz surrounded them, but nothing to […]
In a class of its own: Diamond’s D-JET touted as a “personal time machine”
“Is this an elegant airplane or what?” With those words, Marion Blakey, FAA administrator, introduced Diamond Aircraft’s newest model, the D-JET, at this summer’s AirVenture. Those words must have been music to the ears of D-JET’s creator, Christian Dries, Diamond’s CEO and a 7,000-hour pilot who’s passion is creating the planes he wants to fly. […]
Traveling in style
If you’re going to make the rounds at Oshkosh — or any other airshow — follow Tyler Eldrup’s lead. Tyler, 4, from Deer Park, Wis., rode around the AirVenture grounds this summer in a stroller styled after an Air Force fighter. Tyler’s father built the stroller which, we were told, also can be converted into a […]