Two Senators have concluded that it’s too easy to buy airline pilots’ uniforms. They want the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Transportation Security Administration “”to investigate why uniforms are so readily available.”” Senators Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Barack Obama (also D-Ill.) claim that airport security is lax for people who […]
Jury hits Lycoming with $96 million judgment
The $96 million verdict of a Texas jury against Textron Lycoming has left two Dallas lawyers crowing, Lycoming in dead silence, and much of the aviation industry wondering how 12 country folk came to know so much about engineering. The case concerned a back-and-forth legal battle between Lycoming and Interstate Southwest Ltd., supplier of the […]
Navajo back away from Utilicraft deal
The Navajo Nation withdrew its previously announced financial support of the Utilicraft twin turboprop cargo plane in mid-February. The Navajo Economic Development Committee made the decision on the advice of two New Mexico state agencies, one of which, the state’s Economic Development Department, had brought the two parties together in the first place. However, according […]
Aviator, writer and editor Edwards Park dies
Edwards Park, best known to pilots for his contributions to “Air & Space” magazine and for his book about flying a P-39 in World War II New Guinea, died Feb. 12 from complications following a fall. He was 87. Park was a founding editor of “Smithsonian” magazine. Including his frequent contributions to Smithsonian publications after […]
Flying with the NASCAR Air Force
I learned more from my high school social studies teacher, Mrs. Packan, than any other teacher I’ve ever had. One of the lessons that has stuck to this day is that there is a “good” reason and a “real” reason for every decision. When we moved to South Carolina in 1998, the “good” reason was […]
Transient ops at the ‘DC-3’ — at last
The infamous “DC-3” airports — the three general aviation fields inside the Flight Restricted Zone around Washington, D.C. — are once again open to transient traffic. Well, sort of. Open, that is, to anyone who wants to go through the Transportation Security Administration’s vetting process. For the DC-3, that means being fingerprinted at Reagan National […]
Virginia lawmakers look at diverting airport improvement funds
The Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill that would take $5 million a year “off the top” of the Commonwealth Airport Fund to use as incentives for airline service at “non-hub and small hub” airports. House Bill 1603, assigned to a House finance subcommittee Jan. 12, seeks to amend a portion of the Code […]
‘Success on the Step’ chronicles the history of Kenmore Air
“Success on the Step” tells the history of Kenmore Air, started in 1946 by a pilot and two mechanics who wanted to “be our own bosses and be involved in aviation.” It was a one-plane operation based at Kenmore Air Harbor, basically a mud bog near Seattle. None of them had ever heard of a […]
A tribute to wartime flyers
Although a work of fiction, “A Common Glory” is based on fact and makes good use of historic photographs, as it weaves a charming but sometimes tragic Southern love story during World War II. George Westcott is a Royal Air Force pilot instructor, training RAF cadets at the U.S. Army Air Corps’ Cochran Field in […]