For the past decade, women have been gathering at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture, capped off with a photo of all the participating women, wearing matching T-shirts, in Boeing Plaza. Smack dab in the middle of this year’s photo was Debby Rihn-Harvey, an aerobatic pilot and retired Southwest Airlines captain who now runs a flight […]
GA posts ‘historically low’ accident rates
A new report that reviewed general aviation accidents for 2014 shows that “significant improvements and historically low accident rates” posted in 2013 were not an anomaly. “Across the general aviation community, we can take pride that our collaborative efforts appear to be having a positive, sustained impact,” said Richard McSpadden, executive director of the Aircraft […]
Fun flying in the Kitfox Speedster
On Wednesday of AirVenture 2017, air show star Kyle Franklin took to the skies in a new airplane: The 2017 Kitfox Speedster. The performance and plane got so much attention that he flew it again in Sunday’s closing day airshow. What many people don’t know is that Sunday’s performance was “25 years to the day” […]
Full circle: An AirCoupe is back where she belongs
It was 31 years ago when newlyweds Jude and Mike Dennis, the founders of Oregon Aero, took off for an epic trip in the AirCoupe Mike shared with his brother. “We loaded her with camping gear and cameras, and left Oregon on a two-month adventure that took us to all four corners of the country,” […]
Business is booming at KLAL
While Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport (KLAL) is a beehive of activity during the week of SUN ‘n FUN, it’s also pretty busy the other 51 weeks of the year. The airport, which had about 115,500 operations in 2016, expected to have anywhere between 8,000 and 9,000 during the week of SUN ’n FUN, according to Gene […]
Just having fun with the P-51
During SUN ‘n FUN 2017, Stallion 51 celebrated its 30th anniversary. The company, which provides flights and training in the iconic P-51 Mustang from its headquarters at Kissimmee Gateway Airport near Orlando, brought some friends to the show to help it celebrate. On April 5, a gaggle of Mustangs landed at SUN ’n FUN, then were ushered to […]
Alpina partners with airshow star Michael Goulian
For its first year at SUN ’n FUN, Swiss watchmaker Alpina made a big splash. The new official timekeeper of the fly-in, Alpina also is a sponsor of airshow star Michael Goulian. The company also exhibited at SUN ’n FUN for the first time, displaying a variety of watches in its exhibit on the Warbird […]
Work continues towards an unleaded avgas
At this year’s SUN ‘n FUN, visitors saw a fuel truck with Swift Fuels emblazoned on its side. It was there to promote the company’s unleaded UL94 avgas, the first of the company’s products to make it to market. “We introduced the 94 fuel two and a half years ago to make it clear that this stuff is […]
The Sherpa saga
More than two decades ago — in 1994 — the Sherpa made its Oshkosh debut. Heralded as a “Super Cub on steroids,” the airplane drew a lot of attention. But not much action. The first design, a five-place STOL aircraft powered by a Lycoming IO-720 400-hp engine, morphed five years later into an eight-place version […]