The Sept. 17 USA Today article, “Feds keep little-used airports in business,” has drawn ire from aviation largest pilot group. Craig Fuller, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said the story is “completely devoid of journalistic balance that fails to acknowledge the millions of Americans who benefit from the nation’s 5,200 general aviation […]
SLN seeks historic donations
From its hasty ground-breaking ceremony in the spring of 1942 to its closure in the summer of 1965, Smoky Hill Army Air Field and later Schilling Air Force Base in Salina, Kan., collected countless memories and histories that may be gone but, with a little help from the community, will never be forgotten. The Salina […]
Fly casual
Guest Editorial By THOMAS P. TURNER “Fly casual.” If you’re a pilot and a fan of the “Star Wars” movies (hey, I was a teenager when the first one came out), this may be one of your favorite lines of the entire series. Han Solo tells his Wookie copilot Chewbacca to “fly casual” to avoid […]
Win on eBay, fly a jetpack
New Zealand’s Martin Aircraft Co., which unveiled its Martin Jetpack at last year’s AirVenture in Oshkosh, is holding an auction on eBay that will allow the winning bidder to become the first person, outside their close development team, to fly the Martin Jetpack as a fully fledged test pilot. “Our aim is to make the […]
Charter Civil Air Patrol member dies
One of the last surviving charter members of the Civil Air Patrol – Georgia Wing’s Col. Benjamin H. Stone Jr. – died Sept. 13 of natural causes in an assisted living center in Marietta, Ga. He was 95 years old. Born in Worchester, Mass., in 1914, Stone had a passion for flying for much of […]
Cessna Mustang gets Russian certification
Cessna Aircraft Co. has received Russian type certification for the Citation Mustang from Russia’s MAK (Interstate Aviation Committee, Aviation Register). The Citation Mustang is now certified in 60 countries, including the United States. Cessna has delivered more than 200 Mustangs from the company’s Independence, Kan., facility since April 2007. The six-place Citation Mustang, which has […]
Safe hand propping DVD released
Windsock Productions LLC has produced a 15-minute DVD on safe hand propping. Created by veteran flight instructors John Pipkin and Kim Bevier, the DVD is designed to teach the critical risk factors associated with hand propping an aircraft and time-tested procedures for keeping you — and everyone else — safe during the process. Price $19.50. […]
Quest receives production certificate
Quest Aircraft Co. has received full unrestricted production certification for the Kodiak. The FAA presented Quest with the certificate Sept. 15, in a brief ceremony at the company’s Sandpoint, Idaho, headquarters. “Achieving this final step in the process of designing, producing, and delivering a brand new aircraft is an important milestone for Quest,” said Paul […]
Air traffic controllers like Hudson River plan
Newark air traffic controller Edward Kragh, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association’s representative to the FAA’s New York Visual Flight Rules Airspace Task Force that examined the airspace above the Hudson River after the Aug. 8 mid-air collision, told the Senate Aviation Subcommittee yesterday that NATCA supports the task force’s recommendations of changes to training, […]