A cheap flight website, Skyscanner.com, recently scoured its database of more than 10,000 airports around the world and handpicked what its staff thought were the funniest, rudest and weirdest airport names. On the list are Batman Airport (BAL), Turkey; Useless Loop Airport (USL), Australia; Mafia Airport (MFA), Tanzania; Moron Airport (OZP), Spain; Desolation Sound Airport […]
Improved Thrush to be powered by GE
Officials of Thrush Aircraft were showing off the improved Thrush 510 at this summer’s Oshkosh. But the crop duster wasn’t parked at a Thrush exhibit. Instead, it was parked at the GE Aviation exhibit. That’s because officials with the Albany, Ga.-based company have chosen GE Aviation’s new H80 turboprop engine to power the improved version […]
LSAs reach #100
The Light Sport Aircraft industry has reached a milestone, reaching Special-LSA #100 in less than five years. According to LSA expert (and GAN columnist) Dan Johnson, the 100th LSA is Van’s RV-12. It received its approval July 21, one day after the fifth anniversary of the new rule announcement (July 20, 2004). Johnson, who is […]
CAN wins award
Corporate Angel Network has received a 2009 Public Benefit Flying Award from The National Aeronautic Association and the Air Care Alliance. The Public Benefit Flying award, created to honor volunteers and organizations engaged in flying to help others, was presented Sept. 10 in the Lyndon B. Johnson room of the U.S. Senate. “It began in […]
CAP pilots to fly ‘Surrogate Predators’
With the conversion of a Civil Air Patrol plane into a “Surrogate Predator,” the U.S. Air Force is relying on its auxiliary in a most imaginative way. “We’re using a manned aircraft to simulate an unmanned aircraft,” said CAP-U.S. Air Force Commander Col. Bill Ward, explaining that a sophisticated “Predator ball” placed under the left […]
Ayers named Embry-Riddle exec vp
Dr. Frank Ayers has been selected as the executive vice president for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott campus. Ayers had been chairman of the Flight Training Department in the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. He joined Embry-Riddle in 2000 after a 26-year career in the U.S. Air Force. Ayers takes the helm […]
Bonhomme wins Red Bull Air Race
Britain’s Paul Bonhomme won the Red Bull Air Race in Porto, Portugal, last weekend in front of a record-breaking crowd of 720,000 to widen his lead to 4 points over defending champion Hannes Arch of Austria. Bonhomme stopped the clock in 1:09.23 on his final run through the 6.6-km course set up through 17 air […]
Who should pay?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: I recently completed my Experimental amateur homebuilt aircraft and was ready to have the Certification Inspection completed. I contacted my local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) and requested to have one of the maintenance inspectors perform the inspection. The manager denied the request. I requested a written explanation for the denial, […]
Pilots ‘N Paws 5,000 takes off
A nationwide effort to save 5,000 animals kicked off Sept. 12, with the Pilots ‘n Paws 5,000. The non-profit organization hopes to connect 5,000 animals in need of rescue with GA pilots to take them to new homes by Sept. 20. If you’d like to volunteer, find out more at PilotsNPaws.org.