“My plan is not to plan.” These are the words and advice that Colin Hales offers to would-be adventurers who are toying with the idea of flying their airplane around the world. “Just get in your airplane and go — figure it out along the way,” he adds. Hales, 45, who hails from Oxfordshire, England, may sound like […]
The Groppo Trail: The LSA world’s best kept secret
The Trail is available as a ready-to-fly LSA with the Rotax 912 ULS. Price with the standard panel is $74,900, while it is $77,900 with the electronic panel.
Teenager restores vintage plane to award-winning condition
Most people spend their teenage years planning their future. But Dillon Barron, who just turned 20 in June, spent a good portion of his teen years with an eye to the past as he restored a 1950’s-era Cessna 170B to fresh-from-the-factory condition. Dillon and his father Mike made the trip to this year’s SUN ‘n FUN […]
Flying Just Aircraft’s SuperSTOL Stretch XL
How do you improve on a popular backcountry aircraft design? If you are the folks at Just Aircraft, you make it larger and with the ability to support a more powerful engine. That best describes Just Aircraft’s SuperSTOL Stretch XL. The red high-wing, tailwheel-equipped airplane mounted on tundra tires stole the show when it debuted […]
Educating the public — and pilots — about RPAs
Can you imagine ordering an aircraft off the Internet, then learning to fly it by trial and error without knowledge of physics, weather or airspace? That’s what’s happening when people buy Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), also referred to as drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS). These non-commercial RPAs can range in size from under five […]
Solberg Airport wins in court
Score one for Solberg-Hunterdon Airport (KN51), the embattled privately owned, public use airport in Readington Township, New Jersey. On May 4, Superior Court Judge Paul W. Armstrong dismissed the township’s lawsuit to acquire the development rights to the airport through eminent domain. Eminent domain is the power to take private property for public use by […]
Taking the plunge: Becoming a seaplane pilot
“I’ve always wanted to do that.” That’s the response you are likely to get if you tell someone that you have a seaplane rating. Float flying is on the bucket list of many an aviator, and it starts with finding the right place to do the training. Although there are FBOs with flight training at most […]
Iconic seaplane to star in Hollywood movie
“What is that?” My student and I were on downwind to Runway 16 at Pierce County/Thun Field (KPLU) in Puyallup, Wash., when he uttered this phrase. “It looks like something out of World War II!” he exclaimed as we saw the high-wing boat-hulled aircraft make its final approach. And he is right. The “that” in question […]
Tempest sponsors Able Flight scholarships
Becoming a pilot is a metaphor for life: Getting your pilot certificate is a challenge, and conquering that challenge can give you the confidence to tackle other life obstacles. Charles Stites, executive director of Able Flight, a not-for-profit organization that makes flight and aviation career training possible for disabled people, knows this only too well. […]