After nearly five weeks of construction, Iowa City Municipal Airport (IOW) has reopened for limited operations. Runway 12/30 was reopened Sept. 6 for daylight operations. “It is limited to daytime VFR only for right now because of an incomplete lighting system,” said Michael Tharp, operations specialist at the airport. The airport was closed Aug. 3 […]
Express Aircraft returns
There are some aircraft designs that are just too good to let disappear, says Darrell Peterson, president of Composite Aircraft Technology LLC, which manufactures the mid-wing kit airplane known as the Express. “People may remember it as the Wheeler Express,” says Peterson, who purchased the company in 2007. He has spent the last two years […]
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a giant butterfly?
You have probably seen airplanes painted to look like birds, but how about one painted to look like a butterfly? Don Hathaway of Orlando, Fla., says he is used to people slowing down to take a good look at his Kolb Firestar, which is painted to look like a Monarch butterfly. “The previous owner did […]
Topping off AirVenture
Are you one of the many aviation enthusiasts who collects patches from AirVenture and other air shows? The question becomes, how do you display them? You could put them on a jacket, but let’s face it, you probably won’t get much of a chance to wear it at AirVenture because of the heat. However, if […]
A promise kept
At Oshkosh in 2003, General Aviation News met Tim Garrett, an aerospace engineer from Indianapolis and a private pilot who has Multiple Sclerosis. Hanging out at the Zenith Aircraft Co. exhibit, Garrett told us his dream was to build his own airplane and fly it to the big show. His plane, a Zenith 601 XL, […]
The Dirty Bird Award
Most of the time airplanes at AirVenture are judged on the authenticity of restoration and cleanliness. Taigh Ramey, a vintage aircraft restorer and judge at last month’s show, decided to go to the other extreme with his newly-acquired Beechcraft C-45G. “We thought we’d go after the coveted Dirty Bird Award,” he said. Ramey recently bought […]
Development continues on Cirrus Vision Jet
Cirrus Aircraft Co. had one of the larger exhibits at this summer’s AirVenture. While the Vision Jet and the SR20 and SR22 series aircraft were all prominently displayed, noticeably absent was Alan Klapmeier. In June, Klapmeier, who co-founded the company in 1984 with his brother Dale, shocked many in the aviation industry when he made […]
Midsummer shutdown for Iowa City Airport worries business owners
Business owners at Iowa City Airport (IOW) in Iowa are bracing to lose a month’s worth of business because of a runway reconstruction project. The work is slated to begin Aug. 3 and is expected to last until September. The airport has two runways: 7/25, measuring 5,004 by 100 feet; and 12/30, which measures 3,900 […]
Former uranium processing site could be Tennessee’s newest GA airport
Officials in Knoxville, Tenn., have taken the first step towards recycling an industrial site that used to process uranium into a general aviation airport. The industrial area was closed down decades ago, according to Lawrence Young, president of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET), an organization that oversees the redevelopment of industrial sites. […]