Plans for the 2008 Kansas Air Tour continue to evolve. The tour, which is slated for April of 2008, is, in part, a re-creation of the All Kansas Air Tour of 1928. “We wanted to fly the original route, but that is not possible,” noted Ed Young, director of aviation for the Kansas Department of […]
Search for Fossett suspended
About a month after Steve Fossett disappeared over the Nevada desert, the Civil Air Patrol suspended its search for the millionaire adventurer and pilot. Fossett disappeared Sept. 3 when he flew from a private airstrip in Yerington, Nev., in a Bellanca Decathalon and failed to return from what was supposed to be a three-hour flight. […]
Organization gives missing airmen their last flight home
If you want someone to hear your message, you have to get that person within earshot. At shows like AirVenture, placing an attractive airplane in your display area often does the trick. It helps if you can get your hands on a vintage airplane, because there is something about those older models that make aviators […]
Cessna pursues purchase of Columbia
Cessna Aircraft Co. has signed a Letter of Intent with Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corp. to acquire selected assets and certain liabilities of the Bend, Ore.-based aircraft manufacturer. Cessna Chairman, President and CEO Jack J. Pelton noted that “Columbia’s unique capability in the high-end single-engine piston market makes it a perfect complement to our Next Generation […]
Fossett presumed dead
The search for missing aviator Steve Fossett in the Nevada desert has been scaled back, while the preliminary report from the NTSB lists the accident as a fatality. Fossett disappeared Sept. 3 while flying near Yerington, Nev. He took off in a Bellanca Super Decathlon for what was supposed to be a three-hour flight, but […]
California city considers closing one airport to grow another
At the end of World War II the city of Tracy, Calif., picked up two former military airfields as war surplus. When Uncle Sam deeded the properties to the city, which is about 60 miles east of San Francisco, there were restrictions that the airports remain airports in perpetuity. However, city officials are now asking […]
New GA terminal on tap for New Bern, N.C.
Spring will bring a new general aviation facility to Craven Regional Airport (EWN) in New Bern, North Carolina. The bid for construction of the 4,000-square-foot general aviation terminal was recently awarded to local contractor Brydge and Lee Inc. The facility will house FBO Tidewater Air Services, Inc. “The new facility will be twice the size […]
Jacksonville repeals ordinance that bans homebuilding
Education and persistence have paid off for members of the Experimental Aircraft Association in Jacksonville, Fla. For more than a year, EAA members have been fighting a city ordinance that prohibited the parking, storing, repairing, building and operating of aircraft and airboats in residential neighborhoods. On Sept. 25 the City Council voted to repeal the […]
Do clothes make the controller?
“Cessna 123, cleared for takeoff, runway 13L.” Do you really care what the person issuing the instructions is wearing? I don’t. But apparently the FAA does. All across the country air traffic controllers are being disciplined for dress code violations. Some of the male controllers have rebelled by wearing dresses. Given the problems the FAA […]