The FAA has awarded a $72 million grant for the relocation of Panama City-Bay County International Airport (PFN) in Florida. Those funds will be added to $67 million in grants from the Florida Department of Transportation for the airport relocation project, which has been in the works since 1995, when a study indicated that the […]
A different kind of hangar dance
What do you get when you supply local celebrities with dance lessons and invite them to a hangar dance? You get an aviation museum fund raiser, of course. For the second year in a row, the Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Wash., is holding its Dancing with the Stars fund raiser. “We did it last […]
Talk about your early birds! Woodpecker Tiger Moth arrives months, yes months, before the big show
When you fly a light vintage airplane, you have to factor in lots of extra time when you want to be some place. For Sun ‘n Fun fly-in attendees Tom Dietrich and Steve Gray of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, that extra time meant leaving home several months in advance. You read that right: Months. “We tried […]
Full leather jacket: it’s much more than a fashion statement
“Why are you wearing that thing?” “That thing” is my leather A-2 flight jacket, the one with all the patches. I wear it all the time, including at Sun ‘n Fun in Florida in April. I have a weakness for flight jackets. When I decided I was going to learn to fly, one of the […]
Russell Shavitz’s 195 proves looks can be deceiving
The “you can’t judge a book by its cover” adage goes for airplanes as well as people. When we spotted a black, orange, gold and yellow Cessna 195 with the image of a black widow spider on it in the vintage display area at this year’s Sun ‘n Fun, General Aviation News photographer Will Jones […]
Airport workers wrangle wallaby
Baggage handlers at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) became animal wranglers, albeit briefly, when a wallaby staged an escape recently. The animal was on its way to a family-owned zoo and animal preserve near Deadwood, South Dakota, when he managed to escape the kennel that held him and a female wallaby. The female wallaby […]
‘Red Tail Reborn’ makes its air show debut at this summer’s AirVenture
The documentary film “Red Tail Reborn,” which tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African Americans to serve as military pilots, has been added to the 2007 AirVenture schedule. Michael Dorn, an actor and accomplished pilot who is known around the world for his portrayal of Commander Worf in the Star Trek franchise, […]
Lose the light: A move to drop Light from Light Sport Aircraft
Sometimes it’s not so much the concept you are trying to sell as much as its presentation. That’s why some in the Light Sport Aircraft community want to drop the word “Light” from the description. One of the leaders of the movement is Michael Meirer, co-CEO of Remos Aircraft from Pasewalk, Germany. According to Meirer, […]
Fighting fires with the FireBoss
What do you get when you combine an aircraft created specifically for agricultural work and amphibious floats designed specifically for firefighting operations? You get the FireBoss, which may be the most efficient firefighting aircraft in use today, or so says Charlie Wiplinger, director of research and development for FireBoss LLC. “We built the FireBoss based […]