General Aviation News
The instrument-rated pilot was conducting a personal cross-county flight and was operating on an instrument flight rules flight plan. While he was flying in visual conditions between cloud layers at 7,000' and heading toward the destination airport, he reported to air traffic control that the Beech V35 had experienced a vacuum pump failure and that he had lost the associated gyroscopic instruments and part of the instrument panel.
During preflight inspection of the Piper PA-22, the pilot discovered three baby birds in the cockpit. After removing the birds, he continued his preflight inspection, looking for a nest. He noticed that the rag normally used to cover one of the elevator openings was missing, but he did not find a nest inside.
The Cessna 210 hit trees near Wantage, N.J., about an hour into a night cross-country flight. The pilot died in the crash. The weather was clear, with nearly a full moon and unrestricted visibility.
The private pilot stated that, while on a cross-country flight, he noted that the Cessna 182 was losing electrical power and decided to make a precautionary landing near Lake City, Florida.
You know the classic Twin Beech Model 18, right? It has twin tails, a tailwheel, and a bit of a pug nose. That is until Pacific Airmotive took it into its Burbank shop and created a tricycle-gear, single-tail, high-forehead pointy-nose business aircraft and commuter airliner in the 1960s from this pre-war design.
Any P-38 Lightning fighter of World War II is a crowd-pleaser. The Lightning called “Glacier Girl” amped that enthusiasm even higher at SUN ‘n FUN 2018. “Glacier Girl” was literally frozen in time from 1942 to 1992.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has launched a pilot program allowing seaplane pilots to clear U.S. Customs remotely at two locations in Minnesota, using an app downloaded to a cell phone or tablet.
WALHALLA, SC – Just Aircraft has added a new ultralight aircraft design to its growing list of flying machines. Just 103 was created to conform to the FAA’s Part 103 criteria for an ultralight.
Officials with the National Business Aviation Association have urged a federal appeals court to legally void a deal between the FAA and the city of Santa Monica, California, that allows the city to shorten the runway and close the Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) after 2028.
WINTHROP, Washington – Methow Valley State Airport (S52) will close May 14, 2018, for 85 days for a $5 million project to replace the pavement at the general aviation airport. According to officials with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the runway is tentatively scheduled to reopen at the end of June to avoid interfering with the expected fire season operations of the United States Forest Service (USFS), conducted by the North Cascades Smokejumper Base (NCSB).
The South Carolina Aeronautics Commission (SCAC) has issued a report showing that Donaldson Field leads the state in economic impact among general aviation airports. Located at the South Carolina Technology & Aviation Center (SCTAC) in Greenville, S.C., Donaldson Field is the state's largest general aviation airport, encompassing 1,400 acres.
During the week of SUN ’n FUN, Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport becomes the busiest airport in the nation. But that’s nothing new for the airport, where there is always something new going on.
Worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales were up 13 percent in the first quarter, according to the Aircraft Electronics Association's first-quarter 2018 Avionics Market Report. In the first three months of the year, total worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales amounted to more than $639 million as reported by the participating companies.
Garmin has received FAA Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the GFC 600 autopilot for the Baron 58/58A (1984 model year or later) and Cessna 340/340A. The GFC 600 is designed as a standalone autopilot that integrates with the G500 TXi/G600 TXi and the G500/G600 glass flight displays, Garmin navigators, as well as a variety of third-party flight displays, instruments, and navigation sources, according to company officials.
By TOM HOFFMANN, Managing Editor, FAA Safety Briefing Your aircraft’s registration number or approved call sign is critical to the integrity of the ADS-B Out system, defining who you are in the National Airspace System (NAS).
By DAVE HUGHES, FAA As of Jan. 1, 2020, ADS-B-Out will be required in most controlled airspace — and that includes pilots who are practicing aerobatics, performing in an airshow, or competing in an event such as this week's SUN ’n FUN.
Sarina Houston of Pittsboro, North Carolina, was awarded the third Martha King Scholarship for Women Flight Instructors during the annual Women in Aviation International Conference. This scholarship consists of $5,000 toward flight training and free, lifetime access to all King Schools courses, including FIRCs for life.
A Shortfield Takeoff and Landing Workshop has been slated at Havana Regional Airport (9I0) in Illinois May 18-19, 2018. Havana's 2,200' grass strip is not exactly a short field, but by the time you are done with this workshop you should only need half of it, organizers promise.
The FAA has published FAA Notice N8900.463, which addresses a change in policy in the Commercial Pilot and the CFI practical tests, no longer requiring demonstration of a complex aircraft on certain tests.
After more than 40 years spent evolving pilot courses from in-person delivery, to VHS tapes, to computer installations, King Schools has said goodbye to discs and is delivering 100% of its pilot courses online.
Q: I pulled cylinders #1 and #2 to replace the base "O" rings due to oil leaks. The engine is a Lycoming O-360 A3B6D with 650 hours and is a factory reman from 1994 due to Chevron Oil fuel contamination.
Q: Paul, I fly my single engine Comanche two to three times a month during our cold winter months here in Wisconsin. During EAA chapter meetings and fly-outs, we debate what is the best engine oil to use?
Q: Is it possible to increase the horsepower of this engine to 260? or even 300? I'm a relatively new to all things airplanes as I have just been flying rental planes, but I just picked up a Velocity XL-RG and an O-540 from a Piper Cherokee.
Q: May I ask a question regarding our engine in a Cessna 152? When we shut down from flight, there's a foam or steam inside the engine and it will come out at the breather like water.
I flew co-pilot on a 19-seat turboprop during my airline pilot rookie year. One hot summer day, we landed at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (KROA), deplaned our passengers, and loaded up 19 more.
I had a flight instructor once demonstrate how to take off, fly a pattern, and land a Cessna 172 using only power, rudder, and trim controls. Many years later another flight instructor demonstrated the same thing to me during a Boeing 717 simulator session.
During one of my airline simulator training sessions, the instructor put us about 10 miles from an initial approach fix, then she asked us to turn around so she could show us something.
GPS and air data computers make en route navigation the most precise it’s been in aviation history. In some ways, too precise. Transoceanic airliners began to suffer hours of sustained turbulence caused by dozens and dozens of wide-body aircraft flying on the same track, through each other’s wake vortices.
By Jim Posner, Poulsbo, Wash. I have long thought that the FAA should NOT be in the medical certification business, at least for Part 91 operations. Ever since my denial – despite letters from my doctors specifically stating that I am good to go – I have tried to understand why they should consider themselves more qualified to determine my fitness to fly than my own experts.
By Dick Knapinski, EAA Communications I had the opportunity to read your column regarding the AirVenture ATC fees being assessed by the FAA. You’re absolutely right – it’s complicated. There are some significant differences in your comparison between the FAA and the Oshkosh Police Department, and other points to consider as well, however: As some commenters mentioned, GA has already paid for FAA’s services through fuel taxes.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: I believe it was in 2003 that my brother told me about a program called the Mattituck Engine Workshop sponsored, as you can guess, by Teledyne Mattituck Services.
By Lindy Kirkland, President, The Air Care Alliance First, let me say a big thank you for helping make the Volunteer Pilot Safety Stand Down (Sit up?) a big success. All the comments I heard from pilots attending were very positive and encouraging.
If everything aeronautical seemed possible in the heady post-war jet age, some aircraft designs found where the limitations were. The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was one of four delta-wing jets in design or production by that San Diego company in the 1950s.
Long before entrepreneurs launched cars into space, pilots of the 1920s and 1930s were beholden to people of wealth who could sponsor record flights or offer cash prizes for the first intrepid aviator to achieve a specific milestone flight.
The current ease of making digital color photographs is a taken-for-granted marvel that aviation photographers of earlier generations lacked. The search for practical and permanent color photography began in the mid-19th Century.
The decade of the 1920s was a transitional time for American military aircraft design and construction. Early fighters of the era, though better than the machines of the recently concluded Great War, were hardly revolutionary.
I’ve told the story before of my first attempt to get involved in aviation, and my absolutely dismal failure. It was sophomore year at Glastonbury High School in rural central Connecticut.
When an idea has merit both literally and metaphorically, I tend to be intrigued. That’s certainly true of the title of this piece. Being successful at pretty much anything begins with a good breakfast.
After years of requiring applicants to operate a complex aircraft in order to earn a commercial pilot certificate (single-engine airplane) or a flight instructor certificate, the FAA recently reversed its own standards to allow commercial applicants and CFI applicants to take the practical test in an aircraft that isn’t complex.
After a fire in the Apollo 1 capsule took the lives of Gus Grisson, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, NASA undertook an investigation. Not so much to lay blame as to understand why the fire happened.
Unveiled only nine months ago, Just Aircraft’s Part 103 unfinished prototype is generating a surprising amount of interest. Overall this seems part of a surge in Part 103 interest, for plenty of good reasons: Greater freedom (no license or registration required), No medical of any kind needed, and The aircraft can be delivered ready-to-fly.
One of the most celebrated names in light aviation is Rans, a company name that both hinges on and reflects its designer and company boss, Randy Schlitter. Recently this now-familiar producer celebrated 35 years since the initial flight of its first single-seat aircraft.
This article may either excite you or annoy you. I understand. I have mixed feelings about a new class of airplanes I don’t understand as well as familiar, legacy ones. Perhaps like you, I’m annoyed because I didn’t foresee this and because these new proposed machines are not my experience over many decades of flight.
The 14th running of the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo vigorously launched the 2018 season of airshows. The show ran Jan. 24-27, 2018, at Sebring Regional Airport (KSEF). The central Florida airport — directly adjacent to the famous Sebring Raceway — hosts the annual event and lucked out with an opening day of gorgeous weather of clear blue skies and modest breezes in the high 70s.
Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. That is certainly the case for Pete and Shiley Nelson from Challis, Idaho. The husband and wife have owned and operated Middle Fork Aviation in the backcountry of Idaho for more than two decades.
The 2018 SUN 'n FUN fly-in ended much the same as it started…with a torrent of rain and wind. Those two weather features make any outdoor event rather untenable. But as I was driving to Sarasota to see family on Monday after the fly-in closed early on Sunday, I found myself lost in thought.
"I thought your platform would help me figure out how introduce the following idea to my husband," began the email that appeared in my email box on April 15. "I'm just beginning in my quest to find flying lessons to give to him as a gift.
On March 15 I opened my email and found the following message from Stephanie Smith: "Many years ago (2012 to be exact), my husband, Dennis, and I met you during the Minam Airlift, based in Joseph, Oregon, to deliver supplies to Minam Lodge.
Lately, I have received numerous questions about grease. The general theme of most of them is “why can’t I use synthetic grease from the local parts store in my aircraft?” Synthetic lubricants are one of the present “now" or "buzz” words.
In a previous column, CYA, the FAA and the new unleaded avgas, I discussed the problems the FAA may have with the new proposed unleaded 100 octane avgas. In addition to the lower octane characteristics of the avgas, one of the big concerns is exhaust valve recession.
At what temperature does piston aircraft engine oil break down? This is not the same as the maximum oil sump temperature allowed for your engine. Both Lycoming and Continental recommend a maximum oil temperature of around 245°F.
Many years ago, I received some great advice from several friends at Continental Motors. They told me that the way to deal with the FAA was as follows: First, find the right person to deal with.
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