It’s a beautiful day to be flying your Cessna above Maryland’s scenic Eastern Shore, taking in the view of the Chesapeake Bay, when — out of nowhere — an F-16 fighter jet suddenly pulls up beside you because your plane has no business being there. Charlie Martinez, Rick Mickerand Robert Bolling know the feeling. Recently […]
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A new seaplane base in New York
Bill Schmalz, who organizes the South Florida Seaplane Splash-in every year and is quite active in the Seaplane Pilots Association, recently sent us some pictures of a “new” seaplane base in the New York City area — LaGuardia Airport after Superstorm Sandy. He notes that it’s only fitting, as the airport was originally a seaplane […]
XtremeAir receives FAA nod for aerobatic airplane
Germany-based XtremeAir has received FAA certification for its two-seat aerobatic airplane XA42. XtremeAir GmbH is an EASA-certified company that develops and manufactures carbon fiber composite aerobatic aircraft. The company has been based at Magdeburg/Cochstedt Airport in central Germany since 2005. The XA42 is manufactured and certified entirely with both a carbon fiber composite fuselage and […]
Driving drones can be a drag
Study shows distractions may alleviate boredom and improve drone operators’ performance. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — On its surface, operating a drone looks a lot like playing a video game: Operators sit at workstations, manipulating joysticks to remotely adjust a drone’s pitch and elevation, while grainy images from the vehicle’s camera project onto a computer screen. An […]
Cessna endorses OpenAirplane
Cessna has named OpenAirplane as an Endorsed Partner to the Cessna Pilot Center program collaborating to make flying even more convenient for pilots. “Cessna Pilot Centers are a foundation of our aviation community,” said Rod Rakic, co-founder at OpenAirplane. “We’re excited to be working with the team at Cessna to enhance our product, and deliver a […]
The ever-popular Swift
When it comes to aircraft production, timing is critical. The history of general aviation is replete with designs that had the misfortune of being introduced at the beginning of the Depression or World War II, and then being lost to a nose-diving economy or a change in resource allocation. If it was a good design, […]
Cherokee owner saves $2,550 a year with mogas
Mark Wiley of Murfreesboro, Arkansas,who flies a 1963 Piper PA-28-235 Cherokee, contacted your bloggers some months back when his efforts to lower his costs lead him to mogas. Since then he has obtained a mogas STC from Petersen Aviation, installed a simple fuel system next to his hangar, and found a fuel supplier that brings […]
Flight Design celebrates 25 years
Flight Design GmbH is celebrating 25 years of aircraft development and manufacturing aircraft for 25 years with a special “Jubilee” series of the company’s models. “It has been an exciting 25 years where we brought interesting new airplanes to markets around the world,” said Flight Design CEO Matthias Betsch. “For this anniversary we have a […]
AOPA launches FlyQ Electronic Flight Bag
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has released the FlyQ Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) for the iPad, the latest addition to its family of digital flight planning products. The new app is a complete pre-and in-flight planning tool that provides airport directory information, aviation weather and flight planning, according to AOPA officials. Key features […]