The 2009 “Powrachute Extravaganza” is scheduled for Sept. 17 through 20 at Will Rogers Downs, a large race track and casino in Claremore, Oklahoma, near Tulsa. The Extravaganza is expected to be the largest gathering of powered parachutes and pilots since 1999, according to organizer Galen Geigley. “Details are being put together and advertising will […]
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FAA issues tire safety alert
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a safety alert for operators to emphasize the importance of maintaining correct aircraft tire pressure. Pressure checks can be accomplished by measuring cold tire pressure at intervals recommended by the manufacturer, the alert said. They are most effective when tires have been at rest for at least two hours […]
NBAA challenges Wall Street Journal
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen last week challenged a “one-sided view of business aviation” put forward in a front-page story by The Wall Street Journal. In a statement sent to the newspaper and made available through social networking web sites like Twitter, Bolen said the story “greatly mischaracterized business aviation and did a disservice […]
Canadian Centennial of Flight Relay
This year is the 100th Anniversary of the first powered, heavier-than-air, controlled flight in Canada, made by J.A.D. McCurdy in the Silver Dart on the frozen surface of the Bras D’or Lakes near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Under the leadership of the Canadian Aeronautical Preservation Association and the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center, aviation museums and aviation […]
Luftwaffe flying wing at San Diego Air and Space Museum
A replica Horten 229 flying wing is being unveiled on June 24 as part of the San Diego Air and Space Museum‘s World War II Gallery. The National Geographic Society and Northrop Grumman Corporation teamed up to build the flying wing for a new television documentary premiering June 28. The top-secret Nazi fighter was replicated […]
Wilson Air Center hosts 13th annual POPA convention
Wilson Air Center recently hosted the 13th Annual Pilatus Owners and Pilots Association (POPA) Convention in Memphis. Thirty-five aircraft visited for a long weekend of classes, education, demonstrations and static displays. The world-renowned Memphis Peabody Hotel was the convention headquarters. Craig Fuller, AOPA president, was the keynote speaker, delivering a talk on the need and […]
Historic Essex County Airport has a lofty past
The general aviation airport in Essex County, New Jersey, is, at the age of 80, “a place of stories as varied as the 283 aircraft … parked off its two runways,” wrote Philip Read in the June 21 Essex Star-Ledger. The facility, operated since 1975 by the Essex County Improvement Authority, also is “home to […]
Aviation group starts youngsters flying
Christian Ramirez, 12, had thought he’d seen all his hometown had to offer until he took his first flight and saw it from the sky, according to a June 21 article in the Chico (Calif.) Enterprise-Record. “Butte College looks bigger on the inside,” Christian, a Chico native, said. “It just looks so small from up […]
WWII bomber recovered from Lake Michigan
A World War II dive bomber removed from the depths of Lake Michigan flew combat missions during that war, an official from a Hawaiian museum told the Waukegan (Illinois) News-Sun on June 20. Kenneth DeHoff, executive director of the Pacific Aviation Museum, said the Douglas SBD Dauntless raised from the Great Lake near Waukegan will […]