Earlier this month, the FAA released a notice of proposed rule making that would require additional training for any pilot who flies VFR within 100 nm of the nation’s capitol (See Capital Comments, page 7, for more information). Pilots can check out the course right now at FAASafety.gov. Type ADIZ course into the search box […]
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BD-5 Jet crashes near Ocean City, Maryland
A highly experienced 61-year-old pilot was killed June 27 when the BD-5J he was flying for classified military radar tests crashed and burned about 1,000 feet west of Ocean City Municipal Airport (OXB) in Maryland. The little jet has been mimicking cruise missiles for radar calibrations for about five years, often based at Easton, Maryland, […]
Have you heard the one about the wooden airport?
One of the more enduring legends from World War II is the one about the phony wooden airfield constructed as a decoy. According to the legend, the Germans in occupied Holland built the airfield. Detail was meticulous, down to wooden hangars, oil tanks, trucks and faux aircraft. However, the Germans took so long in building […]
The Ultimate Flight Lesson
What do you get when you take a flight instructor and student, hand them the keys to a new plane that must get to its buyer, and then put an ocean between them and their destination? The North Atlantic Challenge. Benjamin Riecken, who teaches flying at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Jean Olivier Mbog, a senior […]
Flapper makes aviation history
Dr. James DeLaurier, an aeronautical engineer and professor emeritus at Canada’s University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, fulfilled a lifelong dream July 9. He saw his manned, jet-powered, flapping-wing airplane – a full-scale ornithopter – actually fly. It was the culmination of a quest that he had pursued for more than 30 years. The […]
The Buzzzzzzz
“There’s a lot of rhetoric about what user fees do or don’t do. In the absence of real information, people will believe anything.” — Ruth Marlin, executive vice president, National Air Traffic Controllers Association “We have reached a crossroads in general aviation and our future is unsure.” — Pete Trabucco, pilot and GA activist “We […]
Cessna airlifts athletes to Special Olympics
The first and second weekends in July were busy ones for the pilots of Cessna business jets as the crews transported some 1,800 athletes to and from the Special Olympics U.S. National Games held in Ames, Iowa, July 2-7. The owners of the aircraft volunteered their services. Some 237 Cessna Citation business jets took part […]
Oregon man brings DaVinci’s vision to life
Oregon man brings Da Vinci’s vision to life Ken Spence has taken a lifelong passion for aviation and the work of Leonardo da Vinci and built a full-scale, non-flying ornithopter from one of da Vinci’s most complex engineering drawings. The ornithopter is on display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Ore. According to Spence, […]
The one with the most toys wins
If big boy toys like airplanes, sports memorabilia and classic cars make your pulse quicken, you may want to be in Lubbock, Texas, July 15 when Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers auction off the assets of Jonathan D. “Jody” Nelson. Nelson pled guilty in April to embezzling more than $77 million from his employer. As he’s awaiting […]