Learning to fly is a life-altering experience. While many flight instructors teach as a means to build time for other aviation jobs, there are some who are dedicated to bestowing the gift of flight on others. “If I teach a student, I have taught one person to fly. If I teach a flight instructor, I […]
News
Sea turtle migrates via corporate aircraft
Turtle is synonymous with slow, but Ace the sea turtle is an exception to the rule. On Oct. 7, the turtle made the journey from Connecticut to Florida with an average cruise speed of 200 knots and at flight level 280, no less. Ace made the journey from the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration […]
Sharing more than a love of aviation
Wing walker Teresa Stokes and her business partner and boyfriend, air show pilot Gene Soucy, share more than the love of aviation. They also share a kidney. In 2003 Stokes donated one of her kidneys to Soucy, who was living with a progressive kidney disease. They now tout organ donation during their performances at air […]
Bobbing for aircraft: The USS Macon exhibit in Monterey
One of the most popular exhibits at the Maritime Museum of Monterey was never intended to go into the ocean. The USS Macon exhibit, which will be on display through December, features the airship that crashed off the California coast in 1934. “It’s a big part of the local history,” notes Tim Thomas, a museum […]
Goodyear to launch new airship
A new blimp will take to the skies next Spring. The new airship has been in production for the past two years as a replacement for the Stars & Stripes, one of four Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. blimps. The new blimp will be based at Pompano Beach, Fla. The Goodyear blimps are celebrating their […]
Pole-topole flight scrubbed
A contaminant found in the fuel of Gus McLeod’s Firefly appears to be sabotage. The mysterious incident has forced further postponement of McLeod’s planned pole-to-pole solo flight around the world. “After an analysis of the contamination, and cutting the tanks open for inspection, the verdict is inescapable,” the Maryland pilot said. “The fuel was contaminated with a […]
NASA flying wing model soars in historic wind tunnel
Ask anyone what an airplane looks like and most will tell you a tube with wings. NASA researchers are trying to expand that image, testing a design for a flying wing called a blended wing body. Technicians have installed a 5% scale model of a blended wing body in the Langley Full-Scale Tunnel at NASA’s […]
Slick Goodin, 82
Chalmers H. “Slick” Goodlin, a Bell test pilot originally set to become the first man to exceed Mach 1, died of cancer at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla., Oct. 20. He was 82. Goodlin made 26 subsonic flights in the rocket-powered Bell X-1-1 and X-1-2, reaching Bell’s contractual speed of Mach 0.8. When […]
FAA Flight Plan focuses on user fees
The FAA’s recently released Flight Plan 2006-2010, the agency’s strategic planning and goal-setting document, is still focused on user fees to take care of its claims of a funding crisis. “There is a fundamental disagreement between the FAA and AOPA about whether the aviation trust fund is running out of money,” said AOPA President Phil […]