What better way to decorate for an event where aircraft are the guests of honor than with furniture made from aircraft? MotoArt, a Torrance, Calif.-based company that takes parts from derelict airplanes and turns them into high-end sculptures and furniture, can provide the decorations. However, since MotoArt’s pieces are limited editions, they tend to be […]
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Do you know? Which B-17 was first to complete 25 missions during World War II
Quick test: Which B-17 was the first to complete 25 missions during World War II? If you answered “Memphis Belle,” you would be incorrect. The first B-17 to hit the magic number was “Hell’s Angels,” a B-17F of the 358th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group. The name of the airplane came from the Howard Hughes […]
User fees inevitable?
Last November, at AOPA Expo, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta claimed that the FAA’s funding problems wouldn’t be solved by user fees. “The fuel tax is the best way to finance the needs of aviation,” he told a standing-room-only crowd of pilots. But Mineta’s tune has changed. Late last month, Mineta told the Aero Club of […]
Down at sea: Personal beacon a vital piece of equipment for all seaplane pilots
Survival equipment is vital to anyone flying over water. Whether in a great ocean or large lake, a person – or even several people – in the water can be nearly impossible for searchers to find. The longer a survivor spends in water, even relatively warm water, the less his chances of survival. Being found […]
Sweets from the Smithsonian
Part of the fun of visiting an aviation museum is bringing home a keepsake – or two. At the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., an M&M candy dispenser is the big item this year, according to spokesman Mike Marcus. “We partnered with Mars Candy and have a limited edition collectors M&M dispenser,” he […]
A grand display
After Charles Lindbergh made his solo Atlantic crossing in 1927 in the Spirit of St. Louis, he embarked on a national tour to display the Ryan. The aircraft would eventually be placed in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. The first men to make the first transatlantic crossing from east to west had […]
Chalk’s hit with multimillion dollar lawsuits after crash
Two wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Chalk’s Ocean Airways in the wake of a fatal crash Dec. 19. The first was filed on behalf of Kendrick Sherman of Bimini, whose wife and daughter were among the 20 people killed. Attorney John Ruiz says that it is a class action suit “to insure that […]
U.S.-Mexico border TFR created
The FAA has established a TFR along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and New Mexico that many pilots don’t think is temporary. The TFR, 300 nm long and 17 nm wide, is designed to prevent U.S. Customs and Border Patrol unmanned surveillance aircraft (UAVs) from colliding with civilian aircraft. Active from 5 p.m. until 7 […]
Aircraft Spruce buys rights to Cozy, Long EZ parts
Aircraft Spruce is now the source for Cozy and Long EZ parts. The Corona, Calif.-based company has acquired all the existing inventory, tooling and drawings from the former Ken Brock Manufacturing Co., which had been producing Cozy and Long EZ parts since the 1970s. It ceased parts production in December. Aircraft Spruce owns the design […]