When George Christie was 16 years old, aviation was in its Golden Age. Armed with a $5 Kodak camera, the young aviation buff had plenty of opportunities to take photos of his favorite thing — airplanes — and the personalities who flew them. Some of his favorites include shots of the Boeing Clipper at Lake […]
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Developer sets sights on Pine Mountain Airport
Officials in Harris County, Georgia, are in a quandary. A developer of a resort hotel — essential, they say, to the success of the county’s main tourist attraction, Callaway Gardens — wants to close Pine Mountain Airport (PIM). But county officials — and the FAA — want the airport to stay open. The airport, Callaway […]
North Carolina airport woos GA with new hangars
Aircraft won’t be the only thing taking off at Albert J. Ellis Airport (OAJ) in Jacksonville, North Carolina, this spring. Airport officials say they’re almost finished with the infrastructure work that will support new general aviation hangars. “The hangars will be built by corporations or private individuals, we’re just putting in the infrastructure,” explains airport […]
Commander Aircraft to be liquidated
Troubled times continue at Commander Aircraft Co., as the Bethany, Okla.-based company is set to be liquidated. After two failed attempts to find saviors for the bankrupt company, Commander’s December 2002 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has been converted to a Chapter 7 filing by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. All operations at the company […]
Pilots say it’s time for a tower at Frederick
The time has come for a control tower at Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK), say airport manager Charles Abell and a lot of pilots at one of Maryland’s busiest airports. The tower proposal isn’t the only thing on Abell’s wish list. Public meetings about updating the airport’s master plan have elicited discussions of additional hangars, improved […]
WASP Marianne Beard Nutt dies at 84
Marianne Beard Nutt, a member of the WASP class of 1943, died Jan. 16. Nutt developed a passion for aviation when she was 7, after seeing Amelia Earhart. She did not have the money for flying lessons and was told girls could not be pilots. Nevertheless, she learned to fly, working odd jobs at an […]
Reach out and touch — your airplane
You live in the South, so icing isn’t a problem, right? Wrong, as this winter’s Arctic blasts demonstrate. Wing icing has been in the news a lot, lately, and pilots should be paying attention regardless of where they live. On Dec. 29, the National Transportation Safety Board issued an Alert to Pilots concerning ice accumulation […]
Snail mail becomes air mail
If you are an aircraft buff and a stamp collector, the United States Postal Service is about to deliver for you in a big way. This summer the post office will make available 10 stamp designs titled “”American Advances in Aviation.”” The designs, painted by William S. Phillips, an award-winning historical aviation artist, are models […]
Are laser pointers our newest threat
Years ago children at summer camp were cautioned never to shine their flashlights straight up because it could blind pilots flying overhead and cause them to crash. These days pilot blindness is a very real possibility because of the misuse of laser pointers. In recent weeks there have been a number of incidents where people […]