General Aviation News

Not gone, just somewhere else

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There is a great thrill to buying an airplane. At least that’s always been my experience.

The search, the pre-buy inspection, the haggling, the deal. It’s all a heady concoction that ends, hopefully, with an aircraft in your hangar that can bring you joy and adventure whenever you get the urge to fly.

For most of my flying career I’ve been a renter. It was convenient. It was also expensive, but not as expensive as ownership, I reasoned. And that’s true to a point. But there is a cost that goes along with that savings. This particular cost is known as inconvenience. 

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Questions from the Cockpit: Baffled by baffling?

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Jessie, a private pilot and new aircraft owner from Colorado, asks: How does engine baffling work?

In a way much more baffling than most pilots realize! Most of us —including me until I researched the question — look at the rat’s maze of aluminum sheets and rubberesque material (technically called baffle seals) that run around the upper third or so of our engines, and assume that it’s a complex system of sluices to guide airflow. 

But nothing could be farther from the truth. It’s waaaaaay more complex than that.

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Build your own HUD

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John Marzulli has a wonderfully built and painted Zenith 701. He lives in Ballard, Washington, and flies from Arlington Municipal Airport (KAWO).

While John and I have exchanged a few e-messages over the last few years, this year’s edition of the Arlington Fly-In was our first chance to meet up face to face.

John was at the fly-in, camping with his 7-year-old daughter, Penny, living a truly wholesome aviation experience. (He and 11-year-old daughter Genevieve have camped at prior fly-ins and 3-month-old son Nicolas is next in line.)

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Who is calling the shots here?

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When I began my flirtation with aviation, I made a huge mistake that cost me a great deal of money and wasted a considerable amount of time.

As a flight student, it was my erroneous belief that I was to decide what my instructor and I would do each day. I had no idea there existed a book known as the Practical Test Standard (PTS, now known as the Airmen Certification Standard or ACS), or that specific tasks and areas of knowledge were required that I would be tested on.

And so I twiddled away money and flight time under the delusional belief that all I had to do was fly for 40 hours. At the conclusion of that time the FAA would bestow upon me a Private Pilot Certificate.

No, it doesn’t work that way. I was an ignoramus and a half.

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Commandos go civilian

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The big Curtiss C-46 Commando transport of World War II was a milestone in air transport. With a wingspan greater than that of a four-engine B-17, the C-46 used a pair of R-2800 radial engines to get it aloft at a gross weight of 56,000 pounds. It was the largest twin-engine aircraft in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.

Military Commandos hauled troops and carried vehicles and light aircraft, loaded through a large aperture in the left side of the fuselage.

The C-46 in popular literature has been viewed as a maintenance-prone airlifter when compared with the smaller Douglas C-47. And yet the Commando’s weight-lifting and altitude performance made it the star of the ongoing Allied airlift over the Himalayas in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.

Peace in 1945 cut short the production of C-46s after more than 3,000 were built. The War Assets Administration (WAA) worked with the Air Force to make C-46s available to civilian operators.

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Will this mount fit my engine?

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I have a mount I am told is for a Lycoming engine. I thought an O-235, then I am told O-320, but I see the O-320 lord points are angled, while mine are flat. Mount points are 9-1/2″ top to bottom and 11-1/2″ side to side.

Can you please tell me just what engine this fits?

Richard L. Jack

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Something new

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There is a universal truth for pilots. It has to do with the journey that got them from being a dedicated ground-pounder to an occasional inhabitant of the air.

That first flight lesson was a little intimidating. Exciting, but not altogether comfortable. There tend to be a few nerve endings waving around loose. This flying thing isn’t for the faint of heart, after all.

For those of us who make it through those first few lessons, the reward is a sneaking suspicion that grows over time. It suggests that maybe, just maybe, we have a shot at this.

Slow flight wasn’t so tough. Power-off stalls were actually kind of fun. Power-on stalls, well that’s another story, but we got through them. And ground reference maneuvers — they can be frustrating when the wind is high, but on the nicer days they’re a cake walk.

Then comes our solo. For most new pilots that momentous event comes as a complete surprise.

Gulp. 

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Can I use mogas in this Lycoming engine?

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Q: I found a Lycoming O-320-H2AD in Germany for sale. I’m an Italian, I built a Storm, and I have to power it with a 150-160 hp Lycoming. I would like to use mogas and I don’t know if this model can do it.

Also, I know the O-320-H2AD had a series of problems with valves and tappets. Can you tell me something more and if it is worth buying?

And, lastly, is it designed to mount a variable pitch propeller?

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Revisiting a pot that could use some stirring

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In the several years I’ve been writing this column I’ve never had the occasion to immediately follow up a piece with a second pass at the topic. It just didn’t seem relevant. Until now.

It’s not unusual for me to receive email from readers. I answer most of them, only rejecting the anonymous ones. Yet, last week was the first time I was physically stopped by female pilots who wanted to thank me for writing a piece about their travails. Their gratitude was palpable. And that got me thinking. 

Appearance isn’t everything was intended to illustrate the lack of respect women often face when moving into the aviation industry. The two women featured are real women whom I’ve known and flown with. Their stories are true.

As it turns out, the anecdotes they share are not isolated incidents. They’re pervasive. And a review of the comments left on that article show that to be truer than many of us might like to believe.

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