With the swipe of his pen on Friday, July 15, President Obama set into law third class medical reform. I’m thrilled. So are a good many pilots. “It’s important to celebrate this moment, which has been a long time coming and resulted from an incredible amount of work over the past five years,” said Jack […]
Opinion
Oshkosh Bound: Has anything changed in the last year?
By DEAN BILLING. As I was preparing my motorhome for the trip to AirVenture 2016, it dawned on me that I haven’t written anything for the GA Fuels blog in quite sometime. Perhaps that’s because not much is happening in the aviation fuel arena despite the nagging problems of TEL contamination and the perceptible decline […]
Seize the sky
On most mornings throughout the year, commuters driving along Interstate 4 through central Florida are treated to the elegantly bouyant eye candy of a low-speed airshow. Hot air balloons dot the skies for miles, drifting on light winds, and bringing joy to passengers and observers alike. It’s perfectly natural to be attracted to the sight […]
Avoid regrets. Live big. Live now.
While wandering the streets of Manhattan recently it occurred to me that historic events have occurred on almost every street in that megalopolis. In the 1980s, I lived just off Washington Square Park on Bleecker Street. There in the shadow of New York University (NYU) is a broad open space that hosts chess players, musicians, […]
Three things no pilot wants to hear
By JEB BURNSIDE. Pilots have many popular sayings we share among ourselves and with others. They result from a desire to impress non-pilots with our “daredevil” spirit and how we “conquer” the mystique of flying, sprinkled with a certain fatalism. I’m thinking of things like, “The only time you can have too much fuel is […]
Invasion of the Titan
The potent Titan X-340 is a shade under $26,000 at present. One advantage over most others is that it is Made in the USA and you deal with a U.S.-based company. Power on!
Video: Greg Koontz’s crazy flying act in a Titan Legend
No, he’s not going to fly into the hangar… you hope, but Greg Koontz’s airshow act keeps you wondering. Probably you’ve seen an act like this before. A crazy-acting farmer or a supposed drunk hops into a Piper Cub or similar aircraft after the regular pilot leaves it unattended for a few minutes. The crazy […]
Currency requirements times two
For general aviation pilots there is no more compelling challenge than that presented by currency. We’re talking about currency in both its common forms — cash and recent flight time. At least that’s the impression one could get from reading the email and notes readers send my way. These topics are inextricably linked for those […]
I’m a pilot, not an airman
The FAA should have titled the Practical Test Standards (PTS) replacement Pilot Certification Standards, not Airman Certification Standards (ACS). Regardless what you think of the new standards for awarding (or earning) a pilot — see there it is — certificate, the title is wrong. Never have I been asked, “Are you an airman?” And I’d hazard a […]