Last week I found myself in a large hangar surrounded by perhaps as many as 150 individuals who self-identify as rusty pilots. They and I had traveled to St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, to enjoy the company of fellow aviation enthusiasts at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association last regional fly-in of the year. Clearly, not being […]
Opinion
LA Times opines about Santa Monica Airport
We’ve been saying it for years. But it’s nice to hear the mainstream media pick up the argument. The Los Angeles Times editorial board said, with regard to Santa Monica Airport, “Open to private business and recreational aircraft, it relieves Los Angeles International Airport of some smaller plane traffic. Flight schools, airplane maintenance, charter jet […]
GA advocates return to Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The mid-term election was a surprise to many people. Some it pleased. To others it caused discomfort. But to officials of general aviation advocacy groups who deal regularly with Congress, election results are neutral. The associations deal with both political parties over the years and there is no desire to make a comment that […]
Vanity Fair: The Human Factor
We typically steer clear of airline-related topics in General Aviation News. But for William Langewiesche’s feature – The Human Factor – on the Air France 447 in Vanity Fair, I’ll make an exception. As sophistication and automation in all aspects of aerospace has developed over the past few decades our role as pilots must be continuously […]
Progress comes at a cost
At this very moment there is a team of highly skilled professionals who are out of sight and largely out of mind, yet they have been tasked with solving an almost unimaginably difficult puzzle. They work for the NTSB and their charge is to figure out exactly what went wrong last week aboard SpaceShipTwo, the […]
Bob Hoover honored
The National Business Aviation Association convention draws aviation’s elite and honors a few each year. This time, heartfelt kudos were laid on Bob Hoover as NBAA presented him its Meritorious Service to Aviation Award, its highest honor. A five-minute video included tributes from Clay Lacy, Harrison Ford, astronaut Gene Cernan and many others to explain why. […]
Ask Paul: More on Narrow Deck vs. Wide Deck engines
Q: Regarding Narrow Deck and Wide Deck Lycoming engines, what would be the differences between a Narrow Deck O360 and IO360 heads, sump, and fuel pump? The cylinders appear the same. BOB STOUGHTON, via email A: The Narrow Deck vs Wide Deck question regarding Lycoming engines seems to surface from time to time. There is no […]
NBAA14 also highlights utility GA, innovation
The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention in Orlando Oct. 21-23 was termed a “massive success” by NBAA President Ed Bolen. Always is. Despite some down years, corporate aviation is booming (comparatively) and attention and spending follow the money. But there’s always more to NBAA than corporate jets. The 26,000 attendees at NBAA 2014 were treated […]
Plastic Fantastic P-51
By any number of surveys, the P-51 Mustang is one of the most admired airplanes in the history of aviation. Even though that statement sounds bold — on the verge of exaggeration — most readers will surely agree. Like most aviators, I’ve never flown in an original P-51, although I have flown in a light kit version called the […]