Many non-aviation magazines were swept up in the growing interest in aviation that was accented by the exploits of World War l military aviation. These included COUNTRY LIFE, LITERARY DIGEST and MOTOR BOATING. In fact, Motor Boating took aviation as its own and christened it “Air Boating” in a monthly series starting in February 1918. […]
Opinion
RPA not UAV in GAN
There isn’t anything unmanned about most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). There is a real, live human being attached (wirelessly) to that airborne craft.
That’s why General Aviation News will from now on refer to them as Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPA). And we’re not the only ones weighing in on this discussion.
Two airplanes (almost) anyone can afford
“Everything you need and not much else,” is the catchy tagline from aviation entrepreneur Chip Erwin. With those words, he described the Italian Zigolo, which is based on a design by American Mike Sandlin. (In a sign of our global times, Erwin imports it to both USA and China.) One look at the aircraft and […]
Answering a kid’s question
“How can you fly visually, just looking out the window?” So asked our smart-beyond-his-years 13-year-old friend back home in Virginia. The question really set me off. In his devotion to computer flight sims, he was starting at the top and working his way down! Sure, he could “land” a virtual 757, but was clueless about […]
GA garnering more attention from Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. — General aviation now seems to be getting more attention in Congress and from the FAA. This observation comes from the appearance of a Congressman and a deputy administrator of the FAA at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Homecoming Fly-In earlier this month. Michael Whitaker, FAA deputy administrator with the primary responsibility […]
Would you hesitate to declare an emergency?
The fact that all three of my passengers were throwing up simultaneously left me three options: Tough it out and press on to our destination; join them in their nauseous state; or declare an emergency and get the hell on the ground. My right seat passenger was a Horizon Air first officer. She thought she […]
Sing a happy song
Nobody who is seriously involved in aviation is unaware of the concern that student pilot starts are down and student pilot completions are down. At the same time, aviation has become a critical part of the global economy. Ideas abound for how the industry might combat this trend and hopefully reverse it. You may have […]
Pure Adventure: An epic journey home
By IVY McIVER. The distance from Paducah, Kentucky, to Seattle, Washington, is 1,845 statute miles as the crow flies. My recent journey in an American Champion Citabria 7GCBC totaled 2,123 statute miles due to weather deviations and fuel stops. Though this particular leg started in Paducah, the journey really began about a year ago when […]
Internationally awesome
Last week I spent some time in Washington D.C. I had business in the area, but like most of us, when I get in the vicinity of the Mall, the monuments, and the Capital building, I find myself wanting to browse the wares of our country. There is art to peruse and documents to consider. […]