The church my family attends makes available to all comers a time and talent sign-up form. Our church, like most churches, has far more needs, and desires, than the paid staff can, or should, reasonably accomplish. As a result, we’ve created this sign-up form to tap the collective knowledge and labor base that is the […]
Opinion
Looking ahead to the Sebring LSA Expo
The holidays approach like a lumbering airliner on final, sure and certain. With its arrival, aviation in America can take stock of the year and begin the anticipation for a new season to dawn once the days begin to lengthen. Winter in many northern states is a time of reduced recreational flying activity but (speaking […]
NextGen months behind schedule, fiscal cliff could push it even farther
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is months behind schedule and FAA management faces many challenges before the massive project completes its movement from the planning stages to implementation. Meanwhile, industry representatives are concerned that the effort might not deliver all the desired benefits since the FAA has focused on limited […]
Aviation fuel problems — they do happen
How often are we told that aviation fuels are superior to other fuels as they must meet one common, exacting worldwide standard, are produced with more stringent controls, are transported, stored, filtered and dispensed from dedicated equipment? Given these tough requirements, one would expect contamination or misfueling to be near impossible, yet it does happen. Here […]
Rectifying past mistakes
Everything is not necessarily as it seems. That’s true in political endeavors more often than we might want to believe. A case of mistaken assumptions was recently uncovered at my home airport. Perhaps you will find the story beneficial to you and your attempts to positively affect the management of your local airport. The airport […]
NATCA warns against sequestration
WASHINGTON, D.C. — General aviation will feel the heavy impact of the mandated 8.2% sequestration funding cut for the FAA if Congress doesn’t act to avert the across-the-board cuts. A report from National Air Traffic Control Association (NATCA) says the cut would cause furloughing between 2,000 and 2,200 air traffic controllers. This is about 12% […]
Russian ‘Beetle’ takes off
News from Russian sport aircraft producers is rare. Though the old USSR had a vast military aircraft complex, that hasn’t translated to recreation aircraft the way it did in the formerly Soviet Czech Republic, where many of our LSA originate. However, that doesn’t mean efforts are absent. We’ve seen some uptake of LSA (like Pipistrel) […]
Long, winding approval tale — SLSA #128
A most remarkable thing happened recently. I refer to a recent approval of a brand new Special LSA. Why is that noteworthy, especially as it is #128 on our SLSA List? Everyone in the business of LSA and most other alert readers have followed the long, winding, still-evolving path of FAA approvals in the fall […]
Ask Paul: What are these aluminum specks?
Q: I lost the left mag on my O-540. When I took it apart, I found four aluminum specks in the top oil screen. I pulled the rear housing off and found the aluminum gear still in the engine. I sent it off for repairs to Tulsa, where they installed a new oil pump, shaft, […]