“I’ve known your name forever,” I told Corkey Fornof, star attraction of the “First Saturday” breakfast last month at LoPresti Speed Merchants in Sebastian, Florida. “Me too!” laughed the stunt pilot legend, showing off the long-awaited LoPresti Fury (nee SwiftFury) these days at airshows. The man is having fun. And can he fly! Everyone’s first […]
Opinion
New chairs for House Aviation Committees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Convening of the 113th Congress Wednesday, Jan. 16, brought new congressmen to the chairmanships of the primary committees with jurisdiction over most aviation matters. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) was confirmed as chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) was named chair of the Aviation Subcommittee. Both […]
Is this an airport?
According to the US Department of Transportation, the US and its territories have more than 19,000 airport, heliports, seaplane bases, and other landing facilities. That’s a lot of aviation. Or at least it’s a lot of potential aviation. Yet, there is a snag in that whopper of a figure we GA enthusiasts should take note […]
Respect for the seldom celebrated man
The odds are good you’ve never heard of Lon Cooper. There’s no reason you would have, really. But you should have. We all should have. At least we should have if life is fair, which it is not. So working on the theory that being late is better than nothing, allow me to make the […]
Stick wigglers vs. glass panel geeks
After flying more than 350 different aircraft models, I’ve become reasonably adept at what some pilots call “stick wiggling.” The reference is for all the actions you take to physically fly the plane. This is about what’s required on very basically-equipped ultralight aircraft that I still love to fly. Modern LSA, however, typically offer loaded […]
Ask Paul: Why are my #3 cylinder CHTs so high?
Lycoming actually does not know which cylinder runs the hottest on any particular engine installation. This is always defined by the airframe manufacturer from the various tests they conduct during the certification of the aircraft.
General aviation in China
In late November the southern China city of Zhuhai hosted a large collection of aircraft at Airshow China. We’ve been hearing about this once-closed country in matters of aviation so often, readers might be interested to see some photos taken by LAMA Europe’s Jan Fridrich. He also works for the Czech Light Aircraft Association and […]
More than a pretty face
I should hate Tia Robertson. She’s tall, blonde, slim, beautiful and a professional pilot. Her family also owns a Cessna 195, a Cessna 170, and a Taylorcraft, all meticulously restored, all beautiful. My envy knows no bounds. When I found out she was a few years older than me but looked 20 years younger, it […]
The effects of political wrangling on LSA
The new year is here and with it the effects of Congressional wrangling over the so-called fiscal cliff. Maybe the political leadership have found some temporary resolve, but eventually cuts appear inevitable. Some aviation groups have gloomily predicted as much as $80 billion in GDP losses if the FAA takes an estimated $1 billion haircut […]