At this year’s AOPA Aviation Summit, EAA and AOPA jointly announced they will pursue driver’s license medical privileges for pilots wishing to operate GA airplanes with less than 180 horsepower with only two persons on board in day VFR. Combined with ongoing events in the LSA industry, it seems a “perfect storm” is brewing. The […]
Opinion
Payette Airport adds autogas
Pilots in west central Idaho and eastern Oregon have cause for celebration: The Payette Municipal Airport (S75) in Payette, Idaho, added 91 AKI ethanol-free, lead-free autogas last month. Currently priced at $4.10, the fuel is more than a dollar less expensive than 100LL, both fuels being sold from the airport’s self-service fuel station. Mary Cordova, […]
A busy October concludes
For years, the aviation calendar used to go something like this: Oshkosh (now known as AirVenture) ended in the first days of August. Later that fall we had the AOPA and NBAA events and that appeared to be largely the end of shows until a new season launched. In fact, it was a rather long […]
FAA launches laser incident website
The FAA is taking more action to cut down on the growing problem of lasers being pointed at aircraft by establishing a new website to make it easier to report laser incidents and to obtain information on the subject. This year, through Oct. 20, pilots reported 2,795 laser events. That is an increase from less […]
‘Washing’ ethanol out of mogas – Part II
Back in November 2010 I wrote a blog about separating ethanol from E10 by a method that is commonly known as “washing.” Looks like pilots don’t get it. There has been an ongoing conversation on backcountrypilot.org about separating ethanol from auto fuel by “washing” it out with water — scroll down to the entry by […]
Coalition debunks claims by LightSquared on GPS issue
Continuing efforts by LightSquared to push for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for the spectrum to use in developing a nationwide broadband telecommunication network are resulting in repeated misstatements and rewriting of history, according to the Coalition to Save Our GPS. Interference of the spectrum LightSquared wants to use, unless resolved, would affect the accuracy […]
Can fuel suppliers refuse autogas sales for aviation?
In the past three years, the authors of the GAFuels blog have assisted countless pilots, flight schools, flying clubs, FBOs, airport managers and others in the search for suppliers of ethanol-free autogas. If existing suppliers of the other FAA-approved aviation fuels (avgas and Jet-A) would offer autogas, our help would not be necessary. (Why they […]
U-Fuel releases white paper on self-service fueling
U-Fuel, a manufacturer of fuel equipment for aviation and other markets, has released a white paper (Self-Service Fuel: Airport Money Maker) on the benefits of self-service fueling. The paper covers the historical development of self-service fueling, standard components of a modern system, related topics such as site preparation and installation, safety features, financing, insurance, and […]
Beijing’s first GA firm
China Daily reported that the Beijing General Aviation Group (BGAG) has been co-founded by Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) and Beihang University, in terms of capital ($15.7 million) and technologies, respectively. According to Wikipedia, BAIC is a state-owned automaker that manufactures Hyundai and Mercedes-branded autos for sale on the Chinese market. From the same China Daily […]