WASHINGTON, D.C. — “Long hot summer” in Washington is more than a description of the humid weather. This year it refers more to political struggles and how they are affecting general aviation. Opposing goals by the President and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are causing all special interest groups — including aviation — to ratchet […]
Opinion
EU climate impact report casts shadow over biofuels
The GAfuels Blog is written by two private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft: Dean Billing, Sisters, Ore., an expert on autogas and ethanol, and Kent Misegades, Cary, N.C., an aerospace engineer, aviation sales rep for U-Fuel, and president of EAA1114. Results from an internal EU study on biofuels, recently […]
Arlington odds ‘n ends
The Arlington Fly-In (July 7-10) was fun. While the vendor area shrunk from prior years, the show line appeared about 95+% full of show planes on Saturday. A nice number of beautiful aircraft (see some uploaded to Twitter and Facebook). As I walked about on Saturday, I met and spoke with a great many people. […]
Standing tall in the face of opposition
Let’s be totally honest for a moment. Airplanes crash now and then. They ditch, make emergency landings, have system failures and, once in a while, one of them catches on fire. That’s all true. It’s also exceedingly rare. We need to be truthful and willing to speak on that topic. Because we can tell the […]
EASA finally releases LSA certification specifications
Try not to yawn. This is important. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), roughly the equivalent of FAA for the European Union, finally released its CS-LSA, or Certification Specification for Light-Sport Aircraft. While not exactly what the industry hoped for, it at least represents acceptance of the ASTM certification standards. That reduces uncertainty for LSA […]
Should rare planes be grounded?
“Liberty Belle crashed just outside of Aurora. Seven out of seven onboard made it out.” This text message greeted me the morning of June 13. Like so many other warbird enthusiasts, I went to the Internet to search for information about the accident. I found video shot from both the ground and the air showing […]
EPA dramatically scales back ethanol mandates
The GAfuels Blog is written by two private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft: Dean Billing, Sisters, Ore., an expert on autogas and ethanol, and Kent Misegades, Cary, N.C., an aerospace engineer, aviation sales rep for U-Fuel, and president of EAA1114. The EPA has once again been forced to face […]
Over the horizon LSA producers: Iran and Malaysia
Most of what our media reports about Iran is bad: Islamic militants. Contested elections. Brutal suppression of dissent. Nuclear ambitions. What we don’t hear is about the country’s light aircraft producers. Then consider Malaysia. Do you think of that country relative to aircraft production? Do you think of it in any way? My guess is […]
Triple Play: Pipistrel wins SLSA approvals
After a pause in new SLSA, Pipistrel burst onto the scene with multiple approvals — three at once — reports Michael Coates, the importer for Pipistrel USA. We raced to get these placed on the SLSA List because it’s news, but also because FAA uses this list to verify new models before assigning them N-numbers. […]