2011 will be an amazing year for General Aviation. The following is the first in a series of absurd (unless they come to fruition) predictions. The quotes are manufactured (by me) and the only thing standing in the way of making these a reality is the cajones to make it so. Growth is coming In […]
Opinion
Breezing through the Bahamas
Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft. When my former home state of Minnesota grappled with enough snowfall to collapse the Metrodome’s inflated roof, I was still hanging out in the Bahamas (yeah, I know, tough job…). After the first International Sport Pilot Fly-In concluded, all […]
First International Sport Pilot Fly-In
Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft. “Too much fun!” was a common exclamation of my Alaska ultralight friend Mike Jacober. His signature phrase ran through my head as 18 airplanes, mostly LSA, arrived at the Freeport, Bahamas, airport for the first International Sport Pilot Fly-in […]
Congress approves yet another FAA reauthorization extension
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FAA stays in business with another three-month authorization extension after the Senate passed the bill during its weekend session. The House had passed the extension Dec. 2. This is the 17th extension for the FAA, a record number for any government agency. The agency has not had full reauthorization since 2007. […]
Field of Dreams: 9N1
LETTER TO THE EDITOR I really enjoyed the article about Van Sant Airport (Fields of Dreams: Saved but not immune from the times). I flew there in my Cessna 170B back in the early ’70s. At that time, the Smella family ran the operation. I got my first taste of soaring there and got my […]
Pilots comment on Mogas and ethanol
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 and aviation journalist. The number of signatures on our petition requesting the EPA to prohibit the use of […]
A family of aviation
Deb McFarland is the proud owner of Lester, a 1948 Luscombe 8E, and part of the “Front Porch Gang” at Pickens County Airport in Georgia. Ed Nitzsche started flying lessons while in high school under the tutelage of Jack Brown at the original Tamiami Airport in Miami in 1951. He later finished instruction at Kendall […]
Lockheed JetStar at Museum of Flight
LETTER TO THE EDITOR I enjoyed Dennis Parks’ article on the Lockheed JetStar (Flight & Flyers: A new age of business travel). Perhaps he’s being modest since he didn’t mention the fact, but I believe the first aircraft (which as he notes became Kelly Johnson’s personal airplane) is currently under restoration in the Seattle Museum […]
Know your neighbors
Jamie Beckett is a CFI and A&P mechanic who stepped into the political arena in an effort to promote and protect GA at his local airport. Years ago when I was flying as an instructor out of Meriden Markham Airport in central Connecticut, I attended a meeting held in the city hall building in East […]