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. A recently-released study from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), titled “Safety Implications of Biofuels […]
Opinion
TTF gets Capitol Hill hearing
The huge divide between proponents and opponents to “through-the-fence” agreements at federally-funded airports boiled to the top at a hearing held by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the House Wednesday, Sept. 22. Access to the airport, property values, limits or access to the airport for businesses and residents, value of property with access, local […]
Want an unmanned aircraft or two with that?
Drew Steketee was president of BE A PILOT, senior vp-communications for AOPA and executive director of the Partnership for Improved Air Travel. He also headed PR and media relations for Beech, GAMA and the Airport Operators Council International. In August, Washington was abuzz over an unmanned Northrup Grumman Firescout helicopter that escaped Navy test controllers […]
How to count training by a Sport Pilot instructor
A gentleman at Oshkosh asked me a question about Sport Pilot instructors and I’m afraid I gave a misleading answer. Even though I inhabit the Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft space all day, every day, it isn’t hard to get a detail incorrect. My expertise is on the LSA side and less so the SP side, so […]
IFR ‘certification’ for LSAs
Lately the subject of flying IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) has occupied my time and lots of editorial space. The debate centered on flight into IMC . Although I spend 100% of every day on the subject of Light-Sport Aircraft and other flying machines used for aerial recreation, I can also make mistakes explaining all the […]
Persistence pays off
Like so many GA airports, mine faced a problem that was brought into sharp focus by the recent capture in Santa Barbara of those two wily desperados, John and Martha King. If nothing else the incident made it clear that emergency response workers (including police, fire and EMT crews) do not necessarily have a clear […]
Landing on water…with wheels down
Landing on water with your wheels down is a confirmed aviation no-no. Land planes that try it often get flipped over and upside down, when escaping the cabin becomes a real concern. Every seaplane pilot I know has a mantra he or she repeats, “I’m landing on water so the wheels must be up.” Most […]
Transportation Safety Board overrules staff to put VFR flight as cause of mid-air over Hudson River
After a five hour public meeting to discuss the mid-air collision between a Piper and a helicopter over the Hudson River, the National Transportation Safety Board overruled the recommendations of its staff and cited “inherent limitations of the see-and-avoid concept” and inattention of an air traffic controller as the probable cause of the accident, which […]
An aerial adventure
A decade after the Army’s pioneering flight to Alaska, two adventurous young men embarked on a month-long, 12,000-mile journey to Alaska in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth named “Flit,” a small two-seat biplane with open cockpits and a 90-hp, four-cylinder engine. The pilots were on their summer vacation and wanted to see if they could […]