“Air speed record to Los Angeles broken” was a headline in the Oakland (California) Tribune on Jan. 28, 1932. The story reported that a new coastal speed record for tri-motored planes was made on the Oakland-Los Angeles airway when a Transcontinental and Western airplane made the 360-mile hop in 1 hour and 52 minutes. The […]
Opinion
Mogas – going, going, gone in the Pacific Northwest
Another nail has been driven into the coffin of ethanol free fuel in the Pacific Northwest. Practically all of the gasoline in western Washington and western Oregon comes from four major refineries on the Puget sound north of Seattle. Since Oregon is already a mandatory E10 state due to a state law, we have been […]
Triple Play for FK
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON LSA are nothing if not diverse. We have all manner of aircraft on our list of 104 approved models. Germany’s FK Lightplanes illustrates diversity through its trio of models: The high-wing Fk9 series (pictured above); biplane Fk-12 (pictured below); and low-wing Fk14. In May, the newest iteration of the Fk9 series […]
LSA in the spotlight at AOPA
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON In its first year as the AOPA Aviation Summit (versus Expo), the 70-year-old, 415,000-member organization made lots of changes, large and small. Among the most notable under capable new president Craig Fuller was much greater attention to LSA. Here’s the fast-read update: AOPA announced its 2010 Sweepstakes airplane is a Remos […]
Flying the MS-1
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON Lucky me. On a warm, sunny day I drove less than a mile to Spruce Creek Airport’s Downwind Cafe where I met the developers of MySky (the company) and the MS-1 (a new LSA model). After a tasty lunch we strolled over to the company’s facility and hangar. All the while […]
Light at the end of the tunnel
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON Saying 2009 was a breathtaking year is no overstatement. The last air show of the season is now history and reflections on 2009 reveal a year of hardship for aviation. Cessna laid off more than half its workers and the Wichita giant’s problems are mirrored throughout general aviation. Seemingly invulnerable jet […]
More on the Land of Perfect
LETTER TO THE EDITOR As an “old guy,” who has been an active pilot for 56 years, I applaud Deb McFarland’s March 20 column, “The Land of Perfect.” Having been fortunate to learn to fly in J-3s/Cessna 120s/140s, I judge your article to be a breath of fresh air. My instructor insisted we always fly […]
A proper burn out procedure
LETTER TO THE EDITOR I would like to comment on the spark plug “burn out” procedure discussed in Paul McBride’s Sept. 4 column, “Tips to reduce spark plug fouling.” Operating lean really troubles me. My mechanic son observed a Mooney do several aggressive burn outs and taxi back a couple of times. The last time […]
A license to forget
LETTER TO THE EDITOR As a mere private pilot, I was horrified to learn the bill recently passed by Congress requires airline pilots to receive training in actual stall recovery. Every pilot knows this is one of the most basic skills which must be demonstrated before first solo and at nearly every encounter between a […]