I think Ben Visser was spot on in his Sept. 7 piece, The definition of insanity, when he cites the old 80/20 rule regarding 100LL use. I believe it is indeed 20% of the GA fleet, the Navajos, the Barons, the Cessna 400 series, etc., that are burning 80% of the 100LL produced. But I […]
Opinion
Success of Edge speaks for itself
In the story Wonder Woman: Patty Wagstaff Commands the Skies in the July 20 issue, writer J. Douglas Hinton asked: “We’ve noticed that some of the better known aerobatic pilots, such as Kirby Chambliss, have switched to the Edge and others, the French CAP. What’s your take on that?” Wagstaff replied: “Every airplane is a […]
The Largest OSH Formation?
Meg Godlewski’s article in the Aug. 24 issue, Formation flight honors Van’s RVs, quoted Stu McCurdy as stating that the 35 ship RV formation flown this year was the largest ever at Oshkosh. He is not even close to correct! In 1999, the T-34 Association put up a 61-ship formation, and I am quite sure […]
The difference between 100/130 and 100LL
Dennis writes that he’s been been buying 100LL for many years and thought that 100/130 was different from 100LL. He remembers buying 100/130 one time and it was green, not blue like 100LL. He also noted that the chart for adding TCP to the fuel calls for more additive when 100/130 is used than when 100LL is used.
Those amazing Tugers and their flying machines
During the latter half of 1941, a little more 300 young men and two women nurses made their way by at least five different ships to Rangoon, Burma, and then by train to an auxiliary British airfield just outside Toungoo, Burma. The men, recently discharged from the U.S. military by special order from the President […]
Flying the B-25, Part II
Meg Godlewski’s article in the Aug. 10 issue “Flying the B-25” caught my eye. I enjoyed it and had the same emotions Meg did when I was a 20 year old in 1944. I am sending a copy of my book, “A Drop in the Bucket,” in which you can follow through some actual missions […]
Do clothes make the controller?
“Cessna 123, cleared for takeoff, runway 13L.” Do you really care what the person issuing the instructions is wearing? I don’t. But apparently the FAA does. All across the country air traffic controllers are being disciplined for dress code violations. Some of the male controllers have rebelled by wearing dresses. Given the problems the FAA […]
Physicists cause the confusion
It is a disappointment that Michael Tieman does not understand the explanation of Stephen Hawking being weightless (Stephen Hawking confused?, Letters to the Editor, June 22 issue). It is physicists that cause so much confusion about centrifugal force, which makes anything in orbit weigh less and encourages the use of the term “Zero-G.” Stephen did […]
The year of the engine
Having just received the latest copy of GANews, I was excited to see on the cover an article on the new aircraft engine offerings at AirVenture this year (Bright new engine ideas at AirVenture, Aug. 24 issue). Although each of the engines covered in the story exhibited new technologies, a notable omission was the ULPower […]