Electric airplanes are here and while naysayers say they aren’t practical, batteries are too heavy and range is too limited, that’s not what will limit their use and popularity. It’s a ground-bound problem that nobody seems to be facing.
Opinion
A year-end update on proposed changes to LSA
What’s the latest on the FAA’s plan to update the Light-Sport Aircraft rules? Our LSA expert, Dan Johnson, breaks down what we know as of the end of 2021.
Long, winding, and unavoidable
So few have walked that short distance across the ramp, climbed into an aircraft, and flown away under their own direction that the average man or woman on the street just can’t conceive of what it must be like. They can watch it on video, but they won’t really understand what they’re seeing. They can ride along in the seat beside the pilot, and they’ll still miss 90% of what lights the pilot’s fire.
Still hunting for why my engine won’t hold its RPMs
My 800 hour Since Major Over Haul (SMOH) Lycoming O-540-C4B5 engine won’t hold its RPMs. We’ve done several things to find the problem, but we’re still hunting.
Misconceptions and outright lies we tell ourselves
We all have misconceptions in life. And some of us lie to ourselves rather than accept the truth for what it is. In the aviation world this same human tendency to discard accepted, proven knowledge in favor of a deeply held but poorly understood personal belief can lead to disaster.
On track: Finding the right landing gear for giant bombers
On the way to finding the best landing gear for giant bombers, some looked to using a track mechanism, similar to a tank.
We’re going to put it in the trees
It is the stuff of nightmares for pilots: Your engine starts running rough over mountainous terrain. That nightmare became reality for two Washington pilots, who survived to tell their story in Lightspeed Aviation’s No Tie Down video series.
Cut off
Hopefully the situation will be short-lived. But rebuilding roads, bridges, and rail infrastructure takes time.
Emasculating aviation
The FAA’s Inclusive Language Summit combined two of our columnist’s favorite things: Aviation and Language. William E Dubois gives us his take on the agency’s initiative to change crucial words in aviation, such as airman and repairman to more gender-neutral terms because language matters.