Several months ago, my friend Paul McBride wrote about the proper way to check the oil level in your aircraft engine. I have received several questions about not only how to check your oil, but also at what oil level to operate a certified aircraft engine. Now at first, that may seem like a dumb question, […]
Video: Flying over the East Texas woods
Smitty Smith of FunPlacesToFly.com recently sent us this new video of a beautiful flight over the East Texas woods. “We flew from Wood County Airport to Gladewater Airport for their EAA Chapter’s Gumbo on the Runway event,” he says. “What a day! Zero wind and unlimited visibility.”
NASA tests UAS traffic management platform
The largest test yet of NASA‘s Unmanned Aircraft Systems traffic management (UTM) research platform was held April 19 at six FAA UAS test sites. The test included up to 24 unmanned aircraft, commonly called drones, that were remotely flown simultaneously around the country. In Texas, at Port Mansfield, about two hours south of Corpus Christi, four […]
Avionics sales top $566 million in first quarter
In the first three months of the year, total worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales topped $566 million, according to the first quarter 2016 Avionics Market Report released by the Aircraft Electronics Association during the 59th annual AEA International Convention & Trade Show in Kissimmee, Florida. That’s a 3.6% decrease in sales compared to the first-quarter of 2015, […]
V24 debuts at SUN ‘n FUN
Making its debut at SUN ‘n FUN was the V24 from Softex Aero, a four-seat, low-wing, composite, twin-engine, T-tail, experimental. The wing is constructed as a single piece. According to Softex Aero’s Dara Voss, the composite fuselage then sits atop the wing. “This plane was shipped to the U.S., from the Ukraine, two weeks ago […]
World War I Centennial to be recognized at Oshkosh
EAA AVIATION CENTER, OSHKOSH, Wisconsin — Airplanes reaching back to the earliest days of military aircraft will be in the air and on the ground this summer, as the centennial of World War I aviation is a major part of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016, the “World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration.” EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the 64th annual […]
Pilot crashes during candy drop
According to the pilot, he was flying the Just Aircraft Highlander about 500 feet above the ground, dropping candy to children as part of a church outing near Roxbury, Pa. He encountered a “rotor” wind off the nearby mountain and when he initiated a turn, the wing stalled. He lost control of the plane and […]
Pictures of the day: Blue sky and blue water
Joe Fortman sent in these photos, along with this story: “I just found out that my daughter took this wonderful picture on the morning of Aug. 21, 2015, with her iPhone from the backseat of a 1976 Cessna 177B Cardinal. My son was also with me in the co-pilot’s seat as we flew from Plymouth, […]
Why do we lie?
We pilots of a certain age were taught in school that George Washington never told a lie. Teachers drove the point home with a story about America’s first president and a certain felled cherry tree. I’m not sure why a lesson about being honest had to involve George Washington. Maybe it was to make the […]