Matthew Baker submitted this photo and note: “This photo was taken at Bartow Executive Airport (KBOW) in Florida, which has a long history with the P-51 back to World War II and started in 1943 as a training facility. To this day those same runways still have P-51s using them.”
Questions from the Cockpit: Weighty words
Noah, a student pilot in Arizona, writes: I’m trying to get my head around weight and balance, especially the terms: Moment, arm, station, datum… None of them seem particularly descriptive. Can you help me out?
General aviation airports suffer from costly mismanagement
In his study of 236 general aviation airports in Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, Michael Jones found “dozens of examples of politicians making perfectly logical decisions which were completely wrong for an airport.”
Reno Air Racing Association to celebrate 60th anniversary with air show
Headlining the event are two military jet teams: The United States Navy Blue Angels and the Canadian Royal Air Force Snowbirds.
New controller for flight simmers debuts
Exclusively available for purchase at YawmanFlight.com and Sporty’s Pilot Shop, the controller combines a yoke, throttle quadrant, and mechanically-linked rudder pedals together in a handheld package. Price: $249.
No flight experience proves fatal for kit airplane builder
The noncertificated pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane, which led to the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and subsequent aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s decision to attempt a flight with no previous flight experience.
Picture of the Day: Champ at sunset
Mike Townsley submitted this photo and note: “The evening sun and clouds make for a neat photo of my 7AC Champ at Sig Field (7C5), south of Montezuma, Iowa.
Flat light takes out Ingenuity
“When running an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, you don’t have any black boxes or eyewitnesses,” said Ingenuity’s first pilot. Håvard Grip of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “While multiple scenarios are viable with the available data, we have one we believe is most likely: Lack of surface texture gave the navigation system too little information to work with.”
Patience and persistence pay off
There’s another one out there. Another airplane. Another airport. Another kid who wants to find their way inside the fence to see if aviation is a good fit. I’m pretty sure those of us lucky enough to be players in this industry have the potential to persist and remain patient in our efforts to grow and improve the industry. If we do that, I’m confident everything will work out just fine.