This January 2009 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others. Aircraft: Cessna 150. Injuries: None. Location: Sellersburg, Ind. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: The student pilot, accompanied by a flight instructor, was attempting to […]
The flight planning battle continues
In the days before Christmas, the offices of FlightPrep at the Aurora State Airport in Oregon were inundated with calls — and not ones wishing happy holidays. Instead, the calls were from pilots angry that the company’s attempts to enforce its patent for online flight planning forced the closure of a popular flight planning website, […]
Freedom Flight prepares for takeoff
Beginning Jan. 15, two Able Flight pilots will fly more than 1,000 miles to meet with wounded veterans in four states to tell them how they can receive an Able Flight scholarship. Heather Schultz and Sean O’Donnell were paralyzed as a result of spinal cord injuries and both earned their pilot licenses with Able Flight scholarships. […]
Help solve a mystery about an aviation legend
Courtesy Aircraft, which sells warbirds, needs some help solving a mystery about an aviation legend: Howard Hughes. The company is selling a C-47 that was once owned by the Hughes Aircraft Co., but has little information about it. Here’s what company officials know: In 1932, Hughes formed the Hughes Aircraft Co. as a division of […]
Flight Design on hunt for new dealers; company prepares to debut four-seater
Light-Sport Aircraft market leader Flight Design is looking for additional professional organizations to represent the LSA as the country slowly emerges from two years of deep recession. Building on dealers added during the downturn, the new initiative includes both aircraft sales outlets and service centers for the entire United States and aims to better serve […]
Why teaching the young to love flying is important
LETTER TO THE EDITOR When I was 8 years old, I loved to watch the Stearman crop duster airplanes spray our fields for insects. I would marvel at these crop duster pilots flying under telephone lines and pulling back up into the air with the roar of the big engine. Then I got to meet […]
Book review: Hearts of Courage
Most families have stories that are passed down generation to generation, but rarely shared with the public. But sometimes the story must be shared. Such is the case of John Tippets of Alaska and his book “Hearts of Courage.” Between the covers of the paperback book, Tippets documents the airplane crash his father, Joseph Tippets, […]
Errors by air traffic controllers set record
Errors recorded by air traffic controllers have increased by 51% nationwide, according to a story in The Washington Post, which notes the FAA has cautioned that warning systems aboard more than 9,000 planes may not be keeping track of all the nearby planes in busy airspace. The record number of mistakes, according to the story, […]
Piper prepares for ‘unprecedented global push’
This past year, Piper Aircraft Inc. set the stage for an “unprecedented global push” in 2011, according to officials with the Vero Beach, Florida-based company. “During 2010, the first full year since Imprimis acquired Piper, the company made memorable and notable progress in a number of important areas,” said Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger. “We delivered […]