This October 2008 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: Piper Cherokee. Injuries: 1 Fatal. Location: Markleeville, Calif. Aircraft damage: Destroyed. What reportedly happened: The pilot was in cruise flight on a southerly heading […]
Super Breezy = Super Open
There are open cockpit airplanes — and then there are airplanes that are open EVERYWHERE. The king of these is the Super Breezy owned by Mike Butterfield of Yakima, Wash. “It is an expansion on the original Breezy design,” he said. The original Breezy was designed and built by Charles Roloff, Carl Unger, and Bob […]
Why you should care about TTF
Public comments are interesting…or can be. Following are but three comments made at the Sept. 22 hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on an FAA proposal to prohibit any new residential through the fence (TTF) agreements at publicly-funded airports that are part of the National System of Airports and therefore eligible for […]
Maverick first to market with LSA “Flying Car”
Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft. Terrafugia has been getting tons of press and no wonder. The MIT brain trust developing the Transition is breaking new ground in numerous ways. While we await their sophisticated “roadable airplane,” a simpler flying car concept won its SLSA […]
FAA mandates upgrade to Eclipse avionics
“Uncommanded changes” to radio frequencies, altitudes and transponder codes by the electronic flight information systems in some Eclipse jets have been reported, leading to an Airworthiness Directive issued this week that mandates upgrades to the system, according to a report at AVweb, which notes the AD affects approximately 168 aircraft in the fleet. Depending what […]
GA fatalities decrease
Preliminary figures released by the National Transportation Safety Board this week show aviation deaths decreased from 574 in 2008 to 538 in 2009. Nearly 90% of aviation fatalities occurred in general aviation accidents (471), but they still represented a decrease from the previous year (494).
100th anniversary of Glenn Curtiss flight this Saturday
The Hudson River Valley Institute (HRVI) at Marist College and the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum will journey to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome to pay tribute to Glenn Curtiss on Saturday, Oct. 9, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Curtiss’ historic flight in his Albany Flyer down the Hudson River Valley from Albany to Manhattan. Old Rhinebeck […]
Planehook takes issue with FAA’s TTF proposal
Planehook Aviation Services takes issue with the FAA’s proposal to prohibit residential through-the-fence operations at publicly funded airports. In a white paper [download here] released Oct. 5, David Hook, Planehook’s president, outlines the impact to security the proposal would create. From the white paper: “This FAA policy proposal contradicts previously established national policy and bears […]
Lycoming O-233 flies on Falcon 2.0
The Falcon 2.0 from Renegade Light Sport flew for the first time Saturday, Oct. 2 (see video and test pilot interviews here). Lycoming‘s new O-233 LSA engine provides the power for the Falcon 2.0. First flight lasted .6 hours with four takeoffs and landings. Test pilot Rob Runyan, “saw 1,000 feet AGL by the end […]