A cheap flight website, Skyscanner.com, recently scoured its database of more than 10,000 airports around the world and handpicked what its staff thought were the funniest, rudest and weirdest airport names. On the list are Batman Airport (BAL), Turkey; Useless Loop Airport (USL), Australia; Mafia Airport (MFA), Tanzania; Moron Airport (OZP), Spain; Desolation Sound Airport […]
Oil temperature vs. oil viscosity
Reader David Bennett recently wrote in, asking about oil temperature vs. oil grade. “When oil is rated for a certain temperature range, is that start-up temperature range or the range for most of the intended trip? My Super Cub handbook states SAE 40 is good from 30°F to 90°F, but on the Aeroshell site, it […]
Improved Thrush to be powered by GE
Officials of Thrush Aircraft were showing off the improved Thrush 510 at this summer’s Oshkosh. But the crop duster wasn’t parked at a Thrush exhibit. Instead, it was parked at the GE Aviation exhibit. That’s because officials with the Albany, Ga.-based company have chosen GE Aviation’s new H80 turboprop engine to power the improved version […]
LSAs reach #100
The Light Sport Aircraft industry has reached a milestone, reaching Special-LSA #100 in less than five years. According to LSA expert (and GAN columnist) Dan Johnson, the 100th LSA is Van’s RV-12. It received its approval July 21, one day after the fifth anniversary of the new rule announcement (July 20, 2004). Johnson, who is […]
CAN wins award
Corporate Angel Network has received a 2009 Public Benefit Flying Award from The National Aeronautic Association and the Air Care Alliance. The Public Benefit Flying award, created to honor volunteers and organizations engaged in flying to help others, was presented Sept. 10 in the Lyndon B. Johnson room of the U.S. Senate. “It began in […]
CAP pilots to fly ‘Surrogate Predators’
With the conversion of a Civil Air Patrol plane into a “Surrogate Predator,” the U.S. Air Force is relying on its auxiliary in a most imaginative way. “We’re using a manned aircraft to simulate an unmanned aircraft,” said CAP-U.S. Air Force Commander Col. Bill Ward, explaining that a sophisticated “Predator ball” placed under the left […]
Ex-FBI agent nominated to head TSA
On the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Obama announced his intention to nominate a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent with airport police security experience to be the new head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a moved met with pledges of cooperation from general aviation interests. Erroll Southers currently serves […]
Ayers named Embry-Riddle exec vp
Dr. Frank Ayers has been selected as the executive vice president for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott campus. Ayers had been chairman of the Flight Training Department in the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. He joined Embry-Riddle in 2000 after a 26-year career in the U.S. Air Force. Ayers takes the helm […]
How are planes affecting the environment?
Lately, I’ve received a lot of e-mails from readers asking about the environment and the effect of internal combustion engine exhaust on our climate. One factor is the effect of CO2 on the environment. My understanding is that CO2 is relatively harmless and naturally occurring. To try to better understand the latest concern about CO2, […]