Now available at Aircraft Spruce is the CigPen ashtray converters. CigPen installation is easy: Pull the ashtray out, peel the double stick tape, insert and press in CigPen. CigPen was designed to hold two standard pencils or pens along with a Mini Mag Lite AAA. Fits C-150, 172, 182, and Cardinals. A Cessna 150 door […]
Cessna comes up short on approach
The proper touchdown point not obtained by the pilot and the inadequate supervision by the instructor during landing. A contributing factor was the rough terrain encountered during landing.
Thun family honored
The airport may be officially named Pierce County Airport but to anyone who has ever been around the airport it is Thun Field and Friday, Sept. 18, Pierce County dedicated a plaque to the man, John Thun, who built the airport on Puyallup’s South Hill and ran it for about 20 years before selling it […]
NextGen: Will it cause more problems for GA than it solves?
Air traffic control has been ground based since its beginning, but under the FAA’s Next Generation (NextGen) program it will be out of this world — and it may cause general aviation some out-of-this-world problems. Air traffic control began in 1929 at St. Louis Lambert Field when Archie League was hired to direct the movements […]
The fuel of the future
As all pilots know, you go to Oshkosh to find out what is new in aviation. But if you want to know what’s new in aviation fuels, you go to an ASTM meeting. ASTM is the organization that is in charge of the specifications for just about everything. If you buy a gallon of Jet […]
Cheetah XLS newest SLSA
The Cheetah XLS has received its Special-Light Sport Aircraft certification. Midwest Sport Aviation, LLC has been designated as the U.S. assembly center and distributor for the Cheetah XLS by Rainbow Aircraft (Pty) Ltd. of South Africa. The Cheetah XLS is a high-wing tube and fabric aircraft. It is available Ready to Fly at prices beginning […]
Rinaldi elected NATCA president
Paul M. Rinaldi, an 18-year veteran air traffic controller from Washington-Dulles Tower, won a runoff election Sept. 17 to become the new president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). Rinaldi, who served as executive vice president since 2006, will take office Oct. 17 to begin his three-year term as the sixth president in […]
FAA approves first U.S. ground based augmentation system
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FAA has approved Honeywell’s Smartpath Precision Landing System, clearing the way for increased safety and efficiency at airports by providing precise navigation service based on the global positioning system (GPS). The first U.S.-approved system, located in Memphis, Tenn., will become operational early next year. “The approval of Honeywell’s system marks the […]
‘The First Thing I Knew, I Was Flying’
The first in a series of events to celebrate Wisconsin’s Centennial of Flight is slated for Sept. 29. On Nov. 4, 1909, Arthur Pratt Warner flew a Curtiss aircraft from a farmer’s field in Beloit, Wisconsin, bringing Wisconsin into the age of aviation. To celebrate this history-making flight, the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame has […]