John W. Murphy never did anything that made him famous. He wasn’t rich. As a kid he entered World War II with the assurance that it was the right thing to do for his country. He was unassuming and most times quiet, but in 1946 he left the military a changed man. He found a […]
World War I Flying Ace lands at Oregon museum
Snoopy, the world’s most famous cartoon beagle, had many adventures as a World War I Flying Ace. Those adventures are chronicled in a traveling museum exhibit dubbed “Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace.” The exhibit will be at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Ore., through March 10. Snoopy was a […]
Ready for lift off: SpaceShipTwo unveiled
The designs for SpaceShipTwo and its mothership, White Night Two (WK2), were unveiled late last month by creator Burt Rutan (right) and Richard Branson (left), the man behind Virgin Galactic. Both aircraft are based on the technology of SpaceShipOne, which successfully flew into space three times in 2004, winning the $10 million Ansari X-Prize. Construction […]
President’s 2009 budget includes user fees, drop in airport aid
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The President’s fiscal year 2009 budget request for the FAA has been met with harsh criticism from aviation groups, as well as doubts and questions from the House aviation subcommittee. Continued calls for user fees, coupled with a decline in airport aid, brought quick comments from general aviation leaders. “The White House […]
Why can’t I find Service Instructions online?
I just checked the Service Instruction list at Lycoming’s website and SI 1294, which you referred to in the Jan. 25 GAN (What do to about a “”slightly”” rough running engine), is not listed. Has it been updated to another number? TOM DINNDORF via email Tom, I’m not certain what list you checked, but I […]
MythBusters: Does lead have any effect on valve life?
So remember, it takes only two things to be an expert: gray hair and hemorrhoids. The gray hair makes you look distinguished. The hemorrhoids make you look concerned.
Unknown reason for structural failure
The structural failure of the wings for undetermined reasons.
New secuirty proposals worry pilots: Cross-border GA flights could be complicated by new screening plans
Homeland Security and U.S. Customs plans to increase screening of general aviation aircraft entering the United States could make cross-border travel much more difficult in the near future. That isn’t the intention, of course, but it falls into that broad regulatory category known as “unintended consequences.” Homeland Security has proposed a new GA security program […]
Time to upgrade? NTSB pushes pilots to put new ELTs in their plans
Have you made plans to upgrade the Emergency Locator Transmitter in your aircraft? You may want to consider it. The National Transportation Safety Board advocates replacing the 121.5 and 243.0 MHz ELTs in the country’s general aviation fleet with digital 406 MHz models. Deadline for the conversion is Feb. 1, 2009. The reason? The new […]