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 […]
Pilot creates blog to celebrate airport, increase communication
One of the greatest challenges at an airport is creating open lines of communication between airport tenants and the airport sponsor. In today’s busy society it can be difficult to get the parties in the same room for a discussion, much less on the same page. One way to facilitate communication is to have conversations […]
When you touch down, expect a bill: Pilots surprised by retroactive landing fees at Boeing Field
How would you like it if you landed at an airport and five months later got a surprise bill from it? That’s what is happening to GA pilots who have landed at King County Airport/Boeing Field in Seattle in recent months. According to a King County Airport official, landing fees have been in effect at […]