Doctors at the University of North Carolina’s Area Health Education Center (AHEC) say they have been pressured to go along with the university’s controversial plan to close Horace Williams Airport (IGX) in Chapel Hill. The on-campus field allows doctors to fly to far-flung areas of the state quickly and efficiently. The university wants to close […]
Do-it-yourself publishing: Have a burning pasion to tell a story of flight?
Publication of aviation books has been something of a “cottage industry” almost from the beginning of manned flight. No less a figure than Benjamin Franklin self-published one of the first accounts of manned balloon flights, which he witnessed from the streets of Philadelphia. While not exactly a book – pamphlet might come closer – it […]
Greg Turton found a way to beat the heat – and started a new company: Artic Air takes off as poilots clamor for poratble air conditioners
Necessity is the mother of invention. Just ask Greg Turton, an Atlanta businessman who owns a Cirrus. Often spending 30 minutes or more waiting to take off in the crowded Atlanta airspace, he realized he needed air conditioning, but at $25,000 to $30,000, it was just too expensive. “I wouldn’t pay that much for it,” […]
Flying into Colorado’s mountain airports soon will be easier: New system uses ADS-B to help during busy ski season
The Colorado Department of Transportation soon will provide radar-like surveillance to mountain airports in the Centennial State. The project, formally called the Colorado Air Traffic Control Beacon Interrogator (CO-ATCBI) Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) System, was undertaken because of the increase in air traffic at Colorado’s mountain airports during the ski season. During periods of inclement […]
Work continues to get ‘Texas Raider” back in the air
It will be a busy summer maintenance season for members of the Gulf Coast Wing of the Commemorative Air Force. The group is the proud owner of a B-17G, “Texas Raider,” which it has spent the past several years restoring with the intent of getting it back into the air. The work was interrupted last […]
Arlington Fly-In on final approach
The Northwest EAA Fly-in is approaching faster than a heavily laden C-206 on short final. The fly-in is slated for July 11-15 in Arlington, Wash., north of Seattle. This year, getting to the event by ground might be more challenging, notes Executive Director Barbara Tolbert, due to roadwork in the area. “Because of this we […]
Travel back in time in Les Whittlesey’s Lockheed 12A
There’s something about a vintage airplane that just draws people to it at air shows and fly-ins. But if you want your winged beauty to take home awards, you have to make sure the airplane is more than clean – you have to make a good impression. For Les Whittlesey, a pilot and real estate […]
The Coles’ flying station wagon
When the Cessna 190 series was introduced in the late 1940s, it was known as the Businessliner. Magazine advertisements for the four- to five-place airplane featured smiling, suit-clad men with chiseled features using the airplanes to travel across country to business meetings. The big Cessna quickly earned a reputation as a comfortable cross-country airplane. In […]
The final frontier: Museum of Flight opens new space exhibit
When an astronaut takes over as director of an aviation museum, you can pretty much be assured that space exhibits will get more attention. That’s exactly what has happened at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. “The expanded space exhibit is something the staff really wanted to do for a long time,” says Seth! Leary, […]