A modified version of a Pipistrel Virus owned by Vance Turner of Rescue, Calif., was the big winner in the first Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge held earlier this month at Charles Schultz-Sonoma County Airport (STS) near Santa Rosa, Calif. NASA put up $250,000 in prize money for the inaugural event, which was hosted by […]
New Orleans Lakefront tower reopens
New Orleans Lakefront tower reopened July 30 for the first time since Hurricane Katrina shut down its operations in 2005. Even without the tower, the airport was handling 160 operations a day, said airport manager R. W. Taylor. With the tower again operational, traffic is expected to climb rapidly, largely from business operators, he said. […]
Manufacturers post strong numbers
GA airplane shipments and billings for the first half of 2007 totaled 1,883, a 1.7% increase over the same period last year, with billings rising 11.7% to $9.8 billion, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Shipments of piston planes were down slightly from the same period last year to 1,226, a 4.2% decrease. Turboprop […]
the buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
“We’re making it personal. The Cessna SkyCatcher — that’s what ‘it’ is and that is what it does.” — Jack Pelton, Cessna president and CEO “We did it again.” — Vern Raburn, president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation, when introducing the Eclipse Concept jet “We need to make flying easier.” — Alan Klapmeier, co-founder of […]
Survivor: AirVenture
Well, I survived one more Oshkosh experience! As I have for just about every year since 1970, I journeyed to Oshkosh for the annual EAA aviation extravaganza the last week of July. As usual, there was a huge crowd of planes, campers and people on hand. I don’t have any sort of count, but let […]
ROBYN ROCKS!
“Fear, full frontal nudity…and real estate” by Robyn Sclair in the July 20 issue is one of the best, funniest articles GANews has published! As a faithful GANews reader, I always look forward to the mail when “it is that time of month.” I then proceed to stay up too late and read from cover-to-cover with […]
TOO MANY ERRORS
First let me say how I enjoy reading your magazine, but the June 22 edition has some errors that I cannot leave alone! The Stinson article is one of them (A good flying airplane: Raised around Stinsons, Don Baggett finally gets one of his own). The V-77/AT-19 was indeed manufactured for the British, where it […]
LSA RULE IS DISCRIMINATORY
While I am sympathetic to Cessna 140 owners wishing to fly their planes as Light Sport Aircraft, I ask a larger question — why can’t I fly my 172 as an LSA? That is to say, me and one passenger, day VFR? I am 6 foot, 3 inches and weigh rather more than the “average” […]
ANOTHER VOTE FOR GREATESTAIRCRAFT EVER
In Alaska, I would have to vote for the workhorse deHavilland Beaver: Hauling passengers, search dogs, fuel, equipment, ice, supplies, and supporting missions like search and rescue, medevac, recreation, flight-seeing, mining, logging, hunting, commercial fishing, and more. The Beaver has been the main plane in Alaska for half a century. The slightly more modern Cessna […]