The FAA wants to lengthen the duration of certain medical certificates. In a Notice of Proposed Rule Making published April 10, the FAA proposes that third class medicals for pilots under the age of 40 go from three years to five years, while first class medicals would go from six months to a year. The […]
Ready to pay $16 for every touch and go?
Not worried about the user fee and fuel tax hike proposed in the FAA reauthorization bill? Maybe this will change your mind. An AOPA official recently completed several flights in Europe, where user fees already exist. Here are a few of his sobering findings: It costs nearly $20,000 to obtain a private pilot’s certificate in […]
Bigger than life: The world needs more characters like John Thun
My wife and I were cleaning out some boxes stuffed with old photos when we came across some pictures of the late John Thun. The pictures really set my mind whirling as I thought about this bigger-than-life character from the Tacoma, Wash., area, where we have made our home since 1970. When I mention John, […]
MORE G1000 TRAINING HELP
“What’s new in training … Flying the looking glass” in the March 9 issue was interesting. We’d like to add the King Schools’ “Flying the Garmin G1000” to your “Check these out, too” sidebar. King Schools’ website is and our phone number is 800-854-1001. KEN KAPLAN King Schools, Inc. San Diego
WHAT A TRAGEDY
What a tragedy regarding the Grumman American accident in the Accident Reports in the March 23 issue. Somebody turned this guy loose in an airplane that he couldn’t control and he kills himself with two friends or family — and instead of flying the airplane as it gets too slow, he’s on the radio! WALT […]
Book a flight…at Sharper Image?
Want to take a flight with Zero Gravity Corp. (ZERO-G), the first FAA-approved provider of commercial weightless flights? Then check out the newest Sharper Image catalog. Reservations for seats on a Zero-G flight — the only commercial opportunity on Earth for regular people to experience true “weightlessness” without going to space — now can be […]
Are we preaching to the choir? Some say general public needs to be included in debate about user fees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The current differences over user fees and air traffic control modernization is not an aviation issue, but an air commerce matter, a former FAA administrator declared at a forum sponsored here by the United States Chamber of Commerce. Alan McArtor, who was administrator from 1987 to 1989, said there is a need […]
The XR-7755: The whole story
I was reading about the XR-7755 on the Internet and was wondering if you would clear something up for me. Most sources say there were two engines made, but I’ve found there were three versions. The first was set up for a single output shaft, a second had contra-rotating shafts and the third was set […]
Misguided public opinion could end avgas
In my column in the March 23 issue, “”And then there were 10: As oil refineries stop producing avgas, what’s the future hold for us?””, I expressed my opinion of the future of aviation gasoline, noting “”there is concern that once the government starts imposing new regulations, it will go after anything that even sounds […]