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 […]
April 2005 Accident Reports
The pilot’s failure to follow instrument flight procedures and descent below the published minimum descent altitude, which resulted in a collision with terrain during an instrument approach.
On action and passion and perils to GA
Today, the successful worldwide spread of free-market capitalism, alongside the frustrations of even first-class airline transportation, suggest to me that general aviation has astonishing opportunities for growth. That growth is almost certain to benefit our thousands of smaller airports rather than the handful of great city hubs. Except for the financial centers, most business – […]
Making their debut… Epic expecting twins, while Comp Air plans to fly turboprop to Sun ‘n Fun
Epic Air, which has made a habit of introducing new, high-performance aircraft at Sun ‘n Fun, plans to unveil two new airplanes on the event’s opening day this year. “We’ll just say that, together, they will have two engines, one spinner and 16 windows,” Epic CEO Rick Schrameck teased while failing to say much more. […]
Children’s Air Corps Guild
“Your child has cancer” is one of the most devastating sentences a parent can hear. Richard Newman, a pilot from Washington state, heard these words when his daughter Carli was diagnosed with lymphoma, but this wasn’t the only thing that inspired him to create the Children’s Air Corps Guild, an organization geared toward raising funds […]