Diamond Aircraft has tapped Airline Transport Professionals (ATP) to provide initial type ratings and recurrent training in the D-JET. ATP, which has locations around the country, has purchased 20 D-JETs and five Diamond Flight Training Devices (FTDs). Diamond will deliver ATP’s first D-JET in July 2009, about one year after starting delivery of production aircraft. […]
the Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
“The condos will just have to go somewhere else.” — FAA Administrator Marion Blakey at AOPA Expo talking about the FAA’s position on airport closures. “I’m buying it!” — Alan Klapmeier, the co-founder of Cirrus Design, commenting on the 3,000th Cirrus to roll out of the factory. His brother, Dale, flies the 1000th, while Patty […]
How to protect your airport… and other things I learned at AOPA Expo
Are THEY trying to close your airport? THEY must get around and be great in numbers because during AOPA Expo in Palm Springs last month I heard all about the ubiquitous THEY who are trying to close airports in several states. The first thing I asked when greeted with this statement was “Which they is […]
Old school flying
Your article on “Old School Flying” in the Oct. 20 issue was great! You know my affinity for the classic airplanes so this article really hit home. I went with a friend to pick up a new Legend Cub and fly it home a few months ago and it was a fun trip, flying low […]
Still Learning
Well, Tom, I learned a couple of things (I’m almost 60 and started flying in 1965) from your article “Old School Flying.” 1. I never knew it was illegal to prop an airplane. 2. I’d never heard of the crank in the middle of a Piper instrument panel. Back in the 1960s, we had a […]
What about Tie-Downs?
At Romeo State Airport: $70,000 for design work for terminal area site preparation: $56,000 federal, $12,250 local and $1,750 state; $492,500 for construction of a new entrance road and site preparation for a new terminal building: $394,000 federal, $86,187 state and $12,313 state and local. Federal and state funding for “luxuries” like layout plans. Roads, […]
We don’t need more red tape
The FAA doesn’t see patients on a day-to-day basis, so they should leave medical certification procedures up to the AMEs who practice their trade! In the process of medical recertification the FAA should only act as an appeal agency to make the final decision on whether airmen fly or not. As ironic as it seems, […]
What he didn’t know
Reference the letter to the editor in your Oct. 20 issue written by Kim H. Wallis (Test pilots held to a higher standard?): Clearly Kim Wallis did not think through the Sport Jet crash scenario before he hit the send button on his computer. Without knowledge of prior traffic, pilots are routinely dependent upon air […]
Not all aviators are conservative
I was reading your editorial (Knee jerks: The selling of fear in America, Nov. 3 issue) with interest and approval until the part about populists and socialist media – then I sort of choked. It is true that most of our fellow aviators are wildly conservative, and love to hear generalizations about socialist media, but […]