American Lake Seaplane Base in Tacoma, Wash., has been informed that its lease, which expired at the end of 2004, will not be renewed by the newly formed City of Lakewood, the current landlords. This would seem to be a major oversight by the city fathers, who apparently didn’t realize they owned an FAA certified […]
A flood of thanks
I would like to express some thank you’s to a few individuals who went above and beyond to help fellow tenants and aircraft owners at California’s Corona Airport during the recent flooding. The first on the list would be George and his crew from By George Aircraft painting, Steve and Mike from Procraft Aviation, Dan […]
Thanks for (sharing) the memories
When George Christie was 16 years old, aviation was in its Golden Age. Armed with a $5 Kodak camera, the young aviation buff had plenty of opportunities to take photos of his favorite thing — airplanes — and the personalities who flew them. Some of his favorites include shots of the Boeing Clipper at Lake […]
Hooray for Hollywood
Since the earliest days of moviemaking, airplanes have been stars on the big screen — often pushing credibility to the limits. Take “”International House,”” a 1933 movie that was, ostensibly, about the invention of television. Packed with stars of the day, including Rudy Vallee, George Burns, Gracie Allen and Cab Calloway, the film is dominated […]
Lasers: A serious issues that’s nothing new
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The news of pointing lasers at aircraft in recent weeks has focused primarily on scheduled airline incidents, but with general aviation aircraft outnumbering commercial planes more than 25 to 1, the danger to individual flights is obvious. Laser pointing at aircraft is not new. It began about 1990 in the Los Angeles […]
Mixture lever positioning after idle cutoff
QUESTION: I operate a IO-540C4-B5 in an experimental. I am wondering about the correct position of the mixture lever after idle cutoff has been selected. Should I leave the lever in that position, or should I advance it (after the ignition is switched off) to full rich? Is there any benefit to the internals of […]
Supply and demand drives engine choice
QUESTION: Paul, I have a Lycoming 0-235C1B installed in a Piper Colt. What are your feelings about an STC to install either an 0-290 or 0-320 engine in this aircraft? The 0-235 needs a top-end now, so I’m considering selling the engine as a core and installing one of the other engines. Mark Casillas Memphis, […]
How often should oil be changed on aerobatic aircraft?
That was the question from Bryan Gore, who flies a Citabria with an IO-320 engine equipped with an oil inverted system. It does not have an oil filter. That was the question from Bryan Gore, who flies a Citabria with an IO-320 engine equipped with an oil inverted system. It does not have an oil […]
Reach out and touch — your airplane
You live in the South, so icing isn’t a problem, right? Wrong, as this winter’s Arctic blasts demonstrate. Wing icing has been in the news a lot, lately, and pilots should be paying attention regardless of where they live. On Dec. 29, the National Transportation Safety Board issued an Alert to Pilots concerning ice accumulation […]