In response to Mr. Sheets’ concerns for “under trained” fixed wing pilots operating in the Sport Pilot category flooding the sky, I must reply, “Chill Out!” The Sport Pilot program is a nice reprieve from an already overregulated industry. Mr. Sheets has already noted how “pilots with many hours” end up NTSB statistics. I recall reading insurance […]
Don’t forget common sense and good judgment
My reaction to the letter from Brian Sheets in the Dec. 10 issue (Sport Pilot: A disaster waiting to happen): Before anyone can take the knowledge test or the practical test for a sport class pilot certificate, they must receive logbook endorsements from an authorized instructor. No authorized instructor is required to make that logbook […]
When hurricanes blow, fly your plane out!
I agree with Michael Gleason’s letter (How Stupid!) in a previous issue. I lived on the Gulf Coast four years, in Key West, Fla., for about two years, and in the Jacksonville, Fla., area more than 15 years. Due to the “possibility” of a hurricane hitting the area, I flew our airplane out of Key […]
Don’t blame Bush
The Nov. 26th edition of GAN is the second containing a comment/complaint about President Bush shutting down airspace by imposing a TFR. FYI: It is the Secret Service’s job to inform the TSA of the president’s movements and also their job by law to protect him. TFRs are imposed by the TSA, not the White […]
Just Hanging Around
In the past you ran a number of letters covering questions on the four-cylinder, two-cycle engine used on the target drone aircraft used by the military around the end of World War II. Igor Bensen designed and sold plans for a gyrocopter using the engine in pusher configuration. Enclosed is a picture of just such […]
80-year-old woman sets record as oldest to experience zero gravity
Neither age nor gravity stopped 80-year-old Dorothy Simpson from flying into the record books. According to Guinness World Records, she recently became the world’s oldest woman to experience weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight with Space Adventures, Ltd. “”I didn’t set out to break any records,”” says Simpson. “”But experiencing weightlessness on my Zero-G flight was […]
Fly a different plane each day
Can’t get enough flying? How about flying every day? You can — at least at your desk — with the 365 Tiny Paper Airplanes Page-A-Day Calendar from Workman Publishing. The calendar, designed by paper airplane world record holder Ken Blackburn and engineer Jeff Lammers, features a year of paper airplanes small enough to fit in […]
There goes lunch…
Can you imagine 200 hours of somersaults? Unusual attitudes are one thing, but how would you like to perform nose-over-tail somersaults in the Space Shuttle? The return to flight rehearsals for the Space Shuttle now include that maneuver. The idea is that the flip will expose the underside of the shuttle for tile inspection. A […]
Significant changes in the works for the future of aviation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Congress passed the Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act in December 2003, it called for the development of an integrated plan to “”ensure that the next generation air transportation system meets air transportation safety, security, mobility, efficiency, and capacity needs beyond those currently included in the FAA’s Operational Evolution Plan.”” Norman Mineta, […]