The closest most people get to a P-51 Mustang is looking at a picture. Unless, of course, you get your hands on an “aircraft” that’s a computer simulation of the ones flown by the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black pilots in the American military. The simulator is part of the A.C.E.S. Flight Simulation attraction at […]
Minnesota pilots upset over plans to close Crystal Airport
What is the best utilization of land? If an airport is operating in the red, should it close? How many operations are “enough” to justify keeping an airport open? These are the questions swirling around Crystal Airport (MIC) in Minneapolis-St. Paul in the wake of plans to redevelop the land. In late October, the Northwest […]
10 most wanted
There are many aviation records still to be broken. In fact, the National Aeronautic Association has a “10 Most Wanted” list of records, several of which go back to the 1930s. The oldest, from May 1937, is for distance flown over a closed circuit — without landing, of course — by a piston powered seaplane. […]
FAA tests solar-powered lights at NJ airport
Solar-powered taxiway lights are coming to Cross Keys Airport (17N) in Gloucester County, N.J. The airport is being used as a testbed by the FAA’s Airport Safety Technology Section. These are the same taxiway lights that are being used in the Middle East to guide U.S. fighter jets and cargo aircraft. The installation began Dec. […]
Building a home for The Lost Squadron Museum
The folks at The Lost Squadron Museum in Middlesboro, Ky., are stepping up their annual raffle by offering three prizes this year. The museum is home to “Glacier Girl,” one of the last airworthy P-38s. Located at Middlesboro-Bell County Airport (1A6), the museum is raising money to build a new facility. This year the winner […]
Four new FAA rules take effect soon
Compliance with at least four important FAA mandates falls due during the first four months of 2005. One of them is particularly important to pilots flying over water or wilderness. After Jan. 1, all airplanes on long over-water flights or flying over designated – mostly wilderness – land areas will have to be equipped with […]
Open door policy: FSS and towers are open to pilots
Should Flight Service Stations and Air Traffic Control towers be open to pilots? Yes, say FAA officials. But it took some doing to get that admission, as doors slammed shut after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Under the current Code Yellow threat alert, FSS are still open for walk-in briefings — unless there is a […]
Pork to the rescue
Pork is great in barbecue, but generally undesirable in Congressional budgets. Fortunately for NASA’s scramjet project, members of Congress from Tennessee, where the X-43A scramjet testbed was built, have thrown some pork into the hypersonic research recipe: $25 million worth. NASA had intended to scrap its hypersonic research after the second X-43A test, conducted in […]
G1000 certified for Mooney
The FAA has certified the Garmin G1000 in Mooney’s Ovation and Bravo aircraft. An STC was awarded to Garmin in November. Mooney has incorporated the approval into its Type Certificate. Meanwhile, Mooney continues growing, opening a sales office in Wichita, which new CEO Gretchen Jahn calls the “center of the universe” for aviation.