WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is not much talk openly about it here, but the steady decline in the number of general aviation pilots has some GA advocates concerned. General aviation has had several boom and bust periods. From the time the Wright brothers’ first flight until the first commercial airline began flying from St. Petersburg […]
flying
FAI establishes environmental award
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The FAI Environmental Commission (EnvC) has established the Angelo d’Arrigo Diploma, a new FAI environmental award to recognize major contributions in the field of environmental and sustainable development in sport aviation. The diploma will be presented for the first time in 2014 and may be awarded to individuals or organizations that have […]
Spring training for pilots
By KEVIN GARRISON Winter weather leads to a cutback of flying for most of us. Pilots living in areas of the U.S. that are prone to frozen water in the form of sleet, freezing rain and snow find ourselves wistfully looking to the skies out of the iced-over windows of our homes. We think back […]
OpenAirplane expands
CHICAGO – OpenAirplane continues to expand its service which makes renting an airplane as easy as renting a car. Since launching in June, the OpenAirplane network has grown to 34 cities, with more than 100 aircraft available around the U.S. Enabled by the updated Universal Pilot Checkout standard, OpenAirplane has launched its first operator in […]
‘Prairie Sky’ published
Newly published is “Prairie Sky,” a new book that explores “the reality as well as the metaphor of flight: Notions of ceaseless time and boundless space, personal interior and exterior vision, social history, meteorology, and geology,” according to the publisher. W. Scott Olsen takes readers along as he chases a new way of looking at […]
Proposed legislation would cut 3rd class medical requirement for many GA pilots
Reps. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.) have introduced a bill in the U.S. House that seeks to abolish the third-class medical certificate for many pilots who fly recreationally. The General Aviation Pilot Protection Act of 2013, co-sponsored by Reps. Bill Flores (R-Texas), Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), and Richard Hanna (R-NY), would […]
Observations and invitations
Attached to the main administration building at the Santa Monica Airport in Southern California is an observation deck. It’s a wide concrete structure with a curved metal railing that allows excellent views of the area, reaching from the Hollywood sign in the northeast all the way around to the Pacific Ocean on the southwest. A […]
Continuing a family tradition
More than 30 years ago, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) taught his son Perry to fly in the family’s 1954 Grumman Tiger. Perry’s first cross-country flight after he soloed was to Oshkosh, his dad sitting proudly in the seat beside him. Fast forward to this year’s Oshkosh and Inhofe, a regular at Oshkosh no matter what […]
1,000 Eagle Flights in first year
The Experimental Aircraft Association’s year-old Eagle Flights program, which provides one-on-one flight experiences for adults interested in becoming a pilot, marked its 1,000th flight on Aug. 10 in Hickory, North Carolina. Bradley Bormuth of Hickory’s EAA Chapter 731, took Joshua Austin for a flight in a Cessna 172. Eagle Flights, launched at AirVenture in July 2012, […]