Brad Stiefvater of Salem, S.D. became the first customer to complete and fly a Van’s Aircraft RV-12 kit. The September 19 flight took place in Madison, S.D. Brad reports the empty weight of his painted airplane is 727 pounds. Reported cost to build was $60,000. The RV-12 is Van’s entry into the Light Sport Aircraft […]
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Forbes: Cessna Refutes the Decline of Capitalism
Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes, and longtime pilot, posted some interesting thoughts regarding Cessna’s VLJ, Embraer’s Phenom 100 and capitalism (it is Forbes after all).
Thun family honored
The airport may be officially named Pierce County Airport but to anyone who has ever been around the airport it is Thun Field and Friday, Sept. 18, Pierce County dedicated a plaque to the man, John Thun, who built the airport on Puyallup’s South Hill and ran it for about 20 years before selling it […]
IT trade magazine spotlights GA use
Dan Nesmith is an independent software vendor from Bend, Oregon. He employ’s seven technicians with pilot’s certificates and uses four general aviation aircraft to sell and serve customers across the United States. Read the entire story from the IT industry trade magazine Business Solution.
An oh-so-rare CallAir
It’s hard to say what first attracts you to Pepe Anderas’s CallAir A-1. Is it the bright, international orange paint scheme? The design of the cowboy on a bronco on the tail? The fact that it looks like a cross between a Piper-esque crop duster and a Bellanca? Perhaps it was all of the above […]
The News Tribune: DC-3 nearly ready to fly again
Subscribers to the Tacoma, Washington-based The News Tribune enjoyed a feature on a DC-3 restored at Pierce County’s Thun Field. From the story: “Its classic tail-dragger lines – cockpit and wings higher in the air than the tail that rests on a single tire – evoke another era. Two 1,200-horsepower engines power the three-bladed props […]
Topping off AirVenture
Are you one of the many aviation enthusiasts who collects patches from AirVenture and other air shows? The question becomes, how do you display them? You could put them on a jacket, but let’s face it, you probably won’t get much of a chance to wear it at AirVenture because of the heat. However, if […]
Lew Wallick, 85
Mr. Lew Wallick was a long-time Boeing test pilot who pass away August 19. From a story in the Seattle Times: On his first airplane ride at age 12, S.L. “Lew” Wallick Jr. was so comfortable he stood up in the biplane’s open cockpit to get a better view.
Quilt to benefit Henley
At the 2009 Cecil Field (Florida) Airshow, a quilt was displayed as an auction item to benefit the Alan Henley Foundation. The quilt was made from donated airshow T-shirts of past and present airshow stars and events. It was auctioned at the Cecil Field airshow for a bid of $5,000. It all turned out so […]