J. Mac McClellan

With all of the talk in the financial media about a housing bubble, or a credit bubble — and we all remember the tech bubble — I have been wondering if there was an airplane bubble? I suppose there is a specific definition of a financial bubble somewhere in academia, but I would define a […]

The most common questions I am asked by pilot friends is which airplane I plan to buy next, and which airplane do I think they should buy next. Clearly it is a topic every pilot thinks about a lot, and it remains a hot topic because there isn’t any clear-cut answer. For many years the […]

I have flown the Beech King Air 200 many times in the last 32 years here at the magazine but I still needed help to get the big turboprop off the ramp. Starting the engines was easy and totally familiar, I knew the systems and could operate them correctly with a few seconds to locate […]

An axiom of flight training, particularly simulator training, is that you should train the way you fly and fly the way you train. It is obvious that if you practice normal, abnormal and emergency procedures under the most realistic conditions possible, you will be best prepared for the real thing if and when it happens. […]

Before every flight by Gulfstream test pilots, the flight test engineer conducts an exhaustive briefing on every imaginable detail. Obvious issues are weight, CG location, fuel load, reference airspeeds and so on. Less apparent are restrictions on operation of the specific airplane being used, such as airspeed or altitude limits that have not yet been […]

The manifold pressure and propeller rpm wound down abruptly on the engine in front of me. I lowered the nose a little and continued to climb. There was no roll or yaw change, and the only pilot task was to stay on climb airspeed, the same value I had been holding before the power loss. […]

It was a nice VFR Friday afternoon in early summer when I was returning home to Westchester County Airport just north of New York City. In other words, it was just about as bad as air traffic – or ground traffic, for that matter – gets in the Northeast. Summer and a Friday add up […]

It takes time to work the bugs out of most all-new airplane designs, and the Beechcraft Premier is no exception. The Premier’s design goals of being the fastest light jet with the largest cabin cross section were accomplished when it entered service in 2001, but it is now, with the IA version, that the Premier […]

A dream had just come true. Cessna invited me to spend a couple days with its new Mustang. I would pick the trips that looked interesting, and do the flying on my own. Cessna’s top instructor and Mustang designated pilot examiner, Kirby Ortega, would be in the right seat to offer the occasional suggestion, and […]

Just a couple of years ago they were about to close the doors on the facility that makes the ATR line of turboprop regional airliners. Total orders for the ATR 42 and 72 made by the European consortium had dropped to six, and no new customers were on the horizon. The regional jets (RJs) had […]