Search Results for: Cessna 172

CEO and founder of Vermont-based Beta Technologies reveals how a unique, team-based culture is helping the startup develop an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

When I showed up all those many moons ago for my commercial checkride, there was a last-minute snag. To conserve funds, I had been flying a Piper Warrior II for the maneuvers and other elements of the practical test standards in use at the time, and a Piper Arrow II for the complex-airplane portion. (This […]

Stack the deck in your favor with some simple planning, preflight briefing, and by using a four-part departure framework.

Instrument pilots know that IMC is challenging and far less forgiving than flying visually. Proficient flying by instruments is a must for us lest we enter the NTSB annals. When the ink on our instrument tickets was still wet, our skills were ultra-sharp. But as time passed, without continued practice those instrument skills slowly atrophied. […]

Fuel economy is always a hot topic amongst airplane owners, but which are the go-to aircraft when you’re talking piston singles?

FLYING looks at the differences in miles per gallon among piston, turbine and jet models.

Several years ago, a pilot friend and former aircraft owner told me that owning an airplane is “more expensive than you would ever imagine,” and that was assuming I already imagined that it would be extremely expensive, even staggeringly so. Today, as I shop for my own airplane after years of renting, I realize he […]

Simulators first made a believer of me when I got a Pacer Mk II in 1978. In 10 years, I put over 1000 hours on it. It augmented my Cessna 172 so faithfully that I successfully moved 15 pilots through their instrument rating and completed 40 IPCs with its help. An FAA authorization allowed 15 […]

In its second year, the Husky National STOL Series event in Jennings, Louisiana—“Swamp STOL”—had some of the fiercest competition to date, with many pilots bumped from their comfortable first-place finishes by talented newcomers. While severe storms ravaged the surrounding areas, Jennings was 75 degrees and CAVU this year and offered up 15-kt gusty headwinds right […]

Beech Model E55 Baron Overtorqued Servo Clutch Testing of the pitch servo’s clutch tension revealed breakaway force needed was 45 lbs. The specified setting is 13 ± 2 lbs. Examination revealed a new cotter pin on the castle nut and the orange torque seal strip did not align. At some point during previous maintenance, the […]