Search Results for: Cessna 172

All those colorful runway markings, lights, and signs dont mean a thing to members of the animal kingdom other than humans. When our furry, scaled, and feathered friends make their way onto an active runway, the results can be…unpredictable.

It only takes a cursory look at an ICAO flight plan form to get cranial blood-vessel spasms and the resultant migraine. Who starts a form at item seven? Yes, you really have to look up aircraft type codes in ICAO DOC 8643. Can equipment codes really use the whole alphabet, indecipherable by humans? Do they really have only one remarks box that serves as an explanation for nearly every other box on the whole form?Despite the forms flaws and seemingly unfathomable complexities, the FAA is committed to drag U.S. pilots to the ICAO flight plan. Since the ICAO form is already required for flights utilizing performance based navigation (PBN), flying in RVSM airspace, utilizing ADS-B services, and flights outside the U.S., everybody else might as well share the pain.

“Cessna 53223 cleared to Runway 18 via Charlie taxiway, Pasquale 3 departure, squawk bingo.” That’s a typical controller clearance for my friend Charlie Peck. Charlie is retired from IBM and flies his Cessna 172 nearly every good weather day. He keeps it at the Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine. The Auburn-Lewiston airport is his […]

Safe Flight Instrument Corp. received FAA approval for its SCc angle of attack system, launched at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh this week. The product, which is a follow-on to a similar AOA indicator introduced for the Experimental market last year, is available now for installation in Part 23 certified aircraft. The product includes a lift […]

At about 1730 Central time, the airplane was substantially damaged during a forced landing to a field following total loss of engine power during cruise flight. The airline transport pilot and passenger were not injured. Visual conditions prevailed.About 15 minutes after adding 30 gallons of fuel at an en-route fuel stop and while cruising at 3500 feet msl, the engine lost all power. Emergency procedures werent successful and the pilot selected a field for an emergency landing due to utility wires surrounding the adjacent roads. The touchdown was normal, but the field included rough terrain, which resulted in the nosegear collapsing before the airplane came to rest upright.

The annual Oshkosh airshow is off to a great start on this gorgeous first day.

It’s one thing to survive a plane crash, but if your emergency locator transmitter is damaged or fails to activate, rescuers might never find you. Studies show that ELTs often fail to send out signals in crashes, so NASA decided to tackle the issue by dropping a Cessna 172 to the concrete from a height […]

Disrupt or be disrupted. It’s one of the hard lessons emerging in today’s tech-fueled economy, in which the frenetic pace of innovation means not only seeing new ideas materialize with dizzying speed but also watching as they threaten to obliterate entire industries that came before them. We’ve glimpsed this trend in aviation already with everything […]

Air traffic controller Ray Smid watched the yellow blips slide across his radar screen. The circles moved in silence, but Smid never forgot that they embodied real aircraft. It didn’t matter if the traffic was big or small. Lives were lost if the blips merged. The eraser-shaped images toted “data blocks” displaying flight number, destination, […]

At about 1225 Central time, the gyrocopter was destroyed when it collided with power lines while maneuvering. The solo private pilot sustained serious injuries. Visual conditions prevailed.The gyrocopter had impacted 30-foot-high power lines, breaking two of them. The pilot’s headgear showed thermal damage to the faceshield and soot was evident inside of the shield and around the face relief of the helmet, consistent with electrical arcing. The engine appeared to be mostly intact and fuel was present.