Search Results for: Cessna 172

Flight training specialist ATP isn’t listening to the doom and gloom about the sad state of general aviation shipments and billings for the first three quarters of 2010. It just ordered six new Piper Seminole light twins, which, when delivered before year end, will increase the school’s fleet of Seminoles to 87 nationwide, complemented by […]

As most of you probably know by now, back in October our parent company, Bonnier Corp., named me the new editor of this storied magazine, succeeding a couple of very fine pilots, Mac McClellan, my longtime boss, who had headed the title for more than two decades, and Michael Maya Charles, who was with Flying […]

Minimums,” says Bob Owsley. The view isn’t encouraging. We can see the ground, or more accurately the water, but that’s about it. There is no sparkle to the gray surface of Lake Winnebago; it is a mirror of the dark clouds just 100 feet over our heads. Still, this is the most spectacular way to […]

During normal inspection of the right magneto of a Lycoming IO-540-AB1A5 installed on a Cessna 182T, the distributor brush was found badly worn. Wear is exactly as described in SB3-08, although more extreme, and magneto s/n and manufacturing date are outside the SBs applicability range. The other magneto exhibited more extreme wear signs and also was unaffected by the SB.

We spend a lot of time and space here fretting about training. In this issue, for example, regular contributor Bob Wright discusses the need for and obstacles to better integration into our training infrastructure of risk management concepts. Similarly, were always writing about getting with an instructor and practicing various maneuvers or procedures. But none of this is easy, nor inexpensive.Weve also railed from time to time about what Ill call the “FBO experience.” Too often, when a well-off prospective student and airplane owner drives his or her luxury SUV out to the airport to inquire about flying lessons, they are greeted in a dingy, poorly lit building by an uninformed employee who shrugs, saying, “Our flight instructor is up with a student.”

Driving a car is not that difficult. The instructor may have a few tense moments while teaching someone how to drive, but once you have a few miles under your tires, hopping in the car is not a stress-inducing event. Aside from a few people who are into off-road driving, most people never drive on […]

During a routine inspection an aileron cable (p/n 0510105-364) was found shiny (worn) where it passes through the ceiling pulley cluster. When it was viewed through a strong magnifying glass, many broken strands could be seen.

General aviation is just as prone to pithy sayings as any other worthwhile endeavor. When it comes to managing risk and defining the top three riskiest things weve seen, they include taking off with air in the fuel tanks, a private pilot with a #2 Phillips screwdriver and two pilots trying to fly the same airplane at the same time. While statistics and common sense bear out the fact two pilots up front enhances safety, there remain numerous instances when this has not proven true. Not surprisingly, after accidents with two pilots onboard, the actions of the PIC get the most scrutiny when fault is being assigned.

Aviation is still buzzing over the N-number mix-up that led to a profound law enforcement blunder. It’s pretty clear that none of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) police who responded to a stolen aircraft alert last Saturday are pilots. Who among us would not have recognized John and Martha King as they deplaned from a 2009 […]

July 2010 — Time have changed in aviation, with the advent of computerized avionics, satellite navigation and five-buck-a-gallon avgas, but two things that haven’t changed are that flying costs money and pilots will look for ways to cut those costs. There’s more need to economize than ever before because getting behind the yoke of an […]