If you saw the red, black and white Sportsman at the Glasair booth at AirVenture this summer, it may not have looked a lot different from the airplanes the company has displayed in the past. But the bright green lettering on the side of the nose and the modified bottom cowl tell a different story. […]
(August 2014) Time is running short, so I’m going to get straight to the point: If you’re a pilot or aviation enthusiast and you’ve never been to Oshkosh for EAA’s annual fly-in and shindig, you need to go. It runs July 28 through Aug. 3 this year, so depending on when the postman delivers this […]
This passage from “As We Know It,” the July 2014 Editor’s Log, caught my attention: “What we’ve seen, instead, is the proliferation of smaller, lighter airplanes, often with range and capabilities that seem limiting when compared to what was the norm 30 years ago. This market is populated by storebought LSAs and experimental aircraft. They’re great for a $100 hamburger run, and possibly even an overnight getaway to the mountains or a beach, but the destinations need to be close, the load light and the weather good.”
My brother slipped me a piece of paper on which he’d jotted three numbers: 260, 240 and 180. If you haven’t guessed, they’re weights. Add me and the load is 860 pounds well-marbled (not 170-pound), above-average Americans. Add full tanks, 56 gallons of fuel and we would approach gross weight. I had yet to add backpacks, fly-fishing gear and food for a week, but after that I’d have to start trading fuel for payload, and worry about CG as well. Welcome to the world of gross-weight ops.
On a fine spring day, you trundled off to Driggs, Idaho, to meet your buddy and sneak off to the best-kept-secret fishing spot in the west Tetons. Your buddy made a killing because he was an Apple geek in the ’80s and bought no stock but theirs. He chartered a plane to Driggs. You invested heavily in the DeLorean Motor Company-and arrived in your dads old 172H.
Can I Just Breath Air?Thanks for your excellent article on aircraft oxygen systems in April. It is a common misconception that these systems deliver air. Although your article correctly referred to oxygen, people often ask, “Can’t I just breathe the air from my scuba tank? It costs a lot less to fill, and I already […]
Overheard on a typically busy Sunday morning just north of ORD in Chicago:Cessna 123BD: Chicago Approach, Cessna 123BD.Approach: Cessna 123BD, approach, say type and request.Cessna 123BD: Wed like to land at OHare.Approach: 123BD, I have no flight plan for you, say type and position.Cessna 123BD: Were a 172 over the Chicago Heights VOR.Approach: 123BD, is this a full stop?Cessna 123BD: No, wed like to do touch-and-goes.Approach (after a long pause): 123BD, we dont do touch-and-goes…
Returning IFR from Opa-Locka (KOPF) to our home airport F45, we overheard this exchange.Cherokee 123 Alpha Bravo: Miami Center, Cherokee 123 Alpha Bravo, 20 SW 3000 feet. Request flight following, Stuart, KSUA.Center: Cherokee 123 Alpha Bravo, roger. Do you require an IFR clearance? Were showing below VFR minimums in your area.Cherokee 123 Alpha Bravo: Nah. Well be ok once we get outa these clouds. …
Any activity that regularly kills between one half and one percent of its participants has room for improvement. Cutting the GA accident and death rate has been a cause celeb recently, and we heartily approve. Here at IFR, we decided to make our own contribution by delving into the accident rate specifically for IMC, focusing on where the outcomes were fatal.
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