Search Results for: DC-3

General aviation pilots make IFR takeoffs in reduced visibility and low ceilings on a daily basis. We line up, launch, establish a climb, transition to the gauges and press on with the flight. Assuming there is an approach with adequate minimums at home plate or a nearby airport, were confident we can return and land within about 10 minutes should something go sour. If were in a single and the engine decides to take the day off, our ability to pick out a good landing site is minimal but, hey, thats IFR flight any time the weather is down.

We now have approved technical and operational standards for ADS-B equipment-but dont get too excited. This really means (among other things) that manufacturers can now move forward to develop conforming ADS-B hardware. The FAAs final rule on what will be required for GA equipage to fly in controlled airspace isnt due until April of this year. Compliance isnt required for another decade-provided the system is up and running by then.

OK, here’s an admission: I rarely look at other aviation publications unless there’s an article about somebody who intrigues me, like Bill Lear Jr. or “Fish” Salmon, or something in the “I think I’m supposed to know this but I don’t” category, like the difference between Fowler, Krueger, Gouge, Fairey-Youngman and Gurney flaps. But I […]

If youve been with us a while, youll recognize our yearly foray into the bent and bizarre culled from a years worth of NTSB accident summaries (all non-fatal, of course). Not all are actually stupid. Some are just plain, er, strange. But all, we think, are worthy of note. Each year offers up those who think too much, those who think too little and those who dont think at all.

Once upon a time it was considered just fine to polish frost smooth rather than scrape the junk off. Now the FAA has changed its mind. The rule is only binding on Parts 125, 135, or 91 subpart F (fractionals), but nine of the 12 frost-related accidents the FAA identified were with non-fractional Part 91 operations, so all of us might take note. Previous FAA guidance recommended removing all wing frost prior to takeoff, but allowed it to be polished smooth if the aircraft manufacturers recommended procedures were followed. But manufacturers never published standards for polished frost, and the FAA said it has no data to determine how to polish frost to satisfactory smoothness.

Check out the 25 coolest aircraft according to Flying magazine’s editors.

Look through some exciting pictures from the California International Airshow in Salinas.

We bought ice and Styrofoam chests at a Family Dollar store after leaving the Bourgeois Meat Market in Thibodaux, Louisiana, and packed them with crawfish boudin (sausage), headcheese and beef jerky. The boudin and headcheese (sounds gross but this stuff is a scrumptious pâté kind of thing) would be OK for a long time but […]

(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 […]

You never forget your first love, especially the first airplane that captured your heart and ignited a passion for aviation forever. Take a look at the Flying editors and the story of first airplane loves. And feel free to tell us what your first love was down in the comments below! ** ** Isabel Goyer: […]