Search Results for: Lear 45

In this article, I will ask readers to suspend disbelief until you have read the article completely. I am sure you will have your own opinions, about both the article and my own motivation in writing it. I believe, however, that most of you will appreciate the message I am trying to convey and that you will also observe how the stakeholders in aviation safety may be approaching the subject in completely different ways. The key questions are not only about how effective they are individually but how they can remain complementary.

Forget about flight reviews and instrument competency checks. Part 135 operations are conducted in a thicket of regulations. Among them are the requirements of Section 299: ** a)** “No certificate holder may use a pilot, nor may any person serve as a pilot in command of a flight, unless, since the beginning of the 12th […]

Take an engine from a 1970s Ford, Toyota or Chevy and put it next to one built today, and the differences are easy to spot. Dig down into the performance and economy figures, and there’s no comparison between the 30-plus-year-old technology and today’s — the newer engines are better in almost every way imaginable, with […]

At 1345 Eastern time, the airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain while returning to land shortly after takeoff. The private pilot was fatally injured. Visual conditions prevailed. A flight instructor preparing for a flight heard the accident pilot on the tower frequency informing the controller that he “had to come back.” He then observed the airplane flying northeast to southwest over the field, and heard the tower controller clear the airplane to land on any runway. The accident airplane continued toward the approach end of Runway 36.

Failure of an airplane’s single engine shortly after takeoff is an event all pilots dread. When it happens, we’re low and slow. We lack the potential energy of speed and altitude, have little time to respond and few options. When such a failure happens, it’s natural—in some ways—for a pilot to want to be back on the runway he or she just used. It’s right there—behind us—and seemingly offers several solutions to our problems. One thing the runway has going for it is, well, it’s a runway. We know it’s a perfectly good runway because we just used it. Another attraction is resources: There’s usually a maintenance facility or at least a mechanic who can set things right. If only we can make it back to the runway we just departed, this pesky engine failure will be okay.

Burt Rutan’s list of airplanes designed and flown (45), of honorary Doctoral Degrees (6!), of national and international awards (112), of patents held (7), and of design projects related to aviation in some way (several hundred) takes up 11 pages! This all occurred in the years between 1965, when he graduated from California Polytechnic University, […]

In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departed from St. Charles, Missouri, for a two-year exploration of America, inaugurating a grand American tradition that has persisted to this day — the road trip. Maybe it’s due to my airline pilot lifestyle, but I have never been a fan of travel for travel’s sake so my […]

The traffic pattern around an airport keeps the flight paths of airplanes in the vicinity predictable. By following the same track, it is easier for pilots to see other airplanes approaching to land. But the safety and efficiency of the traffic flow is dependent on the pilots in the pattern. It can become quite frustrating […]

Modern jetliners just aren’t supposed to fall out of the sky. It’s simply not acceptable (it’s not acceptable when smaller aircraft do it, either, by the way). Decades of refinement, engineering, development and lessons learned have produced an extremely safe worldwide air transportation system. That’s one reason the disappearance of an Airbus A330 operating as Air France Flight 447 from over the Atlantic Ocean almost three years ago is serving as a wake-up call to operators and pilots alike.

(March 2012) When Matt Norklun decided to go surfing in the Bahamas, the airlines were not an option. The 6-foot-6-inch Norklun loaded up his airplane with his two brothers and three surfboards. Considering the size of the occupants and their cargo, you might assume Norklun owns a Beechcraft Baron or a Cessna Caravan. He doesn’t. […]