Search Results for: Lear 45

Aerodynamics 101 teaches us about angle of attack and that all wings have a critical one at which they will stall. Afterward, were treated to a discussion about accelerated stalls and how the airplane will enthusiastically stop flying at an airspeed sometimes well above its straight-ahead stalling speed. Were also taught about stall-warning systems and how they are designed to alert us when were approaching that critical angle of attack.

A few items of interest crossed my desk in recent weeks, leading to a variety of reactions and thoughts, plus a few rants and smiles. Bear with me for a moment, because all this stuff is linked together.First out of the chute: The NTSB in April released its aviation accident statistics for 2010. As has been the case in recent years, the news for general aviation is mixed.

I watched a demonstration by the pilot of a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor on one of the nicer weather-days at this years Sun n Fun International Fly-In and Expo (the day before the tornado hit). The Raptors most unique characteristic-from an observers standpoint and in addition to its efficient conversation of fuel into noise-is its ability to maneuver at extremely high angles of attack-maintaining a constant AoA of over 60 deg. in sustained flight. Watch an F-22-or any other high-performance aircraft-maneuver, however, and you may notice an interesting pattern. Any time the fighter changes attitude under a G-load, the pilot does so incrementally. He or she changes pitch, then changes bank, or the pilot changes bank and then changes pitch. You never see a radical pitch and bank change simultaneously.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is looking into an incident in which two regional jets came within just a few hundred feet of each other while crossing paths at Chicago O’Hare International Airport last week.** ** The event occurred around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, May 16, when an Embraer ERJ-145 operated by ExpressJet Airlines […]

For pilots making their way through the world of ratings independently, as opposed to through a highly structured training program, the instrument ticket generates more anxiety per flight hour than all the other ratings combined. It should come as no surprise that it does. To go from the world of VFR flight (which is how […]

__Flight level 280 in a TBM 850 was just perfect for us coming out of Peachtree in Georgia, headed down to cozy North Perry Airport near Fort Lauderdale in south Florida. On a really long trip we could have climbed up to FL 310, lost a few knots, saved a few gallons per hour and […]

Fly cross-country, land off-airport, and splash into lakes—all in a kit aircraft you can build in just two weeks.

(May 2011) IN THE MARCH ISSUE OF Flying, On the Record reported on the crash of a Cessna 172S Skyhawk in January 2010, about 20 miles north of Bangor, Maine. The pilot had picked up the brand-new airplane in Independence, Kansas, and flown it to Bangor, where an additional fuel tank was installed for a […]

At approximately 1345 Eastern time, the Canada-registered airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted a wooded area. The commercial pilot received serious injuries and the private pilot-rated passenger was killed. Instrument conditions prevailed and the flight was operating under an IFR clearance. An Airmet existed for light-to-moderate icing below 14,000 feet and, at the pilots request, the aircraft was issued vectors around mountainous terrain in an attempt to remain below icing conditions.

Rockwell Collins’ Pro Line Fusion next-gen avionics system has earned FAA TSO approval, the first and biggest step toward putting it in the cockpits of new bizjets. The system represents a huge leap for Collins, which has in Fusion created a scalable, fully digital upgradable suite that is certain to be the basis for numerous […]