Search Results for: Lear 45

At 1845 Eastern time, the airplane collided with terrain following a loss of control and was destroyed. The airline transport pilot suffered fatal injuries. Visual conditions prevailed; an IFR flight plan was filed.

The airplane experienced a partial loss of engine power in cruise flight and the pilot made an emergency landing on a highway at 1553 Mountain time. The private pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane sustained structural damage to the fuselage after departing the highway and impacting cacti prior to coming to rest upright. Visual conditions prevailed.

Whenever Im around non-pilots and the subject of personal aviation comes up, the conversation inevitably turns to the skill set one needs to safely operate an aircraft. (Im sure this is nothing new and has happened to you.) My generic answer is something to the effect of if you can drive a stick-shift car, you can fly a fixed-wing airplane; the motor skill requirements are pretty much the same. Of course, thats not the end of it, especially if youve never driven a stick but have several thousand hours of flight time; in addition to the requisite motor skills, pilots also must be able to prioritize tasks, often performing one or more simultaneously. An example of the latter might involve maneuvering in a traffic pattern while conversing with ATC over the radio and changing the engines power setting, all at the same time. When the smoke clears, its not unlike downshifting, braking and turning a stick-shift car, all at the same time.

Its been several years now since I inflicted this on the poor thing, but somewhere out there is a Piper Archer II it once took me and a friend several tries to get started one cold, wintry day outside Washington, D.C. A lineguy came by, aimed a torpedo heater into the engine cooling inlets for a couple of minutes apiece, charged us a bunch of money and left. After a few more tries, wed managed to frost the plugs, so we decamped to the FBO for hot coffee. Thirty or so minutes later, we tried again and finally got a start. Based on what I know now-I knew very little about engine or aircraft pre-heating back then-none of what we did could have been good for that engine.

I spent a weekend recently helping prepare a pilot for his commercial pilot practical test. He is a long-time instrument pilot and highly experienced in his turbocharged Beech Bonanza. One of the hardest parts of his training was getting him to bank beyond a standard-rate turn-everything hed practiced for years involved making small control inputs, and he needed to regain comfort with the more dynamic maneuvering required for the test. As we practiced steep turns, getting closer and closer to halving the minimum practical test tolerances, the question came up: Besides demonstration of a “circus trick” in order to earn his commercial certificate, what is the purpose of performing steep turns? Its a good question many students and rated pilots ask, and one deserving a detailed response.

Collins’ New Pro Line Fusion avionics system that will debut in the Bombardier Global Express has all the features you would expect in a top-of-the-line flat-glass avionics system. The displays are huge; the synthetic vision view of the terrain ahead of the airplane is sharp and detailed; and there are innovative formats to display weather […]

Diamond is selling a pair of brand new twins based on the company’s innovative DA42 design. The Austro diesel-powered DA42 NG is certified in Europe (EASA), with U.S. certification coming soon, and the Lycoming-powered DA42 L360 has just earned the FAA’s OK. I had the chance to fly both airplanes recently at Diamond’s North American […]

I believe all of us would declare Cessna’s new 162 SkyCatcher light sport airplane (LSA) to be a success if it flew about as well as the legendary 150/152 series of two-seat trainers. I’m happy to say the 162 flies as well as, and in some respects better than, the 150/152 and also has a […]

On Aug. 6, 2009, I went to the Torrance Airport near Los Angeles to meet Mike Blyth and James Pitman, two guys from South Africa who were on their way around the world in what would be an LSA if this particular one had not been equipped with extra wing tanks. Holding 120 gallons, they […]

It was odd that, as I taxied out in the number three prototype of the Diamond D-Jet, the last thing on my mind was that there is only one engine. As with any other business jet you can’t see the engines, and the sounds and sensations of one jet engine spinning away are the same […]