Search Results for: Lockheed

I take exception to the reader’s rhetorical question in your July issue: “Why would anyone practice an engine failure on takeoff by doing an engine failure on takeoff?” I started practicing low altitude teardrops at idle because a giant auto salvage yard bordered the departure end of my runway and I had to know what my options and capabilities were.

(function(d, s, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) return; var js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘//cdn4.wibbitz.com/static.js’; d.getElementsByTagName(‘body’)[0].appendChild(js); }(document, ‘script’, ‘wibbitz-static-embed’)); We proudly present Flying Magazine’s Top 100 Warbirds, our list of the best, most influential, fastest, most powerful, most effective and most revered fighting airplanes of all time. As with any top list, there’s […]

A 91-year-old aviation enthusiast, Huntly Briggs, is changing the game when it comes to paper airplanes. Most of us know paper airplanes as blank pieces of paper that we simply fold to create a glider that we can throw in hopes of watching a graceful flight. The object is generally to create an object with […]

We regularly see non-turbocharged piston singles cruising in the 4500-6500-foot range, even when wind and weather aren’t operational considerations. Meanwhile, a few thousand feet higher, the ride’s better—as is visibility—there’s better comm and navaid reception, and likely a lot less traffic. So, why do some pilots of personal airplanes prefer to cruise at lower-than-optimum altitudes? Why do others go as high as they reasonably can for the trip length? Is the extra time and fuel worth climbing a few more thousand feet?

“Cessna 48X, traffic 12 o’clock, 2 miles, 6,500, UAV maneuvering.” The ATC call was both surprising and ironic, since I was on my way from Los Angeles to Arizona to research an article about drones. I never saw the UAV, and the sound of the drone pilot’s response was not audible because communications from UAVs […]

(function(d, s, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) return; var js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘//cdn4.wibbitz.com/static.js’; d.getElementsByTagName(‘body’)[0].appendChild(js); }(document, ‘script’, ‘wibbitz-static-embed’)); While we can name hundreds of really smart, powerful, utilitarian or awesome airplanes, there are far, far fewer of them that we would call truly “beautiful.” What is it that makes an airplane an […]

Why can one airplane take off and land on short runways while another requires significantly longer takeoff and landing distances?

Capping one of the most contentious and hardest fought competitions for government aircraft ever, Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin secured a $1.24 billion contract to begin building a new presidential helicopter based on Sikorsky’s S-92. The winning team was the only bidder in the latest phase of a decade-long effort to start replacing Marine One, the […]

Even though it’s likely only a temporary reprieve, it’s still good news for supporters of the A-10 Thunderbolt II as backers seek to head off the iconic tank buster’s imminent retirement. A House Armed Services Committee panel has voted to delay deactivation of the A-10, affectionately known as the Warthog, meaning the full House will […]

The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan continues to fascinate people as the search goes on to find the remains of the Lockheed Electra that took them on their final journey in 1937. There has never been a credible artifact recovered from the flight, though it hasn’t been for lack of […]