Search Results for: aircraft components inc

The manifold pressure and propeller rpm wound down abruptly on the engine in front of me. I lowered the nose a little and continued to climb. There was no roll or yaw change, and the only pilot task was to stay on climb airspeed, the same value I had been holding before the power loss. […]

There has been a great deal of discussion about the difficulty, or lack of it, of transitioning from conventional flight instruments to flat-panel primary flight displays (PFD). Many also worry that new instrument pilots who learn on a PFD will find it very difficult to fly safely with a conventional round dial set of gyros […]

“Always have an out.” That’s what my roommate and more experienced pilot buddy warned me about flying in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). It was sage advice when this story took place, 24 years ago. I had arrived in Pontiac, Michigan, from the Deep South in January to begin a “dream job” of flying on-demand cargo […]

We were headed back toward Austin’s Class Charlie airspace from our demo flight out to the west in a Commander 115, though it wasn’t just any Commander 115. At the time it was the only one like it in the world. The frequency was pretty quiet. We were at 5,500 feet, about 25 miles out […]

I’ve noticed lately that I fly more and more slowly and pay more and more attention to fuel flow. Clearly this behavior is related to the rising cost of fuel; as it goes up, the best speed to fly goes down. But that relationship – speed divided by fuel flow – must be corrected by […]

It’s been 100 years since Continental built its first engine, and Continentals have powered dozens of milestone airplanes, but its storied history is as much a rap against the company as it is an undeniable measure of success. Most pilots incorrectly believe that Continental is building the same engines the same way it has for […]

The best way that I can think of to describe Cessna’s new light jet Mustang is that it is, in all respects, a Citation. That means it has pleasant and predictable flying qualities, uncomplicated and robust systems, good payload and range, and it delivers on all of the promises Cessna made when it introduced the […]

With a crop of very light jets (VLJs) in development it’s interesting to look back at another would be revolution in airplane design, the Lear Fan. In the late 1970s inventor and promoter Bill Lear conceived a turboprop airplane that would have twin engines driving a single propeller mounted on the tail. The airplane was […]

With the coming age of very light jets (or whatever you want to call them) just around the corner, the question has been repeatedly raised but never really answered: How will pilots fare when transitioning from piston-powered airplanes to this new breed of little jets? It’s a much more complicated question than it at first […]

Every pilot who stays reasonably up to date with the march of aviation technology knows that today even pilots of piston singles and light twins can get aviation weather in the cockpit. For those pilots who fly their airplanes for transportation, this is nothing short of a safety revolution. Instead of guessing and hoping and […]