Search Results for: general aviation inc

Whenever two or more pilots get together in the same place, the conversation eventually gets around to which of them has the greatest number of flight hours. The yardstick of how much time youve spent aloft is more than just small-scale bragging rights, of course-it also can determine whether youre eligible for a subsequent certificate, or even legal to carry passengers. And then theres the matter of insurance coverage.The simple fact is that most of the aviation world measures how competent we are in the cockpit by how much time we may have spent there. The inference is that high-time pilots are safer, and that low-time pilots are less safe. The fallacy is highlighted if we put someone with 20,000 hours as PIC of a 747 into a piston single and ask him or her to perform an engine-out approach from downwind: Without some practice-i.e., some experience with that particular operation-its not likely to turn out well. What is experience? How to measure it? Most important: If its so valuable, how can we get more of it?

Boiled down to the basics, there are two kinds of airplane propellers: fixed-pitch and everything else. With a fixed-pitch prop, of course, the pilot cant change the angle at which the blades are aligned with the hub and thereby adapt it to situations involving variations in power and airspeed, both of which can influence a propellers efficiency.Depending on an operators needs, a fixed-pitch prop can be designed to maximize cruise speed or climb performance, but not both. In fact, it will be most efficient at only a specific, optimized rpm. At all other rpm settings, performance will suffer. The result found on the typical personal airplane usually is a compromise between allowing the engine to turn at its best-power rpm (climb) and creating the greatest forward momentum (cruise).

Build A Plane and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) announced they are hosting their fourth Aviation Design Challenge to promote STEM education among high school students. The competition, which has spanned 38 states in the past three years, will be open to the first 100 schools that enter. Only one four-member team — including […]

What’s new in the world of avionics? Attitude indicators are now FAA approved. If you own a drone, get ready to have it registered. Virtual Air Traffic Control is coming to the States. Cargo overloading leads to crash killing nine people in Alaska. The NTSB holds a panel on loss of control, and more.

Lockheed Martin’s Flight Service Stations are still open, but the services for pre-flight briefing and cockpit assistance are dwindling fast. The FSS now pushes for more pilot self-assistance as it is gradually being replaced by digital applications.

The National Transportation Safety Board archives reveal some serious considerations for general aviation pilots who venture out into ANY unfamiliar condition. Lets examine a couple of noteworthy accidents using some of the highest caliber weather products available to meteorologists. Using these tools, well try to figure out where things went wrong. Unfortunately, todays tools and the expertise behind them werent available to the pilots involved in the accidents. But we can use this knowledge to find lessons that can be learned for pilots who might someday find themselves immersed in similar predicaments.

It was a bright, bitter morning in the high desert, and a late-winter gale scoured the Inyokern, California, airport as I taxied the Piper Lance to a cavernous heap of a 1940s-vintage hangar and shut down the engine. I paused to listen to the mournful wind as it jostled the little freighter, and then gathered […]

Anybody who follows general aviation knows that we’ve got our share of problems. The list goes on and on: New airplanes cost too much. FAA regulations and mandates are suffocating us. GA airports are under constant attack. The EPA wants to outlaw our 100LL avgas. Too few pilots are still flying. With so much to […]

Rockwell Collins announced at NBAA’s Business Aircraft Convention and Exposition the addition of the Cessna Citation CJ series of light business jets to the growing list of platforms to be retrofitted with its Pro Line Fusion touch screen avionics suite. Rockwell Collins partnered with Duncan Aviation, which will initially start with an STC retrofit for […]

We’re mere weeks away from seeing the FAA’s first take on revised small aircraft certification standards, what has come to be known as the Part 23 rewrite. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said the notice of proposed rulemaking should be published before the end of the year, a time table he’s hopeful the agency can meet […]