Pilots generally remember their landings, sometimes for years. They come in two basic flavors: best ones and worst ones. Everything else tends to fall into a memory-based black hole. My best ones are too numerous to mention, naturally, but my worst ones stick around in my memory like poor weather at the beach. One bad landing in particular stands out.
The leaders of 14 aviation organizations sent a dire warning to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, telling him in a joint letter to do something now to bring down the costs of ADS-B compliance or risk seeing a “significant reduction” in general aviation activity when the ADS-B Out mandate takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020. Writing […]
The cowling surrounding a reciprocating engine is a sophisticated aerial garbage disposal. Its job is to throw away about $1.50 out of every $6 you spend on avgas. Gasoline contains more energy per pound than TNT, but engines turn only about a quarter of that energy into useful power. What happens to the rest? It […]
A number of general aviation’s most influential lobbying groups have come out in strong support of Terrafugia’s request for an exemption to LSA weight and stall speed limits for the company’s developmental flying car. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association and Experimental Aircraft Association all submitted formal comments to the FAA supporting […]
After three long years marked by a series of unexplained delays, AOPA President Mark Baker sent a blistering letter to the head of the Department of Transportation this week to tell him pilots are fed up with the government’s foot dragging over 3rd class medical reform. Writing to DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx that it is […]
Some things you just can’t understand unless you were there. So, it’s fitting that a pair of crash survivors are most responsible for one of the most notable and controversial recent aviation safety innovations. They were there. The first, Boris Popov, had his day of motorboat-towed hang gliding over Lake Owasso, Minnesota, go topsy-turvy after […]
If you haven’t noticed, general aviation is on the verge of a mini revolution — and it has nothing to do with jet-fuel-burning diesel engines, shiny new glass cockpits or multibillion-dollar NextGen modernization programs. Instead, the big change in aviation centers on the new millennium’s “sharing economy” and you, the pilot — or, more precisely, […]
In the thin air above 20,000 feet, with German fighters bearing down from all directions, the inside of an unpressurized American bomber in World War II was an altogether foreign world. Freezing cold, oxygen-deprived and hundreds of miles from the nearest friendly fighter escort, the bombers faced desperate odds with each mission deep into enemy […]
The AOPA Air Safety Foundations annual Nall Report found an increase in accidents involving amateur-built aircraft. The statistics from 2008 showed the highest rate of fatal accidents and fatalities in 10 years. The 27-percent lethality rate in these accidents was 10 full percentage points higher than that for accidents in type-certificated airplanes, according to the report.
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