Search Results for: general aviation inc

Preflight weather planning has long consisted of calling an FAA Flight Service Station. Years ago, you might have even visited one. But, using the Internet, you can now draw on the same resources that meteorologists use. While the 2000s brought weather data to the cockpit, were now getting some Internet tools to the cockpit via dedicated datalink. Although we cant yet cheaply surf the web at cruise, we connect to the Internet at the FBO, on the ramp and in the plane on the ground, using phones and tablets with WiFi and cellular data.

Two general-aviation aircraft designs, the Turbine Mallard and the all-metal tandem SAM LSA, are up for sale. Thierry Zibi said he enjoyed designing and building the SAM, but doesnt want to run a production company. The SAM is certified in Canada as an Advanced Ultralight, and is compliant with the LSA rule in the USA. Frakes Aviation acquired classic Grumman Mallards type certificate some years ago, and upgraded the fleet with turbine engines. The TC is back on the market now, as the current owners are ready to retire. Were looking for someone to take on the entire project, said Sam Jantzen, of Mallard Aircraft, who is working with Frakes. That would include not just the type certificate but the inventory of parts and several partially-built aircraft now owned by Frakes and based in Texas.

It was a setup for loss of control. Martha and I were brand-new VFR-only pilots and, while returning from California to Indiana, had decided to scud–run through Tennessee to hurry our way home. The ceilings had pressed us down below the tops of tall antennas, and we were circling tightly over a small town while […]

Hurtling at high speed through the lower reaches of the stratosphere with the persistent roar of the turbofan engines reverberating mere feet from the passenger compartment and the ferocious rush of turbulent air blasting away against the fuselage, the typical business jet is anything but a sanctuary of peace and quietude on the inside. It’s […]

Few pilots know that FAA imposes a hard character limit on text products such as Convective SIGMETs and the Area Forecasts (FA). The Aviation Weather Center (AWC) has a check program for the Area Forecast that counts the number of characters. On busy weather days when these forecasters have a lot to mention in the forecast, they often bust the character count. This forces them to cut from either the text or the synopsis in order to make the size fit through the National Airspace Data Interchange Network (NADIN) hubs. Often the first casualty is the ellipsis (…). Forecasters can use two periods instead of three. Another casualty is the synopsis. Of course, the last resort is to cut from the text of the FA.

As seasoned recreational pilots we sometimes forget just how little about general aviation our passengers really know and understand. Many of our right-seaters probably think flying in a light airplane is little different from what they experience on the airlines. From their time flying United or Delta, they know the drill is to sit down, […]

The Office of Inspector General for the Transportation Department reports that the FAAs ADS-B plan faces significant risks and challenges. The number-one issue: Reluctance to purchase and install the required new avionics. Users have raised justifiable concerns about evolving requirements and uncertain equipage costs and benefits, the report says and brings back up the idea of cost sharing on incentives for upgrading users. The report also points to promised cost savings by using contractors that have evaporated or ended up costing more than doing things in-house. Meanwhile, the Airline Electronics Association says the new FAA guidelines that require ADS-B equipment to be installed under the supplemental type certificate (STC) process will stall early equipage, delay early implementation, and, at the extreme, cause the failure of ADS-B implementation all together.

(August 2014) Time is running short, so I’m going to get straight to the point: If you’re a pilot or aviation enthusiast and you’ve never been to Oshkosh for EAA’s annual fly-in and shindig, you need to go. It runs July 28 through Aug. 3 this year, so depending on when the postman delivers this […]

On Sept. 29, 2013, a Cessna Citation CJ2 landing at Santa Monica Airport near Los Angeles suddenly veered off the runway and crashed through a hangar, bursting into flames and killing all aboard. Three months later, on Jan. 5, 2014, the pilots of a Challenger 601 landing with a strong, gusting tailwind in Aspen, Colorado, […]

As the FAA drags its heels on a Congressionally mandated overhaul of light aircraft certification rules — or, as some charge, digs in its heels — the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) is hosting a high-profile aviation summit in Europe to press for similar reform there. The global initiative in Brussels, attended by nearly 100 […]