Search Results for: general aviation inc

In February’s issue, I used this space to discuss efforts to deregulate FAA requirements for some pilots to hold a medical certificate while serving as pilot in command. After the FAA failed to act on a 2012 petition from AOPA and EAA, the two organizations began working with interested members of Congress to develop appropriate legislation. That bill, H.R. 3708, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in December, and presently enjoys 93 cosponsors. On March 11, 2014, companion bill S. 2103, was introduced in the U.S. Senate. It has nine cosponsors.

The primary flight training experience doesn’t adequately prepare most students for the real world of getting from Point A to Point B. Conventional wisdom, often conferred upon us during that primary training phase, teaches us to make an either/or decision about launching on a proposed flight. Unfortunately, the “go/no-go” decision is more complex than that, and the question must be answered using risk management techniques. The answers will be different for departures, while en route and when conducting an approach to the destination.

One of the keys to safe and successful instrument flight is paying attention to details. Often the difference between arriving at your destination uneventfully and not arriving there at all after diverting is hidden in the notes and symbols on an approach chart. What does it mean when a procedure is marked as “not authorized”? Doesn’t ATC protect you by refusing to clear you for an unauthorized procedure?

My only real experience with of helicopters results from serving as self-loading freight on a handful of occasions. I know rotorcraft flying involves many similarities to fixed-wing operations: The basic FARs applying to rotorcraft pilots are the same ones governing fixed-wing drivers, for example. The charts often are the same; so are airport operations.

“Think globally, act locally.” That’s the business mantra of the newly formed Continental Motors Group, the world’s first and only truly global producer of piston aircraft engines. What does it mean to you? Well, a few things actually. And they’re all pretty important. First, Continental Motors, founded in 1929, is suddenly a part of a […]

Under pressure from user groups and Congress, the FAA has announced it is pursuing a rulemaking project to implement proposed medical certification rules that would in many cases allow pilots to fly without the third class medical certificate that is currently required. To industry observers, the FAA release seemed consistent with a response by an […]

Since 2009, 42 Air Force MC-12Ws have been deployed to war zones in the Middle East. The MC-12W is a modified Beech King Air 350, externally similar except for a plethora of antennas and several unsightly bulges, including a huge belly pack. Communications and surveillance equipment and stations for two technicians replace the usual executive […]

When I turned 15 and started taking flying lessons, my dad gave me a copy of one of the true bibles of piloting technique: “Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators.” First published in 1960, it remains the definitive text on applied aerodynamics for pilots — and at 15, I could barely understand a word of it. It […]

We cruised along under a high gray overcast at 13,500 feet, solitary in the sky over the winter patchwork Kansas countryside. On the gauges were figures that a pilot of any single-engine nonturbine airplane would be delighted to see: 210 knots true while burning 18 gph. This was the kind of true airspeed that 30 […]

We pilots love engines and with good reason. We rely on their continued trouble-free operation to keep us flying safely. Perhaps more to the point, without engines, flight would never have gone far, and it can be argued that every noteworthy advance in aircraft performance was preceded by a noteworthy advance in power-plant design. There […]