Search Results for: general aviation inc

(October 2011) Air France 447 went down in the mid-Atlantic in 2009 because all three of its pitot tubes iced up. Well, not exactly. It wasn’t the loss of functioning pitot tubes that doomed the airplane; it was what the A330’s autopilot, and human pilots, did next. The autopilot — but it would be more […]

Flight training providers offering FAA-approved Flight Instructor Refresher Course (FIRC) programs will need to make modifications to their courses as a result of a recently updated advisory circular (AC 61-83G). The new 33-page AC includes modified guidelines on how to develop training course outlines (TCO) and updates some of the core topics that must be […]

(October 2011) Signature Engines president Bill Schmidt and the company’s chief security officer, Boo Radley, strolled across the ramp to my hangar last week as I was debugging the 180. Boo is actually a spoiled but lovable mutt rescued by Bill and named for the lonely character in To Kill a Mockingbird. Summer flying in […]

Among the concerns expressed by a brand-new student pilot I was talking with recently was what I took to be a strong fear of stalls. I didn’t have the opportunity to ask him where he learned stalls should be feared. I did, however, relate they were important but—at least when understood—weren’t anything to fear. Which is not to say they shouldn’t be respected. Key to understanding stalls, of course, is knowing why and how they occur, why we practice them and how we can use the knowledge and experience gained during that practice to prevent more dramatic behavior, like deep stalls or spins, especially when close to the ground.

If you haven’t noticed, the days are becoming shorter, it’s not as warm out and—depending on where you are—the trees probably have changed color. Welcome to winter, sometimes a seasonal smorgasbord of aviation weather conditions. May we interest you in some unexpected fog? Perhaps a premature sunset? How about a nice mix of solid overcast, low sun angle and variable winds? If you’re a fair-weather pilot, you may be tempted to hang up the headset for a few months, at least until it’s time to adjust the clocks forward. For the most part, that’s the wrong reaction, but it’s clear the short days, low sun angles and long shadows, and freezing precipitation winter brings can tax our individual systems.

One of the few advantages of aging (or becoming “seasoned,” as my wife calls it) is gaining better perspective of our lives and careers. For me, a constant over the past 40 years has been watching the tragic consistency of the rate and reasons for General Aviation aircraft accidents. On a personal level, I‘ve lost […]

Harrison Ford was on Capital Hill Tuesday meeting with the Senate General Aviation Caucus and lending his star power to general aviation advocacy. The actor joined the bipartisan group of senators to discuss some of the most pressing issues currently facing GA, including the dismantling of the BARR (Blocked Aircraft Registration Request) program, the future […]

Flying New York’s Hudson Valley corridor in the fall is a scenic, almost breathtaking experience. The foliage displays a panoply of autumn of colors, temperatures are cool and crisp, skies are clear and the air is often smooth. Nothing epitomizes autumn in southern New England more than Dutchess County in southeastern New York State. Located […]

While the numbers were still modest compared to shows during the boom years a while back, the latest edition of the National Business Aviation Association Convention, which finished up in Las Vegas last Wednesday, enjoyed solid numbers, this according to the NBAA. Association president Ed Bolen called it “a highly successful show.” It seemed that […]

(October 2011) Those of us who have been around airplanes for any length of time understand the concept of stepping up, whereby a nonpilot becomes a pilot, learns to fly in a certain brand of airplane and then remains loyal to that brand while gaining experience and moving up through the model lineup to bigger, […]