Search Results for: general aviation inc

(February 2011) — How do we get more people to join our ranks as pilots? It’s simple; force them to make a trip on a commercial airline. Frankly, it’s amazing to me that the airline experience hasn’t caused a mass migration to general aviation. Ironically, the solution was driven home to me on my trip […]

(January 2011) — The envelope had been forwarded twice by the time it got to me. I tore open the top seal and pulled out a worn 8½- by 11-inch color brochure, its binding coming apart, with a cryptic note paper-clipped to its top edge, asking for the brochure to be forwarded on to me. […]

It’s never a good sign when you show up for your airline flight and see news helicopters circling the airport. That was the scene on Monday afternoon at Newark International Airport as I arrived for my scheduled flight to Phoenix on US Airways. Walking into the terminal, I quickly understood the reason for all the […]

(January 2011) — A Beechcraft King Air returning from an emergency medical services flight descended normally toward the destination airport, but then flew past the airport and plowed into the ground about seven miles west of the airport. A student pilot returning from a business meeting with his instructor in a Cessna 182RG crashed about […]

Andrew Schmertz is starting with one Cirrus SR22 flying what he bills as “air limo” flights out of Republic Airport in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. He hopes to expand to as many as five aircraft in his fleet by the summer season, able to shuttle passengers, on demand, from nearby jumping off points to […]

The old wisdom was that a thick airfoil would carry plenty of ice. It’s a folk tale based, perhaps, on innumerable stories of DC-3s from the early days of the airlines landing with thick coats of ice. The stories might be true, but the fact that DC-3s had chubby wings does not translate to aeronautical […]

It’s just one small step for some helicopters, but it could grow to a giant leap for general aviation in China — and ultimately, the rest of the world. China has begun testing a policy that shows promise of massive strides for general aviation. Over the coming weeks, four helicopters will be permitted to fly […]

(January 2011) — Our industry is at an en route intersection. One airway leads to continued reduction in student starts, lack of retention of students and pilots, decline in flight activity and security-based encroachments on our privileges. On the other airway we might be able to sustain healthy growth and an expansion of the utility […]

This time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, airframe icing takes on much greater importance for most of us flying personal airplanes than it does at other times. There are good reasons for that, and anyone trying to conduct regular winter operations should closely monitor weather trends and plan accordingly. But the seasons wet and cold can create an icing-accident situation even on a severe-clear day with dry air. All it takes is some water and cold temperatures. The fact is, you need not encounter textbook icing conditions for the slick stuff to pose a threat when the ice hides inside the airframe, out of sight, probably out of mind but most definitively not out of the picture.

When discussing the concept of turning an airplane, there are at least two separate and completely different concepts. One is in the navigational sense of turning to a new course or heading. However, this article is concerned with another concept: moving the airplane in a curved flight path. Curving or bending the flight path changes the airplanes longitudinal axis orientation with respect to the earths surface. Of course, this occurs while moving through the air. This curving flight path is one of only two the airplane can make-the other, unsurprisingly, is straight.