Search Results for: general aviation inc

A group calling itself the Avgas Stakeholder Group has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to extend the comment period on its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking an additional 120 days. Originally scheduled for comments to close on June 28, the ANPRM addresses lead content in aviation fuels, and the implications of removing that lead are […]

Weve been doing this long enough to remember when the extent of new avionics upgrades included a couple of flip-flop nav/coms and an audio panel. Even back then, some owners stumbled with otherwise simple switchology. Worse case was missing a radio call. Things have changed. Todays avionics upgrades, however, usually involve tightly integrated glass and advanced automation. Just learning how to power up all those neat toys usually requires more thought and planning than the nav/coms of 20 years ago. The safety implications are obvious; the operational ones perhaps somewhat less.

We admit it: The modern autopilot is a marvelous technological innovation, capable of smoothly flying even antique airplanes better than most of us on our best days. Especially when operating in the en route environment, its usually on, and doing its thing so we can concentrate on the scenery. Its also useful in other flight modes, of course, especially in the clag. Letting George do it frees our mental bandwidth for chart folding, communicating with ATC and planning the upcoming approach to minimums.

Its no great secret that nearly all new-production aircraft now have glass cockpits and advanced devices such as weather data link. Even technologies such as synthetic vision have become the new norm. In a way, the term technically advanced aircraft (TAA) has become a misnomer but it is still widely recognized as a tag line for a variety of related issues-including TAA training.

I once counted as many as 10 pitch pumps between a jet transport arriving at 50 feet above the runway and touchdown. As the power came to idle (a bit further down the runway than necessary), the copilot planked it down with a predictable, rather heavy kerplunk. All survived. And they could use the airplane again. But theres got to be a better way. Its the last couple hundred feet where many pilots lose the finesse, presuming they had any to begin with. Its the case whether operating VFR or IFR, since most operations this close to a runway are visual.

Before we can get to the runway-or the FBO-we have to taxi. Its easy to conceive of the taxi portion of our flight operations to be akin to driving a car, but the only things they have in common is their two-dimensional nature. Instead, taxiing is an operation requiring a skill and experience level similar to landings. Especially since were often closer to other objects than at any other time. How to taxi depends on several variables, including time of day, visibility, aircraft type, the pavement (or lack of it) and its condition, plus surface traffic, among others. But if we focus on a few elements of the taxi operation and pay attention, we should be fine.

Brian Delauter, the general manager of the Transportation Security Administration’s General Aviation Branch said, “I have an open goal of increasing [GA] flights into DCA [Washington Reagan International Airport].” He said the current regulations permit up to 48 flights per day, but the current set of security rules, known as the DCA Access Security Program […]

Bird strikes seem to be in the news a lot recently, especially since geese brought down a US Airways Airbus 320, leading to the “miracle on the Hudson” and the article I wrote in the May 2009 issue of Flying about Things That Go Bump (Often at Night). There are other objects in the sky […]

JUNE 2010 — THE GENERAL AVIATION safety record has changed very little in decades despite continuous efforts by regulators and the industry. On the other hand, the major airlines and corporate flight departments have made great progress in reducing the number of accidents. There are many reasons for the divergence in results for the two […]

A DAHER-SOCATA TB20 Trinidad was on display at the Euro-Avia Cannes (France) International General Aviation Exhibition last week — but with a new twist on the decades-old design. This Trinidad was retrofitted with Garmin’s G500 aftermarket glass avionics suite (the G600 includes XM satellite weather, which is not available in Europe). The retrofit package, which […]