Search Results for: general aviation inc

Aviation Safety has stated that there are basically two smoking guns with the Tomahawks history: the stall/spin and yoke [Aircraft Analysis, February]. As a private pilot with nearly 400 hours in a privately owned Tomahawk, I can only comment on what Ive witnessed.

The yoke problem, as mentioned in the article, was addressed by a couple of SBs. Prior to flight, I commence several box checks with the yoke and have never had the aircraft give a hint of yoke lockup. Regardless, if the yoke bushing is found to be faulty, it can be remedied with an engineering fix followed by another, more thought out, SB, AD or STC. Happily, a replacement bushing or bracket should be a relatively painless r…

Pilots in the traffic pattern worry enough about looking for other airplanes that many ignore helicopters, even when tower controllers call out the traffic. The reasoning may be something like: They dont fly patterns that interfere with airplanes, so theyre not a collision threat, and theyre so much smaller than an airliner, how bad could a wake vortex really be?

The risk of collision is something only the pilot in the pattern can assess, but the threat of wake vortices from helicopters is actually much more ominous than most pilots realize.

Real-world research into the effect of helicopter rotor vortices on general aviation aircraft shows that some of the characteristics are the sa…

Not many people would justify the time and expense involved in being a proficient general aviation pilot without their spouse supporting the activity. While many spouses are pilots themselves, a great number are merely participants who enjoy the travel and other benefits of flying, without having been bitten by the flying bug itself.

These preferred passengers share a few traits. Theyre usually willing and able to help with some of the housekeeping chores like folding maps, watching for traffic and looking up frequencies. Some may take a pinch-hitter course or a bit of flight instruction in case the pilot someday gets a bad batch of oysters. Virtually all describe their pilot-in-command…

The article on the Payne Stewart accident [Critical Moments, January] was a well-written discussion of the hazards of flying corporate airplanes at high altitude. I would like to add two points.

When I first joined the airlines, I had not had the benefit of military training. My airline refused to allow their pilots to take altitude chamber rides unless they were in the National Guard or Reserves. Like most pilots who have not been exposed to the effects of hypoxia, I didnt believe the training movies. It wasnt until I left the airline and had to take the training that I became a believer.

Second, I think the rule requiring one pilot to wear a mask above FL350 or when the other p…

Year after year, airline flights operated under FAR Part 121 get top billing for safest category of flight. This should come as no surprise, considering the many well-known safety advantages enjoyed by airline pilots.

They receive the best training around, including high-fidelity, full-motion simulator training not available to most GA pilots. Their job performance is closely scrutinized by their peers, by management, and by the FAA. An average line holder flies 700 to 900 hours every year, so they generally enjoy a high level of currency and comfort with the airplane they fly.

The hardware is often the best that Boeing or Airbus offers, with better performance margins and greater…

The checks in the mail.

Your airplane will be ready Tuesday.

Im from the FAA and Im here to help you!

Three of the Great Lies – but with the last, you actually have some control over what happens. If your encounter with the FAA involves a ramp check, there are several things you can do to protect yourself, including knowing what an inspector may and may not do, that may help it it go easier.

Getting ramp checked is one of the great fears of all pilots. Even the average, law-abiding pilot has a gut-level dread that no matter how righteous his intentions, the FAA inspector will find something wrong with either the pilot or the plane. Many fear that they will either get tem…

At the end of an excellent article on engine-out procedures and preparation for landing [Reality Check, April], Wally Miller states: … fly the airplane … trim for best guide speed and do not give up an inch of altitude.

I am somewhat perplexed by that statement. if you lose and engine, I always felt that you should pitch the plane up to the best glidespeed, thereby gaining altitude.

I fly a Mooney 201 which cruises at 145 to 150 KIAS. My best glide speed is 85 KIAS. If I lost an engine, I would pull the nose up and immediately trim the plane for 85 KIAS. During the pitch up and trim, I would gain several hundred of feet of altitude, which could buy me a better landing spot. I…

One of the most fatal types of accidents in general aviation is structural failure, in which the chance of death is nearly 100 percent.

Luckily, wings dont come off aircraft very often. But when it happens, it will be catastrophic and probably unsurvivable. Im shocked while listening to some flight instructors who quietly advertise that they would teach aerobatics regardless of the aircrafts certification, citing that the aircraft had a safety margin so it wasnt a big deal.

It is a big deal. In fact, theres a rental/training aircraft at a nearby flight school that is so bent that it wont fly straight and level, and students regularly complain that its stall is so unpredictabl…

I have two questions regarding the article Landing at the Max [Airmanship, March] You state: … with a 46 KCAS stall speed. Enter the flare in a 172 at 65 knots instead of 60 and you have 2.25 times as much kinetic energy to dissipate before the airplane will stop flying.

My first question is: How did you compute the factor of 2.25? Here is how I analyze this problem. Kinetic energy is proportional to the square of ground speed. For simplicity Ill assume that CAS is equal to GS. The airplane stops flying at its stall speed of 46 knots, therefore the KE (kinetic energy) that must be dissipated before the airplane will stop flying is the difference between the KE at entry and the KE…

My first and only accident is a good example of how psychological factors affect piloting decisions. I was 17, inexperienced and anxious to try out a new set of wings. I had little money, so my primary radio was a used unit of doubtful reliability. In fact, it had malfunctioned on the ground several times, and I was unsure how it would do in the air.

Everything worked well until I got into a steep turn. In most planes, a radio malfunction will not lead directly to a crash. But in a radio-controlled model aircraft, you can guess the result.

Despite what you might think, the cause of this crash was not faulty equipment – it was pilot error. I made a bad decision to fly with deficient e…