Search Results for: maintaining your airplane

The first sign of trouble came when the pilots yoke-mounted GPS announced External power lost. Switching to battery. Before the pilot could wrap his head around that, the instrument panel went as dark as the inky night outside. Central Florida is thinly inhabited, offering few ground references. Fighting vertigo but keeping his cool, he knew that his Bonanza was trimmed for straight and level cruise. Using his GPS, he gingerly turned east toward the ocean with well-lit towns and cities hugging the shore, aiming at his home base, Boca Raton airport, KBCT. The engine droned along as if all was right with the world.

Airplane performance and good maintenance are closely related. The figures published by the manufacturer are frequently viewed as optimistic once an airplane is put into service-and suffers prop nicks, bugs on the leading edge and a couple of bad landings-but book numbers can be achieved even years later. When actual performance differs from the published numbers, its often because the airplanes condition has diminished over the years and hours of use. The level of maintenance an airplane has received over the years will have a significant impact on its overall performance.

Stabilized approaches have gotten a lot attention lately, not only with those who fly airplanes, but also with the general public. The proliferation of video cameras has done quite a good job of educating people on how an otherwise airworthy aircraft can be flown into the ground. As the images play out on the screen, a disembodied voice inevitably will at some point attribute the carnage to an approach that was not stabilized.While the voice might not mention just what that thing that was lacking in said accident really is, people will at least remember the phrase the same way they remember words such as shark, fire, disco or myocardial infarction. The true meaning is vague, but they do know it is usually associated with something bad. With that in mind, lets add some clarity by reviewing what a stabilized approach is. Perhaps if we understand what it is, we can then fly it.

Situational awareness is critical when youre on the gauges, right? Few of us will argue that with a good EFIS its childs play to maintain that situational awareness, regardless of the quality of your scan. So far, so good.

Restoring and maintaining historic airplanes consumes an enormous amount of time, as well as money, a few reasons some of the largest aviation museums in the United States, like the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, are primarily funded by […]

Checklists get taken for granted-settle into your seat in the cockpit, pull out the booklet or laminated cards, turn to the Before Engine Start page and start following the steps. Fire up the engine(s) and proceed down to After Engine Start and Before Taxi. Sound familiar? For most flying under 14 CFR Part 91, this read-then-do routine is the norm all the way to Parking and Securing. While many pilots with a fair amount of experience-particularly those with their own aircraft-will often go a step beyond and make their own checklists, there are far more efficient methods to get things done on time and in the proper order.

I havent flown in a year. There, I admitted the embarrassing truth. Shame on me. Its time to rejoin GA, which Im starting through some recurrent training. In March I wrote here in strong support of cockpit-specific training-something I also needed. You see, my airplane has a lot of cool toys Ive yet to really master. Garmin kindly offered to train me on the primary combination and it was an eye opener.

How to Save Big on a Used Airplane By Stephen Pope If you’re in the market for a used airplane, the good news is there are thousands available for sale on trade-a-plane.com, barnstormers.com and tacked to the bulletin boards at local airports. The bad news is most of them are so old you might wonder […]

One of this magazines missions is to help reduce general aviations accident rates. Ideally, there would be no fatalities. We want to see an end to poverty and war, too, but were not holding our breath on either. In the world of aircraft, a mechanical world, things are still going to break and pilots are going to have to respond quickly, thoughtfully, and appropriately in order to make aircraft accident fatalities go away. Sometimes they may have to augment that skill with luck, too.

My instrument instructor was a glass half-full kind of guy. His response to my first ILS was, Well, at least there is room for improvement. An ILS became the one approach I most dreaded. But now that Ive got a bunch of em under my belt, its actually the approach I prefer. Howd I get there? Im glad you asked.