Search Results for: oxygen

I’m not superstitious. I’ll brave an elevator that stops on the 13th floor. I won’t deem the day a potential catastrophe when a black cat crosses my path. But after a round trip to São Paulo, Brazil, during a total lunar eclipse, I had to wonder. This particular eclipse also qualified as a blood moon, […]

A few years ago, as my need to travel on business to various locations ill-served by the airlines grew, using a GA airplane was a natural solution. After months of making, missing and rescheduling appointments, conducting business in FBO meeting rooms and up to four sales calls a day, I started to get the hang of it. What I learned about weather flying and fitting small airplanes into the ATC system would fill several magazines!

The Airbus Perlan Mission 2, a project that aims to take a glider to the very edge of space next year to gain scientific insight into the Earth’s upper atmosphere and perhaps lay the groundwork for eventual flights on Mars, celebrated the opening of the new Dennis Tito Perlan 2 Hangar at Minden/Tahoe Municipal Airport […]

It was a beautiful day. Light winds. Clear skies. Towering, snowcapped Rocky Mountain peaks surrounded the 9,000-foot runway at Eagle, Colorado, from which I was about to depart. I was at the controls of a Pilatus PC-12, a sizable single-engine turboprop built to carry thousands of pounds of people or gear. Today we were light. […]

Spec Box The Diamond DA62 flown for this report was an international spec model with optional third-row seating accommodating seven people, increased 5,071-pound maximum takeoff weight, built-in oxygen, air conditioning, TKS icing protection, Garmin GWX 70 weather radar and GSR 56 satellite data receiver, Avidyne TAS600 traffic advisory system, 36-gallon auxiliary fuel tank, metallic paint […]

A case can be made that the twin-diesel DA62 from Austria’s Diamond Aircraft represents a new pinnacle in piston aircraft design. Its long list of positive attributes includes superb efficiency, quality construction, technological sophistication and aesthetic appeal from every angle. With so much going for it, there’s little question this is an airplane that belongs […]

Both his wife and the instructor who had recommended him for his instrument rating two years earlier described the 1,500-hour pilot as thoughtful and analytical. He had “strong flying skills,” the instructor said; his wife observed that “he liked to plan ahead and have a contingency plan.” The 640 nm trip from Torrance, a southern […]

The FAAs Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge is clear; Of all the senses, vision is the most important for safe flight. This statement is particularly true for instrument flying where sight must often overpower conflicting cues from our other senses. Over the years, weve likely forgotten the little bit we learned about vision in our initial pilot training. Lets review the basics of vision and explore what happens as we age. Finally, well look at what happens when vision goes awry at night in IMC.

An autonomous landing system that Diamond Aircraft officials call an electronic parachute has been successfully tested in Austria, the company announced in September. Tested in a DA42 twin, the system uses fly-by-wire technology and has been in development for about three years. The aircraft, with two test pilots on board, flew the approach and landing to an uncontrolled field without any input from pilots in the cockpit or on the ground. The airplane touched down gently right on the centerline. CEO Christian Dries said the technology may be available as an option within a few years. An auto-takeoff feature also is in the works.

I often verbalize the last item on my preflight checklist just before taxiing onto an active runway and ask, aloud, How could this flight kill me? I run through all the Big Stuff in my mind, mentally ticking off each item that meets the criterion from an imaginary checklist. Its similar to the FAAs PAVE model- Pilot, Aircraft, environment and External pressures-but theres also a factor that doesnt quite fit the acronym: the payload. Call it PAVE-Load, or LPAVE.