Search Results for: oxygen

Flying a specially outfitted Pipistrel Virus, Slovenian pilot Matevž Lenarčič topped Mount Everest on the Nepal side of the summit at an altitude of 29,344 feet. The Pipistrel is outfitted with a turbocharged, intercooled Rotax 914 engine and Matevž was breathing oxygen through a custom pressurized delivery system. The team at Pipistrel had calculated that […]

Fast, comfortable and long-legged, this luxury turboprop makes a good living at the flight levels.

I’m of the school of thought that there is no such thing as too much training. And while you may think underwater emergency egress training may be superfluous if you stay within the confines of our borders, the day you end up upside down in an airplane in one of the Great Lakes, the Gulf […]

I just got back from a roundtrip flight to Central Florida for a speaking engagement, and even after all these years of flying 1,000-nm trips in light airplanes, I was still surprised by how starkly different the “out” and the “back” legs were. This is one important lesson about transportation flying that no one ever […]

(January 2012) The question that was being debated around the halls of NBAA 2011 the other week was about as technical and geeky as it gets: When flying a very low approach, lower even than a decision height of 200 feet, where is the proper place for your “head,” that is, your eyes and your […]

The recently implemented FAA rules on pilot fatigue for airline pilots made me ponder the importance of being alert when flying. If you’re not on your game it’s easy to nod off, particularly if you’re flying with an autopilot, and the consequences can be devastating. It’s worth taking an extra step in the prefight process […]

NASA has selected the spacecraft design of the future, a heavy-lift rocket intended to take human space exploration to Mars and beyond. After months of design reviews, the space agency settled on a rocket equipped with RS-25D/E engines for core propulsion and a J-2X engine for power in the upper stage. Both will rely on […]

Fight flights are some of my favorites. The air usually is smooth, what traffic is sharing the sky can be spotted easily, theres less chatter on ATC frequencies and-when conditions are right-the beauty is unmatched. But flying at night also brings with it some additional challenges, at least when compared with the same mission during the daytime. The root problem, of course, is lack of illumination. More than a few aircraft have smacked into hillsides at night and in good weather. Even more insidious is dealing with the odd emergency, especially if we have to put down in a remote, unlit area.

While the name Daher-Socata is new, the roots of the company can be traced back to the beginnings of man’s adventure with the airplane, starting 100 years ago under the name Morane-Saulnier. Over the last century, the company has developed 94 models and produced more than 17,000 aircraft. It also participated in many aviation firsts: […]

(August 2011) It’s certainly not hard to understand the allure of a new airplane. There’s nothing quite like the smile on the face of a buyer who has just been handed the keys to a brand-new bird. There’s an undeniable pride of ownership there, along with other advantages. New airplanes have the latest features, they’re […]