As I was hefting two humongous boxes of maintenance records into the 180, I found myself thinking about the draconian FAA rules for operating a DC-3, the outta-sight fuel prices, the cost of round engines, spare parts, insurance, a hangar and maintenance. And I said to myself, out loud, “Martha, do we really want to […]
I sat in our Miami pilots’ lounge, looking at the faces scattered around the room. It was a typical scene. Some pilots were reclined in lounge chairs while others were seated at a desk, plugged in to their laptops. Some pilots were engrossed in a newspaper. The TV at the front of the lounge flickered […]
When governments buy airplanes, they face many of the same constraints that we do. If it is a new airplane, it takes a long time to develop. And, the fewer engines the airplane has, the more affordable it can be. The next generation fighters, the F-22 and the F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter) are perfect examples […]
||| |—|—| | | | The morning was still clear and cool when I pushed the Cheetah’s throttle forward and lifted off from Runway one-four at Santa Rosa. At first it was a takeoff like any other I’d had with the plane, and I let out a sigh of relief at finally being off on […]
When the poet Robert Burns wrote, “the best laid schemes o’ mice and men, gang aft a-gley,” what he meant was that things often don’t work out the way we intend. The well laid plan was for Robert Goyer to fly up to Columbia County to take some pictures of me with my Cardinal. That […]
Cessna’s 2001 Skylane has a new letter, jumping from the 182S to the 182T, and when the turbocharged version is considered it becomes the T182T. The model change is justified by a lot of small tweaks that cleaned the airplane up enough for a cruising speed increase of at least four knots. The avionics package […]
Get the latest stories & special offers delivered directly to your inbox.
SUBSCRIBE
