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Search Results for: wright

Accident Probes

Rationalization

People wouldnt fly personal aircraft-or participate in many other activities-if there werent benefits. Thats human nature. Some benefits we seek by taking risks are intangible and hard to quantify. Others can be readily identified and weighted. Its a calculus we all employ daily in mundane ways. However, the problem isnt that we fail to assess benefits when we analyze risk. Instead, the issue is the inaccurate values we assign on both sides of the equation.

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News

Restored B-17 Memphis Belle Unveiled at Air Force Museum

After spending several years inside a hangar at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, undergoing an extensive restoration, the B-17 Memphis Belle is on display for the world to enjoy at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The B-17F bomber was unveiled last Wednesday at a private event honoring family members […]

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Pilot Proficiency

The Glitz and Glam of the Living Legends of Aviation Awards Ceremony

How cool is this: an invitation to the 15th annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, from a friend — himself a living legend — whose lovely wife finds all things airplane a crashing bore (whoops, wrong adjective). Then an offer to bunk with friends in Santa Monica (instead of $300-plus […]

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Features

Risk Assessment Tools

which has since been discontinued. The screenshots above were created using that now-discontinued and unavailable app.üIt’s axiomatic that good risk management begins during the flight-planning phase

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Airmanship

Props

Propellers often are not well understood by general aviation pilots. Their purpose-transferring the engines horsepower into thrust by moving a large volume of air to the rear-usually is obvious. How this feat is accomplished may not be. Looking at a propeller blade cross-section will reveal it is actually an airfoil, one moving at a right angle to the airplanes desired motion.

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Pilot Proficiency

Even the Ancient Greeks Dealt with Turbulence

My mother, who fortified herself for any aerial voyage with either Miltown or Chivas Regal, would later revisit with perverse relish each “air pocket” the plane had encountered. I’m not sure what she believed an air pocket consisted of, but I suppose it was something like the “region of low pressure causing an aircraft to […]

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Accident Probes

ICON A5 Feedback

First my condolences and prayers go out to the entire Halladay family; his was a tragic loss.I commend Mr. Wright on his emphasizing risk management awareness, not only regarding the A5 but similar general aviation safety issues. Unlike many light sport aircraft that I am familiar with, the A5s inherent engineering design and safety features are second to none.

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Pilot Proficiency

Glide, Sail, Soar — Any Bird Can Do It

A northeast wind is picking up. Two red-tailed hawks are circling above this ridge, rising higher and higher, sliding fast when they turn southward but seeming to hover in place when they face north. Each surge and billow lifts them higher. They must soar for pleasure; they’re so far up now, no likely prey would […]

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Aircraft

Kitty Hawk Tests VTOL Drone in New Zealand

A startup endeavor backed by Google cofounder Larry Page has tested an electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing drone in New Zealand. The company, Silicon Valley based Kitty Hawk, revealed released a video of the prototype in flight. The Cora autonomous craft is targeted at the nascent airborne taxi market that some experts predict could explode […]

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Pilot in aircraft
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