Search Results for: wright

Aircraft range has been a problem since the Wright Brothers, usually meaning too much mission for the fuel aboard. But after last week’s first flight of the sunlight-powered SolarStratos, range problems just might be headed for a permanent solution. The Swiss two-seat electric aircraft, originally created to mimic the mythical flight of Icarus, uses electricity […]

In 1909, the French experimenter Louis Bleriot made the first crossing of the English Channel by airplane. The aircraft he used, his Model XI, was similar in its general configuration to what we consider conventional today: engine in front, pilot close behind a monoplane wing, horizontal stabilizer and rudder at the tail end of an […]

At one time or another, weve all passed an FAA knowledge test requiring us to calculate aircraft performance for various phases of flight, such as takeoff, cruise and landing. Even though weve been trained and tested on our ability to interpolate the answer down to the foot, mile, minute or gallon, these calculations alone dont ensure were always operating the aircraft prudently. For one thing, they dont account for poor technique, worn equipment or errors.

Over the last few months, weve run a series of articles to guide you towards your own personal SOP. The final article of that series is in this issue. But, youd be wise to ask if you really need an SOP for general aviation flying. After all, do you really want to further complicate the process of flying a small plane in IFR? Do you really want to fly, Just like the airline pilots? Part 91 doesnt have that thick book of requirements that impedes (guides?) the pros. Do you really want to trade the liberation and fun of GA flying for that kind of strict regimentation?

Powering jet engines with a 50-50 blend of biofuel and aviation fuel reduces particle emissions in their exhaust by as much as 50 to 70 percent, according to a NASA-led study recently published in the journal Nature. Part of the agency’s Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions Study (ACCESS) data was collected on […]

Ive never thought too much about traffic patterns. Turn left or right, fly downwind, turn left or right again. Align with the runway. Land. Or not, since tower controllers may have their own idea of traffic management. The basic idea, of course, is to maneuver the airplane so you can glide to the runway under partial power and execute one of your greasers of a landing. Depending on where you fly and how good (bad) the controllers are, regularly flying a rectangular pattern to land may not be something youve done lately.

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 […]

A lot of attention has been directed at the FAAs new airman certification standards (ACS), which prescribe how practical tests are conducted. Last year, the FAA implemented ACS for the private pilot-airplane certificate and instrument-airplane rating. A chief difference between the ACS and its predecessor practical test standards (PTS) is expanded integration of risk management principles. Another involves how slow flight is performed.

Instruments have been a part of aviation since the first flights by the Wright Flyer equipped with a stopwatch, an anemometer to measure wind speed and a Veedor to measure engine revolutions. With the increase of flight activity in the early years of aviation, aircraft instruments were invented that provided necessary information to pilots for precise control and navigation of their aircraft.

Kudos to Robert Wright on achieving 50 years of accident/incident free flying and receiving the FAAs Master Pilot Award (On Getting To 50, September 2016). I too have reached that milestone, but not without accident nor incident in my 6100-plus hours of private pilot flying, most of which has been recreational. My incidents occurred despite what I believed to have been reasonable risk management.