Aircraft

General aviation is still in the doldrums, reflected by low third quarter numbers from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). Deliveries dipped to 420 aircraft, that’s 23.4 percent lower than Q3 2009. Stacked up against the same time period in 2008, it’s even more depressing — down by almost 60 percent. But that was the […]

Anyone on the decision-making fence about springing for a new aircraft needs to act fast. The stimulus 50-percent bonus depreciation law covers new aircraft delivered by year end, and the tax savings can be huge. Essentially, buyers are able to accelerate half the overall depreciation of the aircraft into one year, allowing a significant tax […]

There are a lot of unnecessary fears in flying, or at least fears that are overblown. How many aircraft owners resist adding a multi-engine rating, or shy away from buying a twin, based on the fear of loss of control when an engine fails on takeoff? It is certainly a valid concern, and dealing with […]

The Citation Mustang High Sierra edition incorporates several desirable upgrades along with some limited edition aesthetic touches to create a Mustang that will stand apart. The exterior paint is a striking two-tone scheme with mountain silhouettes on the nacelles and a special edition logo near the entry door. Inside, Cessna designers have given Mustang customers […]

Southern California’s Santa Monica Airport (KSMO) now has a fitting tribute to its history as a center of airline manufacturing with the installation of a full size DC-3 monument. It’s hard to imagine tony Santa Monica being an aviation manufacturing hotbed, but not too many decades ago it was home to the production line of […]

Minimums,” says Bob Owsley. The view isn’t encouraging. We can see the ground, or more accurately the water, but that’s about it. There is no sparkle to the gray surface of Lake Winnebago; it is a mirror of the dark clouds just 100 feet over our heads. Still, this is the most spectacular way to […]

In July 1969, I flew a Pazmany PL-1, N4081K, a two-seat homebuilt with a 90 hp Continental engine, from California to Rockford, Illinois, for the EAA Fly-In, as it was then called. That was the last year the fly-in took place at Rockford, which had run out of room for the tumescent event; in 1970 […]

I’m not sure who first came up with the term “spam can” to designate a basic, fixed-tricycle-gear, aluminum airplane. Spam itself originated in the late 1930s, and Hormel, the manufacturer of the soon-to-be-ubiquitous pork shoulder/ham product, actually started calling it “Spam” to make it sound jazzier. It needn’t have bothered. One of the defining characteristics […]

The event happened in the middle of March, when the weather consists of winter storms and unsettled conditions. Weather, the nemesis for all pilots, almost became the leading contributor to what should have been the last day of my life. I lived in Salt Lake City at the time, and I was just about to […]

According to an eyewitness whose attention was caught by the loud gunning of its engine as it approached the airport, the little two-seater’s wings both vibrated visibly before the left wing folded back against the fuselage. The airplane pitched downward and began to spin; the right wing then bent upward, and it too folded back […]