On Course

A question I’ve been hearing lately is whether China will scoop up the assets of Hawker Beechcraft, which has filed for bankruptcy and is known to be for sale. Already, several potential bidders have come forward with hopes of buying the entire company or select pieces. I would bet China has at least joined the […]

We’ve heard a lot lately about biofuel breakthroughs, batteries and solar power as potential replacements for avgas at some point in the not-so-distant future, but what about liquid hydrogen? The maiden flight of Boeing’s Phantom Eye UAV last week proved that hydrogen could indeed serve as a replacement for traditional fuels in piston-powered airplanes. Phantom […]

The NTSB held a fascinating meeting at its Washington headquarters on Tuesday morning that explored in detail the poor safety record of experimental amateur-built aircraft and produced a laundry list of solutions aimed at stemming the problem. The raw data presented in the NTSB’s study of experimental aircraft safety was wholly absorbing in and of […]

Warn the neighbors and anybody else who will listen: The FAA and FBI are cracking down on people who intentionally point laser lights at aircraft in flight, launching dozens of investigations and charging nearly 30 alleged perpetrators since stepping up enforcement last summer. A new law enacted in February makes doing so a federal crime […]

A few months ago I wrote a feature story that took an in-depth look at the future of aviation biofuel, an area of scientific research that is still very much in its infancy but appears poised for major breakthroughs. In the article, I noted that oil price instability is the chief worry of most every […]

I attended a meeting last night at Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU) in New Jersey, where officials from the tower and the FAA were on hand to discuss with local pilots the new Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR) system that many have likened to an ATC snitching program. Here’s a quick overview in case you aren’t familiar […]

I’ve been lucky to have flown a lot of airplanes over the past 20 years, almost all of them belonging to other people. Some were high wings; some were low. Some were taildraggers; some were nose pushers. Some were brand new; some were downright decrepit. Some were fast; some were painfully slow. Some were pleasantly […]

I recently spent a week on a sailboat as a guest of an experienced captain and his first mate – in this case, literally so because she is also his wife. This was my first real exposure to sailing on the open sea, of which past experiences have been confined to the occaisional summer afternoon, […]

It takes years to build a successful brand, but only a few bad decisions, or in some cases a run of bad luck, to ruin one. That’s what makes the planned revitalization of the storied Bendix/King brand name so intriguing. For the past 15 years, Bendix/King has more or less been a victim of neglect […]

Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland, Florida, marks the start of a very special journey for the airplane that spawned a homebuilding revolution. A group called Friends of the RV-1 has finished restoring Richard VanGrunsven’s original RV-1 – the progenitor of the entire Van’s Aircraft line from the RV-3 through the RV-12 – and now plans […]