Pilots

I had just finished packing my suitcase and refueling my rental car, ready to depart L’Agulhas, a sleepy fishing village built on the soft green hills and limestone rocks of Africa’s southernmost point. My last two days in South Africa were spent soaking up the sunlit serenity of this surfside enclave where the Atlantic and […]

Climbing over large boulders blocking the mouth of a narrow, sandy canyon near Joshua Tree, California, I stopped to catch my breath. Somewhere on the steep, rock-strewn hills just ahead, the remains of a TA-4F Skyhawk lay undisturbed. At 3:07 p.m. on Oct. 23, 1969, the ill-fated jet on a training flight originating in Yuma, […]

Engines, aircraft, and the rules and certification standards and procedures that govern them have evolved together since the 1930s on the seemingly firm foundation of leaded avgas, which forms part of the operating limitations on which the type certificates of aircraft and engines are based. Fuels and fuel systems have come to be perfectly matched […]

AOPA’s initiative to promote flying clubs around the country, which was announced at last year’s AOPA Summit in Palm Springs, California, has inspired Sporty’s to launch a program to aid clubs as well. Sporty’s is offering 5 percent rebates on all purchases from customers who are members of a registered flying club. “We are in […]

If you thought Redbird’s $1 a gallon gasoline promotion for the month of October sounded too good to be true, well, you were right. Citing overwhelming demand and the toll it has taken on the Skyport FBO staff in San Marcos, Texas — not to mention the company’s bank account — Redbird has decided to […]

It’s back! The Red Bull Air Race World Championship will return to the skies starting next year with a seven-race circuit across six countries. Two of the world championship races will take place in the United States — first at the Texas Motor Speedway near Dallas next September 6-7 followed by a race October 11-12 […]

Ever since Tom Poberezny suddenly left the Experimental Aircraft Association in 2011, his presence has been lacking at EAA’s annual AirVenture. Now there are rumors that Poberezny will return to next year’s aviation extravaganza in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. A sizable group of high profile EAA members, including Bob Hoover, Dick VanGrunsven, Frank Christensen and Burt Rutan, […]

Hearing about John and Martha King’s encounter with law enforcement and reading about similar horror stories, I adjusted my eye patch and was about to swing through the rigging, knife in teeth, in defense of pilots’ rights. Like Clark Kent, I would use my journalistic skills to battle the forces of evil — menacing cops […]

At the Monaco yacht expo last week, one of the attention grabbers was Graham Hawkes’s DeepFlight Super Falcon two-man submarine. What makes the craft interesting for pilots is the control method. The Super Falcon is buoyant, and relies on forward motion and negative “lift” from its 8.8-foot wingspan to keep it from rising to the […]

Pilots who’ve made the trip to the Redbird Skyport in San Marcos, Texas, for the $1 a gallon gasoline are raving about their experiences. Despite sky high demand since the promotion started on October 1, lines have moved quickly and the FBO has handled the influx of pilots beautifully, we are being told. As the […]