Clik here to view.
FAA Should Serve Training Safety & Reality
Not long ago the FAA brought the number of fatal accidents in amateur-built experimental aircraft to the attention of the aviation community. It got more specific about the problem—and its solutions—in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FAA Cuts Flying Costs With Free Charts
Now that I have your attention, temper your excitement with the understanding that this cost-saving opportunity may only benefit infrequent fliers, those who feel lucky to afford 30 or 40 hours a year....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Onex Makes 1st Flight; Fits 99% Size Pilots
Stopping by Sonex Aircraft the morning of January 28, Mark Schaible greeted me with the news that its single-seater, the Onex, had made its first flight the day before. It passed its FAA inspection...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Friday Night Flights to Wild Alaska
At every level, and in every corner, it seems that the world is a universally unhappy place, and has been for awhile. Citing political mandates, and mindless of immediate or future consequences,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2010 Updates Pilot Population Highs & Lows
Using FAA data provided by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s annual Statistical Databook, I’ve built a spreadsheet of pilot population data back to 1964. Updating it for 2010 revealed a...
View ArticleOld-School Alaska Fly-In & FAA Flexibility
In the last century, fly-in were about flying. Unlike today’s events, which cater to passive participants there to shop and watch other people fly, the pilots who flew in honed their skills by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AirVenture 2011: Memorable Waypoints
Sitting on the front porch with my battered feet bared to a healing breeze, I celebrated the end of my 34th EAA AirVenture Oshkosh marathon. Delivering my second round of rehydration elixir, my wife...
View ArticleAutumn Peace & Aviation Inspiration
Photoguy73 over southeastern Minnesota in 2008. Here in Wisconsin the maples are beginning their fall fashion season. Their shimmering coats in shades of reds and yellows blaze in the afternoon’s low,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Monnett Finally Lives His SubSonex Dreams
John Monnett has been dreaming about a homebuilt jet since the 1980s, so one can only imagine the barely controlled eagerness that filled him with the first flight of the SubSonex. And one can only...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Budding CFI, a New Writer
Editor Note: At least a couple of times each week, someone sends an unsolicited story trying to convince us to publish it. More often than not, the material simply doesn’t fit. It’s either too long,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Challenge Notes Importance of Flight Time
For decades, individuals and organizations have focused attention and effort on rebuilding the pilot population. But for the first time in memory, AOPA is drawing attention to—and doing something about...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CFIs Need Career Situational Awareness
Last week, the middle school where I am a substitute teacher held its annual career and hobby day, where students sign up for presentations that interest them. I was on duty as a student wrangler, not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
EAA AirVenture 2012: First Impressions
Since I started attending EAA AirVenture professionally, as an exhibitor in 1989, and then an employee, and now as a journalist, my greatest joy is covering the site from the North 40 to ultralights,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AirVenture Debuts Offer Better Flying Future
With its huge, preselected aviation audience, EAA AirVenture is the ultimate dog-and-pony stage on which many companies debut new hardware and software. Significant this year are new airplanes that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alphabets Collaborate for Aviation’s Future
Less than a decade ago, when the symptom’s of aviation’s decline were firmly manifested, a number of aviation’s alphabet organizations focused mostly on increasing their slice of a shrinking pie. With...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Building Community is the Secret of Flight School’s Success
The day after Thanksgiving, Sporty’s Academy shared news of a week that any flight school would love to have, four first solos, two new private pilots, two new commercial pilots, and a new flight...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Airplane Geeks Coming to Udvar-Hazy
Just about the time you thought you’d have a Saturday free to kick back and goof off comes word that The Airplane Geeks will again be a part of the Air & Space Museum’s Become a Pilot Day on June...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Should We Teach Pilot Judgment?
I was just watching the animation of an Cirrus SR-22 accident caused by poor pilot judgment near Boynton Beach, Fla. in November 2011. The crash claimed the lives of two pilots. “More money than...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AirVenture: Airplane Geeks Invade Oshkosh
When people call me a “Geek” these days, I accept it as a term of endearment, especially with the advent of social media. In fact, that’s why our radio show’s called The Airplane Geeks. It’s actually...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Einar Enevoldson Likes to Fly Gliders High
High as in altitude. Wandering through the science section of the New York Times in the dying days of October, “A Quiet Trip to the Ozone Hole” caught my attention. It’s about the Perlan Project, which...
View Article
