briefs

Legislation now in Congress would help protect volunteer pilots from liability concerns, and the folks at the Air Care Alliance (ACA), who are lobbying for the bill, are asking pilots and aviation organizations to write to their representatives in support. “It is also extremely important that actual volunteer pilots and leaders from these groups write […]

The Dynalifter, a hybrid airship that combines aerodynamic lift — wings and body lift — with aerostatic lift — helium — is under construction in Alliance, Ohio, and is expected to be finished later this summer, according to its builder, Ohio Airships. The 120-foot prototype is about 75 percent assembled and the company says it […]

A Goodyear blimp crashed about 12 miles west of its base at Pompano Beach Airpark in Florida at about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Thunderstorms were reported in the area, and witnesses said heavy rains and wind buffeted the airship as it descended to the ground. The blimp knocked down some electrical wires, and about 1,400 […]

A pilot in Alaska got into trouble last week when sheets of plywood strapped beneath the belly of his Cessna 206 caught fire, apparently due to heat from the exhaust. The pilot landed on a sandbar in the Skwentna River and escaped with minor injuries. Alaska is the only state where the FAA allows small […]

After much back and forth between the FAA and owners of affected Cessna twins, two final Airworthiness Directives about wing spars were issued last week. The final ADs require a spar-strap modification, but allow most owners up to 800 flight hours to comply — that’s four to eight years of flying for most owner-operators. The […]

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BRAINTEASERS Quiz #95 — A New Sport PilotWelcome, Sport Pilots, to aviation — an exclusive club open to anyone who dreams far above the madding crowd’s ignoble ground life. Before you touch the heavens, however, review some old- and new school-terms. ___________SKYWRITINGS Chicken WingsThe cartoon adventures of Chuck and the rest of the Roost-Air FBO […]

While his hometown media in southeast Texas remembered Gordon Baxter as a “local icon” and “legendary radio talk-show host,” he was known to aviators around the world as the author of “Bax Seat,” his well-loved column that ran on the back page of Flying Magazine from 1971 to 1998. Baxter wrote about airplanes, the people […]

The U.S. Ultralight Association (USUA) on Tuesday asked the FAA to give ultralight pilots and instructors two extra years to transition to the Sport Pilot rules and for ultralight aircraft to transition into Light Sport Aircraft. The USUA also asked that the training exemptions that allow the use of two-seat ultralights for training purposes also […]