Features

At the Aero show in Friedrichshafen, in 2012, the undisputed star was a sleek and sexy four-place single from the innovative Slovenian company, Pipistrel. The Panthera surprised on several levels because Pipistrel was a player in the world of microlight/light sport aircraft, but wasn’t thought to harbor aspirations toward the mainstream certified market. But a […]

One day we were finishing some instrument training at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, an area well known for its fairly large Amish presence. It was very windy that day and as we were headed outbound, the Tower told a landing Piper, “I think I just saw a horse and buggy pass you.” The Piper responded, “Yeah, we […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

Reminder: PIC Authority Is Absolute Years ago, I recall on my second student cross country into a controlled airport with parallel runways. I was on final in a Cherokee about a mile from touchdown. Suddenly the controller instructed me to do a left dog leg to land on #L runway. I was extremely uncomfortable doing […]

As we discussed in Part 1 last month, after buying and testing a new Sterba wood propeller for my Hatz biplane, it was clear it had too much pitch. For reasons discussed in the previous article, I had decided to replace the old Sensenich metal prop with a new wood prop. Selecting a propeller for an Experimental aircraft […]

While flying cross country from South Carolina to California we planned a stop in Reno, Nevada. I complained to the controller when he released me for the visual approach 7000 feet above and just five miles from the airport. Flying into Reno is like flying into a bowl, this was my first time in (on […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

Cessna’s Perfect Timing On The SkyCourier I like the SkyCourier. It strikes me as being “very Cessna”. Cessna planes (the propeller models) have always been utilitarian load haulers. While the Comanche pilots pontificate on speed, and the Bonanza owners brags luxury and control feel, while the Mooney has efficiency … the Cessna pilots talk useful […]

Aerodynamic wing stall accidents have been a concern since the canard was removed around 1910. Approximately 40 percent of General Aviation fatal accidents are due to loss of control with the majority of those being from stalls. One element of stall awareness training that’s not often taught is the stall warning details of sensors used […]

Recently my wife and I flew to Harris Ranch (California) for breakfast. On the return flight, I dropped my wife off at Sierra Sky Park Airport before flying to Madera Municipal Airport, our home base. Madera Municipal is about 20 miles north of Sierra Sky Park. In winter we usually have ground fog in the […]