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Meigs Field Massacred I just read about an early morning attack against an airport and how its runway was destroyed. What stunned me was that it didn’t occur in Iraq or Afghanistan by those fighting against us, but rather, by a government entity right here in the USA.The cited rationale that the Meigs closure (actually, […]

Best Of The Breed There Are Those That Stand Out Every year at Sun ‘n Fun the best and the brightest show off their latest. From the tried and true to the leading edge of innovation the show offers the average pilot a rare chance to get face to face with the people behind the […]

Hijack Transponder Rule Panned So, instead of labelling the proposed new transponder’s “panic” buttons in the normal way, perhaps they should label them the “Please shoot me down” button. Only a suicidal pilot these days would deliberately squawk a “hijack” code, right? George Horn US Military May Degrade GPS Signal This article indicates that the […]

No doubt about it, pilots are a special breed.And after a day of reading accident reports — which I do without fail at least once a month — I sometimes suffer from the impression that they’re highly motivated, well-trained, steely-eyed idiots. I’ll concede that this is a cynical, over-the-top generalization but when you read about […]

I am really excited about our newfound capability to record extensive data from real, live, running engines in real airplanes. We’ve been doing this for several years, but the data is getting more and more sophisticated, and we’re learning to make better use of it. We can now take this recorded data, quickly plot it […]

Hijack Transponder Rule Panned No doubt these hijack transponders will find tremendous utility in the Mooney Mite and the single seat Pitts Special!David Abrams This article states “The agency has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would require the replacement of virtually all existing transponders in GA aircraft with models that have a […]

The “Wright” Stuff … And A Kiwi’s Accomplishments Are Still Remembered In the early Kiwi airplane piece in your March 20 issue, your writer shifts time frames without explanation. The result appears to imply that the 1903 Wright (Kitty Hawk) Flyer benefitted from a catapult launch. It didn’t. The 1903 Flyer made its total of […]

This article originally appeared in the June 2002 issue of Light Plane Maintenance, and is reprinted here by permission. One of the biggest recurring headaches for the light aircraft owner and mechanic is that of exhaust manifold leaks. With the majority of aircraft in the general aviation fleet exceeding 30 years old, problems with exhaust […]

It was, as I recall, a Sunday afternoon. The weather was superb and we were in the middle of Nigel’s semi-annual half day of recurrent training. He was, as usual, right on altitude, heading and speed, and way ahead of the airplane even though I’d covered instruments and he was doing it all partial panel. […]

Honda’s New Engine I just read the news on the teaming of Honda and TCM for a piston engine. What great news to have Honda enter this market. I was looking for a place to send encouragement to Honda/TCM to sell a non-certified version of this new engine for experimental aircraft builders. We really need […]