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Elbert Rutan was born in Dinuba, Calif., inJune 1943. After receiving a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Cal Poly, he worked forthe U. S. Air Force as a Flight Test Project Engineer at Edwards AFB, Calif., until 1972.After two years designing and developing the Bede BD-J5 he formed RAF, the Rutan AircraftFactory. For the next […]

When you arrived at Plant City you were on a VFR flight plan. What was your original plan for the day? I started in Melbourne. I was building cross-country time for my instrument rating. I want to get the instrument rating first, then I’ll have enough hours to go right into the commercial rating. At […]

Oneof the things that has always driven me crazy about the commercial first aid kits that youfind in drugstores and pilot supply catalogs is that they’re filled with crap that istotally useless … and sometimes even harmful. Never one to be soft-spoken orunopinionated, I have tried to make my feelings known (vigorously) to variousmanufacturers of […]

I am not proud of this all-too-true story.It demonstrates incredible stupidity and poor judgment on my part, and it is the closest Ishall ever come to dying without doing so. I have told the story to only a very smallhandful of people, and I am certain that some of those probably don’t believe it, as […]

The Heli-Expo 2000 exhibit floor was crowded with booths and displays, plus a record-territory number of  attendees. This mock-up of the forthcoming Agusta/Bell AB139 drew plenty of attention. This is a 12-pax twin. The latest variant of Sikorsky’s S-76. Bell’s 427, in PHI colors. They might fly differently than a fixed-wing aircraft, but they’re all […]

IFR Rules, New Ships Bode Well; Noise Issues, Neighbors Bedevil Potential A week ago Friday, the FAA acknowledged that helicopters are, well, different.After years of wishing and hoping, lobbying and praying by the helicoptercommunity, the folks at 800 Independence took the “FAR”-reaching stepof publishing rules changes for IFR helicopter flights that lower fuel-reserverequirements and ceiling […]

My compliments to Mr. Erik Reed-Mohn for a very well-written response to my columns on this subject. He eloquently expresses the factors behind the drive to adopt new (to most of the world) procedures. I remain unconvinced, but rather than flog this horse to death, I have but a few comments, and will thereafter move […]

This article is written in response to Mr. John Deakin’s Pelican’s Perch columns #24 and #25 concerning Constant-Angle Non-Precision Approaches (CANPA), in which Mr. Deakin takes the position that such stabilized non-precision approaches may not be appropriate for use by other than glass-cockpit aircraft with VNAV automation. I differ with that view. The concept of […]

As the snow piles up around the windows at the virtual airport and some of the resident airplanes grow funny appendages on their landing gear, I always ponder the fact that many pilots will spend a pile of money to put their feet into skis but few ever explore flying airplanes with skis attached. That’s […]

Rod Machado was born in Oakland, Calif., in1953. He’s half German and half Portuguese, which he claims gives him a geneticpredisposition to conquer a country and then go fishing. He began flying at 16, soloed at17, took his private pilot checkride with legendary instructor Amelia Reid, and, a fewyears later, began to teach flying. After […]