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Homebuilts: The New GA Market Homebuilt Litigation Growing Are Homebuilts Covered By GARA? Creation of a Homebuilt Aircraft Who Has  Liability Exposure? Defense #1: Modification Defense #2: Pilot Error Common Homebuilt Myths Exculpatory Agreements “Boilerplate” Disclaimers Conclusion Do you have a dream? Do you: If you pursue this dream, you will probably do so as […]

The instrument rating checkride was the next morning. I wasready. N8236N was washed and polished and oiled and fueled and I had the logbooksthoroughly analyzed. There were bookmarks (these were the olden days, kids, we didn’t havesticky notes) to note the location of all required inspections and ADs. The static systemand altimeter had been freshly […]

All ELTs have one thing in common, their main purpose is to notify potential rescuers(by different means) that an aircraft has run into a solid object and someone could be inneed of help. But the technology for doing this is in the midst of a big change. Most current ELTs operate at 121.50 and 243.00 […]

Last month, I passed along some cold-weather operatingtechniques put together by the denizens of the pilot’s lounge here at our virtual airport.In the process, I mentioned the father of cold weather flying, Bernt Balchen, and said I’dtell you a little more about him this month. In the interim, I’ve also received somefeedback on cold weather […]

Pitch to Altitudeand Power to Airspeed?… or Power to Altitude and Pitch to Airspeed? Several years ago, a pilot examiner of my acquaintance would askhis private applicants one question and one question only during the oral portion of aflight test. The question was, “Which control makes the airplane go up?” If theapplicant answered, “The throttle […]

NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARDPublic Meeting of January 26, 1999(Subject to Editing) Aircraft Accident involving John DenverIn Flight Collision with Terrain/WaterOctober 12, 1997Pacific Ocean near Pacific Grove, CALAX-98-FA008 Probable Cause | Safety Recommendations EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On October 12, 1997, about 1728 Pacific daylight time, an experimental category, amateur-built Adrian Davis Long-EZ airplane, N555JD, crashed into the […]

Can’t breathe welder’soxygen? Aw, horsefeathers, as my dad used to say! Show me the rule! Oxygen is oxygen. It is the substance that matters, not the intended purpose. Thesedays, welding, medical, and aviation oxygen are exactly the same. All three come from thesame tank of liquid oxygen (LOX). The liquified form is the cleanest, purest, […]

It had been a very good winter day. About adozen of us stuck around here in the pilot’s lounge after the sun went down, even thoughsnow was falling and a blizzard was forecast. We were getting warm after dealing with thechallenges of working with little airplanes in cold weather and talking about our daysand, of […]

I don’t fly balloons. Idid fly balloons, but I gave it up. Not because it isn’t a lot of fun, because it is. Idon’t fly balloons because, like flying flingwings, it is too much work for a lazy guylike me. With an airplane, you take off, point it where you want to go, trim it […]