features_old

PMA basics The regulation itself is extremely simple: 21.303 Replacement and modification of parts. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, no person may produce a modification or replacement part for sale for installation on a type certificated product unless it is produced pursuant to a Parts Manufacturer Approval issued under this […]

It wasn’t exactly what I hadexpected. Let me explain. I am a 1,500 hour pilot with about half those hours in a V35A Bonanza Ihave owned for seven years. I fly about one hundred hours per year – a combination of VFRand (mostly) light IFR in our usually mild Central California climate. I have participatedin […]

Since the editors of AVwebon this great new medium have been gracious enough to permit me to use this space to writeanything I please (so long as it is in reasonably good taste), I intend to take fulladvantage of their kind offer. The freedom to speak my mind is absolutely wonderful! Sincemy writing has often […]

On September 9, 1997, I received a letter from the Department of the Air Force,Headquarters 388th Fighter Wing, Hill AFB: Dear Jay, On behalf of the men and women of the 388th Fighter Wing, I would like to formally invite you to return to the cockpit for a day as a guest member of the […]

My little green and white Ercoupe (N3948H) was a joy to fly.Its bubble canopy and low wing afforded great visibility,allowing easy scanning for other traffic and enjoyment the view. Of course, some folks thought the airplane was a bit unusual. Itdidn’t have rudder pedals, only a wheel for controlling flight.Its combined aileron and rudder system […]

Clouds… Beautiful, fluffy ones-dark, roiling, malevolent ones; they addimmeasurably to our natural landscape. For non-aesthetic reasonsthey are important, too. They help regulate the earth’s energybalance, by reflecting and scattering solar radiation or absorbingthe earth’s radiated infrared energy. But they also visually indicatephysical processes which shape the weather that we fly through-notthe least of which is […]

One fine hot summer’s afternoon saw a Cessna 182 flying jumpers at a quiet country drop zone. The jump pilot was getting quite bothered with one student’s inability to get out on the strut and was getting impatient at the jumpmaster for not just kicking the student out of the plane. Just then he saw […]

The flight instructors handbook says that the more intense is theexperience, the better it is remembered. During one of my early lessons, my CFI allowed me to experience an intense moment which senta jolt of terror through my nervous system which has ingrained in mean important concept that I will never forget. During my preflight […]

I did not have a clue what I was in for. Young, naive, but with a thirst for the air that has yet to bequenched, I approached Mansfield Airport some 20 odd years ago andclimbed into what I thought was a small trainer airplane, theformidable Cessna 150. Then my instructor began the beguine. We climbed […]

I took my primary flight training in Cessna 150s. The 152 was justa new bird, the first one at Birds Nest just fresh from the factory,and unsold. It would be mine, but not until primary flight training{test of the landing gear trunion} was over on somebody else’sairframe. Leaseback aircraft are all old models, generally bustedup. […]