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I hear it consistently, Yeah, Ill do the ADS-B bit later, once there are more boxes to chose from and the price comes down, Ive got lots of time. Maybe not. While the sky is not falling, pilots are notorious for procrastinating when it comes to compliance with regs-ask any AME whether the demand for […]

As much as we drill instrument students on any of the 10 items from FAR 91.175 (c) you must see to go below DA/MDA, in the real world if we see anything that might be part of the runway, we land on it. Its nearly certain that youll first see the approach lighting system (ALS), […]

When Fred Weick and John Thorp set out to design a less expensive alternative to Piper’s Comanche, it’s unlikely they thought the resulting PA-28 series would become so popular, so durable or so varied. Since introducing the Piper Cherokee 150 and Piper Cherokee 160 (PA-28-150 and PA-28-160, respectively) in 1961, Piper has stretched, T-tailed, turbocharged […]

By the time a person finishes training for a pilot certificate, he or she has gotten a good introduction to a small corner of the FARs, has probably learned nothing about whats involved in buying or owning an airplane and had an immersion in aviation Old Wives Tales (OWT) regarding legal obligations and potential liabilities […]

We Americans like our stuff. We accumulate it madly and take it with us when we go places. We happily buy and jam our highways with SUVs, minivans and gigantic pickup trucks, each able to comfortably swallow several people and their stuff. Yet, when it comes to airplanes, it’s tough to fulfill the deep-seated desire […]

To date, the single-engine turboprop market has been a classic economic model of independent niches—the players don’t compete directly. The Pilatus PC-12, Daher-Socata TBMs, Cessna Caravans, Quest Kodiak and Piper Meridian target different mission and load needs; there’s not much to encourage price competition, although the TBMs are so fast they do go head to […]

Letter of the Week:Adjusting GA I find it very interesting that AOPA is planning to refurbish three Cessna 152s looking for a price point of $85,000. Also, the comments about the 1,320-pound gross weight limit for LSA being a problem in the U.S. for flight schools. Both of these concerns lead me to believe, as […]

I still have my airplane today. Im very lucky. After the most recent annual inspection was completed, my aircrafts induction system caught fire. I found I was woefully unprepared for such an event. If I was unprepared, you probably are, too. Thankfully, no real damage was done. But this event highlighted for me some of […]

Three, Gooney Bird, Doug, Dakota, Diesel-3, Douglas Racer-no matter what its called, one can legitimately argue that the most influential airplane on commercial aviation was the Douglas DC-3. It was the first airliner with operating costs low enough to allow a profit in all-passenger service (previously, a contract to carry the mail was essential to […]

Ive long been frustrated with the misuse of the speeds known as Vx and Vy in pilot training. This article is an attempt to explain my reasons in a reasonably clear and entertaining manner. The opinions in this article are mine alone, and refer to the Bonanza. Most of the basic speeds are taken from […]