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Bentley said Cirrus is doing everything it can to prevent brake-related fires. “We do take these things very seriously,” he said. In most cases, he said, the fires have occurred on club or rental aircraft that see a lot of different pilots (the most recent incident was an exception). Cirrus believes the heat sensors will […]

Bentley said Cirrus has studied the incidents extensively and determined there are no design or equipment faults at work, and for Cirrus this leaves only “operator error” as the cause. Unlike many aircraft pilots may be transitioning from, Cirruses have a free castering nosewheel and are steered only with differential braking, plus some positive or […]

Don’t Ride The Brakes Cirrus Design plans to issue a Service Bulletin on all its aircraft in response to a spate of brake fires (the most recent of which occurred Dec. 9) that have caused serious damage to at least five aircraft. The SB will call for the installation of color-changing temperature sensors on the […]

Although there’s an undeniable thread of showmanship to Coburn’s feat, those involved in the fledgling Sport Pilot and LSA industries say there’s an important lesson to be learned from the effort. “The national average for a Private Pilot’s license [sic] is 72 hours and a lot of people are taking nearly a year to accumulate […]

Since Coburn’s goal was to complete his training in a week, he did as much advance preparation as he could, including passing the written before he even stepped in the airplane. His instructor, Nathan Mayers, said it would have been more comfortable for all concerned for Coburn to have taken two weeks to complete the […]

Magazine Editor Earns Sport Pilot Ticket As with any new category of anything, the “firsts” keep piling up for Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft. However, a 26-year-old magazine editor has set a record that may well stand for a while. A couple of weeks ago, Davin Coburn, a science editor for Popular Mechanics, climbed […]

Van Nuys FSDO Manager Richard Swanson said his office is merely spelling out a policy that has been directed by the FAA administrator. Swanson said all offices were asked to review their policies with respect to the operating limitations that come with flying an experimental aircraft. He said the limitations vary depending on aircraft type […]

EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski said the organization has been aware of the memo since it was issued last year and has worked behind the scenes to help individual pilots at the affected airports. However, Knapinski said the memo is fundamentally flawed in that it can only apply to aircraft that the local authorities are familiar […]

Four California Airports Off-Limits To Some Homebuilts, Warbirds EAA says it’s making progress in reversing or modifying restrictions on experimental aircraft imposed on four busy California airports by the Van Nuys Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). In April of 2004, then-FSDO Manager Robyn Miller issued a memo that effectively barred some experimental aircraft from regular […]

While most reports and editorials since the incident place no blame on the air marshals, who apparently acted in accordance with their training, other questions have been raised. A columnist in Editor & Publisher critiqued the “media docility” that quickly spread the official version of the story without checking the facts. Others have questioned the […]