GA News Today

BLOGS

• Air Safety eJournal

  • Down in Lake Michigan

    This appears to be one of those exceedingly rare, one-in-a-million, wrong place, wrong time mishaps. A Cessna 206 flying a cancer patient from Michigan to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota went down in Lake Michigan. The volunteer pilot who had flown numerous medical assistance flights did not appear to be affiliated with any of the [...]

    Down in Lake Michigan

  • A Very Tough & Diverse Week

    July 2010 started very badly, domestically,  for GA pilots. July 1st On Thursday,  there were three accidents and all involved fatalities. That’s highly unusual. The normal ratio is about one in five. In Perry,  Kansas a Beech F33A on an IFR flight reported losing an engine at 7,000 feet and radar contact was lost at 1,000. Two lost. On [...]

    A Very Tough & Diverse Week

  • How High?

    The passing of generations is always an interesting time. We are seeing it in the ATC system as Reagan-era controllers look to slower lifestyles.  The golden years probably don’t involve expensive human-occupied vehicles hurtling at each other at hundreds of knots. With the changing of the guard also comes a lack of experience and the wisdom [...]

    How High?

• Reporting Points

  • You WILL go to the Dominican Republic

    Dominican Republic tourism officials have worked the world to attract tourists, and are seeing results. But not from American private pilots. For years they have appeared at press conferences at aviation trade shows and air shows,  but find few journalists waiting to hear their message. You’d think they might get discouraged. But not this year [...]

    You WILL go to the Dominican Republic

  • The sound of 48 radial engines

    Arrived in Oshkosh last night after covering the DC-3 fly-in held last weekend at Sterling, Illinois. It was a fantastic event–yes, there will be a story in a future issue of AOPA Pilot–but the most memorable aspect was watching two dozen DC-3s and C-47s fly overhead yesterday afternoon on their way to Oshkosh. Did you happen [...]

    The sound of 48 radial engines

  • Let the Games Begin . . .

    Preparations for tomorrow’s EAA AirVenture 2010 opening are in full swing with an unimaginable assortment of aviation hardware arriving at KOSH and being made ready for display. Everything from new concept aircraft such as the pre-prototype Cobalt are here along with a U.S. Air Force Global Hawk UAV and vintage airplanes dating back to the first [...]

    Let the Games Begin . . .

• Let’s Go Flying

  • I Want To Learn To Fly! Where Do I Start?

    Boy does this question come up a lot! First off congratulations on getting bit by the bug, learning to fly is one of the best things you can do for yourself whether you make it a hobby or a career. Yet knowing where to start and how to do it efficiently is key! How do you [...]

    I Want To Learn To Fly! Where Do I Start?

  • What to Expect on Your First Flight

    by Chris Findley, CFI,  www.myFlightCoach.com You're going to take your first flight in a light airplane!  First things first, be sure to bring a camera!  This is an exciting day for you and for those of us who teach and encourage people to learn to fly.  This might well be a much bigger day than you [...]

    What to Expect on Your First Flight

  • 3 Things You Should Be Doing In The Cockpit

    Aviation is more than just a passion. It is a discipline. Because it is a discipline, it is a must that a private pilot develops good habits from the days of being a student pilot and during the days that he is operating as a private aviator. Unfortunately, some individuals in the aviation industry forget [...]

    3 Things You Should Be Doing In The Cockpit

• AOPA Now

  • FAA administrator on safety, avgas, and the value of GA

    One of the best things about coming to events like EAA AirVenture and AOPA’s Aviation Summit is the opportunity for the general aviation community to hear directly from top-level officials, like FAA Administrator Randy Babbit. Just as important, it’s a chance for those officials to hear from GA pilots and owners. I had the chance to [...]

    FAA administrator on safety, avgas, and the value of GA

  • Olympic inspiration

    Over the past week or so I’ve been hearing from members who have been inspired by the athletes of the Special Olympics and wanted to know more about the Citation Airlift that brought hundreds of athletes from around the nation to the games in Nebraska. I was honored to take part and wanted to share [...]

    Olympic inspiration

  • Taking flight with the Special Olympics

    Today, I had one of my most memorable flights as AOPA participated in the Special Olympics Airlift organized by Cessna. We made an early start this morning, picking up four athletes and two coaches at Baltimore International Airport. All our fine athletes are from the Baltimore area, and today’s trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, was their first [...]

    Taking flight with the Special Olympics

• Frugal Flier

  • Gotcha covered – Protecting your investment

    A hangar is the best way to keep an airplane out of the elements. But what if none is available, or affordable? What can aircraft owners do to protect airplanes living outdoors? Canvas canopy covers, and even whole-airplane covers, are a compelling option. A new canopy cover made to protect all windows and doors in a [...]

    Gotcha covered – Protecting your investment

  • A light bulb goes on: warming up to a good idea

    Starting a cold-soaked piston aircraft engine can seem cruel and abusive. The battery protests, the starter groans, cylinders fire reluctantly, and the needle on the oil pressure gauge takes its time coming to life. All that metal-on-metal contact during the first few seconds of cranking can cause significant wear—some say as much as hundreds of hours [...]

    A light bulb goes on: warming up to a good idea

  • DIY oil change

    After a long trip to and from AOPA Expo, the 2008 Get Your Glass Sweepstakes Archer was due for some TLC that included an oil change. But Jiffy Lube doesn’t do airplanes. And many FBOs regard such mundane service items as obstacles that get in the way of larger, more complex, and more lucrative projects. [...]

    DIY oil change

• Let’s Go Flying Sweepstakes

  • College Park Airport’s first 100 years

    Only 33 nautical miles away from AOPA’s headquarters, College Park Airport’s (CGS) 100th Anniversary AirFair was the nearest event for AOPA’s 2009 Sweepstakes Let’s Go Flying Cirrus SR22. The Aug. 29 event was the first centennial of any airport anywhere, as College Park in suburban Washington, D.C., is the world’s oldest continuously operating airport. And airport [...]

    College Park Airport’s first 100 years

  • Where might the Cirrus show up next?

    A quick call to friend and fellow pilot Tom Linton on Saturday, August 22, confirmed his participation in our all-day aviation immersion experience. I picked him up less than 12 hours later on Sunday morning and we headed to Maryland’s Frederick Municipal Airport. The Let’s Go Flying Sweepstaks Cirrus SR22 was [...]

    Where might the Cirrus show up next?

  • Getting there is half the fun–and most of the challenge

    Crossing two Great Lakes, a right hook into Canada, and a safe arrival at OSH Getting to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, from the Mid-Atlantic by Cirrus requires answering one central question: whether to fly over Lake Michigan, or around it? Flying over the lake means being out of gliding range of either shore for about 20 minutes – [...]

    Getting there is half the fun–and most of the challenge

• AOPA’s Hover Power

  • Helicopter CFI

    Flight instruction is some of the most demanding flying a helicopter pilot can do. A CFI must allow extremely inexperienced people to manipulate the flight controls, typically in a light, highly responsive, and unforgiving Robinson R22 (the most popular helicopter for primary flight instruction). As such, the briefest bit of inattention can turn a helicopter [...]

    Helicopter CFI

  • Helicopter ATP

    A few companies have started putting a helicopter ATP prerequisite into their employment requirements and some have offered to pay for their existing pilots to obtain one. However, the vast majority of helicopter pilot jobs do not require an ATP by regulation. This is true for the higher paying jobs flying larger helicopters as well. The [...]

    Helicopter ATP

  • Hot or cold

    Helicopter pilots refer to certain operations as hot or cold. A hot operation is one where the engines are kept running during the procedure and cold is with everything shut down. The arguments for and against hot operations center around safety vs. time savings. For EMS operators, one of the more common hot operations is loading [...]

    Hot or cold

• Aviation eBrief
  • Blog: Randy Babbitt promotes LSA at EAA AirVenture
  • Editorial: Kansas should fight for its right to aviation
  • Texas pilot wins raffle, receives prize of vintage plane