"I was looking forward to working with AOPA President Phil Boyer in Owatonna, Minnesota, where Roy Redman of Rare Aircraft would check Phil out in a taildragger, culminating in his solo flight of a Waco UPF-7," says AOPA Staff Photographer Mike Fizer (see " AOPA Centennial of Flight Sweepstakes: 'You're Not a Real Pilot,'" page 64). "I had a particular shot in mind, shooting from the front seat back at Phil with the wind in his face. Phil was excited, so after a quick briefing we were up and running. After a few minutes of flying 360-degree turns, we had the shot and Phil leveled out, heading back to the airport. I was wondering what kind of landing I was about to experience, and how I was to respond to the first solo grass-field landing in a Waco by AOPA's president — in a crosswind, no less. Well, Phil answered my question — he absolutely greased it! The landing started as a slight vibration in the seat, rolling out to a comfortable Waco grass-field trot. There was no doubt how Phil felt — laughter from the backseat said it all."
"I thought I'd use this space to complain about the airlines," says Associate Editor Nate Ferguson. "It didn't occur to me until recently why I get so tired when I'm strapped in the flush-riveted aluminum tube. I spend the whole time being mad. Mad because I might miss my connecting flight. Mad because the pilots aren't giving me any position data. And mad because, by luck of the draw, I'm sitting next to a troll." Research for this month's cover story (see " Cessna Skyhawk SP: Skyhawk SP Flies On," page 72) put things into perspective for the author. "It took me eight hours in total traveling time on the airlines to get to Kansas, yet just a little more than four to get back to Maryland in a turbocharged Cessna T182T. In the Cessna I was happy the whole time, and, as we like to say in general aviation, there was no lost luggage."
In the world of piston airplanes, engine upgrades seldom mean much improvement in cruise speeds. "I've flown lots of converted airplanes over the years and the improvements are seldom breathtaking," reports Editor in Chief Tom Haines. For example, upgrade a Cessna 172 from 160 to 180 horsepower and you'll see a bit of an improvement in climb performance and a slight bump in cruise speed. Swap a Continental IO-520 for an IO-550 in a Beechcraft Bonanza and you'll eke a couple of more knots out of the airframe. Expect anything more than that and you've bought into the marketing hype. "But upgrade a Mitsubishi MU-2 with a Dash 10 conversion and you've really got something," Haines reports in " Turbine Pilot: An Extra Dash of Power," page 87. "We saw a 40-knot increase in cruise speed and much-improved climb performance — particularly at high altitudes. I had the good fortune to fly the airplane on a number of trips both before and after the conversion and it truly transforms it into a much more capable machine. Everyone is talking about new light jets, but there's still a lot of life left in these old turboprops."
