Once you’ve seen a V-22 Osprey, you might wonder exactly what type of aircraft it is—and for good reason. The FAA has designated the Osprey as a powered-lift aircraft—a category all its own. It’s a hybrid of sorts—a heavy-lift helicopter merged with a turboprop airplane. The huge propellers are called proprotors. The wings are fixed, but engine nacelles on the wing tips rotate in unison from horizontal to vertical. The Osprey can transition from a helicopter to an airplane in as little as 16 seconds.
WHAT: A V-22 Osprey is refueled before a night mission.
WHERE: Central Iraq
PHOTOGRAPHER: MCC Joe Kane, USN
The Gold Coast beckons
Join us at St. Simons Island
St. Simons Island’s Malcolm Mc Kinnon Airport (SSI) is playing host to the seventh and final AOPA fly-in of 2014, an event and a destination that truly has something for everyone.
Whether your passion is only aviation, or you are bringing a beach-loving, golf-playing load of family and friends with you, the hardest decision will be how long to stay.
Despite “only being a beach town,” St. Simons truly does offer something for everyone. Far beyond a simple beach town, the island offers some of the country’s best resorts, best golfing, great shopping, enticing history, and a smattering of mouth-watering restaurants. Not to mention, the locals love the airport and are welcoming AOPA members with open arms. There will be speakers, great food, dozens of exhibitors, and hundreds of cool airplanes to take in. Join us November 8 at SSI.
Piper continues strong showing
in trainer market
Update offered at AirVenture
Continuing significant orders for the training market show that Piper Aircraft is making progress in its three-year plan to gain market share in that competitive arena. The company has seen success internationally, but especially in the past couple of years is delivering more and more trainers to U.S. schools, including CAE, Florida Institute of Technology, and ATP.
At EAA AirVenture, Piper President and CEO Simon Caldecott said the company recently sold two new Arrows to Kent State University in Ohio to serve as complex trainers. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University recently received five Arrows. Under an alliance, FIT now has 13 Pipers in its fleet and the University of North Dakota is flying three Seminole twins.
To keep its largest twin, the Seneca V, competitive, Piper recently certified the Garmin GFC 700 flight control system, replacing the S-Tec Fifty-Five X autopilot that was certified when the Seneca first sported the Garmin G1000 displays in 2013.
Hours after Textron Aviation announced that its Cessna 172 would be certified with a diesel engine, Caldecott noted that the Piper Archer DX diesel model, certified in 2013 with essentially the same Continental engine that Cessna is using, has been to 11 countries in Europe on tour. The Lycoming avgas-powered Archer TX sells for $338,500, whereas the diesel model goes for $399,500—about $35,000 less than the Cessna Skyhawk JT-A diesel.
Update: Back on top
Record-setter gets second chance at certificate
When AOPA last caught up with Rachel Carter—who at 9 years old had set the unofficial record for youngest pilot of a transcontinental flight—she had bad news.
A few years after the flight (along with her flight instructor father Jimmy Carter—no, not that one—in the right seat) she had two heart valves replaced, and the FAA refused to issue her a third class medical certificate. Though she could not receive her private pilot certificate, Carter went on to become the assistant manager of California’s Ramona Airport, then its manager, and then operations coordinator of Fallbrook Airport—all while fighting like a tiger for that medical (see “Debrief: Rachel Carter,” May 2012 Flight Training).
Now she has great news: Thanks to her tenacity, and the testimony of a cardiologist, the FAA Oklahoma branch had a change of heart, and on August 18 the agency issued a giddy Carter her first medical certificate.
“I am on my way to fulfilling my passion in flying and getting my long-overdue license,” she said. She and her father are shooting for her checkride before Thanksgiving. Keep up with Carter’s progress toward her private pilot certificate on her blog (http://alwaysflyhigh.blog.com), followed by her upcoming pursuit of her instrument, multiengine, and commercial tickets.
“I’d like to get into aerobatics, too,” she said. “I’m so stoked.”
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