A sling is the original weapon, says James Pitman, co-CEO of Sling Aircraft. “You know, David with Goliath had a sling. And it felt like we were the kind of Davids,” he says.
While many rang in the New Year with their loved ones, champagne in hand and feet firmly planted on the ground, AOPA Editor at Large Dave Hirschman and I ferried the AOPA Sweepstakes 1958 Cessna 182 Skylane across the country, from San Martin, California, to Frederick, Maryland.
Industrial flooring businessman and pilot Tim Hicks of Texas was in Knoxville, Tennessee, anticipating the delivery of his new Cirrus G7 Launch Edition SR22T, and the day turned out better than he could have ever imagined.
From high atop a craggy, white pine beside a northern Wisconsin lake, a bald eagle surveys his domain. He spreads his wings and pushes off into the summer breeze, gliding over rippling blue waters and ruffled green treetops. He is lord of this remote lake and any other he might visit.
No trip to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania’s William T. Piper Memorial Airport (LHV) is complete without a visit to the Piper Aviation Museum. Models ranging from the rag-wing J–3 Cub to the all-metal, twin-engine Apache were developed and produced in the former timber town nestled near the confluence of the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek.
For more than 140 years, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (affectionately known as Cal Fire) has protected and rescued California land and its residents from the devastation caused by wildfires.
Few could have predicted the outcome when Mike Barron, airline pilot and owner of renowned Cessna 195 restoration shop Barron Aviation, began planning his retirement.
The U.S.-Polish startup Draco Aircraft has opened a round of funding to bring what they’ve coined as a Hyper short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft to the certified market in 2028.
Electric aircraft might conjure thoughts of huge investments, impracticality, broken promises, and a distant future. But California-based Ampaire is different, or at least, seems to be. Their goal? Bring a hybrid electric future to the market as soon as practical with available technology.
The secret to giving a utility airplane superior performance isn’t much of a secret at all. It begins with a massive boost in engine power to shorten the takeoff roll, increase the rate of climb, and raise the airplane’s cruise speed and service ceiling.
Stars dot the sky above a brightly lit de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth, its spinning propeller cutting a shiny circular swath through the November night as the Gypsy Major engine fights for the attention of two dozen photographers pointing their cameras toward the red biplane at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, New York.
Game Composites is building a single-engine firebomber that its designer says will carry more and fly farther and faster than any other aircraft in its category.
It’s a rabbit warren of rooms and offices, closets and machinery, aircraft parts and blueprints, jigs and cowlings and fuselages hanging from the ceilings, and packed file cabinets with orders, manuals, and specifications, yet Jim Dyer knows where everything is and where to find even the most obscure item.
Looks like our members are having love affairs—with their airplanes, of course. And what better way to show off your favorite magic carpet than with a photo of the pair of you together. Thanks for sending your photos—they’re great!