The Turbine Pilot edition includes all of the stories in AOPA Pilot, plus a few additional articles written specifically for pilots and owners of turbine-powered aircraft. If you fly a turbine aircraft, or will transition into one in the near future, call Member Services at 800-USA-AOPA for more information.
Dennis Blauser is known to his customers around the country as “Mr. Silo.” The CEO of Marietta Silos, Blauser Energy Corp., and USA Silo Service, Blauser says his ability to react quickly to a customer problem—by hopping into his Piper Meridian and getting to the location within a day—is the hallmark of his successful business. “When my customers call with a problem, it’s usually an expensive problem,” he says. “My customers are impressed and relaxed when they know Mr. Silo is flying in just to solve their problems. As we say, ‘Silo service with wings.’”
There’s a school of thought that says the nondirectional beacon (NDB) and its cockpit counterpart, the automatic direction finder (ADF), have nothing to offer today’s pilot. With all due respect, this is demonstrably false.
As aircraft get bigger, more and heavier parts need to be moved. Heavy landing gear raised against the force of gravity, flap panels that extend into the resistance of 200-knot slipstreams, or brake systems that must generate tremendous force to resist the rotation of tires—these all need some serious power behind them.
Business aircraft may be subject to two major types of state taxes: sales and use tax. Usually, a state will impose a sales tax on the purchase or repair of a turbine aircraft in the state. Conversely, a state may charge a use tax on the use or storage of a turbine aircraft in the state. (A use tax is similar to a sales tax except that when an item is purchased outside of the state, the state cannot impose a sales tax but can impose the use tax.)
Can you believe it has been nearly 40 years since the Bombardier (formerly Canadair) Challenger burst onto the scene with its wide-body, flat-floor cabin that spawned the popular Canadair Regional Jet, more popularly known as the CRJ? It’s a design that has stood the test of time.
It’s common for people to misunderstand the differences between co-ownership and fractional ownership. And, when it comes to financing options, the differences are significant.
First, the good news. The airlines are hiring because of the pilot shortage, and starting pay is higher than ever. Now, the bad news. The demand for pilots is so high—and growing—that there seems to be no way to fill it. That’s because the pilot population has been dropping at an alarming rate over the past 35 years, a fact driven home by some of my recent research for a book commemorating AOPA’s eightieth anniversary.
Most business jet pilot reports start with some reference to turning left at the top of the airstair—this one begins to the right, in the cabin. With the company’s entry into the competitive super-midsize category, Textron Aviation officials knew they had one chance to get it right for the person paying the bills, thus an emphasis on the cabin and especially on acoustics. The result is an impressively quiet experience and a well-appointed, large interior that is class-leading in numerous categories.
A village of aircraft mechanics descended on Vulcanair V1.0 serial number 1006 at Miami Executive Airport in early August. A fuel servo was the latest in a series of minor problems delaying the U.S. debut of the Italian three-door trainer. Ameravia, the American distributor of the V1.0, had scrubbed the U.S.-registered aircraft’s appearance at 2018 EAA AirVenture when its shipment to Florida was delayed. With the airplane finally stateside, Ameravia CEO Chris Benaiges was eager to show off the flying aircraft.
Pilots are mission-minded, and they are also mindful of weight and balance. Through trial and error, they'll assemble and make room in the confines of a cockpit for the equipment that will work best. Whether it's a floatplane trip, a trek across the Atlantic Ocean, or a short cross-country, our editors share what works best for them.
With more than 4.5 million acres of designated wilderness and the deepest canyon in North America, Idaho is a playground for outdoor enthusiasts who want to go off the grid—and pilots who love a challenge. Mountain bikes, all-terrain vehicles, motorboats, and other “mechanical transportation” are prohibited in the wilderness areas, so most visitors hike, raft, or ride horseback to their destination. Pilots have a much more efficient key to unlock the remote gateway: Aircraft can land at the charted public-use strips inside the wilderness boundaries.
Bermudian Valley Airpark outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is like a lot of small airfields across the country: part airport, part living museum, part community center for local pilots and aviation enthusiasts. Among the antique and replica aircraft on the 2,200-foot grass strip is a yellow 1936 Taylor J–2 Cub flying with what appears to be half a propeller. The Cub belonged to Eugene Breiner, a retired FAA inspector and expert in classic aircraft who had been a longtime mentor and friend to the vintage aircraft community in central Pennsylvania. The 1938 Everel single-blade propeller is an artifact of aeronautical innovation with a legacy somewhere between those of the Spruce Goose and Molt Taylor’s Aerocar.
Be careful whenever you’re confronted with documents to sign for the purchase of an aircraft, avionics, parts, software updates, or extended warranties. Read them completely. By signing these documents, you may be agreeing to terms that could affect your legal rights in the event of an accident, compromise insurance coverage, and even make you liable for the seller’s legal bills.
In September, the AOPA Air Safety Institute released its annual Joseph T. Nall Report in conjunction with the 2016 and 2017 General Aviation Accident Scorecard. Since its inaugural version in 1991, the Joseph T. Nall Report, named after a respected NTSB board member who died as a passenger in a 1989 airplane crash in Venezuela, has been accepted as the leading source for in-depth, factual reporting of general aviation accidents and accident trend analysis. The twenty-seventh edition is no exception. The Nall Report uses NTSB final accident reports and probable cause determinations, and further categorizes them to assist experts, researchers, and industry leaders in identifying trends. It is widely used throughout the industry to set strategy and priorities for advancing GA safety.
As a mother of two young children, there is a constant focus on manners in our home. As a rule, we try to eat dinner together at the table every night. My hope is that those dear, wild hooligans may one day be able to sit down at a restaurant and have a civilized business meeting or perhaps a romantic dinner (when they’re 40) without scaring off their dates. It seems that all of us, children and adults alike, sometimes forget our manners.
A cold front had just bulldozed its way across Southern California, leaving in its wake severely clear skies and a blustery crosswind that angled directly across my single-runway destination. No problem, I thought. Even though I had never flown a Cessna 195, I had been weaned from taildraggers that were reputedly more challenging.
Word has it that few of us will be remembered beyond three generations, or about 60 years after our passing. Time flies on. We’re all replaceable. However, organizations and the people who found them have a special place in our society. AOPA, for example, turns 80 next May. And while the once fledgling organization thrives on, we lost the final connection to its founding in February when Earle Blomeyer died. He was 102 years old.
In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, one of the characters was asked how he went bankrupt and responded, “gradually, then suddenly.” That’s also how winter arrives in my native Minnesota, and with cold winter air from the north comes the conclusion of another summer season of flying.
Richard McSpadden’s reflection on his father’s aviation-infused eightieth birthday celebration got readers thinking about their own families and memories.
The pilot of a single-engine airplane lands at a small commercial-service airport and is cleared to taxi to the transient parking area on the public ramp.
“Where is the aviation workforce of tomorrow needed and where will they come from?” This and questions like it are the basis of the AOPA You Can Fly fourth annual High School Aviation STEM Symposium, which takes place November 5 and 6 in Louisville, Kentucky. Two days of networking opportunities for high school instructors and aviation professionals will highlight the symposium, designed to invigorate educators and expose them to the boundless possibilities available in aviation today.
Low to the ground with the distinctive Mooney forward-swept tail, the Mooney 201 stands out when compared to retractable gear Pipers or Cessnas. (When was the last time you heard someone describe an Arrow or a 182 as “sports-car like”?)
Most adults who grew up in the late 1940s are familiar with the whooping cough epidemic of 1949 that killed dozens of children in the United States. It was a highly contagious disease that terrorized parents for many years. Before the days of vaccines, school children suffered through mumps, measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, and polio. I was no different. I endured all of them, except polio.
AOPA marks its eightieth anniversary in 2019, and to celebrate we’ve created a special, large-format, hardbound coffee-table book that documents both AOPA’s and general aviation’s rich history.
Twenty-year-old Fredric Arnold was just like every young man in 1942—ready to serve his country in the Second World War. So, even though he was raised a pacifist, Arnold believed an airplane considered a “defender” would be the best way to protect and defend without aggression. He signed up to learn to fly the P–38 and was in the final group of 14 young men in the Class of 42-J. Within six months, most of the group were dead; just Arnold and his friend Jim Hagenback remained. For 67 years the pair remained in contact until Hagenback was on his deathbed. He called Arnold and said, “Remember our vow.” The two young soldiers had promised one another never to forget their comrades, and whoever was the last man standing would find a way to honor them.
European regulatory changes required the conversion of my FAA certificates to European Aviation Safety Agency/Joint Aviation Requirements. The best option was a remote Greek flight school in Kavala (LGKV). Because it was hard to reach and I owned an IFR-certified Liberty XL2, I decided to fly from Germany for an upcoming knowledge stage check.
Montana-based avionics manufacturer uAvionix announced September 4 that it received FAA technical standard order authorization for its skyBeacon wingtip-mounted Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out hardware with integral position light and strobe. Actually, the skyBeacon was issued five TSOs: ADS-B (TSO-C154c, Class B1S); GPS position source (TSO-C145d, Class Beta 1); barometric altitude sensor (TSO-C88b), position light (TSO-C30c, Type I), and anti-collision light (TSO-C96a, Class II).
What to do when you pick up your aircraft from the shop
My company employs 14 A&P mechanics, 11 of whom are seasoned IAs with decades of general aviation maintenance experience. The other day, a client asked one of them what he should look for during the preflight immediately following an annual inspection. The IA decided it might be useful to create a post-maintenance checklist for owners, so he posed the client’s question to our whole group. A vigorous discussion ensued.
By Steven Mark Sachs Sure, we fixed-wing pilots know how to land in visual conditions. Three degrees or so, look at the whole runway, pick your spot, and go for it; maybe use less flaps in squirrely winds, appreciate VASIs and PAPIs, maybe use a little crab, and pay attention to ground effect. Sloppy landings infuriate CFIs, but “any landing you can walk away from is a good landing,” right? Maybe.
Hope doesn’t power our airplanes, as much as we sometimes might wish it did. Too often we take off and hope we have enough fuel. Or, we take off with what we believe is enough fuel, but along the way, a reroute or headwinds extend our flight time and we begin looking at the fuel gauges, hoping they are accurate. Or, perhaps, hoping that they are as inaccurate as they usually are and that we really have more fuel onboard than the gauges indicate.
New Mexico lived up to its nickname, “The land of enchantment,” as 4,307 pilots, aircraft owners, and enthusiasts were enchanted by an array of aviation activities during the second of AOPA’s four 2018 Regional Fly-Ins, held in Santa Fe September 14 and 15.