AOPA Pilot Magazine - Turbine Edition

On December 1, 2021, a Cessna Citation Mustang was reported to have made a gear-up landing at Lake Havasu City Airport (HII) in Arizona.

By Rob Mark

If you’ve yet to endure the two or three solid weeks of grueling classroom and simulator training known as initial training, you will, if you decide to call the cockpit your home.

The profit and loss statement (P&L) and balance sheets are a requisite part of the aircraft loan package, but only when a business entity is part of the transaction.

I’m always amused when a sales pitch includes a boast of an airplane having a “belted potty.”

Tucked away in a corner of Textron Aviation’s sprawling Wichita campus is a nondescript low-rise building surrounded by trees. This is building L22, and what happens inside belies its small stature. This is where Textron’s airplanes, and their components, go through a series of tests designed to confirm their fitness to fly. Some of them are truly tortuous.

The complementary colors of blue and orange are having a dance. Lake Michigan is so blue on this October day that it appears we have flown to the Caribbean, not northern Michigan.

If you want to spark a passionate response from a southern Louisiana native—more specifically a resident of New Orleans—ask why they continue to live there when weather phenomena such as hurricanes repeatedly decimate the area.

It was time to descend, yet this newly disobedient airplane insisted on rising.

Perhaps it was when we spied the gash of Santa Elena Canyon. Or when we circled Study Butte and gazed down upon the 800,000 acres of wilderness that is Big Bend National Park. Or perhaps it was the moment we picked out the ghost of an Army airfield, runways and taxiways etched into the terrain, and seemingly still suitable to land on. (But please don’t; the clumps of brush that pepper the long-closed runways are at least three feet tall.)

Aircraft owners considering whether to allow someone else to operate their aircraft—such as by leasing or renting—should be aware that some state laws attempt to hold an aircraft owner equally liable as those operating the aircraft for any harm to life or property caused by an accident.

Two friends departed Minden Airport in Louisiana (MNE), in their respective aircraft in marginal VFR conditions. They established a route of flight into slightly rising terrain to their destination, Clarksville Municipal Airport in Arkansas (H35), 170 miles north.

I saw them standing in a group on the Luke Weathers Flight Academy ramp when we taxied in after one young man’s private pilot checkride.

Pilots are taught from the onset of their flight training in single-engine airplanes to comply with the following mantra: Always remain—to the extent possible and practical—within glide range of a reasonable landing site in case of engine failure.

A woman stopped along the road to observe the fire caused by the crash of a Piper aircraft was hit from behind by another vehicle. She sued Piper because it had “created” a nuisance on the side of the road and made her stop. The case was eventually thrown out, but not before Piper had spent $100,000 defending itself.

As I continue to fly about this great country, meeting our members and swapping aviation tales, I’m reminded how incredibly fortunate I am to share this amazing passion with hundreds of thousands of fellow aviators. You won’t be able to find a better group of men and women than those with whom we share the skies.

By Chad Slattery

Video of the event is clear, the audio crisp. A wall clock ticks past 3:46 a.m.

Letters to the editor

AOPA Online

By Charles Schnabolk

The traditional student pilot usually starts flying lessons while still single then becomes overwhelmed with raising a family and balancing an income.

Embracing the sentiment once a pilot always a pilot, more than 10,000 aviators are now back in the left seat thanks to the AOPA Rusty Pilots initiative. The Rusty Pilots initiative began in 2014 as part of AOPA’s You Can Fly program, which aims to get people flying and keep them flying.

AOPA News and events

Chris Flowers. Glenn Kingery. L. Mike Hollenback. Jack Earnest. Wayne Richards. Larry Higgerson. All these names have one thing in common:

It’s a quintessential New England seaport. Its brick and cobblestone streets lead to the ocean or the river; Federal, Colonial, and Georgian architecture is preserved throughout the town; and lobstermen and fishermen deliver their catch daily.

Rope chocks are a simple but clever idea.

Bryce Clark was a manager at the venerable David Clark Co. (His last name is a coincidence.) While on their payroll, he came up with some innovative design features he thought pilot customers would grab.

The AOPA Pilot Information Center asked forum participants to share their favorite places to fly. The responses were varied—and extremely tantalizing. In this, our annual “Destinations” issue, it seems appropriate to share what our members say are their favorite places to fly. What’s yours? Respond to the AOPA PIC forum (pic.aopa.org) or send to pilot@aopa.org. Let’s all go flying this year!

Test questions for aviators

If you crave regular updates about the AOPA Sweepstakes Grumman Tiger, social media is the best way find out where the airplane is and what we’re doing to it.

By Steve Samuelson

My first airplane was a Grumman Trainer (AA-1B) painted like a World War II fighter. I have owned all or part of a few airplanes since then.

I always enjoy hearing from readers and it’s especially nice to learn “Flying Smart” topics resonate with them.

Jack owns a 2016 Cirrus SR22 with a Garmin Perspective glass cockpit—basically a G1000 on steroids.

Sure, we all learned how to navigate using VHF technology when earning our instrument ratings, but let’s face it. We’re now in a GPS world, one that can make VORs and ILSs seem as antiquated as the four-course radio range approaches of the 1930s.

Within minutes after takeoff, the pilot of the Cessna T210 was dealing for the second time that day with an in-flight mechanical problem.

Although five years old, BasicMed is still one of the most common subjects of calls to the AOPA Pilot Information Center.

There will always be some risk in flying, and it’s possible to encounter a problem that you could not have foreseen.

A key part of AOPA’s travel tools, the AOPA Airports and Destinations Directory has been redesigned to not only provide a comprehensive airport directory, but to also allow you to search for area activities, nearby restaurants, and explore new places to fly.