Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i Plane & Pilot

ACROSS 1 Biggest aircraft in the world, ____ 10 6 Satellite triangulation network 8 1903-14 is known as the Pioneer ___ of aviation 10 de Havilland trainer, 2 words 11 Famous “Baron” of WWI 12 Soak up 13 Slop 15 Coded wx warning when the volcano blows 17 Restaurant service 19 Second part of both “ground” and “flight” 21 Where whirlybirds usually begin and end the day 23 60 and 65 are both important examples of this measure 26 It’s “least,” as opposed to “best” 27 Flight _____ engineer 28 Only DE and RI have fewer airports 31 Cirrus SF50 ____ Jet 33 Amazon-sized aircraft 34 These two letters in a plane name mean longer legs 36 Ability to remain calm under pressure: 3 words DOWN 1 _____ Vulcanair V1.0…

The Elko This miniature knife from The James Brand eliminates the clunk and clutter of more complex products, providing users with a simple and easy-to-carry tool that can be useful when you’re looking to travel light. The product features a clean and simple design, and it measures just 2.5 inches when unopened. When the blade is extended, it comes to a little over 4 inches in total. The Elko’s handle is made of anodized aluminum, while the blade is composed of Carpenter CTS-BD1 stainless steel. The blade features a large cut-out, enabling quick deployment. The bottom of the handle features a prying tool with a hole, allowing users to attach the Elko to a lanyard or keychain. The product comes in a number of color combinations, with handles available in…

For reasons that are both easy to understand and completely counterintuitive, the four-seat, piston-powered airplane has, for decades, dominated the GA marketplace. And it continues to do so, even though the number of pilots who buy these planes as a transportation tool has slowed dramatically, mostly in lock step with the slowing of the overall GA piston market. The tens of thousands of personal planes sold every year in the ’60s and ’70s, the true heyday of flying in the United States, has turned into fewer than a thousand planes in a good year, and the two dozen or more available models have shrunk to just a handful. That four-seaters should be the prototypical GA ride makes sense to pilots—but to few others. Considering that most flights go out with…

Oldest competing aerobatic pilot: Ian Metcher Age at record (2001): 86 Last age inverted: 95 Quote from wife: “I just worry when he drives.” World’s oldest fighter pilot: Phil Frawley Country: Australia Age at retirement: 66 Years married: 45 Grandkids: 4 Fighter pilots trained: 499 Last flew: Hawk 127 Favorite fighter: MiG-21 supersonic jet MiG-21s produced in world: 11,496 Record holder for oldest active pilot: Ernest Eli Smith Age at time of record (2016): 98 Born: 1917 Also born in 1917: John F. Kennedy Job at retirement: Beer truck driver Age FAA grounded: 99 Reason: Health issues Quote: “Flying doesn’t take special skills.” Previous record holder: Pete Weber Jr. Age at record (2015): 95 years, 4 months and 23 days Years as pilot: 72 Models of aircraft flown: 37 Military…

PISTON DELIVERIES SOAR IN FIRST QUARTER Deliveries of piston aircraft increased by 24% in the first quarter of 2019, growing more than any other aircraft segment, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s recent Q1 report. Turboprop and business aircraft shipments also increased, while rotocraft saw decreased figures across the board. FOREFLIGHT UNVEILS NEW CAPABILITIES With the release of ForeFlight’s newest edition, 11.4, the app now provides pilots who fly supported aircraft with key distance and speed data for takeoffs and landings. Also included in the new release is the smart logbook photo feature, which automatically syncs photos from a given flight with that particular logbook entry. CIRRUS PLANS NEW TEXAS FACILITY Cirrus Aircraft will open a new service, training and aircraft management center at McKinney National Airport in northern…

I recently hosted a get-together of pilots working on their instrument ratings and instrument instructors for what we jokingly called “IFR Bible Study.” It was an open evening of questions on approach charts and avionics use, lubricated by pizza and beer. My greatest instructional weakness might be exploring the complexity of an answer when a monosyllabic reply would have sufficed. I’ve even had fellow pilots ask me about some IFR procedure by prefacing the question, “Don’t tell me why. Just tell me ‘yes’ or ‘no’…” Such was the case when I projected the Localizer Runway 8 approach to Danbury, Connecticut (KDXR), on the wall. My leading question to the group was, “When can you descend?” The question had been posed to me by a reader weeks earlier—and I realized I…

PIPISTREL PANTHERA Three years ago, we flew a preproduction prototype of the Pipistrel Panthera and reported on its lovely handling characteristics and spritely performance. News was in 2017 that the plane was nearing EASA certification, though there has been no word from the company on that progress since then. The Panthera, a four-seat retractable-gear all-composite speedster, has been in development for more than five years now, which isn’t a long time by aviation standards. Still, Pipistrel’s ambitious goals for the Panthera of a thousand-mile range with all four seats filled and a 200-knot true airspeed would make it a formidable competitor. The plane was initially to be powered by a four-cylinder Lycoming IO-390 of 210. But Lycoming’s decision not to certificate the engine forced changes to the design, which will…

THE MYSTERY Do UFOs exist? And if so, what are they? THE BACKSTORY In recent months, new revelations from the United States Department of Defense have reignited the debate over whether UFOs exist. At the same time, a number of pilots, including a couple of retired Naval aviators, came forward to detail their encounters, including one that was reported as a near-collision after a UFO, described as an orb with a cube at its center, slid in between a couple of Super Hornets flying formation before it hyper accelerated away. It’s not just one crazy pilot, either. There’s video evidence, including one onboard weapons system image—the F/A-18 carried no actual weapons—that shows a very saucer-looking object. On multiple occasions off of both U.S. coasts, aircraft have picked up such craft…

If you fly with a late-model Garmin navigator, including its GTN and G1000 NXi gear, with the latest software, you can load a visual approach for almost any runway. These look like instrument approaches but are strictly for VFR use. The plus side is they offer that three-degree descent to a specific runway. That’s useful at unfamiliar fields and at night. When you get within a pre-set distance to the airport, the navigator will offer the visual approaches with a “Visual” button on the map page. You control how many miles out from the airport this button appears (or if it appears at all) in the GTN settings. Tap the Visual button, and the navigator lets you select a runway. You can also load visual approaches at any time using…