Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i Plane & Pilot

One of the earliest learning experiences in my flying career could have ended my life and that of my brother, who was my passenger on a chilly winter day in the Desert Southwest as we flew along in a 2-year-old Piper Turbo Arrow. I was building hours and planned out a long cross-country to Scottsdale, Arizona, where we had lunch and then headed home. I was a new pilot, and my skills at gathering, visualizing and assessing weather data were embryonic, and I failed to fully understand the risks. I knew that low clouds were bad, and why, but the forecast for the return trip sounded as though it were doable, with 2,500-foot overcast predicted for the high desert airport I was flying back home to. “For years, I blamed…

GARMIN UNVEILS GAME-CHANGING 4-IN-1 RETROFIT While Garmin made waves in 2019 with its revolutionary Autoland system, the company’s newest product introduction proves the avionics giant has no plans to let up in its march toward change and progress in 2020. Its latest innovation comes in the form of an electronic 4-in-1 panel instrument that fits into a traditional 3.125-inch round configuration and can accomplish an incredibly vast amount of functionality. The new product—the GI 275—can serve as a primary attitude indicator, a course deviation indicator, a horizontal situation indicator, a primary engine display and a multifunction display, all the while providing greater information and reliability in each role than conventional analog gauges. The GI 275 eliminates the high failure risk associated with a vacuum-powered gyro, and it allows pilots the…

AO Original Eyewear The company behind these sunglasses has been providing eye protection for pilots since the dawn of aviation, with a strong history of outfitting American troops in World Wars I and II with both glasses and a plethora of other gear. Many years later, the company continues to provide top-notch eye protection for pilots around the country. The Original Pilot glasses are non-polarized and made specifically for airmen. They deliver 100% protection against UVA, along with 98% protection against UVB. Featuring a brow bar and a bayonet temple, the Original Pilot glasses come in three different sizes—52, 55 and 57—ensuring a custom fit for each wearer. The glasses fit naturally under a headset without breaking the seal. The glasses are available in gray or brown lenses, with the…

We’ve just finished the judging for Plane & Pilot’s first photo contest, and believe me when I say it was both a joy and a challenge. The joy part of judging this contest is plain, and I’m confident that no words are needed to convince you of that. Just turn the pages. On the other hand, the challenge was substantial. After we had committed to running a contest, the very next question was, what should the theme of it be? We could have gone one of two ways, super specific or really general, and by going with “Your Flying World,” you can tell which way we went. We got a lot of great images covering the gamut of aviation, from Cubs to Tomcats. Out of the contributions, nearly 900 in…

There aren’t many aircraft that can literally stop traffic, but the praying mantis shape of the giant composite lifter literally does just that. No one ever figured out what to do about it, though. Giving it a name for a mythological Greek sea god who could change appearance at will, Burt Rutan originally designed Proteus as a high-altitude, long-operation, optionally piloted telecommunications platform. Its design mission included carrying an 18-foot-diameter telecom antenna system to provide high-speed internet over major cities. Proteus was to be the first of a series of aircraft built by Scaled Technology Works of Montrose, Colorado (a Scaled Composites spinoff company that eventually closed). But by the time Proteus was developed, telecom companies became more interested in ground-based fiber-optic systems. Lacking commercial interest, Scaled Technology Works built…

Oldest aviation club in U.S.: National Aeronautic Association (NAA) Founded: 1905 Famous first members: Wright Brothers Activity until 1926: Sole issuer of pilot certifications Current activity: Overseeing & certifying all aviation records Average records/year: 150 Other NAA offering: Circumnavigator Diploma Diploma categories: 4; Eastbound, Westbound, Polar & Nonstop Organization founded by Alexander Graham Bell: Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) Years active: 1907-1909 Inventions credited: Wing-Tip Ailerons, Tricycle Gear Largest aviation organization in the world: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Formation: 1939 First member: Gill Robb Wilson Organization founded by Wilson: Civil Air Patrol AOPA Members as of 2012: 384,915 Countries represented: 75 Total fly-in events hosted: 27 Attendees since 2014: ~100,000 Average annual attendees to AirVenture: ~600,000 AirVenture host: Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Founder: Paul Poberezny, 1953 First headquarters: Paul’s…

ACROSS 1 Palindromic company that created the Celera 500 3 Super-accurate sat/ground navaid 6 ATP, perhaps 9 A combined up/down and side-to-side control surface 10 Pilots do it for weather 12 Drink enjoyed at HDK? 13 How Han is flying 18 Knowing where you are (abbr.) 19 Partner of “Avoid” 20 What you’re on when you cross the needles 22 Three letters for Max Conrad’s airport 24 What you do in an updraft 25 Southern West Coast city (abbr.) 26 Kind of tank 27 It built Bobcats and Bird Dogs 29 Those with more than 200 horses (abbr.) 31 IFR with a five-pack? (two words) 34 Aviation humorist educator Rod 35 ___ wing 36 Ethanol can mess with this DOWN 1 Land beyond a runway 2 Fine-tune 4 What most…

You’re doing your homework like a good pilot and are happy to see that there are no Notams at your destination airport. It must mean everything is okay and working properly, right? Think again. Sometimes “No Notams” just means that things that aren’t working haven’t been noticed yet, or, in a worse scenario, someone at the airport isn’t doing their job when it comes to notifying would-be users of the of potential facility limitations. Let’s take my home airport for example, for starters. A fellow pilot queried me via text, “Hey, do you know how to get the runway lights to come on here at Allegan (K35D)?” Normally, a pilot can expect the pilot-controlled runway lighting system to work, allowing a radio trigger of the runway lights for night or…

Much of aviation changes slowly, if at all. After all, the most popular models in today’s fleet were built 40 or more years ago. It was nearly twice that long ago that the regulatory framework that governs light aviation was riveted in place. But thankfully, since then some things have changed for the better, and headsets are one of them. It hasn’t always been that way. Many of our readers, myself included, began flying before headset use was encouraged. It wasn’t that anyone was ignorant of the risks, just that widespread use of headsets wasn’t yet a thing. Luckily, though, a couple of pioneers saw the future and dedicated themselves to building headsets that were light enough and comfortable enough to wear for long stretches. Today headsets are more than…

One of the frequent sources of frustration in ferry flying is that most trips are one way. It’s extremely unusual to link one international ferry flight to another in the opposite direction and eventually wind up at your starting point. In 40 years of ferrying, I’ve made a grand total of two such round trips in ferry airplanes. The first began with a Piper Malibu from Vero Beach, Florida, to Copenhagen, Denmark. Then, it was a short commute in a Cessna Caravan across the Baltic to Hamburg, Germany, to clear up some paperwork problems, back to Copenhagen and finally launch for the USA. I had to fly back to Copenhagen to pick up a passenger who was excited to fly the Atlantic in March, not an especially friendly time to…

BACKGROUND In the late 1890s, strange airships started being spotted sailing across the country’s skies. While lighter-than-air airships had been around since the 1850s, their capabilities were far more limited, and they were not nearly as big as those being observed. Witnesses described the ship, or ships, as being 150 to 200 feet long and moving at speeds of roughly 135 to 150 mph. Airships at the time were generally smaller and only moved at speeds of around 5 to 7 mph. “… attorney, George ‘Airship’ Collins, claimed to represent an anonymous inventor who allegedly conducted his test flights at night to avoid detection…According to Collins, the airship was 150 feet long and able to carry a load of 15 passengers…Collins later recanted his claims.” The first sighting occurred in…

“Experience is a hard teacher because she first gives the test, the lesson afterwards.” VERN LAW (major league baseball pitcher) Flying can be particularly unforgiving during the testing of the inexperienced, when we learn what not to do, if there is to be a next time, that is. Having flown on a private license ever since earning the privilege back in 1981, I do have some experience with windy conditions. In fact, I experienced my first crosswind landing while on my flight test. I had no idea how to deal with it, and to this day, I can’t tell you if I landed the C152 or the examiner did. Once out of flight school, I transitioned to tailwheels and have rarely flown a nose wheel since. Learning has been a…

SO YOUR PLANE IS EQUIPPED FOR FLIGHT INTO “KNOWN-ICING”—no need to worry, right? Think again! When we endeavor as pilots to fly aircraft into icing conditions, we may do the best we can to make sure we avoid prolonged time in icing, heavy icing conditions and/or especially ending up in any icing conditions in aircraft that are not properly equipped for flight into known icing (FIKI) conditions. But sometimes that isn’t enough. We are just now emerging from icing season for much of the country, and especially here in Michigan, where I fly regularly, but since ice can be a threat regardless of season, I thought it might be worth highlighting some concerns that are less commonly considered when flying an aircraft in encounters with icing. An aircraft that is equipped…

“So, are you going to camp at Sun ‘n Fun this year?” It’d hardly be spring without hearing those words from someone. The first time someone asked, I wound up packing a mess of camping gear into a Piper Navajo with a bunch of friends, and, once airborne, we joined up with a Beech Debonair and a Baron on an epic adventure for a 15-year-old airport kid. I’d heard tell of a mythical place where you could walk all day and hardly run out of airplanes to look at. It was all heady stuff for a country boy who had hardly left the county without family members present. I was just leaving the sphere of one family and flying into the sphere of another. I came to call the latter…