Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Plane & Pilot

MANY PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT CHERISHED AVIATION records are chiseled in stone, but we ask, “What kind of stone? And who did the chiseling?” It’s true that some aviation records, like Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 solo flight across the pond, would’ve been impossible to fake, and no one doubts Lucky Lindy’s place in history. But other records, especially those of very early flying achievements, are problematic. Given the length of time that has passed and the disappearance of documentation for many early claims, some early milestones are hard to prove conclusively. And back in the days before GPS and digital air data computers, our information collection technologies were primitive, at best. In many cases the data supporting many claims was approximate at best. Then there’s the issue of definition. Why aren’t hot…

Bearhawk Aircraft’s latest design, the Bearhawk 5, first flew May 5. The seller of backcountry aircraft kits and plans announced its new design in June, and it’s “what’s in back” that really sets this design apart from other homebuilt aircraft. The aft cabin has been stretched, making room in the baggage area for an additional two seats. The Bearhawk line of aircraft is a series of rugged two- and four-seat designs well-suited for backcountry operations. Its existing four-place design has a cabin slightly larger than a Cessna Skyhawk; the Bearhawk 5 pushes the interior dimensions beyond those of a Cessna 185. The prototype is powered by a 315-hp Lycoming IO-580 engine and three-blade Hartzell 82-inch-diameter carbon-fiber Trailblazer propeller. Weighing in at 1,512 pounds empty weight, the design’s gross weight is…

Custom U.S. Aeronautical Chart Face Mask As Americans continue to protect themselves and others from the spread of COVID-19, this face mask from Sporty’s provides a unique conversation starter. The personalized design allows users to showcase the U.S. airport sectional chart of their choosing. The three-layer mask uses CDC-compliant fabric that is machine washable for easy reuse. The interior lining, made of 100% cotton, makes wearing the mask more comfortable than otherwise, while the six-inch elastic bands ensure a secure fit. The outer layer is composed of soft-spun poly. The mask, available for $30, is made in the U.S. Learn more at sportys.com. Wacaco Minipresso GR During early-morning trips, it’s important to stay fresh and alert in the cockpit, and for many of us, a cup of coffee is a…

Decades ago, I stopped trying to describe Oshkosh—the fly-in, that is—to anyone who hadn’t been there. If I were to try, I’d say it’s a weeklong fury of activity in four dimensions that, improbably every summer, spins wildly and beautifully to life, a full-tilt barn dance held upon the head of a pin, an event that transforms a sleepy regional airport into a roaring, fossil fuel-powered Swiss clock of a city for a weeklong run of choreographed insanity, a magic that’s too powerful for any one person to fully understand. Yet every year, it gets set loose, and we all get to be there as the magic happens, each of us trying to catch as much of it as we can. The legends of the early days of the fly-in…

Understanding the difference in flight characteristics between certified and EAB airplanes begins with understanding the regulations that dictate certificated, usually Part 23, designs and how EAB aircraft might diverge from those standards. A couple of the most important issues are landing speed, crash worthiness and flight stability. Often, just looking at the wing will tell you a lot. For instance, a small wing, in span, chord and airfoil thickness, provides higher cruise speed but at the expense of having higher stalling and landing approach speeds. Under Part 3 of the old Civil Air Regulations, certificated light single-engine airplanes had to have a landing-configuration stall speed no higher than 70 mph, now translated to 61 knots in Part 23 of today’s Federal Aviation Regulations. This figure can be a few knots…

“Looking for co-pilot to OSH. Call Tom.” A phone number followed. It was handwritten on the back of a Phillips 66 aviation fuel order card and taped into the window of the FBO’s front door, implying an urgency beyond the fuel cards decorating the bulletin board inside by the Coke machine. I was 14 years old, and I can still remember every digit in that phone number, as I called it with my mother nearby, doubtless wary at the notion of letting her son haul off clear across the country with a complete stranger. We had some friends in common, some of whom vouched to my parents that my ride to Oshkosh wasn’t a psychopath while delicately avoiding the fact that about a dozen of his flights had ended in…

First aviation meetings: Around 1909, France, U.S. First fly-in event: Unknown Alternate name for “fly-in:” Fly-out Organization that chronicles fly-in history: None Other names for different kinds of aviation gatherings: Exhibitions, airshows, static displays, air tattoos (we kid you not) Difference between an airshow and a fly-in: Some attendees fly in How many fly-in attendees to make it a fly-in?: Unknown Golden Age gathering: National Air Races Location: Usually Cleveland, Ohio Estimated attendance, 1939, Cleveland: 100,000 Years run: Non-consecutive years from 1929-late 1940s First EAA Fly-In Convention: September 1953 Location: Curtiss-Wright Airport, Milwaukee Largest airshow: Paris Air Show Largest fly-in airshow: EAA AirVenture EAA airshow relocation to Oshkosh: 1970 Renamed “AirVenture Oshkosh:” 1998 Event length: One week Average forums and workshops: ~1,000 Aircraft: >10,000 Campsites: 12,300 Attendees in 1953: 150…

SKYCOURIER TWIN TAKES FLIGHT Cessna’s new twin utility turboprop kicked off its flight testing program with a successful two-plus-hour jaunt in May, during which the test pilots examined the SkyCourier’s stability, propulsion, flight controls and other factors. Cessna will utilize the prototype along with five other test articles as it moves forward with the test program. F-22, F-35 CRASH IN FLORIDA An F-22 and an F-35 crashed at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle in separate incidents that took place less than a week apart in May. The pilots of both aircraft ejected safely, and no one on the ground was injured as a result of the accidents. OSHKOSH POSTPONED UNTIL 2021 The Experimental Aircraft Association announced in May that AirVenture 2020 will be canceled as the threat…

ACROSS 1 Proteus creator 4 Least risky 8 Morbid-sounding emergency procedure 9 Sweet potato 10 Often said by pilots to be “least” 12 Request 13 Build 14 ___cord 17 Air deflected downward by the aircraft wing 18 Billions of years 20 Silent form of “affirm” 21 Don’t turn base from one of these 24 How old radios sometimes sound 26 A route in 4D 27 Chicago’s state, abbr. 28 The “I” problem 30 What a plane’s aluminum really is 31 Taylor was this company’s founder DOWN 1 It controls yaw 2 4,096 possible entries on one of these 3 Plane’s front section 4 They are often referred to as blue or friendly 5 Equipment when aviating in the frozen stuff 6 Cessna 182 7 Tail assembly 11 Assist 15 When…

And then, suddenly, there we were, in blinding sunlight, 2,500 feet MSL, a speck of a plane against columns of dark storm next to us and to the west of us and behind us and to the east, as we emerged into…well, paradise, or at least it seemed. I remember that moment exactly, as we cruised out from between storm clouds, turned the corner and found ourselves looking up into a giant shell of perfect blue sky. I was speechless. And at our 11 o’clock, we spied Wittman Regional, the glinting pearl inside the shell, bright and obvious in a way that airports hardly ever are when you’re looking for them with the naked eye, like it was being lit up just for us. And when I say “just for…

As we progress well into the second century of flight, most of us take to the sky in machines of metal or advanced composites like carbon fiber and Kevlar. The science is solid and techniques well established for flying machines of these materials. But if you step away from the mainstream types most commonly decorating the ramp at your local airfield, you may well stumble across wooden airplanes that survive as antiques, warbirds and homebuilt designs, as well as a few types built more recently. There are even a few designs in current production—one featured below is a throwback to the days of old, while another is a Light Sport Aircraft utilizing a wood wing to stay below the 1,320-pound gross weight limit. » At the outset of aviation, wood…

Just before midnight on July 25, 1993, the owner of a Beechcraft F33A Bonanza, registration number N3022W, called the FAA to report that one of his airplanes, which he had lent to a friend a few days prior, was missing. That friend had flown the plane, along with his wife and a daughter, departing from Camarillo Airport in Southern California on a Thursday to attend a large family reunion in Roosevelt, Utah, a small town located in the eastern high country of Utah at an elevation of 5,000 feet. That same family trio boarded the Bonanza again on Sunday for the return VFR trip to Camarillo in lovely summer weather. In one of several unusual details in the NSTB report, the pilot, a 54-year-old CFI/CFII with a couple of hundred…

THE MYSTERY Pan Am Flight 914 was a Douglas DC-4 with 57 passengers and six crew members that took off from a New York City airport headed for Miami, Florida. The date was July 2, 1955. The flight was scheduled to last a couple of hours, but it never arrived in Miami. Instead, it showed up, unannounced and invisible to Caracas radar, on March 9, 1985! Voicing his concerns to the tower, the pilot, after a textbook landing, taxied toward the gate, and ground handlers could see the faces of the screaming passengers pressed up against their windows, looking at a fantastic new world. The pilot, for his part, dropped a small calendar out the window before he made a hasty turn back to the runway, where he took off…

Tecnam recently unveiled its latest model, a diesel-powered version of its P2010 four-seat single. The new model will be available soon from Tecnam. In our review of the Tecnam P2010, we found the plane to be a good-performing, roomy, sophisticated and modern take on the high-wing four-seat single. The new model stakes its claim on the Continental Aerospace Technologies CD-170 engine, a 170-hp turbodiesel model that will give the 2010 TDi a combination of performance advantages that will set it apart from gas piston models. We’re looking forward to flying the new plane, but the Continental TD-170 will likely give the P2010 solid performance numbers while burning the miserly numbers that turbodiesels are known for, not to mention the single-lever power control that the most advanced powerplants offer. Tecnam says…

The EAA’s annual summer rites of flight at its Oshkosh AirVenture fly-in are all about the sights and sounds of aviation. And for as long as it has been an event, some of the best photographers in the world have gathered there, long lenses in hand, to capture the glory of it all—the color, the motion, the faces, the explosion of excitement that is the world’s greatest aviation event. Like every year, it’s impossible to select every photograph we’d like to feature, as our editors were sitting around the virtual table going over virtual slides—forgive the metaphor. We’ve been doing this since the days of Kodachrome—we kept on adding image after image to the stack. We needed shots of seaplanes, fighters, vintage planes, sport planes, good old GA standards, of…

Conversation around our airport hangar crowd generally rotates among favorite subjects covering lots of aviation topics. More often than not, it will include discussion of what this or that airplane is like, which one does this or that best, which one is the top performer—topics that generate strongly held opinions, ones frequently founded on speculation or hearsay rather than fact. And then someone will say, “What about homebuilts?,” and I feel eyeballs turn toward me, as the aged arbiter of aviation argumentation. Truthfully, I’ve only flown a few dozen homebuilts, out of the hundreds of amateur-built experimental designs out there, so I’m hardly an expert. But I am nevertheless emboldened to render a broad-based opinion, although it’s probably delivered sharply enough to offend some of the hearers in the group.…

As I stared out at the desert sun barely blistering above the Red Sea, I was overjoyed that the trip was nearly over. It was the ninth day of what seemed an interminable delivery from Santa Monica, California, to Nairobi, Kenya. The day before, the leg south out of Luxor, Egypt, paralleling the coast of Sudan and Eritrea, was a nightmare of 115-degree heat, controllers trying to give me vectors to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and a cylinder head temp that was pegged as far to the right as it could go much of the time. When we left the luxury of Luxor at 8 a.m. the previous day, the temperature was already pushing 100 degrees, and the airplane obviously didn’t appreciate the heat during the extended climb. I left the…