Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2021 i Plane & Pilot

With Oshkosh 2021 looming large, I’m spending this time focusing not on the inconceivably treacherous road we traveled these past 16 months to get here but instead reflecting on the good because my eyes have been opened to a number of truths about flying. Granted, some of these are things I long suspected but wasn’t entirely sure about. Others, however, are realizations that have shaken my core understandings about the nature of aviation. And, before you get worried, this is a politics-free zone. This is all about flying. Here goes! 1. IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BECOME AN AIRLINE PILOT. We all figured that airline flying would come back…eventually, but that timetable was anybody’s guess. As it turned out, people don’t just want to fly again; they want to fly…

Pilots know what the Civil Air Patrol is, but very few of us understand the scope and scale of the work it does. Since the 1940s, it has done its part to keep American citizens safe, though that role has changed a good deal over the years. These days, the mission is predominantly search and rescue, but there are numerous other mission types you probably didn’t know about—it has hot air balloons, you know! Check out these remarkable facts about this remarkable organization. We’re betting you’ll be as surprised by many of them as we were! Founded: 1941 Original Name: Civil Air Defense Service (CADS) Motto: “Semper Vigilans” (Always Vigilant) Headquarters: Maxwell AFB, Alabama Purpose: Mobilize civilian pilots for national defense Became Civilian Auxiliary Of The U.S. Air Force: 1948…

Piper PA-28R-200 Arrow Lock Haven, Pennsylvania/Injuries: 1 Serious The pilot said the airplane was in cruise flight at 7,500 feet when the engine began to “surge” and then, shortly thereafter, stopped producing power. He selected a forced landing area in a clearing, but the airplane entered trees before reaching the clearing and came to rest upright in flat, heavily wooded terrain. Examination of the engine at the scene revealed that it could not be rotated by hand, and metal particles were contained in the oil filter and the finger strainer. Disassembly of the engine at the manufacturer’s facility revealed the oil sump contained debris associated with the No. 3 connecting rod, piston, and attachment hardware. The connecting rod had fractured at the crankshaft and punctured the crankcase. The fractured end…

“The superior pilot uses their superior judgment to avoid situations requiring their superior skills.”—ANONYMOUS While many of our trips remain within 100 miles of our home airport, long-distance travel in general aviation aircraft is where our beautiful little aircraft really shine. Looking down on those miserable souls stuck in traffic, as we cross an entire city in minutes, might be one of our greatest joys! However, if an outing is poorly planned, the many moods of the weather can turn a two-day trip into a frustrating weeklong nightmare. Thankfully, there are some planning techniques, handed down from our elders, that may help. One of the luxuries of military aviation was the opportunity to be briefed by a bright young meteorology officer or NCO before every mission. Slowly, through osmosis, pilots…

“Departure,” the pilot of the 1944 vintage B-17 bomber radioed to the air traffic controller now in charge of the flight, “N3012 is with you, stand by one, please.” A few words can tell us a lot. It was clear that right after takeoff, the pilots were working a problem. N93012, known as “Nine-O-Nine,” was a historic Boeing B-17 World War II-era bomber starting a historic experience flight for paying passengers. Six minutes after that transmission, the aircraft would crash while the pilot attempted to bring it back to the airport. Most of the airframe was destroyed by impact forces and fire. Six people got out alive. Seven others, including the two pilots, died. This was two years ago. Online there was a lot of immediate—and sometimes uninformed—speculation. In April,…

Early in training at my first airline job, the instructor looked at us, brand new to the industry, and offered a few words of advice. “Avoid taking any meaningful political stance with your captain until you’ve felt him or her out pretty good, or the rest of the trip may be awkwardly quiet. Don’t be late for the hotel van, and never give up on a jump seat until the plane is taxiing away.” The final instruction pertained to commuting, something avoided, I thought, by hiring on at an airline where its only crew domicile was my home city. The tactic served me well, but when I ran for the lifeboat from that sinking company, the ship that picked me up had no domiciles nearby. The closest one was a…

Famously, the late Chuck Yeager said that Bud Anderson was “the best fighter pilot I ever saw.” And coming from General Yeager, that’s saying a lot. But it hardly comes close to capturing the whole picture. Anderson, the sole surviving triple fighter ace, has done it all and then some. Anderson was born on Jan. 13, 1922, in Oakland, California. He grew up on a farm and, at the age of 7, got his first look at aviation when his father took him out to a small dirt airfield, where the youngster got a ride in a Stearman open-cockpit biplane. Anderson later described the flight as “intoxicating, exciting and a little frightening.” He was hooked, and at the age of 19, he learned to fly in a Piper J-3 Cub…

General Aviation pilots have the sole responsibility to determine if they are rested and ready for flight. Tools like the I’M SAFE checklist are available to help with these important decisions, but gray areas abound. In both the airline and military worlds, two essential concepts guide these professionals in these critical areas, crew rest and crew duty day. These terms define the period before and during the flight day that a pilot or crew member is officially available and able to fly. These procedural guardrails protect the traveling public as well as the aviators who take them on their journeys. Maybe as private pilots, we can learn something from these folks and decide what our personal minimums are for preflight readiness and in-flight decision-making. Nearly every one of us has…

Editor’s note: This marks the final regular installment of Bill Cox’s remarkable Cross-Country Log column. We at Plane & Pilot have been honored to be associated with Bill for so many years and to have been able to share his adventures with our readers. Blue skies, valued friend. As a freshman at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks back in the last century, I was allowed a singular elective course. On the first day of class, a distinguished, 60-ish-year-old gentleman stepped up to the lectern and said, “Good morning, students. Welcome to Writing Magazine Articles. I’m Charles Keim. This is always a popular course, and I’m sure many of you have heard it’s an easy A. That’s probably true, and its popularity may also be related to the fact that…

Combine the names Mooney and LoPresti, and whatever emerges is guaranteed to be fast, efficient and good looking. Mooney Aircraft has a reputation for designing and building sturdy, fast and very capable aircraft, immediately recognizable as a Mooney due to the forward-swept tail feathers and other unique design cues. However, on the 21st of April, 1983, a LoPresti-inspired, clean-sheet prototype that bore little resemblance to any previous or future Mooney took to the air. It would go on to change the face of the luxury personal aircraft industry, but, alas, not as a Mooney. Aerodynamic legend Roy LoPresti arrived at Mooney in the early 1970s as the vice president of design after stints as an Air Force fighter pilot, an engineer at Bede Aircraft, and a vice president at Grumman…