GA Security: Risk controlling — how much?

GAN Staff | GA Security, GA Security Blog | 17 hours ago

By DAVE HOOK

How much disposable income should I invest in security stuff to protect my aircraft?

This question is probably one of the most sensitive that I get because flying is not cheap. Even if we have the best of situations, there are still annual inspections and scheduled maintenance, repair of things that break from normal wear and tear, state and local taxes, hangar or tie down fees, GPS database subscriptions, not to mention the fuel and oil. “So with all of these expenses just to be able to go enjoy my $100 hamburger, now I’m supposed to buy security, too?”

I hear you.

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Time to put on your walking shoes

Todd Huvard | Blogs | 17 hours ago

It is inevitable when I meet a pilot who learns I am an aircraft broker that the next question is: “How is the market?” That is quickly followed with a hip pocket analysis that it must be tough, that no one is buying and that Chicken Little must be my only prospect.

The real nature of the aircraft market of the past few years goes well beyond the apparent driver: The economy.

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Teamwork of the highest order

Jamie Beckett | Associations, Politics for Pilots | February 20, 2012

Last Friday evening, while standing at the front of a packed ballroom, with microphone in hand, Mayor Gow Fields announced, “Aviation has reached a new high in Lakeland.”

When’s the last time you heard a mayor say something positive and hopeful about aviation? Wait! Before you reach too far back in your memory banks to come up with an example, there’s more.

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These are the days

Deb McFarland | Short Final | February 19, 2012

It’s that time of year when I get to whine. Weather wise, December through March is typically dreary, often with gray skies and cold temperatures. We even have a snow shower or two here in north Georgia that gets the news media all in a tizzy. However, this year has been exceptionally warm, although we’ve had our share of dreary wet days.

I can get through the winter just fine if I get a day now and then for a smooth flight in Lester. It’s just as well that winter often limits my good VFR flying days, because this is also the time of year when our bank account is stretched to the limit.

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Death knell for LightSquared?

Charles Spence | Capital Comments | February 16, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After long and detailed — and often contentious — efforts to work out a safe way for LightSquared to build a network of about 40,000 land-based towers in the U.S. for high-speed wireless transmissions without interfering with GPS, the battle seems to be nearing a satisfactory conclusion for general aviation and others using GPS.

The Federal Communication System is expected to rescind a conditional waiver issued to LightSquared last year after it was informed on Feb. 14 by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that there is no practical way to prevent interference of GPS frequencies from the planned LightSquared network. Industry observers note this could be a death knell for LightSquared’s plan.

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100 mayors denounce Obama’s attacks on GA

Charles Spence | Capital Comments | February 16, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. — General aviation is a vital part of our economy and national infrastructure, and we are concerned about the repercussions of your statements about it. That, in essence was what the mayors of 100 communities in 48 states recently sent in a letter to President Obama. Continue Reading »

Florida panhandle airport adds autogas

Kent Misegades | GAfuels | February 16, 2012

Pilots living in or flying through the Pensacola, Florida, area have good reason to cheer the news that autogas is now available at the Peter Prince Airport (2R4) in Milton. According to an airport spokeswoman, “We added autogas last summer. We are currently selling 93 octane fuel for $3.95 per gallon.”  That’s $1.20 less than leaded avgas at the same airport and great news for the 70%-80% of all piston engine aircraft that can burn lead-free autogas, an FAA-approved fuel since 1982.

The GAfuels Blog is written by two private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft: Dean Billing, Sisters, Ore., a pilot, homebuilder and expert on autogas and ethanol, and Kent Misegades, Cary, N.C., an aerospace engineer, aviation sales rep for U-Fuel, and president of EAA1114.

Front page news

Dennis Parks | Flight & Flyers | February 15, 2012

LINDBERGH DOES IT! TO PARIS IN 33-1/3 HOURS cried out the newspaper headlines on May 22, 1927. Lindbergh’s epic flight made front page headlines in papers all around the world.

We are all aware of the impact Lindbergh’s New York-to-Paris ?ight had on the public, but what other aviation events of the 1920s and 1930s were deemed of enough importance to garner headlines in the newspapers?

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Study claims ties between avgas and lead in children’s blood

Kent Misegades | GAfuels | February 15, 2012

In what is sure to provide more fodder for the ongoing debate over the future of leaded avgas, the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative, at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in Durham, N.C., recently released a study “A Geospatial Analysis of the Effects of Aviation Gasoline on Childhood Blood Lead Levels”.  In this research, authored by Marie Lynn Miranda, Rebecca Anthopolos and Douglas Hastings, the blood levels in children living near airports in six of North Carolina’s counties were investigated.

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LGB air quality to be studied, autogas cited as partial solution

Kent Misegades | GAfuels | February 14, 2012

According to an article in the Long Beach Business Journal, the air quality at Long Beach Airport (LGB) in Southern California will soon be the subject of a major study.

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