Germany slows E10 introduction

Kent Misegades | GAfuels, General Aviation News | March 6, 2011

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

On Thursday, March 3, the German Ministry of Economics and Technology announced a summit concerning the country’s aggressive mandates forcing the use of 10% ethanol (E10) blends, part of a European-wide effort to promote the use of biofuels. As reported in the German paper Frankfurter Rundschau, consumers, worried of potential damage to their vehicles, have widely rejected E10 and 70% have switched to ethanol-free Premium (Super and Super Plus) fuel, exempted from the mandates but significantly more expensive compared to the heavily-subsidized E10.

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Seventh Sebring sustains show’s success story

Dan Johnson | Splog | March 2, 2011

Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

If you’ll pardon a little fun in my title, I’m pleased to offer a report from Chairman Bob Woods on the seventh running of the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo, abbreviated by many to simply Sebring LSA Expo. The total number of exhibitors was 147, a small decline from last year. Aircraft on display numbered approximately 135, about the same as 2010 and including some new or returning exhibitors such as Kitfox, Pipistrel, and Diamond. The Popular Rotorcraft Association had a presence this year with a promise to increase its footprint in 2012.  Attendance was about 11,000, the same as last year and I observe this count is larger than many other so-called “major” airshows.

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Flying Gypsies

Dennis Parks | Flight & Flyers | March 1, 2011

Dennis Parks is Curator Emeritus of Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

Ever since the conception of the light airplane in the 1920s, the magnitude of flights achieved by pilots using light planes never ceases to surprise, especially when used for around-the-word tours. Such trips would seem to be in the provenance of larger, higher-powered aircraft, not small, low-powered aircraft.

The year 1925 saw the birth of the first highly-produced, practical, reliable light plane, the de Havilland Moth. This plane was designed as a two-seat light plane capable of withstanding the stresses of instructional work, while large and comfortable enough for cross country flying. The craft was so popular that by 1926 output was about one a day.

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You can’t win if you don’t play

Jamie Beckett | Politics for Pilots | February 28, 2011

Jamie Beckett is a CFI and A&P mechanic who stepped into the political arena in an effort to promote and protect GA at his local airport. He is also a partner and regular contributor to FlightMonkeys.com.

Late in 2010, after attending a board meeting on transportation (the bus kind, not the aviation kind,) a county commissioner asked me if I thought it might be possible to market aviation county-wide. If a partnership existed between the four large public use airports in the county, he reasoned, wouldn’t we be better positioned to make the most of tourism, business travel, aviation educational programs, and the like?

Yes! As a matter of fact we would. And in a county that’s approximately the size of Rhode Island, you’d really have something there, too.

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NBAA chief calls for working together

Charles Spence | Capital Comments | February 28, 2011

WASHINGTON D.C. — Transportation drives economies and aviation drives transportation, Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), told an audience here, adding that all groups in aviation need each other and must keep focused on the goals to achieve the benefits not only for the United States but for world economies.

“No segment of aviation can succeed unless we all succeed,” he told an audience of leaders in the Washington aviation community at a luncheon of the Aero Club of Washington. “We all need each other.” Continue Reading »

The fuel of the future: Is it already here?

Ben Visser | Visser's Voice | February 27, 2011

Ben Visser is an aviation fuels and lubricants expert who spent 33 years with Shell Oil. He has been a private pilot since 1985.

I recently received a note from reader Scott Shroyer, who is looking to buy a used Cessna 182 with an auto gas STC. He wants to know if it is worth his time to buy the 182 “in hopes of finding auto gas at an airport to fill it up?”

A lot depends on which state Scott lives in as to the availability of auto gas without ethanol. I then forwarded his question to Todd Petersen of Petersen Aviation, who has sold more than 34,000 mogas STCs worldwide since 1983.

Scott’s question raised several questions in my mind. First, is it worth considering the fuel requirement of an engine in the purchase of an aircraft? I would say that it does at this time.

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Sun (and Fun) shine

Dan Johnson | Splog | February 27, 2011

Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

In the world of recreational flying — that portion of aviation that does NOT deal with transportation as a core activity — the Sun ’n Fun air show signals the beginning of the flying season.

While aviators in the southern states may have been active in January and February, much of the country has been coping with the extreme cold and an unusual amount of snowfall in 2011. Many aviators sincerely welcome Sun ’n Fun…both the literal sunshine and the aviation fun it permits.

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How the shift in magnetic north affects your flying

Charles Spence | Capital Comments | February 24, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Money is now and will be a major subject in the federal government for months to come as attempts are made to resolve at least some of the financial issues of the deficit, meaning general aviation has a direct interest in attempts to pass a long-term FAA reauthorization bill, as well as aviation’s place in the President’s proposed budget for 2012.

To keep from becoming overwhelmed with minutia money matters and how they affect our flying, here is another subject: Magnetic north. Runway numbers, charts, navigation systems, and anything demanding precise positioning are changing and costing the aviation and marine industries many, many thousands of dollars. (There’s that money issue again.)

All this is because magnetic north is shifting its position at a rate of about 40 miles a year. Continue Reading »

SeaRey’s success

Dan Johnson | Splog | February 24, 2011

Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, is an expert on Light Sport Aircraft.

Progressive Aerodyne and its popular SeaRey amphibian represent a current-day success sufficient to generate envy in most airframe sellers. Consider these results: The company delivered 31 kits in 2010, an average of 2.5 per month during a lousy year. Plus, in the three weeks after the Sebring LSA Expo, another 14 Sea­Rey kits were ordered, upping the monthly average to four.

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A tale of two airparks

Dave Sclair | Touch & Go | February 22, 2011

Dave Sclair was co-publisher from 1970-2000. He also is co-founder of Living With Your Plane and a renowned expert on airpark living.

I’m an optimist by nature. It’s a good thing I am, considering having spent the last 40 years not only in the aviation business but the aviation publishing business. During this major slice of my life, I can attest to the ups and downs of this business (no pun intended) as I’ve watched the number of pages we’ve produced expand and retreat, a nearly perfect mirror of the industry itself.

However, through all those years I’ve always felt the next month or next period or next year was going to bring improvements and, without fail, over the decades things have always gotten better. Granted, it has sometimes taken longer than I liked to see the turnaround, but it has consistently improved, given the time.

What brought this all to mind? Continue Reading »