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1 million airshow fans can’t be wrong

November 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

STORY AND PHOTOS By HAYMAN TAM

Over 1 million spectators flocked to San Francisco in October to enjoy the Fleet Week festivities and watch the airshow that is the highlight of the event (although the America’s Cup attendees may have a different opinion).

Anyone along San Francisco’s waterfront had a ringside seat for two jet teams and the many other performers flying over show center, marked by ships and buoys in the bay. Some folks chose to watch the show from Alcatraz Island, site of the infamous prison. The weather was wonderfully cooperative with clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures.

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The “Miss Muffet” Stearman

November 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Stripes and spiders — not a combination most people would think of when designing a paint scheme for a vintage airplane, but that’s exactly what Merrill and MaDonna McMahan of Wausau, Wis., decided to do when they painted their 1941 Stearman.

The red, white and blue airplane sports small black spiders and the name “Miss Muffet” emblazoned on the side.

“Miss Muffet was what Dad called me when I was a little kid and I was in trouble,” MaDonna said. [Read more...]

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Team RV changes name to Team AeroDynamix

November 7, 2012 by 1 Comment

Airshow performers Team RV is changing its name to Team AeroDynamix with the onset of the 2013 airshow season. Team RV Founder and Flight Lead Mike Stewart said the new name better communicates the high entertainment nature of the team’s precision formation aerobatic performance.

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Berg Aerodrome slates open house

October 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Grass Strip Foundation at Berg Aerodrome (9GA2) in Midway, Georgia, will hold its third annual Open House Saturday, Oct. 27.

Owner Steve Berg invites all pilots and aviation enthusiasts to fly in their vintage airplanes or drive in their vintage cars to the open house and “enjoy telling the rest of us how great they are.”

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Pilot Proficiency Project coming to AOPA Summit

October 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators’ (SAFE) Pilot Proficiency Project will be available during next week’s AOPA Aviation Summit. During the three-day show in Palm Springs, Calif.,  SAFE instructors will provide training in Redbird FMX simulators.

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Proficient Pilots Project debuts

October 2, 2012 by 1 Comment

The FARs require a pilot perform three takeoffs and landings within 90 days to maintain currency. Maintaining proficiency takes significantly more time, and often it is a lack of proficiency that leads to accidents and incidents.

During AirVenture 2012, flight instructors from the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE) volunteered their time for the inaugural Pilot Proficiency Project. Conceived by SAFE in 2010, the demonstration project was a cooperative effort that involved Redbird Flight Simulations and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).

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Southeast Aviation Expo draws crowds, despite rain

October 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

GREENVILLE, S.C. — For the second year in a row, the Southeast Aviation Expo at Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) was hit with rain, but was still able to draw a crowd of pilots and aviation enthusiasts.

This year’s Expo attracted almost twice the number of exhibitors, who told organizers that while the number of attendees was small compared to bigger shows, the people who attended were pilots and aircraft owners. “This is their target audience,” said one official.

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Back in formation

September 30, 2012 by 1 Comment

By RaeAnn Slaybaugh

A retired military and TWA pilot trades in the big jets for his own vintage Chinese training aircraft — and rediscovers a 41-year-old passion for deceptively challenging formation flying.

If you’ve ever attended the annual COPPERSTATE Fly-In & Aviation Expo, held every October at the municipal airport in Casa Grande, Ariz., the sight of pilot Derwin “Dee” Grimm in his green 1969 Nanchang CJ-6 training aircraft, with its red-and-yellow Chinese markings, is a familiar sight on Saturday afternoon.

On those days, Grimm is joined by as many as 17 other warbird-aircraft pilots for a multi-point fly-over. For aviation enthusiasts, it’s incredible to see all those CJ-6s, T-34s, T-38s, T-6s, Yak-52s and more flying in formation — but this spectacle isn’t nearly as effortless as it appears.

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Find a job in aviation — at this weekend’s Southeast Aviation Expo

September 27, 2012 by 1 Comment

As part of this weekend’s Southeast Aviation Expo at Greenville Downtown Airport in Greenville, S.C., two forums will be held: “Training and Careers in the Aerospace and Aviation Industry” and “How to Become a Pilot.”

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Technically speaking…

September 24, 2012 by 7 Comments

The quest to find some answers at Oshkosh

In my last post, I had the gall to be less than positive about things at the Oshkosh airshow. I was surprised at the positive feedback about similar experiences. However, our publisher, Ben Sclair commented that to see Oshkosh through the eyes of a new aviation enthusiast is like a kid on Christmas morning — it is one of the greatest experiences ever (A suggestion for keeping the magic of AirVenture alive) And he is absolutely 100% correct.

But where are they going to find 500,000 new aviation enthusiasts every year? Since they are not available, they are going to have to depend on repeat visitors. And why do pilots return to Oshkosh, pay for their transportation, fight large crowds, and pay $250 dollars for a small hotel room? Well, most of us do it to learn what is new and to get answers to our many technical questions.

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