At the conclusion of October’s Copperstate Fly-In, held at Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ) in Arizona, I attended the annual awards banquet. As luck would have it, I sat at a great table. Seated with me was Chris Christiansen (and his parents), designer/builder of the award-winning Savor, Dave Edwards from Las Vegas, who turned me […]
Opinion
Another FAA temporary extension needed
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It looks like the FAA will need another temporary extension. After more than two years, the Senate continues to drag its feet in reauthorizing the FAA. Even many members of the Senate are fed up with the way that body is ignoring the needs of the FAA. Led by Sen. John Kerry […]
Edward Bellande: Pioneering pilot
“Air speed record to Los Angeles broken” was a headline in the Oakland (California) Tribune on Jan. 28, 1932. The story reported that a new coastal speed record for tri-motored planes was made on the Oakland-Los Angeles airway when a Transcontinental and Western airplane made the 360-mile hop in 1 hour and 52 minutes. The […]
Mogas – going, going, gone in the Pacific Northwest
Another nail has been driven into the coffin of ethanol free fuel in the Pacific Northwest. Practically all of the gasoline in western Washington and western Oregon comes from four major refineries on the Puget sound north of Seattle. Since Oregon is already a mandatory E10 state due to a state law, we have been […]
Triple Play for FK
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON LSA are nothing if not diverse. We have all manner of aircraft on our list of 104 approved models. Germany’s FK Lightplanes illustrates diversity through its trio of models: The high-wing Fk9 series (pictured above); biplane Fk-12 (pictured below); and low-wing Fk14. In May, the newest iteration of the Fk9 series […]
LSA in the spotlight at AOPA
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON In its first year as the AOPA Aviation Summit (versus Expo), the 70-year-old, 415,000-member organization made lots of changes, large and small. Among the most notable under capable new president Craig Fuller was much greater attention to LSA. Here’s the fast-read update: AOPA announced its 2010 Sweepstakes airplane is a Remos […]
Flying the MS-1
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON Lucky me. On a warm, sunny day I drove less than a mile to Spruce Creek Airport’s Downwind Cafe where I met the developers of MySky (the company) and the MS-1 (a new LSA model). After a tasty lunch we strolled over to the company’s facility and hangar. All the while […]
Light at the end of the tunnel
SPLOG By DAN JOHNSON Saying 2009 was a breathtaking year is no overstatement. The last air show of the season is now history and reflections on 2009 reveal a year of hardship for aviation. Cessna laid off more than half its workers and the Wichita giant’s problems are mirrored throughout general aviation. Seemingly invulnerable jet […]
More on the Land of Perfect
LETTER TO THE EDITOR As an “old guy,” who has been an active pilot for 56 years, I applaud Deb McFarland’s March 20 column, “The Land of Perfect.” Having been fortunate to learn to fly in J-3s/Cessna 120s/140s, I judge your article to be a breath of fresh air. My instructor insisted we always fly […]