This December 2009 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others. Aircraft: Piper Super Cub. Injuries: 1 Serious. Location: Willow, Alaska. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: The pilot said that he fueled the airplane just […]
General Aviation
First solo: Bill Lyons
We recently asked pilots on our Facebook page to share the story of their first solos. Here’s Bill Lyon’s story: I soloed at 7 or 8 hours instruction, from a then grass and gravel strip at Farmville Virginia, 68 years ago. My instructor, one Jesse Edwards, was substantially overweight; I was a 120 pound stripling. […]
FAA proposes ‘radically higher prices’ for digital chart data
AVweb is reporting that the FAA’s AeroNav charting division told vendors this week that it proposes to charge end users of digital charting producers about $150 a year to close a $5 million shortfall in its budget due to declining paper chart sales. The report notes that the new fee, if adopted, would presumably more […]
Wounded vet brought home in Cessna’s ‘American Patriot’
Cessna Aircraft Co. welcomed home to Wichita wounded veteran Private First Class Shawn Williams for Cessna’s third Veterans Airlift Command mission. Williams came home to a crowd of several hundred Cessna employees, his family and the local American Legion Riders. Williams’ stepfather is a Cessna employee. This is Williams first holiday season home with his […]
Stuff those pilot stockings
Sporty’s is featuring a sleigh full of gifts for the pilot on your holiday list. Know a pilot who uses an iPad? Give that pilot a Pilot’s iPad Cleaning Cloth that is also imprinted with aviation information ($4.95) or the iPad Stylus/Pen ($9.95). What else? Any pilot on your list would enjoy an AOPA Survival […]
LightSquared still interfering with GPS
Federal officials said Wednesday that recent tests of start-up LightSquared Inc.’s proposed national wireless-Internet network showed it would still knock out a “majority” of GPS devices. A report in The Wall Street Journal quotes Anthony Russo, director of the National Coordination Office for Spaced-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, a government and industry advisory board, as […]
Semi-expert testimony
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. Opportunities to represent the aviation community come from all over the map, and they’re almost always unexpected. More often than not, I agree to participate in the process when […]
ARSA continues holiday tradition with scholarship
In lieu of holiday cards and gifts to members, the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) donated $1,000 to the Northrop Rice Foundation (NRF) for an aviation maintenance scholarship. The award will go to a student attending an (FAA certificated Part 147 Aviation Technician School, with the winner selected by NRF’s Board of Directors. “Due to […]
Still publishing after all these years…
Charles Stockton was unpacking Christmas decorations this year and discovered a copy of General Aviation News he picked up 15 years ago while traveling though Seattle. He and his lifelong friend, who was dying of cancer, were on a whirlwind one-year tour of the country. Boeing was on the list to see and while there […]