ADS-B is a source of much consternation at the recreational end of general aviation. More accurately, ADS-B Out is the source. Actually, it’s the Jan. 1, 2020 ADS-B Out mandate. The very same mandate FAA Administrator Huerta has repeatedly stated will not be delayed. Simply put, ADS-B Out — Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast — is a periodic […]
Touch & Go
25° nose down in Fat Albert
In April of this year, I was lucky enough to be chosen to ride with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels support ship, a C-130 named Fat Albert. Not only did I get to ride in Fat Albert, I got one of the coveted cockpit jumpseats. Watching the crew perform… er, I mean fly, Fat Albert […]
Can you ignore the ADS-B 2020 mandate?
The Jan. 1, 2020 ADS-B mandate has a lot of aircraft owners wringing their hands and seeing red. For those of us at the recreational end of the aviating spectrum (which represents a great many aircraft), plunking down the money it’ll take to equip our aircraft to meet the mandate is not something we care […]
LA Times opines about Santa Monica Airport
We’ve been saying it for years. But it’s nice to hear the mainstream media pick up the argument. The Los Angeles Times editorial board said, with regard to Santa Monica Airport, “Open to private business and recreational aircraft, it relieves Los Angeles International Airport of some smaller plane traffic. Flight schools, airplane maintenance, charter jet […]
Vanity Fair: The Human Factor
We typically steer clear of airline-related topics in General Aviation News. But for William Langewiesche’s feature – The Human Factor – on the Air France 447 in Vanity Fair, I’ll make an exception. As sophistication and automation in all aspects of aerospace has developed over the past few decades our role as pilots must be continuously […]
Is Facebook changing how you consume news?
Facebook. It’s social. It’s mobile. It’s ubiquitous. It’s free. What’s not to love about Facebook? [That’s sarcasm, by the way.] Facebook “drives up to 20% of traffic to news sites,” reports Ravi Somaiya in a recent New York Times story. On the General Aviation News website, since the start of 2014, we’ve seen just under […]
RPA not UAV in GAN
There isn’t anything unmanned about most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). There is a real, live human being attached (wirelessly) to that airborne craft.
That’s why General Aviation News will from now on refer to them as Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPA). And we’re not the only ones weighing in on this discussion.
$67.80 per hour for a C-172? Huh?
How’d you like to rent a Cessna 182 for $110 per hour? Or a Cessna 172 for $67.80 per hour or a Cessna 150 for $51.76 per your? Oh, and those rates include fuel. Did that grab your attention? Ohio reader Thomas Root recently sent me a flyer from Galion, Ohio’s Galion Air that promotes its aircraft rental. […]
I just saw my future — I hope
The young lady in the photo is my oldest daughter, Savannah. An hour before I snapped this picture, she thought we were driving five hours to Spokane for a little father-daughter bonding at last month’s AOPA Fly-In. Nope. Friend, General Aviation News columnist and Cirrus Sales Director Ivy McIver happily stuffed myself and Cirrus’ Director of […]