1 through 20 of about 79 matches.
AVweb Features - May 2013
Flying safely in high wind conditions is a matter of adopting the proper technique for your aircraft's weight and configuration. One complication with which we pilots must always contend is wind. It can complicate a takeoff or landing, force heading changes while en route, mandate a fuel stop when stronger than forecast and make an otherwise smooth ride uncomfortable when blowing over uneven terrain. Learning to deal with the wind is one of the major lessons of primary training, yet the accident record demonstrates many of us still haven't mastered the challenge.
AVweb Features - March 2013
Whether it's a calamity of wrong button pushes or a subtle input failure to a glass panel, understanding the interface is key to safety.
AVweb Features - February 2013
Letter of the Week: Who Should Pay?Regarding the story about iPad apps for aviation: Compare the cost of an iPad app to that of FAA paper publications needed.Why shouldn't the FAA be compensated for gathering the data that goes to the app-makers? Why, and how, do people think they are entitled to something for nothing? Or, in Mr. Goldstein's case, pay nothing at wholesale so they can add some value and sell at retail. Come on.John SullivanClick here to read the rest of this week's letters.
AVweb Features - January 2013
Having inspected many aircraft hangars for security for nearly a decade, I can report that the most common device keeping the outsides world away from our airplanes is a keyed lock. We turn the key in that door knob and figure that our airplane—our investment in fun and transportation—is secured against those who want it, the radios inside it, or anything else having to do with our flying machine. Or perhaps we close the hasp and attach a beefy looking padlock, figuring that the metal body of the lock will discourage sufficiently those who want what's inside. My grandfather once told me that locks are only good for keeping honest people honest. Let me tell you why his country farmer's wisdom continues to be true today.Click here to read the full article. -->
AVweb Flash - June 2012
A research team from Harvard University has developed a treatment for metal surfaces that will keep them free of ice and frost, the Harvard Gazette reported on Monday. "The technology prevents ice sheets from developing on surfaces, and ice that is present slides off effortlessly," the Gazette reports. The researchers' new technology, called Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS), uses nanostructures to create an ultra-smooth, slippery surface. "This new approach to ice-phobic materials is a truly disruptive idea," said Joanna Aizenberg, leader of the research group. "We are actively working with the refrigeration and aviation industries to bring it to market."
AVweb Features - March 2012
The KC-97 Stratotanker was way too slow to easily refuel B-47s, but the bomber pilots learned how to fly in tight formation at near-stall speeds and do it with finesse. Dick Taylor spent many hours flying 100-mile refueling racetracks in the sky, usually over the southeastern U.S., but sometimes even over North Africa. Click here to read the 11th chapter.
AVweb Flash - November 2011
Whether it's all just a publicity stunt or it's been Michael O'Leary's dirty little secret, the flamboyant owner of Ryanair certainly knows how to stimulate headline writers. The Irish entrepreneur's latest media bombshell is the suggestion that his no-frills airliners stream, among other things, porn to the handheld devices of passengers. He's also thinking about games, gambling and more wholesome fare like movies but it's the prospect of catching a glimpse of something creating heat besides the engines that has tweaked the Times, titillated the Telegraph and seared the Sun. "I'm not talking about having it on screens on the back of seats for everyone to see," he told the Sun. "It would be on handheld devices. Hotels around the world have it, so why wouldn't we?" Perhaps the Sun reporter didn't mention that hotels have doors with locks on them, too, but the problem with quoting O'Leary is that it's impossible to tell when he's serious.
AVweb Features - October 2011
Jumping straight from the T-6 to the B-25, Richard Taylor gets to experience not only a huge airplane but one that requires two crew (giving new meaning to the term "solo"), and also experiences the joys of winter in Oklahoma.
AVweb Flash - September 2011
An arm of Canada's federal government has served a six-month eviction notice on a major aviation museum in the country's largest city. Workers at the Canadian Air and Space Museum in Toronto got to work last Tuesday to find the locks changed and an eviction notice on the door. The museum is on former Canadian Forces Base Downsview, which was closed decades ago. The airfield remains active as a private facility for Bombardier. The company builds Q400 airliners and business jets there but several hundred acres were designated as a park by the government and the museum occupies a sliver of those lands. The government-owned corporation that runs the park has struck a deal for the site with a developer who will put up a hockey and skating arena with four sheets of ice. The announcement stunned the local aviation community and prompted owners of some of the museum's artifacts to collect them.
AVweb Features - December 2009
Letter of the Week: Space Certification ChallengeWhile the unveiling of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is a momentous occasion for all parties involved, I've noticed that a critical factor has been missing from coverage of the event: Information concerning the certification of the spacecraft and commercial space operations carrying passengers is notably absent from virtually all media.If flights to paying customers are to come as early as 2011 as we are told, Virgin is surely facing one of the toughest certification programs ever seen, both for the vehicle and the operations they will be conducting with it. I do not doubt the safety of the craft. Scaled Composites has a proven track record of successful designs and I'm sure the flight test program will be thorough, but just because an aircraft can be operated safely does not mean that the government will give its blessing to carry paying passengers. I would like to know what will be expected of Virgin Galactic in order to proceed beyond the experimental stage, a realm unknown to manned spaceflight, government or private.In addition to the challenges facing of Virgin Galactic, I have my doubts that the FAA would be able to come up with a new certification process for commercial manned spaceflight by 2011. There is a great deal of work ahead of many people, and given the high price of admission, I question whether there is enough interest from potential customers to justify the expense. Private experimental suborbital spaceflight is real, but some seem to have made the assumption that all it takes is a willing customer to make commercial spaceflight a reality. It will take much more than that and I want to see both Virgin Galactic and the FAA answer the tough questions that will have to be faced to bring this venture to fruition.Ryan LundeClick through to read the rest of this week's letters.
AVweb Flash - December 2009
The FAA has issued new rules banning "through-the-fence" agreements, and the TSA effectively closed down one in Punta Gorda last week. Should they be allowed at all?Plus: Last week, we asked AVweb readers how much flying they did in 2009 (compared to previous years). Click through to see how they answered.
AVweb Flash - December 2009
As the Transportation Security Administration continues to eye GA as a security threat, it locked out a group of owners from a through-the-fence arrangement at Florida's Punta Gorda Airport, south of Sarasota. Pilot Larry Hofmeister told us Friday that a group of owners with hangars on private property adjacent to the airport had a good working arrangement that allowed them to taxi from their hangars to a gate into the airport, which they could open by remote control. This week, the TSA halted that arrangement, claiming that it represents a security threat.
AVweb Features - August 2008
Even when it's snowing in the cockpit, it can get quite hot.
AVweb Flash - August 2008
Instead of a roadable aircraft, how about using your aircraft to carry a roadable motorcycle? That question has been answered by the effort of MotoPOD, which debuted its modified 225-cc six-speed four-cycle motorcycle and aircraft belly pod at AirVenture Oshkosh last month. The company says it will soon offer STC'd models for Cirrus SR22, Cessna 182 and other aircraft models. For now, the system has been fitted to a four-seat Van's Aircraft RV-10 kitbuilt experimental aircraft for testing at a cost of 9 knots airspeed during cruise -- time the company says you can sometimes more than erase on the destination end of the trip by virtue of having brought your own ground transportation. As for other costs, first, a MotoPOD carrying one of the company's modified motorcycles (leak-proof plumbing and folding parts) will add more than 230 pounds to your aircraft. But before that, comes dollars.
AVweb Features - December 2007
Reader mail this week about the environment and flying, airline-congestion solutions, the future of GA and more.
AVweb Features - October 2007
Versa-True has more positioning flexibility but RAM's gadget cradle is superior and it costs half as much. Best value is the RAM suction mount.
AVweb Features - September 2007
Emergencies don't have to only be practiced in the airplane.
AVweb Features - August 2007
The recent crash of a warbird has John Deakin back on his soapbox to change our go-around habits.
AVweb Flash - July 2007
Embraer on Monday broke ground for its second executive jet service center in the U.S. at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. The event comes just three weeks after a groundbreaking ceremony at Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz., for a similar facility. The 45,000-square-foot Windsor Locks center is scheduled for completion in mid-2008 and will be dedicated to after-sales service for Embraer’s Phenom 100, Phenom 300 and Legacy 600 executive jets. "Today's ground breaking marks another chapter in Embraer's commitment to provide first-class service and product support to our increasing customer base," said Embraer President and CEO Frederico Fleury Curado. Ground-breaking on a third purpose-built, factory owned-and-operated service center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will take place next month.
AVweb Features - July 2007
When your prop surges, hunts or does anything unusual, do you know what to check first?
