I spent the weekend up in Susanville with some friends. We departed out of Oxnard Airport on Friday and apparently made the front page of the newspaper as we did so: That’s our Skylane in the background. According to the newspaper article, the Warrior in the foreground had experienced an engine failure after takeoff and the pilot elected to return… Read more →
The End of the Line
Another nail in the coffin of Southern California’s once rich aviation community. A friend writes about the end of the line — literally — at Long Beach: I witnessed the final death blow this morning as the last MD-717 lifted off and departed for delivery to the customer, TransAir. Unless a miracle occurs it will be the last jet airliner ever… Read more →
Jet Powered Volkswagon
Forget that sport pilot stuff. If I ever lose my medical, I’m building one of these: Even Bubb Rubb wouldn’t be able to handle this thing. According to the builder: This is a street-legal jet car. The car has two engines: the production gasoline engine in the front driving the front wheels and the jet engine in the back. The idea is that… Read more →
Time Machine
With four million people living in Orange County, there are undoubtedly quite a few folks who make the drive from Santa Ana to Carlsbad on a daily basis. I’m not sure how long it takes. Traffic being what it is, anywhere between 90 minutes and two hours seems like a reasonable estimate. Figure three to four hours for the round trip in a car. I… Read more →
Econo-maniac
Dan writes about fuel economy experiments in his RV-7. It’s interesting that he managed to get 35.4 statute miles per gallon out of his airplane. With a slight headwind, no less. I’ve never seen more than about 20 mpg out of a Cirrus, even with a tailwind. That’s on par with far draggier airplanes like the strut-braced Skylane. For such… Read more →
Glass Panel Failures
I recently returned from Duluth, MN, where I had the pleasure of picking up a brand new Cirrus SR22 from the factory. The experience left me feeling that we’re becoming a bit too complacent about the miracle of glass avionics. During the obligatory tour of the Cirrus plant, I was surprised to learn that starting with the 2006 models, they no longer manufacture airplanes… Read more →
Avgas Prices
Think it’s expensive to fill up your car? According to AirNav, aviation fuel is now running as high as $6.79 a gallon. Yes, you read that right. We’re pushing seven dollars per gallon. Anyone want to take a guess about how high it will go? Eight dollars? Ten? Assuming a fuel flow of 30 gallons per hour on takeoff, an SR22 would… Read more →
Immigration Reform
Damn Foreigner is back, and it’s good to see him among the living (posting?). His most recent entry was on a topic that is near and dear to his heart: immigration. He’s a smart guy and makes some salient points. However, I was left wondering what solution he might offer to fix this thorny problem. Should we allow anyone into the U.S. without any regard… Read more →
Landing on a Gravel Bar
Dan sent me a couple of companion pieces to yesterday’s entry. Both are cockpit-based videos of a tailwheel airplane landing on a gravel bar. In the first clip, our intrepid pilot uses the “waterski” arrival, touching down with the main wheels on the surface of the river and sliding right up onto the gravel bar. In the second, he drops… Read more →
The Ultimate Displaced Threshhold
A fellow CFI sent me a real gem.  I’d have to say this is the ultimate short field landing. It’s so short that half of it takes place on the water. This wouldn’t be such a big deal except for the fact that the aircraft in question is not a sea plane. You can do some pretty amazing things when you… Read more →