When he was just a 16-year-old student pilot Dan Helsper saw a Pietenpol Air Camper, “the most beautiful thing” he’d ever seen. He vowed then and there to build one of his own some day.
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The simple success of the Old Farts Flying Club
The Old Farts Flying Club is very informal and simple: There are no dues, initiation, requirements, or vetting. Just an email list informing pilots where the next gathering will be. Events range from meeting for the mythical $100 hamburger to hangar flying to tours of the Piper factory and NOAA hangar at KLAL.
Video: Angle of Attack Awareness in 57 Seconds
“A lack of awareness, with respect to angle of attack (AOA), has resulted in the loss of aircraft control and contributed to fatal GA accidents,” FAA officials note in the video’s introduction. “Increasing a pilot’s awareness of the aerodynamic effects of AOA and available technology will help general aviation pilots avoid an inadvertent loss of control.”
Engine failure at 950 feet
What goes through your mind when your engine betrays you? General Aviation News contributor Bill Walker takes us through his thoughts and actions when his engine went silent just 950 feet in the air.
Celebrating 97 years since historic around-the-world flight
April 6, 2021, marked the 97th anniversary of the official start of the Douglas World Cruiser’s historic flight around the world. To mark the occasion, the Seattle World Cruiser Team put together a video that highlights events from that 1924 flight, as well as some milestone events from the project’s timeline.
A kid with a Cub
Ask any pilot if they remember their first flying lesson and the airplane it occurred in. No doubt — and without hesitation — you will get a detailed and colorful description of this revered event. As with many pilots, I started my flying career in a Piper J-3C Cub.
Avoiding loss of control on the ground
The new video is the first of a four-part series aimed at addressing the most predominant general aviation mishaps.
Finishing a flight to nowhere … four decades later
If you call Washington to get the word straight from the horse’s mouth, you might do better next time to call the stable boy.
Are you prepared to encounter a mountain wave?
Many general aviation pilots don’t think they have to worry about mountain waves — those are for King Air drivers. But Margaret Lamb, an expert on mountain weather, says “Just because you are flying a single-engine piston aircraft at a lower altitude, don’t think for a minute that you will be less exposed to severe turbulence and downdrafts under mountain wave conditions.”