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ISSUE 11 NOVEMBER 2011 |
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Back
in the Saddle Again
By
Dan Grunloh, Editor, Light
Plane World |
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I
recently learned how to make the
wind stop blowing and how to
guarantee excellent flying weather.
Put your foot in a cast for seven
weeks so you can't work the pedals
of your aircraft. The months of
September and October yielded many
days of fantastic flying weather
that made me wish I was flying an
Ercoupe. There are many things that
can keep us from flying or reduce
the amount of our flying time. Read
more
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Just
Fly - Sport Pilot
By
Corey Cassavant |
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This
month I had the opportunity to fly
two very different flight lessons on
the same day. Both of them were
flown under the parameters of the
sport pilot rule, and it really
struck me how broad our privileges
can be. The first was an
introductory flight in a Quicksilver
for a prospective student, and the
second was a cross-country lesson in
a Flight Design CTLS. Read
more
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Pipistrel
Debuts Alpha Trainer |
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Pipistrel
unveiled plans this month for the
Alpha Trainer, a new, fully
equipped light-sport aircraft
aimed squarely at the commercial
flight school/private owner
markets and aggressively priced at
just under $80,000. Pipistrel says
it may be displayed as early as
AERO 2012 in Friedrichshafen,
Germany, and is set on showing off
the Alpha Trainer at EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2012 next July.
Read
more |
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Elektra
One Ultralight FAR 103 Version
Promised |
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Calin
Gologan, celebrated designer of the
German-built Elektra One, has
announced the intention to produce
an ultralight legal version of the
aircraft that was demonstrated at
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2011 and that
won the Lindbergh Electric Aircraft
Prize.
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He claims the ultralight
version will meet the U.S.
ultralight weight and speed limit
with the batteries included, and it
will have 20-minute endurance in the
ultralight configuration. Read
more
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5th
Annual National Flight Design CT
Fly-In
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A flock
of about 35 Flight Design CT
light-sport aircraft flew in from
all over the southwestern United
States to attend the 5th Annual
National CT Fly-In at Page, Arizona.
The event took place October 14 to
16. Flight Design is able to hold
successful annual single-brand
gatherings because they have about
340 U.S.-registered aircraft, almost
twice as many as the second most
popular brand, the Cessna
Skycatcher. Read
more
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80-Year-Old
Grandpa Earns Sport Pilot
Certificate
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Ben
Palmer fulfilled a lifelong dream
when he earned his sport pilot
certificate October 17 through the
Chesapeake Sport Pilot flight school
in Stevensville, Maryland. The
80-year-old grandpa had longed to
fly since 1951 when he had served as
a radar technician in the Air Force
on a B-25. When he completed his
military service, he applied for
flight school through the GI Bill,
but all slots were full. Read
more
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| Jack
McCornack Joins EAA Ultralight
Hall of Fame |
| Ultralight
designer, competition pilot, and
humorist Jack McCornack was
inducted in the EAA Ultralight
Hall of Fame on October 27, 2011.
Jack designed and flew his first
"powered hang glider"
(as ultralights were called back
in the day) in 1976. In 1979, Jack
and his friend Keith Nicely
astounded EAA Oshkosh attendees by
flying two Pterodactyl Pfledge
ultralights from California to
Oshkosh-the first ultralights to
fly into Oshkosh from anywhere-and
from Oshkosh to Kitty Hawk. Read
more |
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| No
Myth: Duct Tape-Covered Plane
Flies |
| In
October viewers of the Discovery
Channel's Mythbusters
program saw for themselves that a
fabric-covered aircraft severely
damaged by a bear can be repaired
to airworthiness with duct tape.
The episode was prompted by Belite
Aircraft's James Wiebe, who
learned of bear attack on a Super
Cub in Alaska two years ago,
prompting him to e-mail the show's
producers to pitch the idea to
test the "duct tape
repair" theory using a Belite
airplane. |
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| We don't know what the
ratings were for the show, but
Wiebe reports in his
blog that the Belite website
crashed due to increased traffic
following the episode. Read
more |
| PRA
Offers Online Sport Pilot
Gyroplane Ground School |
| Popular
Rotorcraft Association (PRA) Vice
President Tim O'Connor, a
gyroplane CFI and advanced ground
instructor, is offering a live
online ground school for the sport
pilot gyroplane certificate. The
course will total 21 hours of
virtual classroom instruction, and
students will be assigned
homework. After registering for
the class, students will receive a
bundle of materials, including
exam supplement diagrams,
worksheets, and practice links.
Students earning a 90 percent or
higher score on test prep will
receive a logbook endorsement to
take the knowledge test at an
FAA-authorized testing center.
Tuition is $199.95, or $99.95 for
PRA members. For more information,
click
here. |
| Paraglider
Saves Bird After Their Fates
Become Entwined |
| An
undated video we recently
discovered shows a man paragliding
off ridges in the Himalayas on a
sunny day. Within seconds of the
start of the flight, an eagle
becomes ensnared in his rigging,
deflating the canopy and causing
both to begin a rapid descent. |
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man, who appears to be speaking
Russian, pulls his reserve
parachute and makes a normal
descent before hitting some trees
and landing roughly on the ground.
The eagle, still tied in the
lines, is finally freed after
several minutes as the man figures
out how to untangle the bird
without injuring it. Watch
the video |
| California
Power Systems Acquired by Irwin
International, Moved to Corona |
| Irwin
International Inc., owner of
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty,
has acquired Rotax engine dealer
and service center California
Power Systems and relocated CPS
operations from San Leandro to
Corona, California. Irwin
International Inc., which also
owns Aircraft Spruce &
Specialty Co., will operate
Aircraft Spruce and CPS as
separate divisions in the same
62,000-square-foot warehouse in
Corona. Read
more |
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| Hear
Incredible Story of Glacier
Girl at EAA Wright Brothers
Dinner |
| The
amazing story of the P-38E
Lightning Glacier Girl will be
told through the eyes of Bob
Cardin, one of its rescuers and
restorers, at EAA's annual Wright
Brothers Memorial Banquet on
Friday, December 16. |
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| The
banquet, held in the Founders'
Wing at the EAA AirVenture Museum
in Oshkosh, will commemorate the
108th anniversary of the Wright
Brothers' first powered flight at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Read
more |
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Hummel
UltraCruiser to AirVenture 2011
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I've
always had a passion for aviation
and dreamed of flying to EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh. Everyone around
the airport always talked about
flying to AirVenture, so this year
when the conversation came up in the
spring, I decided I was going, with
or without fellow pilots.
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I've been
flying only about a year and had
around 100 hours flight time in my
UltraCruiser which is Morry Hummel's
original prototype. Read
more
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Charles
Hooper Sportstar LSA on the Ramp
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These
photos are a first look at Sportstar
N47CC, a one-of-a-kind light-sport
aircraft (LSA) designed and built by
Charles Hooper of Lakeview,
Arkansas. The fuselage is
"S" glass and carbon
fiber. The cantilevered wing,
rudder, and stabilator are all
metal. A single stick in the center
controls the aircraft. The
firewall-forward is from a Zenith
601, and the engine is a Jabiru
3300. Read
more
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Engines
Q. Why do most
two-cycle powered planes have an
exhaust gas temperature (EGT)
gauge?
A. Some
exhaust systems have an exhaust
gas temperature probe and
indicating gauge. This probe
transmits an electric signal to a
gauge in front of the pilot. Read
more
Powered
Parachute
Q. Why is the after-landing
roll a critical phase of flying
the powered parachute (PPC)?
A. The
landing process must never be
considered complete until the PPC
has been brought to a complete
stop, the engine shut down, and
the wing collapsed and on the
ground. Read
more
Rotorcraft
Q. What does the term
"lateral balance" mean? A. For
most helicopters, it's usually not
necessary to determine the lateral
CG for normal flight instruction
and passenger flights. This is
because helicopter cabins are
relatively narrow and most
optional equipment is located near
the centerline. Read
more |
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| Aventura
- Fun on the Water Experimenter,
September 1996
 The
Aventura amphibian designed by
Argentinean Carlos Pereyra is a
direct descendant of the Advanced
Aviation Buccaneer. Carlos worked
for Advanced Aviation for a time
but soon decided he could make a
better seaplane. A total of eight
different models have been
produced and powered by engines
ranging from the 28-hp Rotax 277
all the way up to the Rotax 912.
There are currently 126 Aventura
seaplanes listed in the U.S.
registry. Read
the article
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From
the EAA Light Plane Community
Here are the latest discussions
from our online communities:
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Webinars: Fifty Years of Fly Baby
Maintenance expert and EAA Sport Aviation columnist Mike Busch,
A&P/IA, presents an informational webinar about the EGT Myth. Mike
debunks myths about CHT and EGT, explains what they really mean and how
they should be used in the operation and troubleshooting of piston
aircraft engines.
All
webinars begin at 7 p.m. CST
unless otherwise noted. To
find out more about upcoming EAA webinars and to register, visit
the webinars
page.
EAA
gratefully acknowledges the
support of Aircraft
Spruce and Specialty Co. for
its generous sponsorship of the
webinar programs.
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| Q. What's
your favorite thing about fall
flying?
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