Table of contents for December 2022 / January 2023 in Flying

THE OPENING OF the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum in October marked a particularly auspicious occasion for general aviation—as curator Dorothy Cochrane and the team took the opportunity to create an entire gallery devoted to GA. Cochrane walked FLYING through the new gallery, Thomas W. Haas ‘We All Fly.’ There are five different sections. The first section is sport aviation, then private pilot flying, private aircraft manufacturing—and that’s the Cessnas, the Beeches, the Pipers—and then we have business aviation, and then we have humanitarian flight, and then utility flight. The entrance is all about trying to explain to the general public what general aviation is. As you explain it to them, you engage them, there are all kinds of ways that they can participate—or are already in it as…

THE ENGINE START TELLS YOU THAT YOU’RE IN A TIME MACHINE. With a side-to-side sashay of the panel as the Jake turns over and comes to life, so does the Cessna 195. The conveyance of choice for legendary Cessna Aircraft Company president Dwane Wallace back in the 1950s, the 195 lives on through a persistent confluence of capability and flair, with a tinge of nostalgia thrown in. And throughout 2022, its aficionados have celebrated the 75 years since it first took flight in Wichita, Kansas. DESIGN The Cessna 190 and 195 models were born from a desire to serve the business traveler of the post-World War II era with a moderately fast single that could take advantage of the state-of-the-art radial engines of the time—and carry a family or a…

The ocean takes on a range of colors as you approach it from the tangle of land and water composing Florida’s southernmost end. The tones run from steel gray to cerulean blue to baby turquoise, depending on the winds, the waves, and the clouds above. On this late morning approach, as we fly in as a two-ship in a loose route formation from Dade-Collier airport (KTNT), the Caribbean turns to cobalt as we leave the Everglades behind and scoot towards the furthermost inhabited island in the chain that lies ahead of us. What feels like a world away, yet begins just a couple dozen nautical miles from the last of Miami’s collection of airports—and an easy shot from points on Florida’s west coast? That national treasure, the Florida Keys. PICK…

SEPTEMBER IS MY “base month” for recurrent training in our Cessna Citation CJ1. Traditionally, I’ve trained at SimCom in Orlando, Florida. The facility is within driving distance of my home in Tampa, the people are great, and my insurance company approves the training. I was disappointed but not surprised when I called to hear that no course dates were available this year in September. The resurgence of general aviation flying had put a premium on those slots. I called LOFT Aero in California and arranged for “recurrent,” or a “61.58” in FAA speak. This provided an excuse to fly from my summer digs in New Hampshire to the West Coast, with some intriguing stops in Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico. How much fun is that? Little did I know how…

THE YEAR ENDED in a somewhat challenging manner and—while nowhere near the previous one when my wings were clipped—convoluted enough to keep me from getting bored. Weather, a lengthy annual inspection, and crunched tail feathers kept me on the ground but I passed the demonic IFR written and was back to some serious practical test preparation by August. “Piece of cake,” I thought. I’d been rated since the late ’60s and logged plenty of time “cloud flying.” But, like some of you, I wasn’t brought up on the new generation of avionics and sophisticated nav equipment. And my 180 has no autopilot or even so much as a heading bug on the directional gyro. Its avionics consist of an elderly BendixKing KX-155 and a Garmin 430. Yeah, I use ForeFlight…

Happy With the Changes I am very impressed with this month’s print version [Q3 2022]. As a lifetime subscriber, and a published newspaper photographer, I had growing concern over the print magazine’s sustainability. The shrinking thickness [was a concern] as well, and many long-term writers going to a couple of big aviation member-based organizations to work. Julie, your time in charge has affected a variety of impressive improvements: perfect bound, high-quality, thicker coated paper, and the retention of writers, such as Peter, Martha, Les, and Sam. David Arbogast via email Experience Makes a Difference Capt. Les Abend’s Jumpseat column, “Qualification Shortage?” [2022 Buyers Guide], addresses a problem of government overreach. A Colgan Air regional flight under a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines crashed in 2009 on approach to Buffalo, New…

IN 1976, I WAS AN inexperienced 24-year-old pilot when I got my first “real” flying job. I was hired by a small commuter airline to fly mail at night and passengers during the day in Piper Navajo and Navajo Chieftain twins. A normal sequence started on day one at 10:30 p.m. in Charleston, West Virginia, flying east to Baltimore, Maryland, then back west to Martinsburg, West Virginia, then further west, ending in Cumberland, Maryland, at 3:30 a.m. the next morning. At 11:30 a.m. on day two, I would fly passenger runs until 9 p.m., then at 9:30 p.m., pick up the airmail run back to Charleston, finishing up around 1:30 a.m. on the third day. At every stop, I had to unload and reload 1,600 pounds of mail and somewhere…

Winter and airframe icing are like peanut butter and jelly; it’s hard to imagine one without the other. During much of the cold season, knowledge of the freezing level is sought after by pilots, especially those flying under IFR. Short of an erroneous forecast or calibration issue with your immersion thermometer, if you can remain below the lowest freezing level during your entire flight, there’s typically no chance for an encounter with airframe ice. Induction ice is certainly possible, but not airframe ice. If you plan an altitude where the temperature aloft is zero degrees Celsius or less, airframe icing becomes exceedingly more likely while flying in visible moisture. Therefore, the freezing level is one key variable that you need to determine during your preflight analysis to better quantify your…

BY NATURE AND NURTURE, I am not a risk-taker, nor am I innately prone to impulsive action, which are two reasons I survived my misbegotten teen years and early 20s as a fledgling professional pilot. And yet, in the years since, friendships and happenstance and wanderlust aligned to turn me into a dirt-biking, skydiving thrillseeker who made a literal overnight decision to sell everything, buy a sailboat, and run away to sea (enabled, by my wife’s rare and timely foray into shocking irresponsibility). Over time, I’ve found that my impulsive, risk-taking side has given me many of the best experiences—and friends—of my life. I’ve lusted after the Cessna 195 ever since I first saw one at the tender age of 17, at Oshkosh in 1998. As my flying career developed,…

THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR is the first gatekeeper when it comes to aviation safety. It is incumbent on the CFI to teach and model good habits for mitigating risk—and you can’t do that without understanding where the risk is coming from, and when and where during the flight training process we are at a higher risk for an accident. One way to do this is for the CFI to review the Nall Report, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s (AOPA) Air Safety Institute’s annual report that looks into accident causal factors—and to develop training scenarios to give learners the tools to address these risks. AOPA released its 32nd report last month. The report looks at the number of events, the phases of flight where accidents happen, and contributing or causal factors.…

IT WAS THE SPRING of 1979. Robert Parke, then FLYING’s editor, was in Los Angeles. His next stop was Reno, and of course I offered to fly him there. My homemade airplane, Melmoth, had by then successfully crossed both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and so the intrepid Parke, who had piloted B-17s over Europe in World War II, was willing to chance it. It was a clear, calm day. We climbed out of Whiteman Airport (KWHP) and through the Newhall Pass, turning northwestward toward Gorman. I leveled out at 10,500 feet. Mount Pinos crept past our left wing and the vast flatness of the San Joaquin Valley lay fading into the haze before us. How do you know something is wrong? Sometimes it’s obvious: a big noise, shaking, smoke,…

EVER SINCE LUKE SKYWALKER plunged into the mesial groove of the Death Star, flying through canyons has seemed to be a supreme test of airmanship. Military pilots practicing terrain following love to thread the so-called “Star Wars Canyon” into Death Valley at 500 knots. When the new Top Gun installment came out, it was all about negotiating canyons, both geological and interpersonal. It’s fun, and it’s dangerous. In fact, it’s fun because it’s dangerous. And that’s why three ex-Air Force pilots set off on a December morning in three Van’s Aircraft taildraggers to practice flying through a canyon in southern Colorado. The flight leader, 70, who had been a captain with United Airlines after leaving the military, had 20,000 hours. He was flying a tandem two-seat RV-4. The two other…

IN ORDER TO PREPARE for the departure from an airport in a congested metro area, a pilot must have a plan, a way to feel as though they are orchestrating events as opposed to pushing the throttle forward and hanging on for the ride. That’s even more important when the Epic E1000 GX you’re strapped into accelerates down the runway pulled by 1,200 jet-A-propelled horses and five blades cutting through the gummy Seattle air. As we taxi out to the departure end of Runway 16 at the Renton Municipal Airport (KRNT), I check in with Epic Aircraft demo pilot Tony Paradis to assess if, by his countenance, he appears ready to engage his plan. I feel pretty good about mine, but it has been 15 years since I last flew…

Garmin’s announcement in October that it acquired a supplemental type certification (STC) from the FAA for the GI 275 electronic flight instrument in the Dassault Falcon 7X business jet should give operators and pilots a reason to celebrate. The announcement came as part of Garmin’s press run at the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) held in Orlando this year, and it was one of many fascinating updates in business aviation, particularly related to avionics. GARMIN GI 275/DASSAULT FALCON 7X Garmin’s GI 275 can now replace the original secondary flight display in the Falcon 7X and be configured to serve as an attitude-direction indicator with synthetic vision technology. When Garmin introduced the GI 275 in January 2020, it seemed the powerful little round dial with all…

• 1945 / The first prototype 195 flies. With the Cessna 190 (which flew in 1944), it’s Cessna’s only post-war radial engine aircraft. • 1947 / The 195 is certified by the Civil Aeronautics Authority, the precursor to the FAA. Because the aircraft is expensive compared to its contemporaries, it is marketed as the Businessliner, the message being that the person who owns this airplane has places to go and people to see—and needs to do this efficiently. • 1949 / The U.S. Air Force acquired 15 Cessna 195s and militarized them by installing specialized radio equipment, an escape hatch, and interior fittings. The military 195s get a utilitarian paint job and a new designation: LC-126, and later the U-20. The aircraft is used as a light transport and utility…

It’s that time of year again: the gift-giving season. Fortunately, aviation is resplendent with items that can make great presents for the pilot or flying aficionado. We share a few of our favorite ideas with you–especially if you find yourself shopping at the last minute. 1 DISCOVERY FLIGHT Most flight schools offer these introductory flights as a means of attracting new clientele. The flight is usually about 20 minutes to half an hour, and the client, under the watchful guidance of a flight instructor, gets to fly the airplane. Some flight schools offer discounts around the holidays—the $99 discovery flight is very popular. Gift certificates for discovery flights are also an option. If you purchase one of these flights, make sure to ask what type of airplane is used for…

WALKING UP TO my airplane on a warm Saturday in October on Catalina Island off the California coast, and after devouring one of the airport’s famous buffalo burgers, I noticed a beat-up Cessna that I recognized as belonging to one of the flight schools in Santa Monica. The pilot was young, mid-20s, and he had three people with him—two of which looked like they might be his parents. He stopped his preflight and approached me. “Are you a CFI?” “No, I’m not. Why? What’s going on?” “I’m trying to figure out which runway to depart from.” First off, I was flattered that he thought I was a CFI. Quickly moving past that, it occurred to me that it might be because I looked old. Slowly moving past that, I realized…

MORE THAN A DECADE ago, a medical emergency while en route from London to New York’s JFK International broke my winning streak of never having to divert across the North Atlantic. A woman was suffering from an unknown cardiac issue. We brought her and more than 200 other passengers on board our Boeing 777 to Keflavik, Iceland. Although we had already communicated with our dispatch team to start the diversion ball rolling, a Boeing 757 crew on an Icelandair flight to the U.S. offered to call their operations desk ahead of our arrival. The diversion procedures necessary to transit on a route 90 degrees offset from the track system over the North Atlantic can be tedious, but we accomplished the task without creating a traffic conflict, despite the fact my…

IN THE OCTOBER 1993 issue, former FLYING editor-in-chief J. Mac McClellan wrote, “Certification of the Howard 500 30 years ago [in 1963] marked the beginning for a new airplane and the end of an era. The 500 was the last big piston-powered airplane that was built for executive travel. Though it had a huge cabin, enormous range, and excellent cruise speed, and was certified in the new transport category, the big Howard couldn’t hold back the tide of turbines that had turned four years earlier with the certification of the Grumman Gulfstream I turboprop.” Still, the stately lines of the classic twin appeal to a vanishingly small group of owners: The two shown above are the only ones we know of in flying condition, both in the care of Tony…