Table of contents for April 2024 in Plane & Pilot

ACROSS 1 Relating to building or flying an aircraft 8 Kit maker — one of its products is the Tornado 9 Type of bomber 12 SAT ___ 13 The "p" in kph 14 Road, abbr. 15 Touched the tarmac 18 Numbered cube 19 Fill with freight 21 Boeing body 24 Sunbeam 25 Threefold 26 Sphere 27 The "O" in OBS 28 Compass point, abbr. 30 Makers of SkyView HDX avionics 31 Denims 33 Time before an event 34 Child 36 Overly self-confident 37 Force that produces rotation DOWN 1 Cockpit aid 2 Turbine blade 3 Nine in pilot-speak 4 Package delivery service 5 Creative spark 6 ____eron 7 Pratt & _____ 10 Nashville’s state, abbr. 11 Effective use 16 Benefit from a good teacher 17 Boeing 747, e.g. — 2…

Maybe it’s the Georgia flying weather, or maybe it’s the ever-increasing emphasis on “old” pilot instead of “bold” pilot, but it seems that flight planning these days is a lot more about if and when than about route and altitude. This present trip was supposed to have been to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family in Knoxville, Tennessee, but weather and the nation’s newest pastime, upper respiratory infections, squashed it. The trip was postponed to Super Bowl weekend in February. For this excursion, the direct route from Savannah, Georgia, to Knoxville is over the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s only two hours by RV-9A, but there are gotchas lurking in the flight planning. For instance… When I was at Gulfstream, one of my test pilot buddies shared that his en…

Airshows and flyins have been around pretty much as long as we’ve had powered flight—and before that if you count the demonstrations and events that preceded powered flight, featuring dirigibles and other lighter-than-air craft, particularly in 19th-century Europe. The Grande Semaine d’Aviation de la Champagne in France was the first of the great international events, held in August 1909. Air races and barnstorming are a beloved tradition in aviation, and from such grassroots spring giants like EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. These events are more than just fun. They bring together members of the aviation community to share innovations, inspiration, and plant the seeds for the next generation of flight. Here are a few to consider this year—the following is by no means a comprehensive list. Visit eaa.org, fai.org, aopa.org,…

Must-Read for Pilots I am just reading and enjoying your article “Hitting the Books” [in the November/December 2023 issue]. May I add a further book? A book I wish I had known of and read at the start of my (private pilot) flying career: Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche. Written in 1944 (!) but still the best book about airplane handling, and still available. I would even go so far and say this book should be mandatory reading for airline pilots. The Air France [Flight] 447 and Colgan [Air Flight 3407] accidents—to name just two prominent airliner crashes that happened due to stalls—would not have happened if the pilots had read this book. In my opinion, pilots who have read the book will never have a loss-of-control accident. Clemens…

As an aircraft owner, it is tempting to seek cost-effective solutions for maintenance to minimize expenses. However, opting for cheap maintenance services without considering the potential risks can have dire consequences for both safety and the long-term value of the aircraft. This article explores the hazards associated with choosing inexpensive maintenance options and emphasizes the importance of prioritizing quality and reliability over short-term savings. Choosing cheap maintenance providers often means compromising on the expertise and experience of the technicians working on your aircraft. Skilled and knowledgeable professionals play a vital role in ensuring proper maintenance and identifying potential issues before they become safety hazards. While it may prioritize speed and cost reduction over comprehensive and thorough maintenance procedures in an attempt to complete tasks quickly, essential inspections and checks may…

In a momentous aviation reunion, Burt Rutan, the visionary behind groundbreaking flight designs, is set to grace the EAA AirVenture 2024, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of his VariEze canard aircraft. The renowned event is scheduled for July 22-28 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Best known for iconic creations like SpaceShipOne, Voyager, and GlobalFlyer, Rutan’s journey began over half a century ago with the introduction of fiberglass canard aircraft, revolutionizing amateur-built planes. Rick Larsen, EAA’s vice president, highlights Rutan’s pivotal role in transforming the aviation landscape and anticipates enthusiastic audiences for his presentations. Rutan, an EAA lifetime member for more than 50 years, initially wowed Oshkosh in 1972 with the VariViggen, propelling canard design into the homebuilt community. His subsequent designs, including VariEze and Long-EZ, still captivate aviation…

Perhaps it’s time to rethink how we teach people to fly by wafting our way around the traffic pattern under electric power rather than noisily propelling ourselves through the atmosphere by combusting dinosaur juice. Or perhaps not. The concept of electric flight is, like a lot of dreams, wishful in the sense that it may not be practical at the present time, but perhaps it will be in the not-too-distant future. During six decades of flight training, I’ve had to learn how to adapt to many changing requirements. Given the current state of electric powertrains, there would have to be a lot of adapting to the training procedures to accommodate the present limitations of battery-powered flight. The chief drawback for now seems to be limited endurance compared with avgas-powered trainers.…

After getting married in 1990, my wife, Jill, and I spent several years restoring a 1946 Stinson 108. Serial number 256 made this early variant a dash nothing. The intent was to own an airplane capable of visiting each state in the continental U.S. while hauling a luxurious amount of camping gear. The reality was restoring an older airplane that was significantly more expensive and time-consuming than we had imagined before starting the project. Life happened, and we sold the airplane before ever starting the engine for the first time. When the new owner wrote to tell us the airplane flies beautifully, we felt a great sense of pride in a job well done and the pain of letting the dream slip away. We are fortunate to currently own a…