Table of contents for August 2022 in Plane & Pilot

Though not nearly as flashy as inflight weather radar or a ballistic parachute system, the humble seatbelt is probably the most critical safety device installed in any aircraft. After all, seatbelts put the “S” in SAFETY for the preflight passenger briefing. In the early days of aviation, many pilots died when ejected from their planes or from impact against the cabin interior. It’s hard to believe that the lowly seatbelt—a routine checklist item for every takeoff and landing—was once the subject of tremendous controversy. How much do you really know about this life-saving device? Because we take for granted that they will always be there, seatbelts are often overlooked, even neglected. Taking the extra time to inspect periodically and use your seatbelts and harnesses correctly can protect you from serious…

At Oshkosh, over by the gift shop, there’s an “airplanes for sale” bulletin board, the real, old-fashioned kind of stick-pin bulletin board. Every year, we stop by, sometimes more than once, to look at the planes. We’re never sure what we’re looking for, but we always find plenty of weird and wonderful winged creations to whet our appetites (as if we needed it) for getting into the air. And we can’t help but think about the planes there. Whose are they? Did the owner at some point in the past 50 years find their plane on this very same bulletin board, maybe back when flared pants and mutton chop sideburns were in vogue, when the official attire of any true EAA’er was that famous blue windbreaker with patches from fly-ins…

WE CAN THINK BACK TO OUR STUDENT PILOT days and, specifically, our eager desire to get to those touch-and-goes. We recall spending a lot of time learning what then appeared to be relatively incoherent routines like ground reference maneuvers, climbs, turns, slow flight, descents and stalls because our instructor indicated these were the basic building blocks. But, apparently, once we demonstrated reasonable mastery of these maneuvers and the touch-and-goes lesson finally arrived, the excitement and concentration of takeoff and landing practice brought many of us to almost neglect what goes on between each one of them—the traffic pattern. This is the maneuver (or series of maneuvers) that encompasses most of our previous training but is often flown sloppily by students and seasoned pilots alike. But shouldn’t we grant to the…

Aviation member organizations are lobbying for support from the federal government on creating a sustainable and affordable supply of non-petroleum-based jet fuel, often referred to as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Members of the National Business Aviation Association and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association say that development of SAF is key to long-term sustainability of general aviation with a greatly reduced carbon footprint. Crews raised a Cirrus SR22 and recovered the body of the plane’s pilot a week after the plane crashed into the Atlantic. The crash, which happened near Savannah, Georgia, remains unexplained. It occurred after the pilot and sole occupant stopped responding to the controller’s radio calls. At the request of the controller, another, unrelated Cirrus intercepted the track of the non-responsive aircraft and witnessed its crash into the…

Ask anyone what color a Piper Cub is, and you’re likely to get some strange looks. After all, everyone knows that it’s yellow, or, to be specific, some will say it’s Cub yellow or “Lock Haven Yellow.” Or is it? The iconic Piper J-3 Cub is probably one of the most identifiable aircraft general aviation aircraft. From an initial trainer for World War II pilots to a ubiquitous—and nostalgic—platform for modern-day aviators to discover the joys of tailwheel flying, the Cub has earned a special place in the hearts of aviators for more than 80 years. When you close your eyes and imagine a typical taildragger, odds are that you picture the pert little Cub, bedecked in a cheerful yellow with the signature black lightning bolt on either side. As…

THE LONG ISLAND RAILROAD ISLIP LINE pulled me through the steam of August toward a rendezvous with Long Island MacArthur Airport and the day that any fledgling pilot meets with a mixture of dread and excitement. First solo. I learned to fly at a prominent flying school devoted to the making of airline pilots. Most of the instructors were young, in their early to mid 20s, wearing cheap ties and mismatched shirts while accepting abysmal pay in exchange for building flying time. After 10 hours of stalls, turns and the occasional slammed landing, I hoped I was ready. That night, I’d be flying with an instructor whose attitude had, on occasion, annoyed me. Flight instruction consists of long periods of boredom interrupted by brief moments of sheer terror, and tonight,…

AT THE GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION (GAMA) meeting in Washington, D.C., this spring came the blockbuster announcement that the industry and the FAA are 100% behind the retirement of 100 Low Lead aviation gasoline and the transition to nothing but unleaded aviation fuels by 2030, which is a little less than nine years away. The announcement was made by then-outgoing and now-former FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, a parting gift to aviation, perhaps, as he vacated the agency for reasons unrelated to avgas. It’s an issue, by the way, that no one in Washington except the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cares much about. But the EPA could ban unleaded aviation gas altogether if it so chooses, and at some point it surely will. The announcement at the GAMA event was largely…

At the European business aviation show in Geneva, Canadian bizjet maker Bombardier launched the Global 8000, derived from its popular Global 7500, a plane that was already very fast and had a very long range. The 8000 takes both of those things a step further while, do we have to say it, piling on the luxury trappings. Bombardier isn’t naming the retail price yet, but we’re guessing it must be well north of $70 million. (We’ll take two!) The speed race in the bizjet world is hardly new. Every few years, a manufacturer introduces a private jet that goes a little faster than the previous fastest set of wings. Legendary names like the Lockheed JetStar, the Learjet, the North American Sabreliner and the Dassault Falcon took turns as “fastest.” In…

Across 1 Makers of the world’s largest cargo aircraft, the AN-225 5 8-track tape inventor 7 Raw metal 10 Mass times acceleration 11 Some FADEC planes have just one 12 No fly ___ 13 Iron symbol 14 Kind of cockpit David Clark aims to fix 16 NAA trophy honoring the top achievements in aerospace over the past year 18 Word before jets and after cargo 19 Avoid’s other half 20 Hyundai’s air taxi company now in partnership with Miami 23 Often said to be “the thing” 25 Brand that’s part of Textron Aviation 28 Escape ___ 29 Device that converts chemical energy into mechanical energy 31 Air missions or airmen? 32 According to Gemini astronauts, what spam goes in 33 What the laser did to the cockpit 34 Modernized with…

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) fly-in at Oshkosh, for the past many years called AirVenture, is the biggest fly-in in the world and the biggest airshow, as well. It is, if anything, a huge gathering of airplanes and not just pilots—though every plane that arrives in central Wisconsin for the fun has at least one pilot aboard, and every one of them is just dying to see what cool hardware EAA will have assembled for the show. For this story, we have volunteered to create an impossible list—the most significant planes to ever fly into OSH. By definition, it will be incomplete, and we’re certain that we will have left at least a few deserved planes off the list. But we do know that this list represents some remarkable aircraft…