Índex per November 2016 a Flying

Weren’t notams supposed to be getting better by now? What I’m talking about, of course, is a provision in the Pilots Bill of Rights, legislation championed by Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma in 2012 after he was put through the FAA wringer for landing on a closed runway, that requires the agency to simplify notices to airmen and ensure the most relevant notam information reaches pilots. The subsequent Pilots Bill of Rights 2, known best for directing the FAA to eliminate third-class medical exams for private pilots, also instructs the FAA to speed up the notam improvement process. Yet it remains a broken system. I was reminded of this during a recent trip to Cape May, New Jersey. On the drive to my home airport, I called Flight Service for…

I con Aircraft is opening a factory in Tijuana, Mexico, to build composite airframes for the A5 light-sport amphibian as a way of cutting costs and controlling all facets of manufacturing. The new Icon factory in Mexico, which could eventually employ 1,000 workers, is set to open in November and be completely up and running by early next year, says Kirk Hawkins, Icon’s founder and CEO. Cirrus Aircraft had been tasked with producing the composite airframe components for the A5 at its factory in Grand Forks, North Dakota, until Icon decided in May to bring the work in house. “Icon will own or control all manufacturing operations related to its composite fabrication in Mexico,” Hawkins wrote in an email to Flying. “Parts will be made on Icon tooling, by Icon…

Ferrying light single- and twin-engine airplanes around the world is not a job for the inexperienced or the bold. I am reminded of this fact several times a year on flights in sometimes-remote parts of the globe. We all have read stories of pilots who push their luck and lose. Some don’t bother with getting a thorough preflight briefing and find themselves in extreme weather conditions where Mother Nature often wins. The pilot is sometimes taught the ultimate lesson. Many times, just a lack of attention to planning is the cause of an off-airport landing due to fuel starvation. Other times, a thorough walk-around or run-up might have prevented something simple from causing a tragic outcome. Unfortunately, even the most diligent pilot cannot uncover all the hidden dangers that lurk,…

With the 2020 mandate for ADS-B Out equipment for aircraft flying in controlled airspace rapidly approaching — and the FAA offering a $500 equipment rebate to the first 20,000 aircraft owners to get in line — now is a great time to commit to a unit to avoid the mad rush before the compliance deadline. But there is a long list of offerings on the market and choosing one product over another can be difficult. If you know that you won’t ever fly in Class A airspace (FL 180 and above) or internationally, you can stick with a simpler universal access transceiver (UAT). If you don’t have a WAAS GPS system to provide position information, the unit will have to include it, which most systems sold today do. There is…

General aviation lovers and industry leaders from around the world will gather in beautiful Palm Springs for a weekend of high-profile speakers, educational seminars, social events and showcases of the latest in products in aviation October 20-22. Familiar names including John and Martha King, Rod Machado, Sammy Mason, George Bye, Mark “Hoot” Gibson and Dr. Earl Weener line the weekend show’s schedule, offering hands-on workshops, Q&As, meetand-greets and more. For the first time, the Expo will take place at the Palm Springs International Airport, allowing for demo flights and numerous aircraft displays. Whether you fly for business or pleasure, there’s something at Flying Aviation Expo to pique your interest. HIGHLIGHTS The show schedule is loaded with special events, including a keynote debate between John King and Rob Machado — two…

I love this photo of my wife and two children enjoying the shear wonder of the airplane. I’m a daddy, so I naturally feel proud of what I’ve been entrusted. I think this photo will get you smiling too. ROBERTO G. ECHEVARRÍA That Looks About Right John King’s “When TLAR Beats Perfection” [Sky Kings, September 2016] is the best article that I have ever read in an aviation magazine. It is not only enlightening for a pilot, but for anyone — and not just for flying, but for life. I loved the line: “In all of life, timeliness is often better than perfection.” John’s essay is succinct and beautifully written. Your Shots KRISTEN BECKER Share your flying adventures with #FlyingMagazine Long-Overdue Honor Readers reacted to our story about World War…

BLEED AIR For decades, aircraft have used engine bleed air for a variety of purposes, spanning everything from engine starting to cabin pressurization to anti-icing. Here’s how engine bleed air works. HOT, HIGHPRESSURE AIR When air enters a turbine engine, it goes through a series of compressors, which significantly increase the air temperature and pressure before mixing that air with fuel and igniting it. A small portion of that compressed air, however, does not enter the combustion chamber and instead is redirected from the engine via valves, ducting and manifolds to various other areas of the aircraft. This engine bleed air is very hot, between 200 to 250 degrees C, and very high in pressure, around 40 psi. CABIN PRESSURIZATION AND AIR CONDITIONING Because the air at high altitudes is…

I seldom experience déjà vu in my aerial life, though it lurks around every corner of my ground-bound existence. Enough changes from flight to flight to find something fresh in every airborne encounter, and the shift in perspective makes even old haunts seem entirely foreign when seen from above. But here and now, with the sun glinting just so off the rippled surface of the Sea of Cortez and the dark, jagged spine of the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir looming to the west, I am hit with a powerful sense of having been in this exact spot before. That’s not exactly right, for this is my first time flying Mexico’s Baja Peninsula — but the impression is rooted in reality. I peer under my Piper Pacer’s wing and spy…

The legendary Bugatti 100P racer, begun in the late 1930s, was a collaboration between Italian-French car builder Ettore Bugatti and French freelance engineer Louis de Monge de Freneau. The airplane, its development interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, never flew. It now resides in the EAA museum at Oshkosh. Widely regarded as one of the most beautiful airplanes ever designed, the Bugatti had a peculiarly artistic form, with a slender, perfectly streamlined spindle for a fuselage, and dramatically tapered, nearly triangular wing and tail surfaces. The empennage was in the form of a Y; the short ventral fin housed the tailwheel. Two eightcylinder, 450 hp Type 50B automotive racing engines, one set behind the other within the central fuselage, drove coaxial, contra-rotating props on the nose through long…

CHART WISE: CHALLENGING APPROACHES DAY-USE ONLY This approach is so challenging that you aren’t authorized to attempt it at night. According to the notes, the control tower must also be operating. You’ll also see a warning about “occasional ADF needle swings away from the final approach course” upon passing the MAP. RUGGED TERRAIN Apart from the challenges associated with flying NDB approaches, this one is to a mountainous airport with rising terrain. At least the runway is long. FINAL DESCENT It’s not often you’ll run across an approach with a missed approach point 5.2 miles from the airport and a descent of just 60 feet once inbound past the final approach fix. No question, this is a different kind of approach. NDB DME The good news about this approach is…

It was a whole new world to us. From the air, John and I saw the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and what was to become our new hometown in California — all on our first cross-country after we got our licenses. We were hooked. From that time on, our lives were different. Our love affair with flying only became more intense over time. What makes flying so special? There are so many things. It provides such spectacular views. It allows personal travel at great speeds unimpeded by the limitations of roads. It is deeply rewarding, because it engages you so completely and uses so many aptitudes. But at the core, it is the mastery of the third dimension that changes everything. Humankind has forever yearned to…

Adecade ago, some people scoffed when Embraer announced its intention to create a complete line of business airplanes, from entry-level jets to behemoth bizliners, especially when the sum total of the company’s bizav experience to that point had been creating the Legacy 600 from the ERJ-135 regional jet. But once the Phenom series of light jets — the 100 and the 300 models, both capable of operation with a single pilot — appeared, people began paying much closer attention to what the Brazilian company was creating. By the end of 2014, the Phenom 300 had become the most delivered business jet in the world and earned the same honor again in 2015. By then, nobody was scoffing anymore. In April 2008, Embraer announced another series of jets designed to neatly…

If you ask a veteran airline pilot how many occasions he or she has given the command to evacuate an airplane during the course of their careers, most likely the answer will come silently with thumb and index finger forming a goose egg. The answer is a testament to the overall safety of our business. But that doesn’t mean an evacuation is an unlikely event. I’m not exactly sure what prompted me to consider the evacuation subject for this month’s column. Perhaps it was the extraordinary Emirates runway accident in Dubai in August. Or perhaps it was a momentary thought, contemplating a rejected takeoff as our 777-300 blurred toward our V1 speed of 152 knots. Or perhaps it was my observations of passenger attention (or lack thereof) during the standard…