Table of contents for October 2016 in Flying

Comparisons between Cessna’s new Denali turboprop single and the Pilatus PC-12 are inevitable. They are nearly identical in size, performance and price. Both feature large aft cargo doors and big, beefy landing gear perfect for alighting on backcountry strips. Highlights include spacious cabins with room for six passengers in standard executive configuration. That these figures are so similar is no accident, of course. With the formal unveiling of the Denali name and cabin mock-up at AirVenture Oshkosh in July, Cessna is aiming to encroach on the successful market segment that Pilatus has dominated for more than 20 years now. But despite the outward similarities, there are enough differences between the Denali and PC-12 NG to give potential buyers ample reason to take a magnifying glass to the performance specs…

“I LEARNED ABOUT FLYING FROM THAT” My wife was loading the Freedom Machine with luggage and our three young sons as I entered the Greater Cincinnati FBO to file IFR for the flight back to Cleveland. A TV with the Bengals-Browns game caught my attention. It was the close-up of a Browns lineman with a wet jersey filling the screen that sent up a red flag. “Hmm …” I thought. “It was supposed to be sunny all weekend.” The day before was sunny and warm — a beautiful T-shirt day in mid-October. It was a family getaway to celebrate both the move up from a Warrior to a Saratoga and my new instrument ticket. But today the Cleveland weather was calling for some light precipitation with temperatures in the mid-40s…

It’s not often nowadays that a new airplane design has the potential to be a total game changer. But I would argue that German airplane designer Philipp Steinbach has created just that, at least for pilots who like to challenge their stick-and-rudder skills or “keep the green side up,” so to speak. Steinbach’s new, versatile aerobatic airplane, called the GB1 GameBird, is well on its way to receiving EASA and FAA certification. It incorporates many innovative features that make it an efficient crosscountry airplane with aerobatic capabilities that have impressed the likes of freestyle world aerobatic champion Rob Holland. I had a chance to fly with Holland out of Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, during this year’s EAA AirVenture to experience the edge of the GameBird’s flight envelope. I…

DIANE LEEDS ORR A LIFE-CHANGING DIAGNOSIS An inspiring story of strength and determination to pull through “life’s stuff” that is unexpectedly thrown at us [“Grounded,” August 20, 2016]. Fly safe and thanks for sharing your story, Sam. ALAN DAVIS Learn to Fly the Airplane I read the most recent Sky Kings, “When TLAR Beats Perfection,” [September 2016] with great interest, and John got it right on the button — again. I know it was implied, but there is another acronym that lies behind TLAR (that looks about right), and that must be LTFTA — learn to fly the airplane! Many pilots have become so reliant on the automation that they don’t spend enough time learning to fly the airplane. If they did, TLAR would become obvious as part of that.…

AVIATION TECHNOLOGY MADE SIMPLE HOW IT WORKS TKS systems dispense an ethylene glycol-based fluid with a freezing point below minus 70 degrees F through porous titanium plates attached to the leading edge of the wing and empennage. The fluid is released through thousands of the plates’ laser-drilled holes, which are not much larger than the size of a human hair (for illustration purposes, we show much larger holes above). As air flows over the wing and empennage, it disperses the fluid, coating the surfaces, and preventing the formation and adherence of ice. TKS systems also employ slinger rings to prevent ice accumulation on the propeller. As these metal rings spin right alongside the prop, they fling TKS fluid onto the propeller and consequently reduce the freezing point of the moisture…

 RELEVANT DISCUSSION: (AC 91-74B, AC 65-15A, FAA-H-8083-31, AC 23-8C, AC 20-73A, FAR 121.321, 135.152) 1. SAT — Static air temperature (sometimes called true air temperature) is the temperature of undisturbed air; that is, the temperature you would read if you could suspend a thermometer out in the air without having the effects (temperature rise) of an airplane moving through the air nearby. In jets, SAT (aka OAT) is determined by applying the appropriate correction factor to the total air temperature (TAT), or ram air temperature (RAT), probe data. Most large jet aircraft have this function incorporated into the airdata computer. SAT is the actual air temperature, also referred to as true outside temperature or ambient temperature. 2. OAT — Outside air temperature is essentially the same as SAT. Above…

THE BEST OF WHAT’S NEW Garmin’s G5 displays an array of data in a small package. The G5 fits into the same space as an analog instrument. If you’re growing tired of notoriously unreliable vacuum-driven and gyroscopic instruments, here’s a new option that will easily slot right into your panel. Garmin has obtained FAA approval for its G5 electronic flight display, originally developed for the Experimental market, through an STC covering 562 Part 23-certified aircraft models. The 3.5-inch unit is approved for both visual and instrument flight rules. The G5 can serve as a primary attitude indicator and turn coordinator, and can also display airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, V speeds and more. You can also link the G5 to a GPS antenna to get GPS-based track and groundspeed…

CHART WISE: UNUSUAL APPROACHES  FOR THE INTERACTIVE VERSION OF CHART WISE, VISIT FLYINGMAG.COM/CHARTWISE. UNUSUAL APPROACHES Approaches to mountainous airports can present special challenges because of the inability to create a straightforward procedure due to sharply rising terrain. The LDA DME-1 approach to Runway 18 at Lake Tahoe Airport features many unusual aspects that pilots unaccustomed to flying in the mountains may have rarely, if ever, experienced. Have a look at the chart above and consider how you would plan for this unusual mountain arrival.…

THE M600 IMPROVES ON THE THE MERIDIAN WITH ADDITIONAL POWER, RANGE AND PAYLOAD.  They say that when one door closes, another opens. The trick is to stop looking at the closed door long enough to see which door is ajar. For Piper, the closed door was the abortive Altaire single-engine jet, an airplane many likened to a mini DC-10 with its Williams turbofan engine integrated weirdly into the tail. The door that opened, meanwhile, was a new version of the Meridian turboprop, which Piper would end up naming the M600. In October 2011, with the aviation industry still reeling from the effects of the Great Recession, Piper’s new CEO, Simon Caldecott, announced the “indefinite suspension” of the Altaire jet despite the program essentially being on time and on budget. The…

Start Your Path to a Career in Aviation Today Positioning yourself for a lucrative career as an airline pilot demands a wellrounded combination of education and experience. Luckily, young aviators have access to numerous aviation colleges and universities with programs designed to transition students into successful commercial pilots. Whether you’re new to aviation or have hundreds of hours under your belt, there are many considerations when choosing the undergraduate degree that’s best for you. When researching aviation colleges and universities, consider which opportunities will put you on a direct-to track to earn your four-stripe status. Some flight academies supply ab initio training with a comprehensive, airlinespecific approach. Other baccalaureate programs are more broad, offering multiple tracks for a variety of aviation career paths. Regardless of the route you choose, a…

The engine coughs politely a few times like a person preparing to speak, and then settles into a steady lope. “You push that tip up, and I’ll grab this one.” Raising myself on my toes, I push the tip of the 9-foot propeller upward; the other end drops into Chuck Wentworth’s reach, and he pulls it through. We repeat the procedure a few times, clearing any residual oil from the cylinders, and then move on to the next propeller. This one is too high up to reach; Chuck mounts a tall ladder to pull it through, then on to the third and the tiptoe method again. While we’re at it, we check the engines — they’re stark naked, not a cowling in sight — for the usual stuff: dangling plug…