On Sunday, October 1, 2023. Well-known general aviation pilot and educator Richard McSpadden ‘flew west’, quite unexpectedly. Richard had most recently served all of GA in his role as Sr. VP., AOPA Air Safety Institute, (ASI). He and another pilot, former AFL football player Russ Francis were departing Lake Placid, New York, KLKP, in a […]
I bet maybe you don’t. I thought I did, until recently. Did you know that the ATC equipment code suffixes have changed? Yup, they have! In fact, they changed about 4 years ago, in 2019! I’m talking about the suffixes, like /T or /U or /G ‘codes’ that we used to use for our avionics […]
The Lancair Legacy is a speedster!! On Saturday, March 25, 2023, I was finally able to get a ride in a Lancair Legacy, an experimental aircraft!! It was awesome!! A good friend owns one. The Lancair Legacy is in the experimental category, being built from a kit. Which means, it’s not ‘FAA Certified’. It’s a […]
The last Boeing 747 was delivered to a customer on January 31, 2023. It marks the end of an era, the end of a 53-year long production run for Boeing. The last Boeing 747 was delivered to Atlas Air, on January 31. Atlas is a major scheduled cargo airline, and passenger charter airline, based in […]
First Flight As I write this, today is the 119th anniversary of the Wright Brother’s historic first flight. One hundred nineteen years ago, on December 17, 1903, on the wind-swept sand-dunes of Kill Devil Hill in North Carolina, Orville Wright successfully made the first flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft, the Wright Flyer! He was only airborne […]
Long Beach Airport Festival of Flight is opened to the public annually On Saturday, October 29, 2022, a portion of the west side of Long Beach Airport was opened to the public from 10am – 4pm, for the annual Long Beach Airport Festival of Flight. There were some airplanes on display, including my Cessna 150, […]
100 octane unleaded fuel (G100UL) is now approved! This is really BIG news for General Aviation aircraft owners. On September 1, 2022, the FAA signed the STC (Supplemental Type Certificate) that approves the use of 100-octane unleaded aviation fuel, or ‘avgas’ for all general aviation piston engine aircraft. There is much work yet to be done […]
Tragically, on August 18, 2022, a mid-air collision occurred over the runway where two aircraft were attempting to land, at the same time, at Watsonville Airport, KWVI, in Watsonville, CA. Watsonville, is in Santa Cruz County, south of San Jose. What Happened? A single engine Cessna 152 was overtaken by a twin Cessna 340 over […]
Meeting A Young Record-Setter Belgian Pilot Mack Rutherford, 17, recently completed his RTW, record-setting ‘Round-the-World’ flight in his European built Shark, a single-engine high-performance ultra-light aircraft, with a cruise speed of nearly 300KM/hr, which is about 186 mph! Mack left Sofia, Bulgaria, on his world-record solo attempt months ago on March 23, and arrived back […]
Lots of Planning Last month, after lots of planning, starting in March, I flew my 2 seat Cessna 150 from Long Beach, California, ‘low and slow’, about 85 – 95 knots across the country to Oshkosh! It was awesome! Thirteen legs over four days getting there, twelve legs and three days, returning. I planned fuel […]
