In Flight USA Article Categories
In Flight USA Articles
Sport Flying with In Flight USA - December 2010
The Gift
By Ed Downs
This holiday column is being written early Sunday morning, with the expectation of a good day. Shortly, this writer will be heading to church, ready to partake of a terrific service followed by our calibration of Thanksgiving. The holiday season is in full swing and most of America is getting serious about selecting the perfect gift for loved ones as “Black Friday” approaches. This early hour promotes reminiscing, and the LSA theme of this column brings to mind a gift I received almost 20 years ago, to the day. Allow an old pilot a moment of sharing.
My local community airport had decided to take advantage of beautiful Indian-Summer weather to hold an open house and mini-airshow. Although late in the season, with Thanksgiving decorations having already given way to the wonders of commercial Christmas paraphernalia, a well-known resident airshow pilot agreed to participate in the program. The local EAA chapter pulled together a fine selection of planes to be displayed, including a couple of warbirds. My company fired up a major EAA Young Eagles event with the intent of setting records by flying at least 100 kids. The Young Eagles program was new at that time and my wife, Sue, set up an assembly-line system to process the paperwork and conduct the educational program that accompanied each flight. The idea was that two planes (both meeting today’s definition of LSA) and three pilots would spend minimum time with ground activities, giving them the ability to offer each participant the best flight experience possible. I signed up to fly a feisty little tail dragger (later to earn fame at major airshows) and all was ready to go.
Sport Flying With In Flight USA - November 2010
AOPA and Sport Pilot
By Ed Downs
This column needs to start with an apology to those who may look forward to reading about airplanes and sport flying. But, given the timing of our November edition, many will be reading this at the 2010 AOPA Aviation Summit, having just voted in a mid-term election involving the most toxic political environment since the Civil War. Let’s chat about what AOPA is doing for the Sport Pilot/LSA movement, given a political and security background, which has shown outright hostility towards the private and business use of personally-owned aircraft. To be sure, these are only the opinions of this writer, but they are based upon an AOPA affiliation that began over half a century ago.
Most folks who have followed the Sport Pilot/LSA phenomenon will agree that the EAA has been at the forefront of developing ASTM consensus standards and promoting the existence of a Sport Pilot certificate. As an active participant in formative activities that took place between 2000 and 2004, this writer was aware that AOPA was quietly participating in the process. I did wish that they would become a bit more vocal and supportive. Early 2004 presented this writer with an opportunity to meet privately with the incredibly busy Phil Boyer, then President of AOPA.
Sport Flying With In Flight USA - August 2010
LSA’s Sprout Technology
By Ed Downs
Most readers of this column know by now that the S-LSA category of airplane evolved from the low tech world of ultra light designs. Some 6 years after the birth of LSA, one has to look hard to see the simplicity of its origin. Airframes have become increasingly sophisticated, and avionics packages are beginning to challenge big buck machines. A first timer renting or buying the typical S-LSA will be surprised upon entering a cockpit that looks more like an F-22 than single engine sport plane. Now, that sounds pretty exciting, but let’s take a look at who that “first timer” might actually be.
Sport Flying With In Flight USA - April 2010
The LSA’s of Sun ‘n Fun
By Ed Downs
Many readers will be at the 2010 Sun ‘n Fun Airshow, or will be following reports of this event over the next few months. With more than 100 S-LSA offerings now available, trying to decide which of these great airplanes will be best for personal use or flight training is challenging. You may be asking yourself, does this S-LSA really meet the industry consensus standards (referred to as “ASTM Standards”) and is the manufacturer ready to support the plane, long term? The concern of continuing support is especially important for S-LSA’s being imported from distant lands.
Sport Flying With In Flight USA - March 2010
Where the Rubber Meets the Runway
By Ed Downs
This column has been addressing the Sport Pilot rule and Special Light Sport Aircraft (S-LSA) primarily from the perspective of general education. In others word, what this Sport Pilot movement is all about and how you, the reader, can apply Sport Pilot to your flying. The frustrating part of both writing and reading such accounts of these exciting, new, flying opportunities is that it lacks the “let’s go flying” side of the story. To be sure, S-LSA’s are being seen more often, but in general, one can wander around most airports and not see this new breed of airplane.
Sport Flying With In Flight USA
Sport Pilot and Rotorcraft
By Ed Downs
So, here we are, already in February, with this issue of In Flight USA looking into the exciting topic of helicopters. To be sure, vertical flight has long excited those seeking to defy gravity. In fact, one of our first true aeronautical engineers, Leonardo DaVinci, designed an “air screw” that forecasted principles we use today in modern helicopters. The fact is DaVinci’s machine would have been capable of an autrotative decent, although the landing might have been just a bit bumpy!
The DaVinci design does, however, remind us that helicopters are not the only type of “rotorcraft” out there. A flying machine that is generically referred to as gyroplane by the FAA is another form of rotorcraft that has been on the aviation scene since the late 1920s. Essentially, the rotors of a gyroplane (often referred to as an autogyro) are unpowered. Their rotation is caused by airflow that results from moving the gyroplane through the air with an engine/propeller combination that is attached to the airframe, much like a pusher or tractor airplane. It is the gyroplane that gives us the Sport Pilot/rotorcraft connection.