In Flight USA Article Categories
In Flight USA Articles
EAA: User Fee Idea Just Won't Go Away
See Burt Rutan (and his new book) At Wick's Booth at AirVenture
Voice Your Opinion: GPS Interference by LightSquared
House Lawmakers Call on DOT to Shelve Plan to Disable BARR
13th Annual Olympic Air Show
Story and Photos by Paul Tannahill
Despite less than ideal weather conditions the 13th annual Olympic Airshow went on June 18-19 without any major incidents. Hosted by the Olympic Flight Museum, and held at the Olympia Regional Airport, in Olympia, Wash., the show has become a Fathers day weekend tradition for many aviation enthusiasts in the Northwest.
Light Sport Flying With In Flight USA - July 2011
What's Up? - July 2011
It Blows My Mind
By Larry Shapiro
For the more than 12 years I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of writing this column I’ve never been more surprised than by the lack of response to the beginning of my June column. I actually thought about wearing a helmet and body armor while writing it and for days after it was published.
I always get a few emails or anonymous calls from nameless readers with a comment or two and a mild threat on my life. Surprisingly, it didn’t happen once since my June column hit the ramps. I have surmised that all the copies were gone before you got yours, you were away having plastic surgery done, in the middle of the divorce you wanted so badly, or you are so old now you can’t read the small print.
Light Sport Flying With In Flight USA - July 2011
Strange Plane?
By Ed Downs
No, the title does not mean to imply that the airplane you are about to fly is “strange,” but that you are strange to the airplane. In other words, that slick little S-LSA in which you are about to take a demo at AirVenture is just fine, but you may not be.
Many of those reading this month’s column will do so while at EAA AirVenture 2011. A subset of that “many” will be touring the wide selection of S-LSAs on display, with some of you signed up to take a “fly-to-buy” demo. The question is, are you really ready to fly that LSA for the first time and give it a fair evaluation? How are your skills when it comes to jumping into an airplane that is quite different than anything you have flown before?
Safe Landings - July 2011
What Would You Have Done?
This month we present an incident that required quick decisions on the part of the ASRS reporter. How did our reporter do? You be the judge. In “the first half of the story,” we report an excerpt followed by several plausible action choices. Next, you will find “the rest of the story,” the actions actually taken by the reporter to resolve his situation. This incident will give you a chance to draw on your own operating experience to anticipate what you would have done in the same situation.
The First Half of the Story
“My Climb Would Not Safely Increase”
The Pylon Place - July 2011
Air Racers 3D - Force of Flight
By Marilyn Dash
The phone rang. A voice on the other end of the phone asked me if I would be interested in taking part in the Air Racers 3D IMAX movie being filmed about the Reno Air Races. Would I? Really? Of course I would! More phone calls, more emails, small moments of hysteria, and I was on my way to Reno to take part in the project.
From the press release: “Through the eyes of first-time competitor and rookie pilot Steve Hinton Jr., son of champion air racer and acrobatic pilot Steve Hinton, the film will chronicle the preparation for and competition in the world’s fastest motor sport: the legendary Reno National 
IMAX filming in preparation for the Air Racers - 3D movie (3D Entertainment)Championship Air Races. The film will be in IMAX 3D and 2D theatres in the US beginning in the fall.”
First Female Civilian Air Traffic Controller in the U.S.
By Carl E. Chance
Editor, WingsOverKansas.com
Mary Chance was one the country’s first recognized air traffic controllers. According to Andrew Pitas, former historian with the Air Traffic Controllers Association, Mary Chance VanScyoc was one of the country’s first recognized female civilian air traffic Controller’s in the United States. She played a vital role as one of many pioneer female aviation controller’s during World War II, representing well over 40 percent of the controller workforce.
Restoration of Glacier Girl, Part 3
Reprinted by permission of the Arkansas Educational Television Network
In Flight USA has run the story of Glacier Girl in three parts. The first part, the history of Glacier Girl, ran in the May Issue. The second part covered The Recovery of Glacier Girl and ran in the June issue. Here we present the third part that tells the story of the Restoration of Glacier Girl. This story leads us to AirVenture, July 25-31, where Glacier Girl will be on display.
Glacier Girl during restoration in Roy Shoffner’s hangar in Middlesboro, Kentucky.Restoration of Glacier Girl began in January of 1993, after all shipments of aircraft parts from the dig were finally gathered together. The restoration was being done in Roy Shoffner’s (project financier) hangar in Middlesboro, Kentucky. Under supervision of Bob Cardin (project coordinator for the 1992 expedition) warbird specialists began their task by disassembling the massive center section. After initial deconstruction of the plane began, it was evident that damage was more extensive than what appeared on the surface. The more they took apart, the more damage they found. The plane had to be taken apart down to the smallest manageable pieces, making sure each piece was marked for later identification. Parts were then cleaned and checked for functionality to determine if it could be used again, repaired for use, or replaced entirely. Damaged parts served as templates for construction of replacements.
Light Sport Flying With In Flight USA - June 2011
Recovery of Glacier Girl, Part 2
Reprinted by permission of the Arkansas Educational Television Network
In Flight USA will run the story of Glacier Girl in three parts. The first par, ran in the May issue and told the history of Glacier Girl. In this issue we run Part 2, The Recovery of Glacier Girl, and finally in the July issue we will cover the Restoration of Glacier Girl. This story leads us to AirVenture, July 25-31, where Glacier Girl will be on display.
On July 15, 1992, fifty years to the day after his rescue, 74-year-old Brad McManus stood on the ice cap surrounded by the recovered pieces of his late friend Harry Smith’s P-38, as chronicled in the documentary “The Lost Squadron,” and was flooded with memories of his wartime experience and the lifetime friendships that he held dear to his heart. A new mission was about to begin.
How do you get a P-38 out of the ice? Simple…melt the ice!
Well, maybe not as simple as that, seeing how it was 268 feet of ice. Basically, you start with a six-digit budget, followed by transporting tons of equipment that include arctic survival gear and heavy construction machinery, and top it all off with adventure-minded individuals willing to take the hardships and risks associated with one-of-a-kind expeditions to a hostile environment. That’s what it took to recover a P-38 from “The Lost Squadron.”
Light Sport Flying With In Flight USA - June 2011
Re-Tread
By Ed Downs
No, not old tires, although many of us “re-treads” appearing in this month’s sonnet do have some “spare tire” issues. The re-treads being referred to are former pilots who have decided to give flying another go. Sport Pilot has opened doors that some may have thought were closed. This writer was reminded of the “re-tread” market, just the other day, while teaching a class at Yingling Aviation, an historic Cessna dealer located in Wichita, Kansas. During our lunch break, I wandered over to the Cessna Skycatcher final assembly hangar to look at new planes on the assembly line. While looking through a viewing window and talking with one of my students, a young line attendant approached us and asked if we would like to join a retired couple (in tow by the line attendant) and go into the hangar for a closer look. Of course, we joined them. It turns out, no sales personnel were available and the line attendant was doing his best to talk about the C-162. My offer to help promote the plane (very familiar to me) was readily accepted. Joe, the retired guest, was considering reentering aviation after a 40-year hiatus, but knew nothing about Sport Pilot or LSAs. Skycatcher pricing, performance and simplicity left Joe quite impressed, especially after we discussed just what he would have to do to re-enter flying. Of primary importance was the ability to get back into flying without the need to participate in the FAA medical bureaucracy.
Safe Landings - June 2011
Goodies and Gadgets - June 2011
Eddie Stinson: a True Pioneer in the Early Years of Aviation
By Alan Smith
Stinson 108-3, the last Stinson design. (Larry Westin)Edward (Eddie) Stinson was born in 1894 in Ft. Payne Alabama. Nine years later, he learned of the success of the Wright brothers in their mission to build and fly a powered airplane at Kitty Hawk North Carolina and his fascination with aviation was born.
At age 16, he dropped out of school, and headed for St. Louis where two men were building their own powered aircraft. There he convinced them that he should be their test pilot. He didn’t mention that their kite-like airplane was the first airplane he’d ever seen. He did manage to get it into the air but stalled and crashed, destroying one wing. The two gentlemen of St Louis decided aviation was not for them and gave Eddie 
Stinson Detroiter, the first Stinson. (PilotFriend)the wrecked aircraft as payment for his attempt to fly it.
What's Up?! - May 2011
Before I begin … I never know where …
By Larry Shapiro
I never know where to place items of special importance to me, and hopefully to you. Should they be at the beginning of my column or at the end of it? This is especially true when it’s sad news. I’ve told you many times that there are many great Airshow stars out there giving people major neck problems. There are some class acts and there are some really classy acts.
Most of you know how painful it is for me personally when I lose one of these class acts and that has just happened again with the passing of Bill Reesman. Okay, so he was the Air Force officer I always wanted to be. Okay, so he flew the Red Bull Mig. Okay, so he also owned Bob Hope’s corporate jet. Okay, so he married the beautiful and lovely Julie and no matter what anyone says, he stole her away from me. Okay, so that’s my other fantasy. The Airshow business lost a star. I’m angry and I’m entitled to be angry … because I said so and as I always remind you, this is my column and I can feel any way I want.
Light Sport Flying With In Flight USA - May 2011
Is Your Tower Asleep at the Mike?
By Ed Downs
The answer to the question posed in the title of this month’s column might be, Sport Pilots don’t care. To be sure, recent weeks have set the media ablaze with stories of fear and trepidation, as brave, but apparently helpless, pilots are forced to land their airplanes without the critical and essential words from the FAA of “cleared to land.” Media experts (really?) would have the general passenger public believe that landing without a tower in operation to utter those empowering words, “cleared to land,” leaves all aboard in deadly peril. Okay, perhaps this writer is being a bit dramatic, but having a general belief that landings can not be made safely without a tower clearance does not do recreational flying any good from a PR standpoint, when citizens discover that their local community airport is “uncontrolled.”