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Lack of training, lack of culture of safety, pilots coming from school systems that emphasize rote learning. I won't even get on some first world Asian carriers, never mind a third world carrier. Boeing screwed up royally, but the is a reason that the accidents happened in third world airlines...

Colonel Halverson was a credit to America and he brought honor to aviation in general. Probably did more than all the diplomats and all the speeches to repair relations with a conquered people.

It is only well spent if the plane in question is one that their people have expertise in. The don't cover all aircraft. To my knowledge, they don't have anyone truly an expert in the Comanche/Twin Comanche series. If you are looking at a complex vintage aircraft, ask questions about who will...

If the airplane is complex and vintage, the first thing you need to do is find someone who knows that type very, very well. All other considerations are secondary. If you are thinking a simple, common light aircraft, like Cessna 100 series, or PA-28 series, and the like, then you can consider...

Hard to tell with the small picture, but these look like Cherrymax rivets that could be in any plane. They are commonly used in the field for repairs.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article258386428.html Condolences to the family.

Other than the icing experience gained flying the Great Lakes and SE Alaska, the way I learned the most was from talking to pilots with experience and learning what their strategies were, in various conditions. While a good understand of the weather is helpful, ice is where you find it. It is...

Twins with extended prop hubs, like the Aztec and Twin Comanche, to name a couple, have a limitation in the rpm, generally 2200, to avoid over-stressing the crank in a full stall. This limitation is going to factor in, and in some cases, trump the ACS.

The FAA's practice with subsequent models of a CAR3 certified aircraft is to often require adherence to a couple of specific Part 23 requirements. You have to look at the TCDS to see exactly which ones have been incorporated and into which models. Generally no more than a handful of them.

Very interesting! Thanks! There seems to be some tension between these requirements and those addressed by the LOI that I cited, but no one ever accused the FAA of being entirely consistent.

That is an understatement. :) I have never seen one of those puppies, let alone worked on one. It seems that the RSA was an improved version of the RS and must pretty well have taken over by the early 60's. As best I can tell, there may be versions of the RS servo that return fuel and...

It would be interesting to see how the FAA legal would thread that needle, considering that the above opinion came after that language in 91.409 which essentially forces turbine operators, et al, into being subject to OEM rulemaking in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act which was...

It helps being an IA. It certainly keeps my costs down for my Twin Comanche, which is the most economical twin to operate. But with the general shortage of mechanics, you ought to be able to open doors that an average low time pilot cannot. Find a 135 operator who could use a person who they...

Buying a twin for the 50 or so hours of multi that it takes to get on with a regional is probably the most expensive way to do it. If the longer term goal is to have a personal airplane, then the equation is a bit different. The problem with the twins that are commonly used as trainers is that...

About a dozen years ago, FAA's legal office issued an opinion regarding whether Cessna's new inspection requirements were required to be performed on older aircraft. The opinion said "no" that the FAR's that specify use of the "current" manual meant the maintenance manual that was current at...

Thanks! Learned something! Pretty rare. Never mentioned in A&P school, which was almost 40 years ago, and never ran into them in any of the common products I have worked in, particularly Pipers. Which airplanes got these systems?

That is only true for the early Comanches that have the STC'ed tip tanks. Those do boost the gross weight, though you don't have to have fuel in them to get the increase. In the Twin Comanches, tip tanks boost the GW by 125 lbs, but that extra 125 must be carried in fuel.

Which ones? I have never run into one. The system is just not designed to allow that from the fuel metering servo.