Search results

For pure gear up landings, i.e. the gear never came down at all, you are correct. Almost always pilot error. I have heard of two incidences where witnesses saw the gear go partly up and down repeatedly and learned later that the pilot was attempting to pump down the gear, not understanding how...

Flying lawn furniture!

Takeoffs are optional. Landings are mandatory.

It depends. I don't think it is acute for the airlines yet, but for GA, it is pretty tight, especially if you have an out-of-production, complex aircraft that takes a mechanic that knows the bird in order to keep it running reliably.

Back in my freight flying days in a C-310R, I could come bombing in at that speed at 3 miles out. Pretty difficult at a mile. I couldn't even hang out the landing lights at 180 kts. First notch of flaps was 160 kts and gear and full flaps 140 kts.

There was only about a 3-5 second delay between the C-152 calling his turn to base after the 340 called the 3 mile final. We don't know if he had actually started his turn before he made the call or not. It was 30s later, that the 152 stated that he had the 340 insight. Given that, he was...

" FAR 91.113(g) states in operative part ". . . When two or more aircraft are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right-of-way, but it shall not take advantage of this rule to cut in front of another which is on final approach to land...

Long term I think the mechanic shortage will be more acute than the pilot shortage. We desperately need more qualified A&P's, all through the industry.

This is all on the C-340. His estate will be in litigation soon. The C-340 should have broken off as soon as he realized that there was a plane on base and should have climbed and entered an upwind and synched in with existing traffic, to include dropping out of warp. 1/4 impulse should have...

The landing gear transmission, door handle, trim handle, various solenoid, though likely some of those might have been from tractors. That is what I can think of off the top of my head.

I have about 1,000 hours in the Baby Navajo (310 hp) and close to that in the Chieftain. The 310 hp is more reliable and less touchy than the 350 hp. They are the same engine except a bigger turbo on the Chieftain. The 310 runs about 33-34 gallons per hour in cruise. The Chieftain 41-42 gph...

Comanche parts availability is often better than newer planes as Piper back then borrowed so heavily from the automotive industry. That a few dedicated suppliers and a very active grassroots organization, keeps the aircraft flying along well. The owner base has been able to advocate vendors to...

What is a "jefe"? Bob Weber passed a number of years ago. His partner, John, and Bob's son still run the place.

A local flying club has a C-172 that is about to get its engine overhauled at 5,000 hours. It flies about 100 hours a month.

The ground run concern is really for inactive aircraft. Folks that take it out and run it for 10m every month or two and don't fly for years on the ones doing the damage. If the plane is flown regularly, it is not a concern.

GARA! Read it and think on it. The major OEM's used to have service facilities in the old days. Half a century ago, people didn't sue every time an aircraft crashed.

Small companies resurrecting ancient airframes are more an MRO with privileges. Jet manufacturers have an entirely different liability profile that owner-flown light aircraft. The OEM's are more than happy to leave their legacy aircraft be, protected by GARA's statute of repose cutting off...

The insurers would put the kibosh to that. It would open the OEM's to substantial amounts of liability for aircraft that are now covered by GARA. Further, there are many models which have not be produced in 40+ years so there is no likely any in-house expertise with respect to them. Take...

There is no way that the factory is going to do a pre-buy. The legal department would have a sh*t fit if it was even suggested. In many cases, the factory is not the repository of knowledge. Take Piper for example. No one is Vero Beach knows much about any of the Pipers that were designed...

I think it bears repeating that the quality of the schools and the quality of the apprenticeship will vary wildly. Not all schools are great and not all those who undertake to train an apprentice are up for the job. Conversely, there are doubtless excellent examples of both. All this leaves...