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The early Beech Bonanzas (1947-1956) had an electric prop. The design only provided manual control of the prop pitch via a switch in the cockpit so it wasn't "constant speed" at all. In the early 50's an electronic control became available (I think it was originally an aftermarket product)...

Lucky dog.

If there's a local TW airplane and CFI available I highly recommend that as your next step. Not only is it easy and a lot of fun, it will likely improve your landing skills significantly. If you do go that route, make sure the CFI is fairly well experienced. There are some CFIs who will...

One caution for you if you're considering flying with someone you've never met before. Not all pilots are safe to fly with nor are some airplanes. I student pilot "friend of a friend" lost her life in a crash at my home base a few years ago due to an unsafe pilot flying an unsafe airplane...

I'd think at your age you'd take what you can get.:p

I wouldn't consider this unless the bail jumper was rendered unconscious. As to the allegations that she somehow deserved her fate, I completely disagree. Even a convicted murderer shouldn't be compelled to fly with an unknown to him pilot against their will.

The "Award Winner" part of the post does make it sound like it's a completed airplane but I suspect that any completed Lancair ES offered for $30L is likely to be worthless. Maybe the kit's design won an award of some kind?

You'd be better off looking at the satellite status page to see how the "signal strength" bars (they actually measure the time weighted ratio of valid vs invalid data "chunks") look. If there's an intermittent antenna or antenna cable issue you should see a rapid drop on all the bars. A...

Seems to me the only stress involved in this incident was due to the CFI's raging diatribe rather than the other way around. IF the cylinders were toasty hot (i.e. >500F) AND the OP directed a steady stream of cold water at one side of one cylinder then MAYBE there would have been a little...

I never understood why these airplanes came with a landing gear anyway. I don't believe any of mine ever ended flight right side up on the wheels. Fortunately my landing skills have improved a little since those days.

Given that less than 0.1% of your flying involves an autopilot I'm not sure you're qualified to comment on their usefulness. ;) IMO the value of an autopilot increases with the amount of attention required for onboard systems. When you're digging through the charts (or iPad) to analyze the...

Open Airplane is making an attempt to reduce the cost of renting from multiple FBOs. If I didn't have my own airplane I think I'd be active there. http://pilots.openairplane.com/

My airplane is going into the paint shop next weekend and my hangar at KFCM is going to be empty for several weeks so if anyone's coming to Minneapolis for the golf tournament my hangar is available. Flying Cloud airport (KFCM) is about 10 nm east of the Hazeltine tournament site.

Yes, that's called a Rhumb Line. Such a path will normally be longer than a GCR (exceptions are when flying directly north or south (magnetic) or following the magnetic equator.

On a marginally related note, did everyone know that VOR courses are actually great circle routes (ignoring scalloping and other local anomalies)? When I first started flying with LORAN I was under the mistaken impression that LORAN (and now GPS) presented GCRs and VOR navigation was Rhumb...

I'd take that approach but go a bit further. For one thing after getting the "student" to understand that soloing or a checkride are simply not in the cards with you as the CFI, I'd tell him that not only would I not fly with him again if he made any solo flights without my authorization (which...

Since I never use VOR for navigation, instead relying on WASS GPS, I don't bother with the VOR checks anymore other than an occasional check to make sure they're not dead.

A friend of mine just had one installed in his new to him Cessna 340. He got it within a few days of placing the order so they're definitely available. Sure looks to be the best bang/buck in a backup flight instrument if your primary setup is glass. My only wish is that they'd include Baro in...

The alternative is to monitor your fuel use, calculate your fuel after flying an approach plus diverting if an alternate is required then change the flight if those calculations show that you'd need to dip into the 45 minute reserve. While shutting the engines down would reduce the fuel use...

Cellular isn't the only long range option. Many aftermarket remote starters are good for at least several hundred yards (most claim 1 or 2 miles) and some of them have two-way radio so you can verify that the engine's running (and in some cases read the interior or engine temp) on the remote...