Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2025 i Plane & Pilot

November will mark the nineyear anniversary of my initial flight instructor’s death. It is a date and memory that will be etched in my memory forever, as he was tragically killed flying a 1917 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny in Georgia. Witnessing an accident like this as a 17-year-old student pilot, with merely 20 hours in my logbook, stuck with me in a way that only one can imagine. Although I climbed back in the Champ he taught me to fly the very next day—thanks to the encouragement and support of another CFI mentor—I battled fear and confidence issues in the cockpit for seven years (the equivalent of 600 hours of flight time) following the accident. How could an aviation legend like Ron Alexander die in an airplane? I couldn’t wrap my…

We rolled into the gate at William P. Hobby Airport (KHOU) in Houston a few hours late. I was frazzled. The day began with a round trip to Columbia, South Carolina, where a solid shaft of rain parked on the airport as we were being vectored to the approach. The long runway was out of service. The only runway remaining with a precision approach had a 5-knot tailwind, which was legal, but the wet runway, combined with a modest length, added a couple of variables that we didn’t want to tangle with. Aviation can be a struggle. You have the dream, the drive, but not the money, and there are times you feel like you’re the only one pushing that rock up the hill. I assure you, you’re not. We…

Scout planes have played a significant role in military aviation since World War I. In fact, long before the exploits of American ace Eddie Rickenbacker and the “Hat in the Ring Squadron,” the early Army Signal Corps aviation units conducted artillery spotting and reconnaissance. In a footnote to history, on D-Day in 1944, landing craft were modified to carry and launch spotter planes, and a Stinson L-5 was the first aircraft to land in Normandy during the invasion. Historically, these light artillery spotting and liaison aircraft were adapted from the civilian fleet of the time. The most famous of these, the Cessna L-19 (or O-1) Bird Dog, was a modified Cessna 170. However, Boeing, already deeply entrenched as the builder of choice for heavy propeller and jet bombers, in 1947…

Purchasing an aircraft represents a significant investment, one that demands careful consideration and thorough evaluation. Whether you’re eyeing your first single-engine prop or upgrading to a sophisticated turbine, a pre-buy inspection stands as your primary defense against potentially costly surprises. This comprehensive examination provides crucial insights into an aircraft’s true condition, revealing issues that might not be apparent during a casual walkaround or even a test flight. Over the past several years, pre-buy inspections have become increasingly recognized as an essential component of the aircraft acquisition process. The aviation industry has seen a notable uptick in pre-buy activity, with some services reporting a fourfold increase in requests compared to previous years. This surge reflects a growing awareness among buyers about the importance of knowing exactly what they’re purchasing before finalizing…

Back in the day, when Uncle Sam footed the bill for my flying addiction, the rules and regulations required that we steer clear of thunderstorms by 10-20 miles. In theory, this would help us avoid errant lightning strikes, hail, and any other side effects of these 50,000-foot-tall natural hazards to navigation. So, imagine my surprise when last week I read that in 2017 NASA identified a 515-mile-long lightning strike that stretched from east Texas to Kansas City, Missouri. Not sure how you avoid that one. Actually, in the airline world, lightning strikes occur much more often than you might think. Statistically, every airliner gets struck by lightning about once a year. Thankfully, these strikes usually cause little damage, and in most cases after checking to see if all the systems…

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbets was nearing the end of his rope. The pilots were refusing to fly the B-29 Superfortress. It wasn’t a perfect plane, by any means, but it was the future of World War II. Tibbets just needed to convince his pilots of that. Luckily for him, he had a solution. Two, actually, and their names were Dora Dougherty and Dorothea Moorman. Dougherty was born in 1927 in Minnesota. Her family moved around a bit, from the Land of 10,000 Lakes to New York and back to Chicago. She graduated from high school in 1939 and began attending the all-women’s Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. While there, Dougherty joined the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), where she would receive her pilot’s certificate. Dougherty would put her college education…

LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT (LSAs) arrived on the aviation scene in 2004. One brand took off impressively and has led the fleet in delivered aircraft ever since.. “I read the whole 717 pages, so you didn’t have to.” That’s what I wanted to write. But I didn’t read every word. Hardly anyone will. Instead, pilots prefer to get right to the point. That’s exactly what I’m going to do here. If you want even faster info delivery, simply check the nearby charts. We already knew a great deal of how MOSAIC (Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification) would define airplanes. One detail that inspired considerable discussion was stall speed. What we now know is the FAA bumped it up, all the way to 61 knots with flaps, although not for everybody. The…

Piper PA-32-300 Marion, Ohio/Injuries: 2 Fatal NTSB Report: ERA24FA026 The pilot held an Airline Transport Pilot rating and had a total of 32,831 hours of experience. On the day of the flight, the pilot and an ATPrated passenger with a similar level of experience took off in the Piper Cherokee Six. Analysis of ADS-B data from the accident flight showed that about 20 minutes after departing, and while flying at an altitude of about 6,000 feet msl, the airplane’s speed began increasing, reaching a maximum of about 125 knots. After some subsequent variation between a low of 101 knots and a high of 120, the airplane descended at a rate of 1,000 fpm and an airspeed near 100 knots before the data ended. While the airplane’s descent and deceleration indicated…