Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Sorted by date Results 26 - 29 of 29
It's winter flying season! Some of the best conditions imaginable can be had on a clear crisp winter morning in Minnesota. You ease the throttle forward and suddenly your C172 feels like a P52 Mustang as it takes off in nothing flat. Same with the climb as you plow through that calm solid air. So what could go wrong on a day like this? Unfortunately, weather that's good for aerodynamics isn't necessarily good for pilots. Of course, I'm talking about cold injury, something I try to touch on...
Aviation training doesn’t come cheap. So, when the FAA offers it for free, you might want to take a hard look. Of course, there’s a catch. Training is done in Oklahoma City, the headquarters of the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) which does take a few gallons of avgas to reach. However, this time of year, odds are it’s a good deal warmer and sunnier than here at home. Now that I’ve almost talked you into it, what training is available? The two big programs are CAMI’s Physiological Training Course and Basic Survival Skills...
The weather is cooling down and you probably are cranking up the cockpit heater more often now. That’s fine. It’s hard to keep her straight and level when your teeth are chattering. But with the comfort of cockpit heat comes the possible discomfort of doing yourself in. Do I have your attention? Most general aviation aircraft use a time honored heating system where intake air is passed over the exhaust manifold of the engine. If you’ve ever bumped against a tailpipe you know that it’s red hot and has plenty of heat to spare. Using that...
A couple of months back an older gentleman came in for a flight physical. He’d flown a number of years ago and wanted to “get back in the game” now that all the kids were through college and on their own. His health record looked good. He seemed a reasonable candidate for hopping back into the cockpit. Then we tested his vision. Much to our mutual surprise he was blind as a bat! Well, not really blind but he was having trouble seeing 20/100. In case you’ve forgotten what the funny...