Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960
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It is prime flying season in Minnesota, and it is prime time to get into the air and enjoy the many beautiful places to which we can fly. Pancake breakfasts galore, offering the aviator the opportunity to invite your neighbor or your neighbor kids to join you for yet another culinary excursion! It doesn’t get much better than this! There are a number of websites that you can use to find that breakfast or brat feed, including the calendar of events at www.mnpilots.org and when you look for p...
Construction of public improvements often has "adverse" impacts not related to the intended purpose. State and federal rules require these impacts to be "mitigated." If building something unavoidably requires filling a wetland, then a new one must be created. Noise impacts are common in airport improvements which can be offset by something as simple as a non-standard traffic pattern or as complicated as noise abatement procedures. In the 1990s the Iowa Department of Transportation upgraded Highw...
Flight instructing was mostly an avocation for me, but I took it seriously. It often led to some interesting flying like what happened in 2000 when Carl Ziegler bought an Alon A-2. If you haven't heard of it, the Alon is a derivative of the Ercoupe. Ercoupes were built by Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) starting in the 1930s. The A-2 is called the Aircoupe. Unlike ERCO, Alon put rudder pedals in their airplane and equipped it with a sliding canopy. They also used a more powerful moto...
When it gets in the 80’s in May in Minnesota, watch out for July! Yes, you should think about your density altitude and make sure you’ve got enough runway to avoid taking off from a cornfield. While you’re worrying about that, you also should be worrying about your own tender self and the effect of heat. I’m talking about heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Both these conditions can develop with prolonged exposure to summer heat. The higher the temperature or the higher the humidity or the poorer your fluid intake, the sooner you can get into tr...
Before you venture off on a cross-country flight, what is your pre-flight planning routine? Do you watch the local weather, add just enough fuel to legally reach your destination then blast off? Or do you call Flight Service for a standard briefing, analyze the weather yourself, and go through all of the steps you were taught in initial flight training? Most people would probably fall somewhere in the middle of these two scenarios. What follows is a discussion about how our pre-flight preparations can mitigate the chances for an accident...
Established in 1953, Pacific Aeromotive Corporation was formed at Burbank, California, to modify Lockheed Lodestars to Learstar executive transports. It also modified T-28As to the more powerful Nomad configuration and working with Allison, designed, certified, and converted Convair 340s and 440s to the turboprop 580. One of Pacaero's most extensive conversions was the upgrading of the classic Beech 18, which first flew on 15 January 1937. Built with a confusing variety of designations for...
If you know of any upcoming aviation events, please send an email with details to editor@mnflyer.com so your event can be listed here. EVENTS July 3, 5-7 p.m. Kohl’s Resort Turtle Lake (6 nm north of BJI) float planes only, bring anchor if beach fills up CTAF 122.9 July 5, 7 a.m. – noon, Annual fly-In pancake breakfast, D32 Starbuck Heritage Days, underwing camping allowed. Float planes land at Lake Minnewaska. More info at starbuckmn.org or call Tom 612-715-1995. July 5, Wild West Days-Wheels and Wings Fly-in and Car show, Faulkton Municipal A...
May 16 -17 held the return of the Great Minnesota Aviation Gathering at the Buffalo Municipal Airport hosted by the Minnesota Pilots Association. The two day event included many seminars, speeches and storytelling along with a hangar filled with vendor booths. The very windy weather stopped pilots from flying in however there were over 400 people who showed up to learn new things, refresh old things, connect with friends, pick up an award, purchase something new or maybe just celebrate the...
Fly-in draws a crowd Many come out for the annual Rush City Regional Airport Fly-In/Drive-In where the Lions hold their pancake breakfast, color guard presents colors, food and drinks are enjoyed, kids enjoy bouncy house, warbirds, antique planes, classic cars and antique tractors are on hand. Some attendees enjoy airplane rides as well! For Kevin Nelson, who grew up in Rush City, flying comes second nature having gone up with his father Mark Nelson in small aircrafts before he could even...
