Category Archives: General Aviation

General Aviation

H.R.3708 – General Aviation Pilot Protection Act of 2013

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

I received another email from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association regarding HR3708, so I figured I’d post about it.  It seems to be a good idea, and the AOPA has been working for years to get this passed.

Congressional Bill H.R. 3708 has been introduced to the 113th Congress.  The purpose of the bill is “to direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to issue or revise regulations with respect to the medical certification of certain small aircraft pilots, and for other purposes.”

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General Aviation

General Aviation Pilot Protection Act

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

New bill would expand driver’s license medical to pilots,

After nearly two years of FAA inaction on the AOPA-EAA third-class medical petition, Congress has taken matters into its own hands, offering up legislation that would vastly expand the number of pilots who could fly without going through the expensive and time-consuming third-class medical certification process. Reps. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), a member of the House General Aviation Caucus, and GA Caucus Co-Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) on Dec. 11 introduced the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act. The legislation, House Resolution 3708, would dramatically expand the parameters for flying under the driver’s license medical standard. Rokita and Graves are both AOPA members and active pilots.

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General Aviation

Female pilots: a slow take-off

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Emine Saner has written over at The Guardian about the slow adoption of female pilots by airlines.  From the article:

When two children, a six-year-old girl and a slightly older boy, visited her flight deck last week, British Airways pilot Aoife Duggan asked if they would like to fly planes too. The boy said yes but the girl demurred, saying: “I think I’d like to be an air hostess – boys are pilots.” A surprised Duggan says: “I was like, ‘No! Come and sit in my seat, wear my hat.’ “

Four decades after the first female pilot started work for a commercial airline, there are still relatively few women sitting in Duggan’s seat. Of the 3,500 pilots employed by British Airways, just 200 are women, yet the airline still employs the highest proportion of female pilots of any UK airline. Globally, around 4,000 of the 130,000 airline pilots are women, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots. Fewer still are captains – worldwide, there are around 450.

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General Aviation

Money Squabble Looms Over Spruce Goose Museum

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Mark Phelps is reporting on the Flying Magazine website that the Spruce Goose may be up for repo.  That’d be something to see!

The Spruce Goose (officially known as the “Hughes H-4 Hercules” FAA registration NX37602) is the largest flying boat ever built and has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history.  It was built from birch wood because of wartime restrictions on metals, like aluminum.  Critics nicknamed it the “Spruce Goose” – a name that Howard Hughes despised – even though it contained no spruce at all.

I guess “Birch Bitch” wasn’t publication friendly.

This magnificent aircraft only made one flight – with Howard Hughes at the controls – at Long Beach Harbor on November 2, 1947.  The war had long since ended, but Hughes was bound and determined to show his detractors that the plane really could fly.

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General Aviation

Shell reveals unleaded avgas – 10 years in the making!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Shell has announced a lead-free replacement for the 110LL that is currently used by most general aviation piston aircraft.  From the AOPA website:

Shell Aviation, a subsidiary of the multinational oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, announced Dec. 3 that a 10-year effort in the laboratory has produced a fuel that may put a long-sought goal—once thought to be unattainable—within reach: a lead-free “performance drop-in” replacement for 100LL that could power any aircraft in the piston fleet.

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