What’s your King Air to you? Is it only an inanimate object that provides transportation convenience for the owner(s)? Or is it something more, something that provides that mystical “pride of ownership” that makes you smile whenever you see it? For a lot of us – especially the owner-pilots among us – the King Air…
During the late 1940s and into the 1950s the cyclical nature of the commercial and military aviation business forced the Beech Aircraft Corporation to seek new sources of revenue to survive. “It is said – not by us at Beechcraft but by those whose profession it is to know such things, that the history of…
ForeFlight, in partnership with FlightAware, is now providing live global traffic streaming for all customers with the Internet Traffic feature. Integrated with the same Traffic map layer used for ADS-B devices, Internet Traffic is available any time you have an internet connection and are on the ground, as well as when connected to inflight Wi-Fi…
The Garmin Pilot app on Apple mobile devices. New enhancements to the document viewer allow customers to configure folders so they can more easily organize documents such as pilot’s guides, cockpit reference guides and more, within the app. Additional features include the display of elevation information in the radial menu, night mode on approach charts,…
From Multi-Engine Prop Communiqué MT-TP-0020 Issued: June 2020 ATA 25 – AmSafe Crew Seat Belts Connector Web Slide Insert Aircraft equipped with AmSafe Crew Seat Belts AmSafe has issued Service Letter SL279213 to call attention to the belt connector half assembly tongue web slide where the web slide has been found to be cracked, damaged…
Are you experiencing less or no flying and far more sitting around these days? Certainly, one upside of pandemic requirements for a slower paced existence is more time to catch up on your aviation reading (as much for pleasure as for study). If you cannot fly enough to fill your aviation needs or are experiencing…
As both an airline pilot and an active general aviation pilot, maintaining my various legal currency requirements to act as pilot in command (PIC) has historically been relatively easy. My airline simulator training and checkride events suffice to meet my Biennial Flight Review (BFR), Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC), and my 90-day multi-engine landing requirements (as…
Air traffic controllers are a mystery to some. Through time and experience, most pilots become comfortable talking to air traffic control (ATC) and operating fully within the national airspace system. They adeptly navigate through normal and special use airspace, arrival and departure procedures and instrument approaches into airports. As pilots, we take pride in being…
In the last few months, I’ve had several inquiries from King Air owners regarding high-cost maintenance invoices. Most of these guys are new to King Air ownership and their pilots (if they have one) are newbies too. Some sent me their shop invoices for review and I regret to say that I found examples of…
Petition FCC to Reconsider 5G Network Approval A number of aviation industry groups filed a petition May 22, 2020, requesting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reconsider its April 20, 2020, approval of Ligado Networks’ (formerly LightSquared) nationwide 5G cellular service. It includes the company’s failure to sufficiently demonstrate its ability to act as a “good…