Posts Tagged ‘AOPA Pilot’
Monday, April 1st, 2013
Not only can you get a type rating in a Ford Tri-Motor (assuming you already have a private pilot certificate), but you can get a type rating in the very airplane shown in this photo. Barry Schiff did just that, and wrote about it in the May 2010 AOPA Pilot (“Tin Goose”).
The company, Ford Type Ratings, is located at Valle Airport near Flagstaff, Ariz. The full three-day type rating costs $10,900, not including the examiner’s fee. A second-in-command type rating is available for $2,900. Schiff called the experience “like flying the pages of history,” and I have to admit it looks like it would be a blast. Of course, you could always purchase a ride in a Tri-Motor at EAA AirVenture and sometimes at airshows. I’ve done that, and it’s a 15-minute slice of fun.—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AirVenture, AOPA Pilot, Barry Schiff, EAA, Ford Tri-Motor, Ford Type Ratings, type ratings
Posted in Photo of the Day | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 1st, 2013
This isn’t just any Beech Sierra 200—it happens to be the very first one off the production line. At the time Mike Fizer shot this photo, the Sierra 200 was owned by Hamilton Rial III of Austin, Texas.
Senior Editor Al Marsh gave the Sierra a once-over for his July 2005 AOPA Pilot article, “Budget Buy: Cargo Sierra,” which you can read online. In it, he notes some of the airplane’s attributes—it has six seats (or four seats and a huge cargo area); a large cabin with twin front doors (for 1971 and later models )—and some of its lesser qualities: Parts are scarce and expensive; cabin noise is high; and the airplane isn’t known to be a speed demon.—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: Alton Marsh, AOPA Pilot, Austin, Beech Sierra 200, Beechcraft, Mike Fizer, Texas
Posted in Photo of the Day | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
This hybrid Experimental combines aspects of the DGA-15 and the famous DGA-6 racer. Its builder, Bruce Dickenson, dubbed it the Dickenson-Howard DGA-21. The 21 comes from 15 plus 6. It lives at Santa Paula Airport in Southern California, where Dickenson put together his project without blueprints. The airplane has wooden wings and are built from a spruce bar, birch ribs, and mahogany covering. Read much more in the March 2011 AOPA Pilot ( http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2011/march/feature_howard.html ), where you can also view a video of the airplane’s test flight.—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AOPA Pilot, California, Experimental, Howard DGA-15, Howard DGA-6 racer, Santa Paula
Posted in Photo of the Day | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
Put the Mustang II next to an RV7 and you might think the two are from the same company. But there are subtle differences. (Hint: Check the shape of the wing and the canopy.) The Mustang II will soon be able to demonstrate its flying capability against an RV7, as AOPA Pilot editors recently put the two aircraft in a head-to-head competition. Stay tuned!—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AOPA Pilot, Experimental, Mustang II, RV7, Van's RV
Posted in Photo of the Day | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 18th, 2012
Our Hover Power blogger Tim McAdams says the Robinson R66, the company’s first turbine helicopter, feels a little bigger and a little heavier than the piston-powered R44. Its cabin is about eight inches wider than that of the R44. It uses a T-bar cyclic, which means transitioning from the R44 is eaiser. In a full pilot report for the December 2010 AOPA Pilot, McAdams pointed out that the R66 has a sleeker profile along with a Bell JetRanger-style baggage compartment located under the transmission deck. It can hold 300 pounds and “one design objective was for it to be large enough to carry two sets of golf clubs.”—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AOPA Pilot, cyclic, Hover Power, Photo of the Day, Robinson Helicopters, Robinson R66, Tim McAdams, turbine
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
This Lockheed 12A Electra Junior–so called because it’s a bit smaller than the Lockheed Model 10E Electra that Amelia Earhart flew–became the 300th type of aircraft to grace Barry Schiff’s logbook. That’s not Barry in the captain’s seat–it’s Curt “Rocky” Walters, who pilots the aircraft for its owner, Ruth Holden of San Luis Obispo, California. Barry wrote about the Lockheed 12A for the February 2006 AOPA Pilot’s “Proficient Pilot” column.—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: "Proficient Pilot", Amelia Earhart, AOPA Pilot, Barry Schiff, Lockheed 10E Electra, Lockheed 12A Electra Junior
Posted in Photo of the Day | No Comments »
Friday, September 7th, 2012
It’s a glider! No, there’s an engine on top. A radial engine, at that! It’s a flying boat! No, not exactly. The Curtiss-Wright CW-1 Junior resembles all of these things in various ways–see how the pilot sits out in front, which gives him the same sort of visibility afforded to sailplane pilots; note also how the hull looks like that of an amphibious flying boat. But it’s actually an an open-cockpit landplane. As Barry Schiff writes in the June 2006 AOPA Pilot, the CW-1 Junior was produced in St. Louis, Missouri, competing against the Aeronca C-2, American Eagle’s Eaglet, and the Buhl Pup. Some 270 were built before the Great Depression brought production to a halt in 1932. Barry says the Junior is an airplane that’s “easy to fly, but not easy to fly well.”—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AOPA Pilot, Barry Schiff, Curtiss Wright, Curtiss Wright CW-1 Junior, flying boat, motorglider, Photo of the Week
Posted in Photo of the Day | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
It’s supposed to be a big secret–or maybe not–but formation flying for photo shoots is one of the coolest things an AOPA editor does. Here, AOPA’s Mike Fizer captures Dwayne Clemens and former AOPA Pilot editor Nate Ferguson in a yellow Husky 200-hp A-1B leading another Husky A-1B with tundra tires flown by Greg Largen and Alex Clemens.—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AOPA, AOPA Pilot, formation flying, Husky, Photo of the Day, taildragger
Posted in Photo of the Day | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 29th, 2012
Often imitated, never duplicated, the Ercoupe is one of the nation’s quirkiest and best-loved GA aircraft. A brief history: It was born in 1939 (its designer, Fred Weick, later worked on the Piper Cherokee line). Weick gave it tricycle landing gear and trailing-link main gear to help make challenging landings tamer, and he limited elevator up-travel to help reduce the potential for a stall. Oh, and he did away with rudder pedals, and interconnected the ailerons to the rudders–so you steer it like a car. You can fly it with the canopy open, and AOPA Pilot Editor at Large Tom Horne swears that you can stick your arm out the window and turn the airplane that way. He wrote about it in the March 2012 issue ( http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2012/march/f_ercoupe.html?WT.mc_id=&wtmcid;&WT.mc_sect=gan ).—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AOPA Pilot, Erco, Ercoupe, Fred Weick, Photo of the Day, Piper Cherokee, rudders
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Friday, July 13th, 2012
The two-seat Symphony 160 is shown here over Quebec, near where the airplane was manufacturered. An aircraft report in the September 2005 AOPA Pilot said the airplane was intended to be sold not as a trainer, but as a recreational vehicle, much like a motorcycle or a boat. Its 160-horsepower Textron Lycoming O-320-D2A burned less than 8 gallons per hour in cruise flight. Photograph by Mike Fizer.—Jill W. Tallman
Tags: AOPA Pilot, flight training, Lycoming, Photo of the Day, Quebec, Symphony, Symphony 160
Posted in Photo of the Day | No Comments »
