By Isabel Goyer The FAA has published a special rule to give Joby Aviation a pathway to certify its vertical lift urban aerial mobility aircraft, which we today learned has a name, the Joby JAS4-1, though it hardly rolls off the tongue. Neither will th…
Going Direct: Are Electric Flights Anything More than Stunts?
By Isabel Goyer Recently an all-electric Robinson R-44 helicopter made a flight from Jackie Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, California, to nearby Palm Springs, a trip that covered just over 20 miles, making it less than half the distance as a flig…
Five Pilots That Reached Aviation Immortality
By W. David Pond We’ve all seen lists of the greatest pilots ever. These compilations can be problematic. Not that I disagree with the pilots they tend to point to as great; far from it. It’s just that the very question—”What makes a pilot great?”— is …
First Solo Flight in the Dark
By S. Robert Williams The Long Island Railroad Islip line pulled me through the steam of August toward a rendezvous with Long Island MacArthur Airport and the day that any fledgling pilot meets with a mixture of dread and excitement. First solo. I lear…
The Best Family Planes
By Isabel Goyer If you’ve been flying for a long time, you know that even the best airplanes involve significant compromise. And designing an aircraft that has all the necessary qualities of a good family transportation platform…well, that’s a tall ord…
The All-Time Most Significant Planes At the EAA Oshkosh Fly-In
By W. David Pond The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) fly-in at Oshkosh, for the past many years called AirVenture, is the biggest fly-in in the world and the biggest airshow, as well. It is, if anything, a huge gathering of airplanes and not ju…
Transitioning to Unleaded Aviation Fuels
By Isabel Goyer At the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) meeting in Washington, D.C., this spring came the blockbuster announcement that the industry and the FAA are 100% behind the retirement of 100 Low Lead aviation gasoline and the t…
The 8 Most Iconic American Aircraft
By W. David Pond Few of us are old enough to remember when the phrase “Piper Cub” was synonymous with “small plane.” No matter what brand or model of plane just “crash landed” on old County Road 117, whether it was an Aeronca, Stinson or Stearman, peop…