Search Results for : MG 21

Back in early 2014, Flying magazine online wrote, “There’s an old saying among pilots that ‘airspeed equals life.’ In other words, keep your speed up, and you’ll avoid stalling the wing during critical phases of flight, such as the base-to-final turn. But, that’s a misnomer since the stalling airspeed of a wing will change based on aircraft weight and load factor.”
Many ex-military pilots also insist AoA is a vitally important gauge. Air Force jet jocks are often shocked that civilian pilots are still flying based solely on airspeed.
FAA certainly caught the fever, proclaiming statements similar to this one: “Inadvertent stalls are implicated in almost half of the GA approach and descent accidents.” The implication is that AoA will cure this deathly problem.
Advanced Flight Systems was quoted as saying, “Nearly one-half of Experimental and over one-fourth of certified aircraft fatalities are the result of stalls and spins. The killer-turn from base to final is the leading culprit.”
Wow!

Question: What do space suits and headsets have in common? I bet that few of you can answer that question but the answer is “David Clark.” Yep, this 80-year-old company, which began business in 1935, started not with the ubiquitous green ear cup headsets but with flight suits worn by pilots of some very cutting-edge aircraft and spacecraft.
David Clark Company made full-pressure suits developed for test pilots who flew the X-15 to record speeds and altitudes of Mach 6.70 and 354,200 feet. The East coast company also made Gemini space program suits including the G-4C space suit for Ed White’s first U.S. space walk
Full-pressure suits worn by pilots of various high-altitude aircraft such as the F-4, F-15, U-2, and SR-71 Blackbird and space shuttle crew escape suits were all produced David Clark.
After all that, headsets may seem a bit mundane, although not for those who care about good cockpit communications and protecting their hearing.

Here’s something you simply never hear about … lightplanes in North Korea and flying one above the country. My LAMA Europe associate and friend Jan Fridrich alerted me to the existence of a handsome light aircraft allegedly developed and built in that isolated country.
I don’t know what your thoughts are about North Korea. Our government officials, media, and other critics have related stories of terrible human abuse by the ruling elite. I have no doubt this is indeed a repressive regime and I certainly don’t condone coercion. However, neither do I have any first-hand information about the country; I only know what I can see and read elsewhere.
Yet like most of you, I love airplanes and I enjoy viewing especially attractive airplanes. The one in the nearby images qualifies and according to those who have visited — and evidently gone aloft in it — this is a North Korean-designed aircraft.

(Images updated 9/2/15)
Are you intrigued by airplanes that spin their wings? Helicopters are out of the budget for most pilots but have you ever sampled a gyroplane? Whatever your answer, you should know that Rotax Aircraft Engines reports selling more 912 powerplants to gyro producers than to any other airplane segment. Most of those are sold outside the USA.
Americans like and do fly gyroplanes, of course. Most associate the type with the Bensen Gyrocopter, but the history record reveals its overseas start. Again today, gyros are predominantly a non-U.S. phenomenon, a fact LAMA is trying to change through its advocacy efforts to press FAA to reconsider the fully built SLSA gyro as once envisioned under the SP/LSA rule.
While most pilots can identify a gyroplane, they mentally picture an aircraft with the engine in the rear. That isn’t always the case, though.
How about the “odd” looking gyroplane pictured with this article, with its tractor engine?