“Yeah, [I] need to take a day off to work around here,” Rick responded, which was his way of saying he’d put it off indefinitely. He liked tinkering with his airplane and projects, but he just wasn’t as devoted to housekeeping. I hadn’t meant for him to dedicate a whole day, just to work at it continuously.

From a practical standpoint, hangar-keeping is necessary to finding tools, retrieving parts, and minimizing hazards. A clean floor not only looks nice, it facilitates search and recovery. Rick’s standard was fix and fly now, clean up later…much later. A corner of the hangar contained a pile of empty oil bottles, lunch wrappers, and shipping boxes, next to an overflowing trash container, marking his concession to waste management.

I began my journey into aviation life as a hangar rat, poking around open stalls at the airport and offering to sweep out hangars for lunch money. A quarter or 50 cents meant a hamburger, and sometimes my efforts resulted in a ride. The average T-hangar could be given a once-over in 30 minutes at the hands of a diligent teenager, I soon learned.

In the subject case, I debated between a push broom and scoop shovel. Rick was going flying, so I offered to take advantage of the open space and uncover his concrete. As friends, he knew he could trust me to throw away the trash-worthy. Anything usable would be left on the workbench, but the corner detritus was obviously already slated for the community dumpster. “How about I sweep up for ya?” I said, volunteering. “Sure, go for it,” he responded.

With his workaday Cessna gone, I made short work of the trash pile and floor accumulation. I live in a four-ship bay, so my own airplane, always in the back, gets rolled out more expeditiously when my cohabitors are gone. I often take advantage of such an opportunity to advance the state of sanitation. One doesn’t have to move every pallet or lounging couch—any sweeping out is an improvement.

The important focus on hangar-keeping is to use the floor as smooth pavement, not a place for tool storage, air hoses, and extension cords. If you drop a nut or cotter key, it’s a lot easier to find if the floor is clean. Drip pans are a better solution than oil-dry granules or pieces of old cardboard. The finest Snap-on rollaway is no substitute for organization and a strong return policy. A place for everything and everything in its place speeds the workflow when you need a tool. You should know not just which drawer it’s in but which corner of that drawer.

In sport aviation, we are blessed to benefit from the community of like-minded folks, which means sharing space and stuff. Sharing some cleanup work is just part of our membership dues.

The post Don’t Forget Your Hangar Maintenance appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

The first peaked around 1976, coincidentally a year when so many of the airplanes we mere mortals can afford to own and fly today were constructed. Thousands of single-engine piston airplanes were produced each year. FBOs were numerous, diverse, and competed on price and service. All this made long-distance travel by light singles relatively affordable and fun. However, the specter of product liability nearly killed the fatted aviation calf.

It wasn’t until the General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) of 1994 that things began to turn around. The second golden age peaked around 2008. For a while there, several venerable brands were revived, piston aircraft production nearly doubled, and it looked like GA travel was back in style. Then came the recession of 2009, and it has been a rocky road ever since.

Restoring the Glory

Then again, maybe we can bring back some of that faded glory and start our own golden age. The legacy fleet of owner- and renter-flown aircraft is still in good shape, sales of retrofit avionics upgrades are strong and, thankfully, the airspace we fly in remains some of the least regulated in the world. OK, so avgas is not cheap. That is until you take a look across the Atlantic or Pacific and realize just how good we have it. And let’s face it, highway travel remains frustrating at best. Remember the old adage: “A mile of road will take you a mile. A mile of runway will take you anywhere.”

So maybe it’s time to pull the bird out of the hangar and go exploring. The COVID-19 pandemic kept us all cooped up for several challenging years, so it’s time to enjoy the freedom we have and fly at will across this beautiful country. The first step may be to go back a few years and remember why we all started flying.

Where Did the Joy of Flying Begin for You?

It all started for me on August 21, 1973—that day, the direction of my life changed forever. On a misty morning, my flight instructor, Fred Broce, the legendary chief pilot at Virginia Tech Airport (now KBCB), climbed out of the right seat of the little 1959 Cessna 150, turned, and said, “Give me three takeoffs and landings, and I will see you back at the ramp.” I was alone in the airplane for the first time.

The first traffic pattern was all business: checklist, airspeed, altitude, aimpoint—now flare just right. The second pattern was still hard work, although I began to notice the little Cessna seemed much quieter and flew a bit better solo. But the “aha” moment occurred on the final pattern. On the downwind leg, I finally took a moment to absorb the spectacular scenery, maybe for the first time in nine hours of stalls, traffic patterns, and turns around a point. The stunning Blue Ridge Mountains, their brilliant hues of green shrouded in wisps of the mist, were a feast for the eyes. I decided right then and there I was home.

A few months later, another fateful day arrived. With just more than 40 hours in the logbook and a freshly minted private pilot certificate in hand, I invited the woman who would become my wife to come fly with me. She said yes to the flight, and the marriage proposal, and for nearly 50 years we have shared the joy of airplane travel and ownership. Our boys, now grown with families of their own, thought of our airplanes as flying station wagons. Taxiing into the FBO with the eyes of our waiting parents and grandparents, eager to see us and hug the kids, felt for a moment like Charles Lindbergh arriving at Paris’ Le Bourget.

Our little family has flown our simple fixed-gear airplanes coast to coast, and we have seen just about every corner of this beautiful country and a bit of Canada. We have felt pity for the folks stuck in traffic below as we zipped across the LA basin to downtown San Diego. Ripon, Fiske, and Rock Your Wings are burned in our memories as we made our way to EAA AirVenture.

A career as a military pilot, nearly 800 hours of it flying low-level missions admiring the ever-changing scenery from an altitude of 800 feet and nearly 400 knots, and a handful of additional ratings and certificates confirmed that we pilots have the best view in the world. Through it all, a line from a nearly forgotten poem rings out: “And I look down with hungry eyes at the land below.”

My wife Debbie and I are sightseers and travelers. And our trusty Cessna 177B Cardinal is the magic carpet that makes it all possible. It is neither the newest, fastest, or the fanciest, but it is ours. A factory-rebuilt engine, overhauled prop, and an IFR GPS keep it up to date. The paint still shines after 25 years, a testament to what a hangar and a little wax will do. It still has a vacuum pump and an elderly autopilot, but when we are aloft, heading someplace new, we are ready to be amazed by what we see. The trip from Florida to North Carolina to see our grandkids is a feast for the eyes. And this time, as we taxi in, the tables have turned, and our kids and grandkids are waiting to greet us.

What Is Stopping You?

So, what is the point of this rambling? These marvelous little airplanes we either rent or own are meant to go places.

Those of us lucky enough to be able to fly can recharge our batteries by slipping the surly bonds of Earth, even if just for a local pattern flight or trip around the local area. The view from a few thousand feet up puts so many things into perspective. However, these little aluminum birds we are entrusted with are meant for more than that. And we happen to live in a country where flying is still one of the freest experiences in the world. So maybe it’s time to get back in the air and on the way to new destinations and adventures.

What To See

Did you know the Beechcraft, Swift, and Piper museums are each found right on airports within easy reach of most major East Coast cities? Down here in Florida, the airport restaurant is flourishing, with new ones opening all the time. Out west, even at 120 knots, our basic VFR machines really shine. Severe clear weather, long distances, stunning vistas, and numerous airports in busy cities that allow us to wing our way over the traffic jams are the norm. Head north to the Great Lakes or New England, the scenery is stunning, and the options are endless. So what is the secret to traveling distances in our well-seasoned little birds?

Take Your Time and Plan Your Stops

The old saying, “If you have time to spare, go by air,” comes to mind. If you are planning a weeklong trip, plan for a week and a half to allow for the occasional breakdown and marginal weather. Arrange your stops based on the availability of services, lodging, and transportation. Unplanned maintenance issues should be part of the agenda. In the long run, it might be less expensive to tie down next to a full-service maintenance shop than at an isolated strip where gas is $1 cheaper.

Pace Yourself

Break up your trip into easy bites. Keeping the days to a comfortable two-hop, rather than pushing a long three-leg flight into darkness, makes so much sense. And consider making your first leg the longest and each leg thereafter shorter. This helps us manage fatigue and account for unplanned delays.

Time To Embark on a New Era

As Plane & Pilot embarks on a new era, it’s high time we do as well. Hundred-dollar (OK, maybe $200 today) hamburger flights, long weekend trips, or cross-country adventures all reveal the value of our pilot certificates and these amazing little time machines we fly. Consider traveling with friends on flights of two or three.

Try new airports and destinations. And while you are at it, take a few moments between programming the GPS and adjusting the mixture to marvel at the view below. It is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, and the world around you may just look a little brighter. Fly safe.

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the September 2023 issue of Plane & Pilot magazine. 

The post Pro Tips for Private Pilots: Time for a New Golden Age appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

What if I told you it was ahead of schedule? Is that an unbelievable claim? Perhaps, but the proof is right here, right now. 

Consider the following communication from the ASTM committee working on LSA standards. In case you don’t know what that is, ASTM is an industry standards group that operates privately, creating and getting agreement on standards used by the FAA to accept light sport aircraft into the aviation fleet (this is different than conventional FAA certification.)

Big MOSAIC News

From almost the beginning, the FAA has moved faster than most of us imagined. At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022 the FAA announced it would remove the drone portion of MOSAIC, which was delaying the overall regulation as that community works out its issues. FAA officials said removing all that language could take some months. In fact, it was done in a few weeks. That told me something. Once the internal or procedural impediments to progress are removed, the MOSAIC team can move swiftly.

The FAA official I videoed last year at AirVenture claimed that the regulation would be ready by August 2023. Days later, still at AirVenture, other FAA officials said about him, “Oh, he’s usually rather optimistic.” They were implying it might not happen by that date. Maybe they were trying to allow some wiggle room.

Later, when I reported the official’s August 2023 statement and gave talks referencing it, I would estimate a third of all those listening or reading doubted the FAA would meet its own deadline. The belief isn’t all wrong; the FAA has missed deadlines before.

One thing no one thought: that the FAA would complete the thing ahead of schedule.

Now, Hear This…

“[ASTM] received this communication this morning—Wednesday, July 19, 2023—from Jim Newberger, who is the FAA lead for the MOSAIC rule development (officially his position is: production & airworthiness section; AIR-632; aircraft certification service). This is exciting news and will definitely impact, positively, our discussions,” stated leaders of the ASTM committee for LSA, Rian Johnson and Adam Morrison.

Leaders encouraged F37 committee members (more than 200 people around the world), “Once the NPRM is posted, if you have available time, please try to review as much as you can and capture your questions/comments for group discussion next week [at AirVenture 2023 meetings]. These are generally pretty lengthy documents. We’ll all be freshly digesting the NPRM, so everyone’s perspectives and interpretations will be important to help bring clarity as quickly as possible.”

From the FAA’s official lead:

“I wanted to let you know that the office of the federal register is scheduled to:

• Post the related MOSAIC notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for display today at approximately 11:15 ET.
• Publish this NPRM in the Federal Register on Monday (July 24, 2023).

“After the above milestones, you may use the following info to search/locate the NPRM on Regulations.gov:

• Document 2023-14425, category PROPOSED RULES
• Docket ID is docket no.: FAA-2023-1377; notice no. 23-10
• Rulemaking identification number (RIN) is 2120-AL50
• The subject of this document is modernization of special airworthiness certification
• The submitting agency is (FAA) Federal Aviation Administration

Feel free to share this information with the F37 committee and take advantage of opportunities explained in Monday’s publication for providing comments.”

Message for Readers

I know this material will not digest easily but it affects the future of flying. I hope many of you will read the NPRM, discuss it among your pilot friends, and think about how you will offer responses to this rule. You should have at least 90 days to comment.

Thanks to longtime F37 committee member Anna Mracek Dietrich, checking this out got much easier. Here you go…

https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-14425.pdf

Happy reading! It runs 318 pages.

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