THE BEDE PROTOTYPE THAT CHANGED THE SHAPE OF GA

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MOONEY PREDATOR:
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ON THE O2:
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NEW TAKES IN THE

LIGHT-SPORT CLASS:
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July 2023 VOL. 59 NO. 6

AFFORDABLE AVIATION
24 GROWS WITH NEW AIRCRAFT
The latest models in the light sport and
ultralight worlds debuted this spring.
By Plane & Pilot with reporting by Dan Johnson

DIESEL POWER TO
32 THE PISTONS
Manufacturers’ microturbines could prove
to be a pretty mighty development.
By Sam Winer

MOONEY’S ALMOST-WARBIRD
38 RETURNS TO THE TEXAS SKIES
The company’s absence from the warbird
scene is not for lack of trying.
By Jeremy King

SUSTAINING OUR FLEET

42 Remembering how we got it in
the first place might help.
By LeRoy Cook

TRY THAT INSTRUMENT

50 APPROACH AGAIN
There are risks when flying an approach
a second time after going missed.
By Jason Blair

kk VISIT THE PLANE & PILOT® WEBSITE

AT PLANEANDPILOTMAG.COM
inside
kk S
 PACES
10 GEAR
Aviation Watches
By Plane & Pilot

12 ACCIDENT BRIEFS
Recent Accident Reports
From The NTSB
14 LESSONS LEARNED 18 62
Flying With the Kid
By Wayne Pinger

17 CROSSWORD
Wings & Wheels
18 AVIATION NEWS OF NOTE
Centennial Airport in
Colorado Sees First
Unleaded Avgas; Daher
EASA Type Cert for Kodiak
900; Is This the Last Reno?
By Plane & Pilot

54 AFTER THE ACCIDENT

Worst Glide
By Dave English

52
54
56 WORDS ALOFT
Welcome to Oshkosh
By Jeremy King

58 PRO TIPS FOR PRIVATE PILOTS

Supplemental O2
By Frank Ayers Jr.

ON THE COVER: 62 THIS INCREDIBLE PLANE

The Junkers A50 was based on the Bede BD-1
1929 Hugo Junkers design. The two- By Frank Ayers Jr. 64
seat, low-wing, aluminum-skinned
sport airplane has been updated for the 64 THIS INCREDIBLE PILOT
modern era by Junkers Aircraft at its Jessica Koss
U.S. facility in Michigan. By Amy Wilder

2 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

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 planeandpilotmag.com

Editor-in-Chief, FMG SALES & MARKETING

Julie Boatman
Publisher and Chief Commercial Officer
Managing Editor
Lisa deFrees
Amy Wilder
lisa@flying.media
Creative Director
Amy Jo Sledge Director of Special Projects
Andy Welch
Technical Editor andy@flying.media
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Copy Editor Senior Business Development Manager
Travis Tingle Roxanne Sweazey
roxanne@flying.media
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Theresa Petruso Digital Coordinator
Aaron Will
Senior Editors aaron@flying.media
Jeremy King, LeRoy Cook, Frank Ayers Jr.
Contributing Editors Business Development Manager
Jason Blair, Shalyn Marchetti, Sam Winer Jaci Steib
jaci@flying.media

Chief Operating Officer Chief Technology Officer Operations Manager

Preston Holland Fergus Caldicott Reis Costa

Managing Editor, Digital

Kimberly Johnson

Chief Executive Officer Chief Commercial Officer Chief Financial Officer

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF BY JULIE BOATMAN
A Great General
Aviation Story
Plane & Pilot has grown a community of
pilots for 50 years—and we’re glad for it.
A
t its heart, general aviation
has a great story of personal
growth, innovation, and
belonging to tell—but that’s
because it’s made up of an incredible
community of pilots. And every one
of those pilots—save for a cadre who
started flying in military service—first
took flight in a light aircraft, whether
a glider, piston-powered airplane, or
helicopter. We started that journey
typically under the tutelage of mentors,
family, and friends who transformed
into our aviation family.
It’s a great story about GA, indeed.
Many of us continue to call that
community home—and that’s what
we’re looking to do as Plane & Pilot
moves forward under its new owner-
ship by FLYING Media Group—pub-
lisher of FLYING, Business Air, and
Aircraft For Sale—joining us as we kick
off our Affordable Aviation channel.
In this new era of Plane & Pilot maga-
zine, we’ve thought through very care-
fully exactly what segment of FLYING’s
audience deserved its own space, and
that was this light aircraft community,
made up of recreational and ‘weekend’
pilots as well as those just starting their
own journey—or those finding peace
6 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
in the skies after a long career flying
for others.
It’s a special group, and it needs
its own voice—and a shepherd close
to those grassroots to engage with, fly
with, and write about.
We’re pleased to present Amy
Wilder as our managing editor for Plane
& Pilot. In this role she’ll collaborate
with an incredible flock of contribu-
tors, and continue the legacy that past
leaders of the magazine’s community
have nurtured, developed, and served
so well.
Wilder came to FLYING Media
Group six months ago as our copy
chief, cheerfully shouldering the sig-
nificant amount of content for both
FLYING’s print and digital streams
and proving her attention to detail and
thoughtful approach. And she’s embed-
ded in an aviation family of her own,
growing up flying with her pilot sister
and brother-in-law, a flight instructor
and former member of the U.S. Air
Force’s 54th Weather Reconnaissance
Squadron. Her dad was also a private
pilot and member of the Civil Air Patrol
who flew a Cessna 140.
Wilder began her own training last
year when personal commitments
allowed—and now she’s on the cusp
of obtaining her private pilot certifi-
cate, flying over America’s heartland.
She’s right in the thick of what every
learning pilot experiences—with no
plans to stop at just one certificate.
We look forward to staying close
to our roots with you, highlighting the
best of the light aircraft industry—from
light sport to certificated piston aircraft
that make up the approachable end of
flying—and giving you the tools you
need to fly safely and as affordably
as possible. In this issue, you’ll see
the newest in LSAs and next-gener-
ation lightweight engines, as well as
learn about unique aircraft you prob-
ably never knew existed, and glean
pro tips from trusted authors to help
ensure your flying stays fun, practi-
cal—and safe.
We look forward to hearing what
you think. Please share any ideas you
have for the great GA story we’ll con-
tinue to tell with you.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR BY AMY WILDER
Flyover Country
These are big shoes to fill.
W
elcome to the July 2023
issue of Plane & Pilot
and to a new chapter in
the history of the maga-
zine. I’m joining you from the heart
of “flyover country” and the ranks of
FLYING Media Group. My 20-year
career in journalism and communica-
tions includes time serving community
newspapers, magazines, and corpora-
tions. I have a lifelong passion for air-
planes, the history of aviation, and the
magic of flight—and for the stories of
the people who have created the vivid
history and close-knit community that
makes aviation so special.
While you will see a few changes in
the magazine, they’ll be mostly tech-
nical. You may notice the paper feels
a bit different, and the page design
changes over time. We may work on
some new features and themes. But the
writers who have shared their expertise
and passion over the years, bringing
you news, stories, and information
about what’s happening in the world
of general aviation, will continue to
do so, with a new voice or two joining
us periodically.
I’m proud to include Dan Johnson
of Affordable Aviation in this month’s
issue, with a feature created with FMG
editor-in-chief Julie Boatman, cover-
ing some of the stars of this spring’s
8 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
airshows, including WACO’s Junkers
A50, the CubCrafters Carbon Cub UL,
and the surprisingly affordable Elixir
aircraft. Jeremy King has investigated
the fascinating history of the singular
Mooney Predator, which you may have
seen showing its stripes at airshows
in recent years. LeRoy Cook gives us
a general overview and celebration of
the golden age of GA aircraft produc-
tion and invites us to consider what
might be next.
King provides some helpful tips
and insights for flying into EAA
AirVenture—Oshkosh—and staying
comfortable once there, and Frank
Ayers Jr. asks us to consider whether
it might be prudent to carry por-
table O2 options in the cockpit—
and use them—at altitudes below
those required by FAA regulations.
In Lessons Learned, Wayne Pinger
writes a cautionary tale of preflight
forgetfulness and family dynamics
that could have cost him a lot more
than his pride.
I have big shoes to fill as managing
editor of this magazine, and its 50-year
history is something I think is worth
upholding. My job is to keep alive the
voices of the aviation community and
keep them coming to you each month.
Here’s to the next 50 years of Plane
& Pilot!
 THE U LTIM ATE

GI VEAWAY

WIN a TECNAM ASTORE or an ICON A5!

ONE ENTRY for having an active subscription

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GEAR
Watch Yourself
Special timepieces for aviators continue a rich tradition.
P
ilot watches sport a rich history
that dates back to the early
days of aviation, and they’re
often one of the first gear
investments a new pilot makes.
There are style options and price
points for every level. Historic pilot
watches that have significantly influ-
enced today’s aviation watch styles
include the Cartier Santos Dumont,
created by Cartier in 1904 for Brazilian
aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. It was
designed to be worn on the wrist, mak-
ing it one of the first true wristwatches.
Other recognizable watches shaped
along with aviation history include
10 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
the 952 Breitling Navitimer, which
included a slide-rule bezel and chro-
nograph; the Omega Speedmaster, the
first worn on the moon; and the IWC
Big Pilot, developed for the German
Luftwaffe in the 1940s.
These distinctive pilot watches
have played a significant role in the
development of aviator timepieces and
continue to inspire new designs today.
Many of the iconic designs feature
large displays, easy-to-read dials, and
durable crystal faces that can stand up
to changing conditions in the air. Here
are just a couple of examples of what’s
available for pilots in 2023.
On the high-tech end of the spec-
trum, pilots are blessed with a lot of
options, including the non-aviation-
specific Apple watches, which provide
functions like timers and the ability
to look up weather information in
flight. Garmin has developed some
watch designs specifically for avia-
tors, like its D2 Mach 1 or D2 Air X10
models, which feature pulse oximeter
functions, long battery life, GPS, and
the ability to log flights and sync with
flygarmin.com. Both offer trial sub-
scriptions to the Garmin pilot app.
One of the first gear items pilot and
watchmaker Abingdon Mullin’s flight
IMAGES COURTESY GARMIN; ABINGDON WATCH CO.
From top left: Abingdon limited-edition W.A.S.P. commemorative; Garmin D2 Air X10; Abingdon Katherine; Garmin D2 Mach 1
instructor encouraged her to buy was
a wristwatch, along with sunglasses,
and a good headset. However, Mullin
had trouble finding an aviation-specific
watch designed to suit women. She
approached a watchmaker in 2006 after
earning her private pilot certificate
to inquire about having something
custom-made, but the cost was pro-
hibitive for a 22-year-old. “I was a
member of the Palms Chapter of The
Ninety-Nines…and I would ask some
of the women who were flying years
longer than me what was out there.”
The answer was not much. But
many fellow aviators asked her to let
them know if she found something
suitable. So Mullin decided to make 300
custom watches, instead of one, and the
Abingdon Co. was born. Feedback from
fellow aviators has inspired the designs
for each of the Abingdon watches, and
Mullin is careful to note that they aren’t
just for women. She has a fair number
of male customers who appreciate the
functionality of her watches.
“We use Swiss movements,
Japanese movements, and American
movements. And we have up to
41.5-millimeter case sizes,” Mullin
said. “Guys know what that means…
basically, we’ve got sizes for them. My
husband wears an Amelia.” All of the
Abingdon watches feature sapphire
crystal faces and all-metal movements.
All are water resistant up to 165 feet,
and the bands for all of the watches
are interchangeable.
“Those are the features, I think,
that make this type of pilot’s watch
more universal,” Mullin said. “The
ATIS bezel is the one that blows pilots
out of the water…There’s one other
watch, the Scheyden True Aviator, that
I helped design. Scheyden and I came
up with putting the alphabet on the
bezel, and that’s the only other watch
in the world that has that feature.” PP
planeandpilotmag.com 11
ACCIDENT BRIEFS
Luscombe 8A
Guthrie, Oklahoma/Injuries: 1 Minor
The student pilot reported that, while
rolling out on landing, the airplane
suddenly veered to the right, causing
the nose to turn to the left. The stu-
dent pilot attempted to correct with
opposite rudder; however, the airplane
exited the left side of the runway, pro-
ceeded down a terrace, and nosed
over, which resulted in substantial
damage to the vertical stabilizer. The
student pilot reported that there were
no pre-accident mechanical malfunc-
tions or failures with the airplane that
would have precluded normal opera-
tion. At the time of the accident, the
student pilot was landing the airplane
on Runway 34 with wind from 300
degrees at 6 knots.
PROBABLE CAUSE(S): The student pilot’s
failure to maintain directional control
during the landing roll.
Cessna 172S
Princeton, Minnesota/Injuries: None
The pilot reported that during takeoff
the airplane “started to slide to the
left on the ice” on the snow and ice-
covered runway. The pilot chose to
abort the takeoff. During the abort,
the airplane kept “pulling to the left”
and impacted the terrain between the
runway and taxiway. Upon impact, the
airplane nosed over, which resulted in
substantial damage to the fuselage,
wings, and wing struts. At the time
of the accident, the pilot was taking
off with a 40-degree right crosswind
at 8 knots.
PROBABLE CAUSE(S): The pilot’s failure
to maintain directional control during the
takeoff roll. Contributing to the accident
was the runway condition combined with
a right crosswind.
CubCrafters CCX-2000
Erie, Colorado/Injuries: None
The pilot reported executing a wheel
landing in the tailwheel-equipped air-
plane. A “small bounce” after touch-
down caused the airplane to veer
12 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
“slightly to the right.” The pilot sub-
sequently overcorrected and lost direc-
tional control resulting in a ground
loop. The right wing was substantially
damaged. The pilot reported that there
were no pre-accident mechanical mal-
functions or failures with the airplane
that would have precluded normal
operation. He noted being ready with
“slight and occasional” rudder inputs
would likely have been more effective
than the “strong and consistent” rud-
der pressure applied.
PROBABLE CAUSE(S): The pilot’s loss of
directional control during landing.
Cessna 172P
Eagle River, Alaska /Injuries: 2 Fatal
The pilot and flight instructor departed
on a 2-hour discovery flight and did
not return. The wreckage was subse-
quently located nearly 9 hours after the
airplane’s scheduled return time in an
area of rocky, mountainous terrain. The
airplane sustained substantial damage
to the fuselage and left wing. No pre-
accident engine or airframe mechanical
malfunctions or anomalies were found
that would have precluded normal
operation. The carburetor “heat valve”
was observed in the ON/HOT position,
and was captured in this position due
to the deformation of the surround-
ing heat box material, consistent with
the absorption of impact energy. The
propeller remained attached at the
crankshaft. Each blade was missing
about 2 inches of the blade tip and
exhibited leading-edge gouging and
torsional twisting, chordwise striations
across the cambered surface, and trail-
ing edge “S” bending, all of which is
consistent with rotation under power
at the time of impact. The tempera-
ture and dewpoint in the area of the
accident site around the time of the
accident were consistent with a moder-
ate risk of serious carburetor icing at
cruise power settings and severe icing
at glide power settings. Although the
airplane’s emergency locator transmit-
ter (ELT) emitted a signal the day after
the accident, which was detected by
search and rescue personnel, no signal
was detected immediately after the
accident. During postaccident exami-
nation of the ELT, when in the ON
mode, the ELT activated and trans-
mitted on both 121.5 and 406 MHz.
When tested in the ARMED mode,
the ELT transmitted only once out of
numerous tests. The ELT installed in
the airplane was an AmeriKing AK-451
ELT that was the subject of an FAA
airworthiness directive (AD), which
required annual testing as a result of
an unapproved parts investigation.
The AD was prompted by multiple
reports of ELT failures and a report of
noncompliance to quality standards
and manufacturer processes. The AD
further stated that failure to adhere
to the standards and processes could
result in ELTs that would not function,
similar to the circumstances in this
accident. A review of the airplane’s
maintenance records revealed an entry
showing compliance with the AD about
19 months before the accident. An
entry with the same date indicated that
the ELT was replaced with a different
make and model. An entry dated about
6 months before the accident indicated
that the ELT was tested in accordance
with 91.207(d), and the AD compli-
ance sheet was up-to-date. Since the
maintenance records indicated that
the AD-affected ELT had been removed
and replaced with a unit not affected by
the AD, the required testing was likely
not accomplished; therefore, the faults
with the ELT were not discovered.
Had the ELT functioned as designed,
emergency personnel would have been
alerted to the accident, even if the
company did not report it overdue.
Similarly, had the AD-affected ELT
been removed and replaced with a
functional unit as was noted in the
maintenance records, the search and
rescue response likely would have been
faster; however, whether faster location
of the wreckage would have prevented a
fatal outcome could not be determined.
PROBABLE CAUSE(S): An inflight colli-
sion with terrain under unknown cir-
cumstances. Contributing to the delayed
rescue response was the failure of the
emergency locator transmitter (ELT)
to activate, and the mechanic’s failure to
ensure the correct ELT was installed and
all applicable ADs were complied with.
NOTE: The reports republished here are from the NTSB
and are printed with minor editing for space.
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 LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT FLYING (AND ABOUT LIFE)

FLYING
WITH THE
A meditation on the most important
airplane control surface: the pilot
BY WAYNE PINGER | ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY ROSS

dipped the fuel tanks with my
home-calibrated doweling, a
dipstick gas gauge I made and
strategically notched at 9 and
18 gallons, or average one and
two hours of flight. I cross-drilled it
and glued a smaller dowel through to
form a T to avoid dropping it in the
tank. Still, the task of checking the fuel
was far from easy as I balanced, one
foot on the wing strut and the other
on a not-very-robust step riveted to
the fuselage. The “Kid” had offered to
check the fuel, but I said, hanging on
and trying to read my dipstick: “No, I
can do it; how much was it?”
The Kid picks up the bill and reads
it: “32 gallons,” and realizes he’s been
had. Gas bill in hand and no other
immediate task, he gives me the
stink eye and walks to the FBO to pay.
Goodbye, Dolly
“Dolly” is one of the Kid’s airplanes
but has been in my care for nearly
eight years. I gave up solo flying a
while back because of age-related
forgetfulness, but with a competent
pilot in the right-hand seat, I am ready
to go. I still have my Basic Med, and
I’m legal by about a month under my
last flight review – “So, better enjoy it,
Flyboy, because this might be it.”
Tomorrow, Dolly will fly the Kid
to California to her new temporary
home. An inspection will follow,
and then she will go on the block for
sale. Already, I am told, there is an
interested buyer. I hope the lucky
buyer will treat her well.
I kick the tires, check the oil, and
walk around with my hand on the
leading edges of the wings looking for
damage but finding only one crusty
bug carcass that I moisten and rub off.
I imagine I feel a touch of goodbye
from Dolly, a Cessna 172N.
She looked and seemed OK, so
we get in, fumble with the seat belts,
turn the master switch to “On,” fuel
selector to “Both,” and I pump the
primer knob twice.
“You only need to prime it once
and make sure the primer is locked
afterward,” says my know-it-all son in
his “teacher-student” voice.
I smile but don’t respond. I have
started this engine and ones like it
once or twice before. Dolly comes
alive with a friendly, familiar heartbeat
of 700 rpm.
“This is not my first rodeo,” I say
with a smile, knowing it’s been nearly
four months since I last flew: “This is
one rusty cowboy.”
Soon we are taxiing to the ramp
while I’m admonished to raise the
windward aileron (we have a 5-knot
crosswind the Kid seems to think of
as a small hurricane), and, “Taxi no
faster than a person would walk.”
Once again, I pretend not to hear
his advice, a product of his many years
of aviation experience and a grossly
swelled head.

14 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

 He does have several thousand
hours in his logbook compared to
my 500 or so, but he’s not a CFI, and
unless I’m paying him, I don’t require
his guidance. Finally I remind him of
that fact. He is, of course, delighted.
After a good run-up, everything
is green, and I announce: “Merlin
traffic, white Skyhawk departing
east on 13, Merlin traffic.”
“You really should identify with
your tail number… and it’s ‘Grants
Pass’ airport, not ‘Merlin.’ Other
pilots flying in might be confused
with that nomenclature,” and he
really did say ‘nomenclature.’
When he was growing up, I taught
him a lot. I demonstrated a straight
engine-driven compressors,
generators, and anything else with
a gas engine. The Kid learned a
lot, but the word ‘nomenclature’
was not in the knowledge he
gleaned from my fine tutelage.
En Route Attitudes
As we pass 400 feet, I reduce the rpm
and trim for a 300 fpm climb. A right
turn would put me in the pattern for
31, the usual runway, so I turn left
and head for 4,000 feet. The Kid says
nothing, so I assume there’s hidden
approval in his silence. Things seem
to be going well until I notice the
airspeed indicator is near zero. The
Some minutes later at 4,000, I
lean the mixture, adjust the trim,
and push the sun visor aside. We are
headed west and skimming over the
hills some folks call mountains. The
air is dead calm under high broken
cloud cover, and it’s 70 degrees.
In a few more minutes, when he is
finally done futzing with some sort of
navigation app on his phone and we
are nicely on our way to Gold Beach,
he puts it aside, adjusts his hat, and
says in a commanding voice: “What’s
the oil temperature and pressure?”
I pleasantly answer, hoping he
still doesn’t notice the airspeed
dial: “They’re in the green.” I scan
the instruments occasionally, and
planeandpilotmag.com 15
 I was pushing my Cessna 170
through the clouds and across the
tundra when “His Majesty of the
Air” was still in grade school. The
A&P and AI certificates he has are
great, and I’m proud of him and my
daughter-in-law having their own
big-city flight service center, but
those pieces of paper don’t make him
my king.
I hold back my ire because I’m
thinking about his high school
graduation 45 years ago, when he was
still pretending respect for his elders.
After graduation, the Kid signed
up for A&P classes at the local
community college. He worked
at East-Side Hardware in the
mornings and attended classes in
the afternoons. I remember when
he rebuilt the engine out of his first
airplane, a Taylorcraft that was 80
percent fabric and 20 percent duct
tape. His first complete and total
rebuild was done on our kitchen
table. He split the case over the Dolly slowly ascends to pattern Though I never really learned to
propane stove in the kitchen because altitude. A minute or so later, we are land a nosewheel airplane well, the
it was winter and nearly 35-below in over the ocean in a lazy left turn, and gods of flight smiled on me as Dolly
the garage. then on a very extended downwind and I made the smoothest 10-knot
for landing on 34. I radio again as the crosswind landing ever—with no
Low and Slow mixture goes to full, and pull power accolade from the Kid, of course.
The Kid’s instructional droning to zero when crossing opposite the I taxied close to a porta-potty,
continued, and at one point I landing threshold. keeping the up-wind aileron in its
considered shutting down his It feels good turning base and I proper position.
headset. But he finally clammed pray he doesn’t look at the airspeed. When I returned from the
up. I had time to grab my iPad from Well past the breakers and headed facilities, the Kid was checking the
the side pocket and with the help of toward the hills behind Gold Beach, oil and cleaning the windshield—the
ForeFlight (what a great navigation it’s a grand day. I’m a little high pitot-tube cover hanging from his
program) figured out where turning final and put in a smidge back pocket. He never said a word.
we were. more flaps while pulling on the carb After lunch, we flew north along
We crossed a small set of hills heat and flying slightly into a left-to- the coast to Cape Blanco for a touch-
and the untamed Rogue River right crosswind. The Kid says, “You and-go, then on to Bandon, and after
appeared below us. With a slide-slip don’t need carb heat, the carburetor Southwest Oregon Regional airport
that would please Bob Hoover, we is warm, it’s bolted firm on the oil in Coos Bay, I turned toward the
were at maybe 200 feet, doing lazy pan…it might stutter if you have to Grants Pass Airport in Merlin.
turns following the Rogue’s path to go around.” About 10 miles out, I checked the
the ocean. We were low, enjoying I counter his directive in a voice AWOS and radioed: “Grants Pass
the sights, seeing sandbars slipping reminiscent of a personal hero, traffic, Cessna 555-Mike-Kilo, 10
by, and an occasional fisherman Henry Kissinger: “I always land west at 25-hundred inbound, landing
who would wave—some with an using carb heat, and I only pepper 31: Grants Pass traffic.” And the Kid
open hand and some with just the my steaks.” nodded with his approval that at the
middle finger. “You’re the pilot,” says the Kid, time seemed quite important. PP
rolling his eyes. I wondered if he
Smooth Landings might be inspecting his brain cells.
I grab my checklist and prepare for He is hardly relaxed as Dolly lines Wayne Pinger is a storyteller whose
the landing at Gold Beach. I radio up while slipping into the crosswind first book was “Angel’s Diamonds,” part
five or so miles up the river from and touches down gently: first the of a fictional trilogy involving bush flying
the bridge, and without negative left main and, a split second later, in Alaska during the construction of
commentary from my passenger, the right main and nosewheel. the pipeline.

16 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

CROSSWORD WINGS AND WHEELS

ACROSS DOWN
2 Instruments that measure pressure 1 Landing surface
7 Alphabet starters 2 Made live, as a flight plan
9 New engine for Carbon Cub UL 3 Travel on the ground, like a plane at an airport
10 ____ axis: imaginary line passing horizontally 4 Unit used in measuring wire diameters, abbr.
through the center of gravity of an airplane 5 Alloys of this metal are used in the
14 ___ tai manufacture of some airframes and engines
15 Peace alliance, abbr. where formability is considered important
16 Off-roader's purchase, for short 6 Give a new flight plan to, for example
17 Flight ___ (it's filed for every flight) 8 Ferry, e.g.
19 Large coffee pot 11 ''Wheel of Fortune'' purchase, 2 words
20 Pitot ____ ____ , 2 words 12 UFO passenger in film
22 @ 13 Cessna 700 Citation _____
23 Obliquely 18 Fortunate
25 Expert 21 Air controller's home
27 Expression of hesitation 22 Skill
29 Part of PST, abbr. 23 It occurs when the angle of attack of the wing
30 Freezing condition which can lead to loss of is increased too much
control of the aircraft, 2 words 24 Astound
34 Sharp turns 26 Consume entirely, 2 words
35 Skywards 28 Menu offering
37 Early aviation pioneer who made the first solo 31 Managed
non-stop flight across the Atlantic 32 Scratch the surface of
38 Fastener 33 Urge
36 Circle ratio

Check your answers on page 56.

planeandpilotmag.com 17
AVIATION NEWS OF NOTE
New Aircraft News from
Around the Industry
Plus unleaded avgas, and are we
seeing the last of Reno?
BY PLANE & PILOT
DAHER GETS EASA TYPE CERT
ON KODIAK 900
The Kodiak 900, which debuted at
EAA AirVenture 2022, has secured its
validation under the European Union
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and
Daher is set to deliver its first unit to
a European customer this fall. The
type certificate was officially handed
over at AERO 2023 in Friedrichshafen,
Germany, in a ceremony on April 19.
Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice
president of Daher’s Aircraft Division,
accepted the TC from Marco Cappacio,
EASA’s small aircraft section manager.
Chabbert identified the 900 as a great
fit for the local market. “I have to say
that this is the perfect aircraft for the
German market. This is a King Air
350-sized cabin, and...it can safely fly
IFR—and fast—to destinations that are
short hops that are typical of a country
such as Germany but also looking at
the landscape in Europe in general.”
Daher delivered one of the new 900s
in 2022—and a total of 323 Kodiaks
since inception—with most orders to
deliver in 2024 representing an even
split between the 100 and 900.
BEECHCRAFT DENALI WILL
HAVE GARMIN’S AUTOLAND
EMERGENCY SYSTEM
When it debuts in 2025, the Beechcraft
Denali will join the ranks of other
single-engine turboprop and turbine
aircraft in the class with Garmin’s
Autoland emergency protocol standard.
In an announcement made dur-
ing Textron Aviation’s media event on
May 4, Lannie O’Bannion, senior vice
president of sales and flight operations,
joined program managers from GE,
18 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
and Dan Lind, senior director of sales of unleaded avgas in their airplanes.
and marketing for Garmin Aviation, to Airport officials have been working
provide an update on the development with FBOs on the field to facilitate the
of the clean-sheet design—and reveal switch to unleaded avgas. For example,
the news. jetCenters of Colorado made the deci-
“You’ve heard us talk repeatedly sion to dedicate a tank to UL94.
about our product development strat- According to Tony Buckley,
egy, which includes both clean-sheet president and CEO of jetCenters of
designed aircraft,” as well as updates Colorado, the company has been work-
to popular models, said O’Bannion. ing with airport officials and Avfuel to
“Because we’re aligning the aircraft make UL94 available at the airport by
with the certification of GE’s certifi- summer 2023. This falls in line with
cation timeline, we’re now expecting the FAA’s Eliminate Aviation Gas Lead
the Denali to be certified in 2025. I’m Emissions (EAGLE) program, which
also excited today to announce that targets 2030 for a nationwide transition
we’ll be adding the ‘peace-of-mind’ from 100LL to unleaded fuels.
technology to the Beechcraft Denali
cockpit with the Garmin emergency IS THIS THE LAST RENO?
Autoland system.” If attending the Reno Air Races is
Autoland is the world’s first certified on your bucket list, make plans now.
system of its kind for general aviation
aircraft, featuring the ability to activate
during an emergency situation and
autonomously control the aircraft and
land it without pilot intervention.
CENTENNIAL AIRPORT IN
COLORADO SEES ITS FIRST
UNLEADED AVGAS
Centennial Airport (KAPA) has become
the first in Colorado to offer unleaded
avgas. The first aircraft to be refueled
with UL94 was a 2022 Piper Archer
owned by Aspen Flying Club.
According to a spokesperson from
jetCenters of Colorado Centennial
location, the unleaded fuel is in place
and is available for sale as of May 4. In
March, the Arapahoe County Public
Airport Authority board of commis-
sioners voted unanimously to adopt
the FAA-approved UL94 and provide
incentives to owners of aircraft based
at the airport in the form of up to a
$110 reimbursement toward a supple-
mental type certificate to allow the use PP
ABOVE: Daher received the
EASA type certificate on its
Kodiak 900.
LEFT: The Beechcraft Denali
is planned to get Garmin
Autoland.

planeandpilotmag.com 19
Concept Designs
H.K. ARCHITECHTS | Chattanooga, TN
Fro m a de sig n stan d po int ,
Cu m b e r l a n d Con te m p o ra r y
has emerged as the
architectural style of
Th e Field s. Cu mberlan d
Co n te m p o ra r y i s d ef i n e d
as a mountain-modern
approach that is uniquely
inspired by the Cumberland
regio n of Tenn essee, wh ic h
in clud es t h e Seq uatch ie
Valley where The Fields is
located. Materials used to
achieve the style are natural
and sustainable, including
regionally sourced timber
an d sto ne th at ap ply a
lu xu ry ru st ic aest h et i c with
hints of modern design
elements.

FLYTHEFIELDS.COM
 EX P E RI ENC E T HE FI EL DS
To l e a r n m o re a b o u t l ot reser vat i o n s a n d to
stay up -to - date on the late st, visit
flythefields.com
For those aircraft owners who live the aviation lifestyle, many find themselves
d re a mi n g of liv ing w ith t he ir a i rc raft a nd being able to pref lig ht , tax i, and take off to
a d est i natio n w ithi n m inutes of le av in g th e h o use. Whet her it ’s a sing le - day bu si ne ss
trip allowing for dinner plans at home to stay intact, or the entire family loading up to
visit friends in a neighboring state —living with your airplane unlocks opportunities.
For most, living in a fly-in community requires a trade - off between the amenities
expected from a master-planned development and those required by an operating
airport—to satisfy everyone’s needs in the household—and thus it remains a dream.

At its core, The Fields has been developed to solve this dilemma. Designed by pilots
and keeping family, friends, and non-aviation residents in mind as a priority, The
Fields marries the best of fly-in community living with world- class amenities everyone
can enjoy. “We wanted to design a development that has community at its core ,
allowing for pilots to enjoy the advanta ges aviation unlocks while focusing on the key
aspects that make a new urbanist community attractive,” says Jon Ricketts, partner in
The Fields. “This concept is unique to aviation, as other developments don’t cater to
the non-aviation spouse or family. We wanted a community that our spouses would be
proud to call home and invite their friends to visit.”

In addition to the onsite amenities surrounding a 4 , 300 -fo ot runway, The Fields
is st rategically located in southeastern Tennessee. The area features a long list of
beautiful flying adventures nearby, close proximity to ma jor metropolitan areas, and
a tax-friendly state for residents. By pilots, for pilots—The Fields is the new standard
for fly-in communities.

FLYTHEFIELDS.COM
AFFORDABLE
AVIATION
GROWS WITH NEW AIRCRAFT

The latest models in the light sport and

ultralight worlds debuted this spring.

PLANE & PILOT

WITH REPORTING BY DAN JOHNSON
 fter a drought of new designs
during 2020–21, the spring of
2023 shows incredible prom-
ise. And it’s not just the high
end of the general aviation
market seeing an infusion of life.
In fact, the light sport (U.S.) and
ultralight (European Union) segments
are in a period of hot growth, with
a wide range of models hitting the
scene, from both well-known and just-
starting-out manufacturers.
At the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo
in Lakeland, Florida, in late March, we
witnessed the dramatic entrance of two
new LSAs going through the accep-
tance process—the Junkers A50 and the
CubCrafters Carbon Cub UL—along
with the Rotax 916iS that promises up
to 180 hp in a turbocharged package.
While all have ties to Europe, they will
be manufactured in the U.S.
Crossing the Atlantic to AERO 2023
at Friedrichshafen, Germany, we saw
not only the Junkers A50 joined by the
A60—and the new Rotax on display—
but also the big splash into the market
of Elixir Aircraft’s first two-seat model.
Already certified under the European
Union Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA)
CS-23 regulatory basis, the Elixir has
been picked up by several flight schools
on both sides of the pond.
Though new prices for each air-
craft fall into the $190,000 to $300,000
range—and push the idea of affordable
aviation—they represent significant
value over the traditional four-seat
designs long promoted by the major
aerospace OEMs.
This trio of aircraft also hit the
mark in another area of affordabil-
ity—relatively low operating costs.
The Elixir achieves this through its
efficiency, both of design and fuel
burn, while the Carbon Cub does so
in terms of performance. All use Rotax
engines, well known for their ability to
sip fuel. A low parts count and good
support networks—and in the case of
the Carbon Cub, the ability to perhaps
be part of the building and mainte-
nance processes—will keep the costs
COURTESY OF JUNKERS

on the low end.

That way you can spend more time
in the air, where you belong.

planeandpilotmag.com 25
JUNKERS A50
The open-cockpit A50 Junior special
light sport aircraft (SLSA) crafted
of corrugated metal gained FAA
acceptance in February—and the
throwback to the golden age of flight
made its grand entrance at Sun ’n
Fun in March.Junkers Aircraft—now
the parent company to the WACO
marque as well—hosted an intro-
ductory event at its WACO Kitchen
restaurant at the Sheltair FBO at
the Lakeland Linder International
Airport (KLAL) the afternoon before
the official opening of the show on
March 28.
In Battle Creek, Michigan, Euro-
pean businessman Dieter Morszeck
has invested more than $30 million
to create a modern airplane factory
capable of producing such complex
yet handsome designs as the WACO
biplanes. For 2023, that facility has a
new occupant, Junkers Aircraft.
Both are owned by Morszeck, who
made his money in the luggage busi-
ness. His brand, Rimowa, is known
widely for its corrugated exterior,
causing an earlier Junkers aircraft
built similarly to be dubbed the “fly-
ing suitcase.”
Taking the 1929 design from Hugo
Junkers and updating it to the mod-
ern era, Junkers Aircraft has begun
manufacturing the two-seat, low-
wing, aluminum-skinned sport air-
plane at its U.S. facility in Michigan.
The original 80 hp Armstrong-
Siddeley Genet radial engine has
been swapped out for the 100
hp Rotax 912iS with a two-blade,
ground-adjustable MT propeller. In
the rear cockpit—from which the
day-VFR-only airplane is flown when
solo—the Garmin G3X with a 10.6-
inch display provides for overall air-
craft control and navigational power,
with a companion 7-inch G3X display
up front.
Other safety improvements over
the traditional design include a
Beringer braking system and Galaxy
ballistic recovery parachute. The
airplane has already come in under
SLSA parameters with a maximum Price: $193,500 (first 29)
takeoff weight of 1,320 pounds and Powerplant: Rotax 912iS
suitability to the training environ-
ment—particularly if you would like Seats: 2
to evoke the golden age of flying as Max cruise speed: 111 knots
you learn the basics.
Endurance: 5 hours
The first 29 aircraft are offered at
€179,000 or about $193,500 at cur- Max useful load: 615 lbs.
rent exchange rates. An A60 model Takeoff distance, over a 50-ft. obs.: 984 ft.
with side-by-side seating is also in
the works. Landing distance, over a 50-ft. obs.: 1,355 ft.
CUBCRAFTERS CARBON CUB UL
CubCrafters has never before made
an aircraft powered by a Rotax engine.
Images accompanying this article por-
tray its first example using the 9-series
engine in a model intended for produc-
tion. Most of its factory pilots or deal-
ers have never flown behind a Rotax.
Yet the Carbon Cub UL is also the
first aircraft in the world to be fitted
with the Austrian engine maker’s new-
est 916iS powerplant. Why did the
Washington state company do this?
One main reason given by Brad
Damm, the company’s vice president
of sales and marketing, is that custom-
ers asked for it. However, Damm has
several other good explanations that
he shared.
“We invested in several new technol-
ogies to make the Carbon Cub UL even
lighter and better performing than its
predecessor, the Carbon Cub SS,” said
the company in a media release. “The
goal is a new airplane that features
multi-fuel technology (mogas and/or
avgas), fully meets ASTM standards
and carries two adult people with a
full fuel load and a reasonable amount
of baggage at a takeoff weight of 600
kilograms or 1,320 pounds.”
Key to the development of the new
aircraft is CubCrafters’ collaboration
with BRP-Rotax, said CubCrafters,
because the engine maker chose to
launch its new 160 hp turbocharged
engine on the Carbon Cub UL. The
new 916iS engine is lighter, more fuel
efficient, and thanks to turbocharg-
ing can produce more power than the
normally aspirated CC340 engine on
the Carbon Cub SS especially in higher
density altitude scenarios.
“Our Carbon Cub was first intro-
duced in 2009 and has been a success-
ful aircraft for both CubCrafters and
the entire backcountry flying commu-
nity,” said Patrick Horgan, CubCrafters
president and CEO. “Now, we’re major contribution to unlocking the in the LSA category for our custom-
reimagining the Carbon Cub by incor- enormous potential of the interna- ers in Australia, New Zealand, Israel,
porating the latest in pre-preg compos- tional marketplace.” and even the United States, but it can
ites, more titanium components, and The production version of the also be deregistered, exported, and
innovative manufacturing techniques, new aircraft is slated to be initially then reregistered as an ultralight cat-
along with the best new engine and built, certified, and test flown as a egory aircraft in many jurisdictions
avionics technologies for even more light sport aircraft at the CubCrafters in Europe, South America, and else-
performance and versatility.” factory in Yakima, Washington. But where,” said Damm.
Emphasizing the company’s it will also meet ultralight category “This is a concept we’ve looked at
global aspiration, Horgan added, requirements in many international for the last several years. Our kit air-
“We believe this aircraft will make a jurisdictions. “The aircraft can remain craft program has always been strong

28 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

 in overseas markets, and now we are
very excited to have a fully factory
assembled and tested aircraft to offer
to our international customers,”
Damm concluded.
The cockpit of the Carbon Cub UL
should be familiar to Carbon Cub SS
drivers. The UL concept of a lighter
and even better performing version
CUB CRAFTERS
of the Carbon Cub for international
markets was first seen during a pubicity
stunt in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A technology demonstrator version
of the aircraft was able to success-
fully land and take off again from a
27-meter (about 90-foot) diameter
heliport suspended 56 stories above
the ground atop one of Dubai’s iconic
skyscrapers, the Burj Al Arab hotel, as
part of a recent Red Bull project meant
to inspire audiences worldwide.
—Dan Johnson
Price: TBD
Powerplant: Rotax 916iSc, 160 hp; turbocharged
Seats: 2
Max operating altitude: 17,000 ft.
(based on engine specs)
Max useful load: 1,320 lbs.
Takeoff distance, over a 50-ft. obs.: TBD
Landing distance, over a 50-ft. obs.: TBD
planeandpilotmag.com 29
 ELIXIR AIRCRAFT
Elixir Aircraft, a new French manufac-
turer, has gone from zero to delivering
airplanes in just eight years.
The low-wing two-seater is pow-
ered by the 100 hp Rotax 912iS, and it’s
well suited to the training mission for
which the company has marketed it.
It’s already certified under EASA CS-
23 and is currently undergoing FAA
JULIE BOATMAN
validation. The Elixir features a simple
cockpit in its most cost-effective ver-
sion with standard features, though
30 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
it’s still capable enough for IFR train-
ing—with the Garmin 3X Touch, G5
electronic flight instruments, and
GTN 750 NXi multifunction display in
the cockpit, along with its Smart Glide
functionality, and a GI260 angle of at-
tack indicator.What sets the spin-re-
sistant airframe apart is its minimum
of parts—the composite structure has
been designed from OneShot carbon
fiber components and has no spar,
ribs, or stringers. The low parts count
not only helps achieve manufacturing
efficiencies but also drives a lower op-
erating cost, as little as $37 per hour.
Robust landing gear also serves well
for student laps around the pattern.
A BRS ballistic parachute recovery
system comes standard.Elixir plans
another model, powered by the 140 hp
Rotax 915 series and targeted to pri-
vate buyers on an IFR mission. It will
feature a full glass cockpit as well.
The company has delivered 10
units since February 2022, with plans
to scale up production at its facili-
ties in La Rochelle-Île-de-Ré airport
(LFBH) on the west coast of France.
In early May, it passed the 100-em-
ployee mark, and it has new funding
in progress for building out addition-
al facilities. With agreements signed
by Mermoz Academy in France and
Cirrus Aviation in Sarasota, Florida,
the trajectory of the Elixir appears to
be headed nowhere but up.
In fact, the company is already
planning with its U.S. partners to
develop a final assembly center in
the Sarasota area, with the intention
to continue to build the aircraft in
La Rochelle, and then containerize
them for shipment to Florida and
reassembly. The move will give the
company an important footprint in
the North American market—and
in particular for the multiplicity of
flight training organizations it hopes
to serve. The company’s founders
also belive its young average age—in
the mid-30s—assist it in the flight
training market. PP
Price: $300,000 (estimated)
Powerplant: Rotax 912iS, 100 hp
Seats: 2
Max cruise speed: 125 knots, eco cruise
Climb rate: 800 to 1,300 fpm
Endurance: 6 hours
Max baggage weight: 55 lbs.
Takeoff distance: less than 1,000 ft.
Landing distance: less than 1,200 ft.
planeandpilotmag.com 31
BY SAM WINER
 turbine. The secondary turbine is con-
nected to a driveshaft and gearbox,

The oh-so-sweet
which is then directly connected to a
propeller, turboprop, or a turbofan.
Another benefit of turbine engines is

smell of jet-A.
the fuel that feeds their appetites (jet-
A) is more readily available worldwide
and typically at a lesser cost than its
counterpart, avgas, which is short for
“aviation gasoline” used in the pis-
ton world. In fact, turbine engines are
like Mikey from the old Life Cereal
TV commercials—they pretty much
will consume anything within reason
Up until recently, if your goal was to turboprop world, the hot exhaust gas to satisfy their fueling hunger. With
have a turbine engine under the cowl that exits at the main turbine passes that in mind, in addition to jet-A, it’s
it meant you had to pony up and invest through an additional turbine before expected that many of the microturbine
in a million-dollar-plus aircraft that entering a nozzle. Most of the energy engines will also be happy with other
might exceed your mission and, in most generated by this exhaust at the nozzle forms of kerosene, including over-the-
cases, your bankroll. While it’s not a is then utilized to turn the secondary road pump diesel fuel, especially in
new concept, the emergence of very
small, or “micro,” turbines is of great
interest, especially these days when
fuel costs and availability are on every
owner’s mind.
Several manufacturers have jumped
into what is likely to be a lucrative gen-
eral aviation market for these micro-
turbines. While the concept of turbine
engines remains consistent with all the
players, subtle differences between
the offerings are present. Before we
get into some of the available micro-
turbines, let’s look at what makes an
engine a “turbine” and what differenti-
ates the micros from what we know as
the “standard” turbine engines widely
used today.

THE BASICS
The truth is all turbine engines are
relatively simple. This also adds to
their reliability, as there are far fewer
moving parts than in an internal com-
bustion engine, and those parts are,
unlike piston engines, rotary instead
of reciprocating. Regardless of how
they’re producing propulsion, whether
it’s driving a shaft with a propeller (tur-
boprop), powering the aircraft with
a high-speed exhaust (turbojet), or
running an internal fan (turbofan),
they share a similar design.
All have a core that consists of a com-
pressor—which does just as the name
implies—plus a burner, which ignites
aforementioned highly compressed and
very hot air, and the turbine, which is
the point of the first two parts. In the

34 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

 emergency situations. Manufacturers’
additional testing of these microtur-
bines will ultimately determine what
type of alternative fuels, if any, can be
used on a permanent basis.
TURBAERO
PHOTOS THIS PAGE AND PREVIOUS COURTESY MESSE FRIEDRICHSHAFEN GMBH
PBS AerospaceAustralian company
TurbAero is developing a small, light-
weight 200-horsepower engine, which
will initially target those experimen-
tal aircraft that utilize conventional
opposed-piston engines, usually the
Lycoming IO-320 or IO-360 varieties
(think Van’s Aircraft RVs and the like).
TurbAero’s design utilizes a process
called “recuperative technology,” tak-
ing the air that normally would enter
the combustion chamber—in this case
at 200 degrees Celsius—and, utilizing
a heat exchanger, preheats the air by
extracting waste heat from the exhaust
gasses—and then uses that to preheat
the compressed air, thereby reducing
the amount of raw fuel required.
This preheating, or recuperative tech-
nology, translates to an engine that can
run more efficiently, burn less fuel, and
operate with a good balance between
performance, size, weight, and cost. A
good balancing act, indeed. And, lest
you think this is some newfangled tech-
nology, it’s actually a proven process
that has been utilized on land-based
vehicles, such as the M1 Abrams series
tanks on the battlefield, with TurbAero
resizing the recuperator, right-sizing
it for the TA200TP 200-horsepower
microturbine with the intent on bring-
ing it to market sometime in 2025.
How did TurbAero get into the micro-
turbine game? As is often the case, the
company came about by pure happen-
stance when its CEO, David Limmer,
was looking for a turboprop engine
for his own personal experimental air-
craft in 2008. Not able to find one, the
next best solution was to build one of
his own, completing it in 2015. It was
during this time Limmer recognized
the potential for a range of small tur-
boprop engines for aviation applica-
tions, specifically the experimental/
builder’s market. Three years later,
with funding in place and partnering
with his brother, Andrew, TurbAero
was formed. After attending numer-
ous aviation symposiums worldwide
and talking with various kit airplane
manufacturers and many hobbyists,
TurbAero settled on development of
the 200-horsepower TA200TP engine.
With additional refinements going
into the fifth year of development, the
company is poised to transition to the
next phase, planned for the first quarter
of 2024 and culminating in putting the
engine through its paces on the test
stand. Refinement will follow based on
the results of the testing.
One of the current design refine-
ments is optimizing the engine for
operation and efficiency at lower alti-
tudes. Like all turbines, these engines
are most at home at the higher flight
levels. However, TurbAero realizes that
to be successful in the experimental
market, it’s critical to provide a reason-
able level of efficiency at the 10,000 to
12,000-foot range instead of the rarified
air in the flight levels at which turbines
are generally accustomed to operat-
ing. Considering the lower per-gallon
price of jet fuel, along with the typically
lower cost of maintenance compared
to a reciprocating piston engine, and
given the potential for higher reliability,
36 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
the overall cost and benefit to oper-
ating the microturbine should likely
fall within a range that most aviators
in the experimental world would find
justifiable, even with a planned price to
market at $85,000. With the ultimate
goal of bringing these microturbines
to the certified market—in all likeli-
hood, probably not for another five
to 10 years—the question of overhaul
recommendations comes to mind.
Most microturbine manufacturers
are looking at TBOs of other certified
turbines and seeking to replicate those
in the marketplace, with the 3,000-
hour TBO as the benchmark for future
certification. In the meantime, since
these turbines are designed for the
experimental market, TBO is not a
requirement now, although it’s likely
these engine makers will look at safety
and provide recommendations of their
own long before their microturbine is
spooling up in the certified world.
In that regard, TurbAero is integrat-
ing a data acquisition function into the
FADEC (full authority digital engine
control) on their TA200TP engine.
This purportedly will allow users of
this engine to benefit from a health and
usage monitoring system, designed to
identify potential failure points before
the failure occurs. It’s a grand prospect
that could save maintenance costs at the
very least and bent airframes at the very
worst if it comes to fruition.
Another turbine engine manufac-
turer, PBS Aerospace, brings its experi-
ence manufacturing propulsion systems
for the defense sector, with expertise
in tactical UAVs, target drones, and
missiles, and enters the general avia-
tion experimental market with a small,
43-pound micro turbojet engine that’s
used in some SubSonex jets, as well as
the BD-5J jet.
According to vice president of cus-
tomer support Frank Jones, the flex-
ibility of the company’s TJ100 turbine
engine will allow builders to utilize
various versions of it, with some having
a fuel-oil mix that will allow straight-up
rocket-style launching without skip-
ping a beat.
PHOTO COURTESY MESSE FRIEDRICHSHAFEN GMBH
Turbotech TP-R90
COURTESY SUBSONEX
While PBS suggests a 300-hour time
between hot sections at the moment,
as additional experience and time gets
put into these engines, the manufac-
turer may increase its suggested time
between hot sections. Again, in the
experimental world, these are sim-
ply suggestions, albeit strong ones.
However, because there are so few
hours being put on these microtur-
bines, manufacturers like PBS are
being ultraconservative in recommen-
dations for overhauling/hot sectioning
their turbines.
At this time, PBS turbines in need of
maintenance or hot sections require the
engine to be returned to the company’s
facility in the Czech Republic. However,
as of this writing, since none of PBS’
TJ100 engines in the field have accu-
mulated operational hours approach-
ing the 300-hour mark, no overhauls
have yet been necessary. Jones says
the firm hopes to have facilities in the
U.S. available for overhaul purposes
when the time comes. In the meantime,
as mentioned, other manufacturers
are anticipating reaching similar rec-
ommended TBOs as their big brother
counterparts, meaning 3,000-plus hours
before the requisite hot section and
overhaul. Pricing of the PBS TJ100 is
in the $80,000 range, depending on
accessories and other options.
HERON ENGINES
For those who don’t want to wait for
the development of those microtur-
bines still in the testing stage and ear-
lier, there’s one manufacturer—Crete,
Greece-based Heron Engines —with a
130-horsepower version ready for pre-
orders. Although you may be sacrificing
some available horsepower compared
to others that are developing 200 hp
versions, the Heron microturbines,
weighing in at a svelte 82 pounds, with
gearbox and developed after decades of
work designing and building UAVs from
founding member Alex Vrontoulakis’
father, are available for preorder today.
Vrontouakis is now partnered with Alex
Fatseas and since 2018 they have been
committed to bringing their micro-
turbines to market, with the company
promising to make them affordable
(low $40,000s), easy to maintain,
with projected overhaul costs in the
$7,000 range.
SOLAR TURBINES
You wouldn’t normally think a turbine
engine used primarily as a helicopter
auxiliary power unit (APU) or ground
power generator would be a good fit
as a primary source of propulsion. But
in the case of the Solar T62, the manu-
facturer says, you would be wrong.
This compact engine continues to see
some use in the experimental helicopter
world, where it can be found in kits
made by Rotor X Aircraft Manufacturing
(formerly RotorWay International)
and Mosquito Aviation (the single-
seat Mosquito homebuilt helicopter).
However, you might need to look hard
for one of these as they are few and far
between, and mostly found on auction
sites such as eBay. When you can find
one on the market for sale, you can
expect to shell out about $15,000 for
the T62 turbine—and of course, we’re
talking used.
OTHER TURBINE BENEFITS
Because 100LL is becoming more
scarce by the day internationally,
industry experts predict per-gallon
costs are going to continue their
upward spiral. Having an engine that
burns jet-A will assure more savings
in the future, which will be an added
benefit overall.
So, what will it take to enter the rari-
fied air of the turbine world? Like many
things in aviation, time and money.
Time, since we’re in the infancy stage
of microturbine development. And,
of course, money, since the price of
admission for experimental microtur-
bines will fall somewhere within the
$40,000 to $85,000 range and poten-
tially go higher by the time they come
to market.
With the advent of these microtur-
bine engines, it’s quite possible we’re
at the inception of a new phase in
propulsion for experimental aircraft
and beyond. While there are numerous
obstacles to overcome, not the least
of which is the cost of acquisition,
obtaining efficient operation at lower
altitudes and proving the microtur-
bine design is sustainable in our ever-
demanding world of aviation, there’s
cautious optimism that in the not-so-
distant future, we will all be hearing the
unmistakable sweet sounds of turbines
spooling up much more frequently at
airports around the world. PP
planeandpilotmag.com 37
 MOONEY’S
ALMOST-WARBIRD
RETURNS TO THE
TEXAS SKIES
The company’s absence from the warbird
scene is not for lack of trying.
BY JEREMY KING
 AT ANY AIR SHOW, THE LONG-STANDING MANUFACTURERS OF GENERAL AVIATION
ALL BRING A SMALL PRESENCE TO THE WARBIRD RAMP.
Piper built thousands of L-4
“Grasshoppers” used as liaison and artil-
lery spotters. Cessna’s T-41 trainer was
a Skyhawk in military colors. Beechcraft
has pressed a variety of designs, from
Staggerwings to King Airs, into service.
After a two-year restoration effort,
the one surviving airframe from Mooney
is all that remains of the company’s dual
attempts to gain military contracts. It
now prowls above Texas after decades
on the ground.
Mooney’s absence from the warbird
scene is not for lack of trying.
Company founder Al Mooney
designed the Culver Cadet, which was
used as a World War II military trainer
and drone, and after the war he pitched
a lightly armored version of his Mite, a
wooden, single-seat design as a light
attack aircraft that could also target
enemy light observation aircraft. The
U.S. Army’s evaluation in 1951 produced
marginal reviews, and the design was rel-
egated to the dustbin. It handled well but
would have been an easy target for any
meaningful enemy air force presence.
Later, another military opportu-
nity for Mooney came along with the
Enhanced Flight Screening program.
Competing designs in this program
sought to replace the Cessna’s T-41 as
a training aircraft to screen pilot candi-
dates economically in a 20-hour course
before they progressed to more expen-
sive aircraft. The competition came to a
PHOTO BY IMAGES-USA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
head in 1992. Competitors included the
SIAI-Marchetti SF.260, Piper/LoPresti
Swift, Aerospatiale Trinidad, Slingsby
Firefly, and Glasair II and III.
Mooney built the M20T as a con-
tender for the EFS competition. Much of
the airframe used off-the-shelf airframe
components that marked it as a Mooney
product. The fuselage was modified from
an M20C, the wings from a later model,
and the large tail from the company’s
M22 Mustang, a short-lived design that
might have rivaled Cessna’s P210 but
beat the pressurized Centurion to mar-
ket by more than a decade—and that
market segment hadn’t developed yet.
Equipped with a sliding canopy
over two seats and control sticks, the
M20T was unmistakably geared for
military service. Under the wings, four
hardpoints gave the Predator teeth in
the form of missiles, light rockets, or
gun pods.
Much like the 1951 effort, the
Predator showed well—but not well
enough. The official reason for its
rejection was that the M20T did not
recover well from spins with a full load
of fuel. Mooney wings are lauded for
their strength and stability. The former
was an asset, the latter a liability in
this design. Roll rates were lackluster,
failing to meet design criteria despite
numerous revisions to the ailerons. Spin
recovery has never been great with the
Mooney design, and that was really the
nail in the coffin. A one-turn spin was
easily recoverable with quick recovery
inputs. A two-turn spin took another
four turns to recover; a four-turn spin
wasn’t recoverable. Mooney withdrew
from the competition before it ended.
The winner was the Slingsby T-3
Firefly, which raised some eyebrows:
“Made in America” was a stipulation of
the contract, but Slingsby built most of
the airplane in the U.K. and assembled
it in the U.S. After a brief few years in
service, the U.S. Air Force grounded
the T-3 fleet in 1997 after a pair of spin-
related accidents and an engine failure.
They were destroyed in 2006.
Meanwhile, the M20T prototype had
gathered dust at the Kerrville, Texas,
factory. Jacques Esculier, the compa-
ny’s president, ordered the prototype
destroyed. The engine went back to
Continental (it had been loaned for
the venture), but the employees in
Mooney’s R&D complex were more
than a little attached to the machine
they’d poured so much work into. In a
clandestine effort, they disassembled the
airframe and pigeonholed it in various
spaces across the facility. And there it
stayed hidden until it found a champion.
Former Mooney chief operating
officer Tom Bowen recalled his first
encounter with the design. “In 1995,
the research and development team staff
gained enough confidence in me, and
they said, ‘We have something to show
you—this project we’d really like to work
on.’” The workers took him through the
hangars where the pieces of the M20T
were scattered. “I knew a little about the
program, but it hadn’t been my focus.”
Bowen received permission from the
company’s president for the workers to
resurrect the project, but Mooney was
being prepped for sale so they had to do
so without any meaningful budget. “So
we begged, borrowed, and might have
stolen a few pieces from the production
line,” Bowen said of beginning to reas-
semble the airplane. Working evenings
and weekends, the airplane began to
come back together, this time with a
Lycoming AEIO-540 under the cowl.
The bird had never been underpow-
ered, but this engine promised even
more performance.
Now registered as N20XT, the
unique Mooney took flight again, and
Dirk Vander Zee, then Mooney’s vice
president of sales and marketing, dubbed
planeandpilotmag.com 39
 it the “Predator.” The name stuck, and
the Predator gained its memorable paint
scheme after Bowen’s daughters, armed
with a three-view drawing and a box of
crayons, colored in tiger stripes. In the
hands of longtime Mooney experimen-
tal test pilot Mike “Mikey” Miles, the
Predator took flight, and Miles started
checking out the other Mooney test
pilots in the bird.
The whole rehabilitation project had
stayed beneath leadership’s radar, and on
June 30, 1997, Bowen taxied the mostly
complete Predator, its test time already
flown off, to the main headquarters and
PHOTOS COURTESY PAUL MAXWELL; JIMMY GARRISON GMAX AMERICAN AVIATION
parked it in front of the office of Mooney
president Bing Lantis. “The offices all
have windows out to the ramp, and as
I walked in, he was speechless,” Bowen
said. Lantis went for a ride, and magi-
cally, the team had a modest operating
budget for the program. With a few bucks
to use, the crayon on paper became paint
on metal, and soon the bird was ready
to display.
The Predator parked at the
Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association
tent that year at EAA AirVenture,
and the next it was front and
40 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
center for Oshkosh and the Sun ’n
Fun Fly-In.
The R&D team continued to tweak
the design, modifying the flight con-
trol sizes, then adding and adjust-
ing servo tabs to eke out every bit
of maneuverability it could. The
work was well outside the norm for
Mooney’s engineers, who had built
generations of stable, efficient aircraft
but sometimes overshot their goals
and had to rein back the project when
it became too unstable. What they
wound up with, Bowen recalled, was
not the fingertip-flying mindbender
that some would imagine.
“It’s not a two-finger machine,”
Bowen said. “But it is a pleasant air-
plane to fly with one hand on the
stick.” The 90-degree-per-second roll
rate hoped for initially never really
came to be—50 degrees per second
is where it settled in, and inverted
flight was never all that great, taking
an aggressive nose-up pitch of 10-12
degrees to hold level inverted. “But it
looped great, pulling only about 1.8 to
2 Gs.” It was speedy—160 knots or
so in cruise, but the straight exhaust
pipes with no mufflers made for a very
noisy experience until ANR headsets
came along.
Dreamers drooled over the design,
but nobody was ready to pony up the
bucks for orders, and when Bowen left
Mooney, the Predator hardly flew. After
a period of dormancy, the Florida Air
Museum asked to display it, and it was
ferried to Lakeland, where it sat for
several years. It eventually wound up
back in Kerrville at the Mooney factory,
once again forlorn.
Don and Paul Maxwell, the father-
son team at Maxwell Aviation, made an
offer to the newest owners of Mooney:
They’d restore the Predator to flight
status if they could get permission. One
might argue that short of the factory
itself, Maxwell Aviation—one of the
nation’s most popular Mooney Service
Centers—would be the perfect place for
such a project.
In 2020, the Maxwells showed up
at Mooney’s Texas factory to bring the
Predator back to their shop, but it didn’t
The Predator gained
its memorable paint
scheme after Bowen’s
daughters, armed with
a three-view drawing
and a box of crayons,
colored in tiger stripes.
fly home. The solid wing, a design trait
Mooney owners brag about when it
comes to comparison with other GA
aircraft, becomes a liability if you want
to haul a Mooney home. The crew from
Maxwell Aviation set to drilling out the
bulkhead’s rivets just aft of the cabin’s
steel-tube cage and separated the tail,
setting the pieces onto a flatbed trailer
for transport.
The restoration took two years of
part-time work as Paul led the effort,
overhauling the engine and rebuilding
the airframe. The M20T wing had fea-
tured larger-than-stock ailerons. Paul
and his crew replaced that wing with a
M20K wing, which brought them back
to stock ailerons and flaps. The elevators
had featured servo tabs to lighten stick
forces, but after a few flights the team
replaced them with stock equipment.
“Unless you’re going to be flying aero-
batics every single flight, the older eleva-
tors were overkill,” Paul Maxwell said.
The Predator’s entire existence had
ridden out numerous ownership changes
at Mooney and a shoestring budget all
along, but now the Maxwells have heaped
the goodies onto it. Its instrument panel
now features Garmin G3X Touch dis-
plays with engine instrumentation, CIES
electronic fuel senders, and a Garmin
GFC 500 autopilot.
The fuselage’s tiger stripes were repli-
cated and extended to the wings. Carbon
monoxide in the cabin was an issue all
along, but the Maxwells have sorted
that out, and it now has a Guardian CO
detector. Sporting a 300 hp Lycoming
AEIO-540 on the nose, the Predator
certainly has the power to push you
back into the seat and plaster a smile
on your face.
“It’s a 170-knot airplane,” said Paul
Maxwell. “It’s not as fast as a Bravo, but
it will outclimb all the other Mooneys.”
The Predator returned to flight
March 18 and recently attended a
Mooney Caravan formation clinic in
San Angelo, Texas. The Caravan clinic
provides training through the year at
regional venues before a giant forma-
tion arrival—with tentative plans for
the Predator to lead it—at AirVenture
in Oshkosh. The Predator will also be
on display at MooneyMax, a Mooney-
specific symposium in Longview, Texas,
on June 22 through 25.
As for its future, what the Predator
can do is limited mainly by regula-
tion—it’s registered as experimental-
exhibition.“Despite being factory built,
it has more restrictions on its use than
something built in a garage,” Paul said.
But he intends to fly it to Oshkosh
for every AirVenture as long as he lives,
and it will actively participate in Mooney
caravan clinics as well as attending other,
smaller events. PP
planeandpilotmag.com 41
 SUSTAINING
OUR FLEET
.

BY LEROY COOK

Ç Plane&Pilot
 ecause of a happy combina-
tion of enthusiasm, econom-
ics, and encouragement, by far
the greatest number of aircraft
in our current general aviation
fleet was built from the mid-1960s
through the mid-1980s. Traded fre-
quently, relocated far and wide, and
in various turns lavishly preserved and
sorely neglected, this aerial armada is
nevertheless slowly eroding, replaced
infrequently by new airplanes offered
at (for many) unaffordable prices.
We need to take care of these avia-
tion treasures—their kind will not be
seen again. They were developed during
America’s post-war boom by designers
and marketers who gave pilots what
they wanted at a price point within
reach of a large percentage of the flying
population. In their day, competition
encouraged innovation, even while
design compromises between perfor-
mance, cost, and quality provided a
variety of choices in the marketplace.
Because of these vast numbers of
airplanes placed into service 50 or so
years ago, we still have a relatively large
pool of legacy equipment available.
How long we can keep them flying is
anyone’s guess, but the cost of main-
taining, equipping, and flying these old
birds is much higher than their original
builders could ever have envisioned.
And yet, they can do the job for a frac-
tion of an equivalent airplane built
today—if one even exists.
Attrition is inevitable since some of
this elderly fleet disappears from the
active register each year. Losses from
accidents, neglect, impractical upkeep,
and aging structures will eventually
take their toll. To preserve what’s left,
we must be ready to place increased
resources into their preservation and
encourage production of parts for over-
hauling and maintaining continuing
airworthiness. And we must be ever
more careful in how we operate and
store them. This aging fleet is too pre-
ISTOCK

cious to ignore.

planeandpilotmag.com 43
 WHERE DID THEY ALL
COME FROM?
The answer is: It depends.
In 1960, a total of 7,588 general avia-
tion aircraft were produced; in 1970,
an anomalously similar number, 7,508,
were built. An astounding 98,407 air-
planes went out the door between those
years. After another 10 years, the indus-
try had added another 150,220 aircraft
to the fleet. Then, the bubble burst in
the ’80s, with only 30,908 airplanes
built in that decade. The ’90s saw just
17,665 airplanes produced. The nearly
250,000 general aviation airplanes built
in the ’60s and ’70s, therefore, were the
origins of our still-existing legacy fleet.
During nearly 65 years of industry
observation, I was fortunate to have
been around at the birth of many of
these legacy airplanes. I remember
walking around one of the first Cessna
210s parked at our field in 1960, try-
ing to figure out where the gear went.
When a Piper dealer came by to show
us a brand-new ’62 Cherokee, we could
scarcely believe it was a sibling to our
Tri-Pacers. And, compared to the twin
Beechcraft Bonanzas on the field, I
thought the ’60 Beech Queen Air was
the most beautiful mini-airliner I had
ever seen when I climbed aboard one of
the first, not realizing that in four more
years its sister ship would become the
turboprop King Air.
A Cessna 336 Skymaster showed up
at an airport opening I attended in 1964,
attracting all sorts of attention since
it was unlike any Cessna we had seen
before. By then, Brand C had added
the 185, 206, and 320 models, and the
cabin-class 411 was coming. Piper’s new
1963 Twin Comanche struck us as cute,
compared with the pudgy Apache and
Aztec, while the Pawnee was our first
look at a purpose-built ag plane. In the
mid-’60s, new aircraft models were pop-
ping up everywhere. One of my friends
bought a brand-new Citabria in 1964,
which we thought was a vast improve-
ment over the old Aeronca Champion.
As the years passed, I became associ-
ated with airplane dealerships, and then
started covering a beat as an indus-
try journalist. I saw Cessna’s abortive
LEROY COOK; ISTOCK

attempt to enter the helicopter business

with the CH-1 Skyhook in the early
’60s, and later in 1967 we picked up

44 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

one of the first Cessna Cardinals at
the factory. In 1973, I attended Beech’s
November sales meeting in Wichita,
Kansas, featuring the introduction of
the big Super King Air 200. About the
same time, Cessna was dropping into
our airport with the new Citation jet.
Back in 1961, I had seen a mock-up of
a civilian version of Cessna’s T-37 jet
trainer, perhaps a response to Beech’s
short partnership with the Morane-
Saulnier Paris jet. The Citation 500’s
fanjet engines made all the difference.
All through the ’70s and early ’80s, we
news hounds were kept busy attending
rollouts and first flights of new models.
Airplane companies were in full produc-
tion and eager to expand their market,
trying out every novelty and adding
improvements. Mooney stretched and
muscled up its M20 series, Maule con-
stantly reworked its Rocket models,
Rockwell added more Commander
types, and Grumman gave us “cats” of
every size, Lynx to Cougar.
IT ALL STARTED IN THE LATE 1950S
In my earliest flying years at the end of
the 1950s, Piper was producing only
Mooney stretched and
muscled up its M20
series, Maule constantly
reworked its Rocket
models, Rockwell added
more Commander types,
and Grumman gave us
“cats” of every size..
the Apache, Comanche, Tri-Pacer and
Super Cub models. Cessna had the
310, 182, and 172, and was just add-
ing the 175 and 150. Beech built the
Model 18 Twin Beech, V-tail and twin
Bonanzas, and a new Travel Air light
twin. Mooney basically sold one model,
as did Bellanca, and Aero Commander
competed solely in the twin market.
As the industry and I matured during
the ’60s, dozens of new designs and
variations appeared in the marketplace.
This era’s fertile incubator brought
forth steady innovations. Piper adopted
touches from the Comanche, such as
the swept tailfin and stabilator pitch
control, for its Aztec and Cherokee
models introduced in the early ’60s.
Cessna not only swept the tail on
most models in 1960, it copied Detroit
automotive marketing by introducing
“deluxe” versions loaded with standard
options—all-over paint instead of par-
tially bare aluminum, gyros and radios
in the panel, landing gear fairings, and
showy interiors. Beech, on the other
hand, expanded its line downward, first
with a Debonair economy version of
the Bonanza and later the entry-level
Musketeer singles with (gasp!) fixed
landing gear. The Baron was introduced
in 1961 for buyers needing something
smaller than the hulking twin Bonanza
but more capable than the Travel Air.
The secret sauce enlivening this
banquet of expansion in the ’60s and
’70s was the involvement of ownership
and management dedicated to per-
sonal aviation. William T. Piper and his
sons, Bill Jr., Thomas (“Tony”), and
Howard (“Pug”), made the decisions
at Piper Aircraft. Mrs. O.A. Beech and
her nephew Frank Hedrick held the
reins at Beech Aircraft. Dwane Wallace,
Clyde Cessna’s nephew, would walk
the factory floor at Cessna. Rather than
being subject to a corporate board of
bean counters and legal advisers, these
leaders had grown their companies
with a vision of what little airplanes
could do and took risks based on the
love of the game.
Amazing products resulted, not
from committee decisions but because
of a guiding hand at the top who was
likely a pilot and aircraft enthusiast.
At the industry press conferences and
sales meetings back then, one could
sense the devotion and dreams in the
presentations. All of this changed in
the last quarter of the 20th century, as
the old general aviation firms were sold
and wrapped under conglomerate, non-
aviation management. This brought
cautious decision-making and design
compromise by consensus, with legal,
sales, engineering, and bookkeeping
departments making sure all interests
were represented. Lockheed engineer
Kelly Johnson once said, “From now on,
there will be no more great airplanes,
just adequate ones.”
THE SIZZLING ’70S
The 1960s had seen heady expansion of
product lines. By 1970, Piper had largely
made the switch from building fabric-
covered airplanes at its old plant in
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, to all-metal
designs streaming from a bright new
complex in Florida. Labor problems
and a disastrous flood in 1972 ended
the Lock Haven era and the Comanche
line, although the Aztec and Navajo
twins continued. However, there were
plenty of other options in the product
line. The Piper Cherokee, also known as
the PA-28 platform, had been expanded
to at least eight variants, being added
to six twins and the Pawnee ag planes.
Cessna was building half of the world’s
GA airplanes in its Kansas facilities,
offering no less than a dozen singles,
eight twins, and a new bizjet on the
horizon. Beech, meanwhile, now had
12 single-engine models, seven twins,
46 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
Vertical integration
seemed to be important,
in that each major
manufacturer wanted
to offer a two-seat
trainer, four-seat family
airplane, higher-powered
business cruiser, and
complex retract.
and three turboprops in its fleet. And
the 1970s were just starting.
Vertical integration seemed to be
important, in that each major manu-
facturer wanted to offer a two-seat
trainer, four-seat family airplane,
higher-powered business cruiser, and
complex retract. Twins were similarly
ranked—as light, medium, and cabin
class—with pressurization and tur-
bine engines being the ultimate goal.
Piper took the Cherokee Six heavy-
single into a Seneca twin in ’72, fol-
lowed by the Lance retractable in ’76.
Tapered wings and stretched fuselages
improved the smaller Cherokees, and a
true two-seater, the Tomahawk, came
along in ’78, followed by the Seminole
light twin. At the top, the Navajo cabin
twin became stretched, pressurized,
and turbine-ized.
Over at Cessna, a plethora of prefer-
ences had been promulgated by 1970.
Tubular landing gear legs replaced
older flat springs, manual flaps were
changed to electric, the 210 Centurion’s
wing struts had been removed, and by
the mid-1960s stylish back windows
had been installed in nearly all mod-
els. Engine turbochargers became an
option, starting in ’62 with the 320
twin, then in ’66 for the 206 and 210.
Cessna joined Piper in the ag plane
business that year, and in ’69 the 206
was stretched into the 207. By the end
of 1970s, there were three models of the
210—normal, turbo, and pressurized—
the Skylane RG joined the fixed-gear
182, and even the Skyhawk went retract-
able with the Cutlass RG. On the twin
side, the “push-pull” centerline-thrust
Skymaster was available in three per-
formance categories, the 310/340 was
similarly outfitted, and the 400-series
twins offered models with utility, execu-
tive, and pressurized cabins. It took
until the late 1970s for Cessna to move
into the turboprop business since it was
occupied with the Citation jets earlier
in that decade.
Beech was busy introducing the
stretched King Air 100 in 1970 and the
flagship Super King Air 200 for ’74,
adding the longer Baron 58 in ’70, a
pressurized Baron 58P, in ’76 and the
Duchess light twin in ’78, while continu-
ing to build piston-engine Queen Airs
and Dukes. Still, Beech found time to
put retractable gear on the Musketeer
and add an extra cabin door to the light
airplanes, and to develop the two-place
Skipper trainer at the end of the decade.
By no means was all the action in the
’70s limited to the “Big Three” airplane
manufacturers. Mooney was innovat-
ing like crazy in that time frame, with
the introduction of the cleaned-up 201
and the turbo 231. Other short-line
manufacturers like Bellanca/Champion,
Maule, and Grumman American
enlarged their offerings, and Rockwell
jumped into its own single-engine
Commander business after first trying
to acquire smaller companies in the
1960s. The ’70s were full of enthusiasm
for aviation, despite an oil embargo
setback in 1973-74 and a disrupting air
traffic controller strike in 1981. By the
mid-’80s, it was all over.
DID CAR 3 PLAY A ROLE?
What may have made all these devel-
opments of new airplane types pos-
sible was the continuing use of Civil
Air Regulation Part 3 certification, a
holdover from the Civil Aeronautics
Authority, predecessor to the Federal
Aviation Administration’s creation in
1958. With the changeover to the FAA’s
Federal Air Regulations, FAR Part 23
became the new certification basis for
light aircraft, gradually evolving into a
fresh start with some new requirements
added to the old CAR 3 rules. As this
regulatory meshing took some time to
accomplish, established airplane com-
panies rushed to certify as many new
models as possible under CAR 3, filing
applications that could grandfather
 them into existing rules while product
development continued into the ’60s.
Using these old CAR 3 certifications
as basis, most of our legacy fleet was
built using amendments to the original
type certificate, even though the air-
planes were marketed as “new” models.
Hence, the 1968-introduced Beech
Bonanza 36 was certified as an addition
to the CAR 3-basis TC #3A15, which
was originally issued for the Bonanza
H35 of 1957. Cessna’s Bonanza com-
petitors, beginning with the model 210
certified on April 20, 1959, were also
certified under CAR 3 except for the
pressurized P210 because its original
application was dated August 13, 1956.
Even the ’64 Cessna 206 was certified
as a CAR Part 3 airplane, as the original
application was dated November 9,
1962, continuing right up through the
end of legacy 206 production in ’86.
For its part, Piper introduced the
PA-28 Cherokee in ’61 under CAR 3
certification basis from an applica-
tion dated February 14, 1958. Even
the PA-32 Cherokee Six was born as a
CAR 3 airplane in ’65 with an applica-
tion dated ’64. Similar modifications
to original CAR 3 certifications took
place at Mooney, Champion, Rockwell
Commander, Lake, and Maule. To
be fair, subsequent model changes
through the ’70s frequently complied
with FAR Part 23 amendments appli-
cable to their dates of certification,
even though they were built as CAR
3-certified airplanes. On the other
hand, the four-seat Grumman AA-5
airplanes were certified under FAR Part
23 with an original application dated
July 2, 1970.
As is typical of the mission creep
inherent in any administrative law, FAR
Part 23 certification grew in complex-
ity from the boilerplate inherited from
CAR 3. Much of this was inevitable as
new construction methods and mate-
rials were developed, and equipment
unanticipated in CAR 3 was placed
on airplanes. However, grandfather-
ing in earlier type certification, rather
than pursuing entirely new FAR 23
approval, meant less time and money
was required to produce a new aircraft.
Are FAA Part 23-certified airplanes
any better? It depends on which level
LEROY COOK;

of amendments they complied with.

Certification under Part 23 in the ’60s

planeandpilotmag.com 47
 was quite similar to the CAR 3 certifi-
cation of a decade earlier, but Part 23
amendments of the ’80s had evolved
to a greater degree. When it comes
to engineering small unpressurized
general aviation aircraft, however, struc-
tures are typically overbuilt simply for
durability and manufacturing ease.
The basic criteria for CAR Part 3 and
FAR Part 23 remain much the same.
CAR 3’s stipulation that stall speed for
single-engine airplanes shall not exceed
70 mph is simply restated in FAR 23 as
“61 knots.” However, as mentioned,
there have been multitudinous minu-
tia added in FAR 23, often in response
to newer materials and devices never
contemplated in CAR 3 days. Each
of these must be given consider-
ation when developing entirely new
designs, taking up engineering time
and documentation.
Most significantly, this prodigious
adaptation and modification of basic
CAR 3 aircraft designs, along with
introduction of entirely new FAR 23
ones, continued through the ’60s and
’70s. Each of the major manufacturers
wanted to make sure customers were
able to remain loyal as they upgraded
into higher-performance airplanes.
They accomplished this by increasing
the number of types offered and seeing
that any small opening into an unserved
need was met with a new model.
And so it was that fixed-gear models
received retractable landing gear. The
fuselage stretched to accommodate
extra seats. Four-cylinder engines
became six-cylinder powerplants.
Turbocharged models complemented
normally aspirated offerings. Even
twin engines were grafted onto sin-
gle-engine airframes. Pressurization,
turbine engines, tip tanks, cargo pods:
if you wanted it, engineering and mar-
keting departments made sure you
could get it.
Market saturation eventually brought
down the number of aircraft types,
and production rates plummeted in
the ’80s to match the lack of buyers.
Contributing to the collapse of the ’80s
was a lingering economic malaise from
double-digit interest rates and infla-
tion, and the increasing cost of product
liability insurance against the growth
LEROY COOK

industry of tort suits, divided by the

fewer and fewer units sold.

Ç Plane&Pilot
 WHY CAN’T WE JUST MAKE NEW
OLD ONES?
Challenges on several fronts make
reviving old type-certificated aircraft
difficult. Small production rates
mean handcrafting what was once
mass-produced, so each unit costs
more. Rebuilding the market requires
making enough people want what
you have to offer. The numbers of
active pilots and qualified, motivated
buyers are down compared to the
bustling days, and consumer expecta-
tions are much higher now, requiring
airframes to be bloated with quality
accessories. Back in the day, comfort
and ease of use took a back seat to
the thrill of flight. We didn’t expect to
have air conditioning in our airplane
ISTOCK
because it weighed half as much as a
passenger and it wasn’t needed aloft.
Plush seating, Wi-Fi, sound deaden-
ing, single-lever power control, and
wall-to-wall glass instrument panels
weren’t a priority or even dreamed
about 50 years ago. We were just
glad to have an engine, wings, and
freedom to fly. Legacy airplanes
today need considerable upgrading to
bring them up to speed with current
buyer desires.
Airports were social communities
during the last third of the 1900s.
Security was almost nonexistent, per-
ceived threats being remote, so coming
and going was less restricted and hur-
ried. Pilots spent time at the airport.
Airport lounges were often untidy but
welcoming places that encouraged
hanging out, not polished palaces to
pass through. If you parked outside with
your new 1970 Mooney, someone would
come out to admire it, not shepherd
it away to piston-engine row. Today’s
aircraft owners are far different. Many
are users of airplanes, not flyers for the
sake of flying. They are more satisfied
to possess their flying machines—less
so to be companions with them.
That said, the great fleet of general
aviation aircraft built in the two decades
of the mid-’60s to mid-’80s still rep-
resents a wonderful opportunity for
acquisition and preservation. We must
not underestimate the continuing rise
in maintenance and operation costs.
But these remarkable old birds serve
their purpose as well as they ever did,
if we’ll just take care of them.
Let us rise to the challenge. PP
planeandpilotmag.com 49
BY JASON BLAIR
 magine you just went missed
on an approach down to mini-
mums. Based on what the ATIS,
ASOS, or AWOS indicated, it
seems like the weather is just
on the edge of you being able to break
out and make a landing. Maybe you
even saw some pockets of hope, but
just didn’t make visual contact with
the runway before reaching the missed
approach point. A few feet lower and
you were pretty certain you would have
been able to see the runway. The TAFs
all said the weather was going to be
improving. Perhaps you are just a little
early for that expected improvement.
Ugh. You just want to land at your
destination. What do you do now?
This can be a really difficult decision
for a pilot. Do you go hold somewhere?
Do you try the approach again? Are
there some factors you could change
to improve your odds of landing at the
end of the approach? Or do you just go
someplace else?
All of these questions come with
risk decisions.

TRYING THE APPROACH AGAIN

It can be tempting to just try to fly the
approach again. The upside is that if
you break out, you get to land where
you want, as originally planned. The
downside is that if you had to go missed
once, the odds are pretty darn good
that you will have to repeat the process.
There are also temptations that come
with attempting the approach again
that are more related to the pilot than
the weather. There is no doubt a pilot
is more likely to descend below mini-
mums, go just a little beyond the missed
approach point, or try to force a land-
ing at the end of an approach down to
minimums after the second approach.
These temptations can minimize or

planeandpilotmag.com 51
break the safeguards built into the pub- is how we fly the approach. Did you end Don’t change what you are doing at the
lished procedures that keep us from, up flying a little above the glide slope? expense of safety, but if you can hon-
well, bumping into stuff we don’t want Was your CDI centered? Or were you estly do something different, it might
to with our aircraft. rushing the approach to try to help ATC be an option.
Trying an approach a second time with faster traffic behind you?
takes a pilot down a rabbit hole of I vividly remember going missed at WAIT IT OUT
temptation that can lead to disaster. Chicago’s Midway airport (KMDW) in Think the conditions are going to be
Does that mean you never should try a Cessna 172 when I was trying to help improving—and soon? Well, another
an approach again? Well, no, but you ATC by flying the approach at approxi- option might be to wait it out by holding.
should probably have a pretty good mately 120 knots to not get in the way OK, I know most of us don’t do holds
reason to do so, or you might be better of all the jets coming in behind me. much anymore, but they are available
off considering other options. At that speed, and on an approach to for a reason. Holds are there to allow
. absolute minimums, I had to go missed, ATC to keep aircraft separated or for
TRYING A DIFFERENT APPROACH even though I saw the runway at the them to kill some time before progress-
One option is to try a different last minute, because of my speed. I ing on to the next part of their flight. A
approach—even at the same airport. changed how I was flying the approach pilot might choose to hold for a period
There have been times in my experi- for a second attempt by slowing down of time if there is a reasonable expecta-
ence when I have flown an approach to 80 knots and managed to have a little tion that conditions will improve.
to a preferred runway, perhaps hop- more reaction time to see the runway Instances where a storm cell is
ing to avoid a crosswind on the land- as the airplane approached minimums. moving through, rain showers are
ing or even just because it was aligned
with the direction from which I was
approaching the airport. In cases such
as this, a pilot might find themself flying
a non-precision approach and have the
opportunity to make a second approach
attempt to a different runway that has
a precision approach or even just one
with lower approach minimums. In one
case, where there was fog rolling in off
a lake, the winds were calm, and I was
able to fly an approach to a different
runway that wasn’t obscured while the
first runway was.
Visibility can also be variable, and an
area of fog or low clouds over one run-
way end may not be present at another.
Know the conditions. A different
approach might make the difference.

CHANGING THE FACTORS TO

IMPROVE THE OUTCOME
A key factor in deciding to fly the same
approach or a different approach to the
same airport is to critically evaluate if
you can change any factors likely to
improve the outcome. That might entail
switching approaches, using a different
navigation system, or even waiting for
some weather improvement.
When you go missed on an approach,
if you can’t honestly say something
is changing from your first attempt,
you should probably come up with a
new plan. Doing the same thing again
is not likely to generate a more posi-
tive outcome.
While we all like to think we are great
pilots, another factor we might change

52 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

dissipating, fog is burning off, or even
a snow squall is passing might be con-
ditions where a pilot might reason-
ably decide to hold for a bit and try an
approach again. Be honest with yourself
if you are thinking about this. Are the
conditions really improving, or are you
just hoping they are going to so you
don’t have to go somewhere else?
One major caution here is to make
sure you don’t hold long enough
that you leave yourself short of fuel
reserves. Holding for an extended
period can leave a pilot with less fuel
than optimal, and limit their options to
get somewhere else if a second attempt
becomes impossible or unsuccessful.
Set yourself a limited time for a hold
that leaves you with plenty of options
and stick to it.
GO SOMEWHERE ELSE–WHERE
THE WEATHER IS BETTER
IFR pilots are required to file alternate
airports in accordance with some
pretty strict guidelines for a reason.
The goal is that a pilot not find them-
self with no options and out of gas.
Hopefully, you have planned for this
when you set out on a flight. It is
a real consideration you should be
willing to take advantage of if you
have to go missed at your first desti-
nation airport.
It is not required that you go to
your filed alternate airport. But it is
required that if you are going to try to
get to another airport, you still leave
yourself enough fuel reserves to reach
your filed alternate. OK, I know this
seems confusing.
The gist of the concept here is that
you leave yourself an out. You can how-
ever take advantage of other options
if available.
A good example of this might be
a case where you were traveling to
an airport with only non-precision
approaches, went missed, and had
an alternate airport filed that was 45
minutes flight away. If there happens
to be an airport 15 minutes away with
a precision approach that is report-
ing weather conditions well above
minimums, a pilot might choose to
divert there.
Situations like this are fine oppor-
tunities to query ATC for information
to help make a good decision. If your
aircraft has good onboard weather
information available, use it. If you
have a second crew member or even
a capable passenger, engage their help
to gather more information. The best
decision can only be improved with
more knowledge. Knowing where you
are going to go missed, with weather
that won’t require you to go missed
again, is a critical data point in your
decision process.
Going missed on an approach can be
a gut punch for a pilot who was expect-
ing to get in. It can also be a hard deci-
sion point for a pilot. Thinking about
this ahead of time can help you build
some personal parameters that make
the decision less likely to compromise
safety in the moment. PP
planeandpilotmag.com 53
AFTER THE ACCIDENT
Worst Glide
Single-engine mindset killed crew of 2 in 2021.
A
little after 9 a.m., 45 seconds
after takeoff, one of the pilots
of a Velocity V-Twin radi-
oed the tower at Janesville,
Wisconsin (KJVL): “We’d like to
circle back and land Runway 32 and...
work through some engine issues if
we could.”
ATC acknowledged the request,
asked the pilot to report turning final
for Runway 32, and if they needed
assistance. The reply—“No, sir. We
should be fine. Give you a call turning
final.” That was the last transmission.
N13VT went down while turning onto
final, killing both pilots.
Their journey began at 6:30 a.m. on
February 16, 2021, leaving Appleton,
Wisconsin (KATW). Their destination
was Sebastian, Florida (KX26), for
planned maintenance. The airplane had
issues with its retractable landing gear
and was being flown on a ferry permit,
which required the aircraft operate
with the gear extended at all times.
Also, the permit required a copilot
even though the four-seat light piston
didn’t require one.
The Velocity V-Twin is a two-engine
pusher canard. Built as a comfortable
long-haul cruiser with an advertised
range of 1,100 nm, the experimen-
tal category fiberglass kitplane is a
stunner. Outside, it looks like sort of
a smaller version of the Beechcraft
Starship. With big gull-wing doors,
inside it has sports car styling with
side-sticks and flat-panel displays.
On the front of the fuselage sit
canards, small controllable wings that
handle pitch control. Used in many
aircraft, from the Wright Flyer to the
Eurofighter Typhoon, canards can offer
excellent control authority. They were
designed to stall before the main wing,
so at high angles of attack the nose
automatically bobs down, always keep-
ing the main wing flying.
On the back of the airplane are the
propellers. Pusher aircraft allow the
54 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
BY DAVE ENGLISH
wing to fly in clean, undisturbed air
and offer pilots unobstructed views.
We don’t see a lot of pusher aircraft
because the propellers work in the
more turbulent air behind the wing,
and there are troubles with engine
cooling. What is certainly an advantage
with the V-Twin design is the close-
ness of the two engines to the aircraft
centerline, reducing unwanted yaw in
single-engine operations. The airplane
was built in 2020, and other than the
gear mechanism issue, had no known
mechanical discrepancies.
The pilots landed at the KJVL—a
tower-controlled field with three paved
runways—for fuel. The pilots pulled
into the Janesville Jet Center and asked
to be fueled up with 100LL. The man-
kk “Recovered onboard
avionics data showed a rising
angle of attack, followed by
increasingly frantic gyrations
in pitch and roll. The tower
controller saw the airplane
descend beyond trees
southeast of the airport...”
ager remembers nothing unusual—
“chitchat mostly”—about their
flight down to Florida. The National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
found no issues with the 100LL.
The weather was good in Janesville.
It was winter, and for sure it felt cold,
just 7 degrees Fahrenheit. But that’s
nothing these two pilots, both in their
mid-20s, who grew up in Wisconsin,
hadn’t experienced before. The
unlimited visibility, complete lack of
precipitation, 5,000 foot cloud ceil-
ing, and a light 9-knot wind out of
the north would have been welcome
VFR conditions.
They taxied out and took off nor-
mally. So what was the engine problem?
And why couldn’t they return to land
on the remaining engine?
Post-accident examination of the
airplane revealed a chafed wire on
the left-engine oil pressure sender.
The NTSB report states that based
on “ATC communication, the engine
teardown, recovered MFD data, and
POH rate-of-climb data, it appears that
the flight crew may have shut down the
left engine seconds after their radio
call as a precautionary measure.” The
damaged wiring harness caused the
cockpit display to show a red “X” where
the left engine oil pressure value would
normally be. The left throttle, propel-
ler, and mixture controls were found in
their aft (shutdown) positions.
So far, so good—a precautionary
engine shutdown and immediate return
to land. The airplane continued to
climb but at a slower rate consistent
with single-engine performance. They
were now heading south on a modified
left downwind for Runway 32. The
flying pilot further pitched down to
a level flight attitude. Their indicated
airspeed increased to about 16 knots
above the maximum for flight with the
landing gear extended (VLE is 140 knots
for this Velocity V-Twin).
One minute and 10 seconds later,
part of the right main gear door came
off the airframe and struck the right
propeller. All three blades separated
about 18 inches outboard from the
propeller hub, creating a total loss
of right engine power. Immediately,
their altitude and airspeed started
to decrease. The NTSB performance
analysis dryly notes that from here:
“with both engines inoperative, N13VT
likely did not have the energy required
to glide back to the airport.”
As the airplane drifted lower, recov-
ered onboard avionics data showed
a rising angle of attack, followed by
increasingly frantic gyrations in pitch
and roll. The tower controller saw the
airplane descend beyond trees south-
east of the airport, in a left bank that
started to tighten. The controller saw
the airplane’s nose “almost pointed
down toward the ground.”
The last eyewitness, walking his dog
southeast of the airport, described the
 The weather was good in Janesville. It was winter, and for sure it felt cold, just 7 degrees Fahrenheit.
flight path “as similar to something
that would be seen from a crop duster
popping up over a field” with an engine
“chopping at the air and working hard.”
A few seconds later, it disappeared
behind trees and crashed. The airplane
came to rest inverted in a 3-foot-deep
tributary of the Rock River, about a mile
south of KJVL. The aircraft was found
upside-down, mostly underwater, with
its main landing gear in the air. One had
the gear door plate attached; the other
didn’t. The cause of death was officially
reported as drowning and hypothermia,
with complicating blunt-force injuries
to the head.
The NTSB found no evidence of
preexisting mechanical malfunctions or
anomalies that would have precluded
normal operation of the engines. It was
after takeoff that the problems began.
To the pilots, this must have seemed
like a nightmare worse than any simula-
tor session. Soon after feathering the
left prop and shutting down the left
engine for an oil pressure problem, the
right engine suddenly—violently—quit.
Too far and too low to glide back to the
airport, they would lose control and
crash three minutes later.
Maybe a single-engine mindset
would have saved them. In a single-
engine airplane (or, of course, a glider)
we must always be mentally ready to
set down within gliding distance. Keep
control and fly the airplane to the best
landing spot. But multiengine pilots are
usually more like systems managers,
trained to operate on the remaining
good engine to get to a suitable airport.
I thought it odd that only a 16-knot
overspeed would break off bits of the
landing gear, but the NTSB explained
that mystery in its examination of the
previous flight’s data. From Appleton to
Janesville, the pilots flew the Velocity
V-Twin well above the VLE speed of
140 knots for operation with the gear
extended. In cruise, they maintained
between 170 and 180 knots. Starting
the descent, they reached 190, a full
50 knots above the listed maximum
speed. The NTSB noted this may have
weakened the gear door attachment
points. Then, when single engine, the
higher-than-normal sideslip angles
may have helped force the door off the
landing gear legs.
Two lessons are obvious from this
crash, despite its crazy one-in-a-million
double-engine failure: Don’t exceed
aircraft limitations, and be prepared
to land off-airport.
There’s a third lesson. Do we have to
shut down an engine when the gauges
show a big red “X”? An engine fire
always requires a full shutdown. But
if a powerplant seems to be running
OK, might we be better off in some
conditions letting it produce thrust
for as long as possible?
For light aircraft, there have long
been debates about whether two
engines are really safer than one, the
efficiency of pusher props, and the
effectiveness of canards. This just-
released NTSB report reinforces the
reality that while a canard might stop
you from stalling, it won’t keep you from
crashing—and two engines won’t pre-
vent you from losing all power. PP
planeandpilotmag.com 55
 WORDS ALOFT BY JEREMY KING
Welcome to Oshkosh
Whether this is your first AirVenture or you’re a veteran of the
event, you’ll find something to captivate you at Oshkosh.
T
he traffic targets were thick on
ForeFlight, a swarm of blue
triangles trying to wedge into
the same path. I fell in behind
a Cessna 180 to begin the arrival, and
as we flew down the railroad tracks, a
few pilots got peeled off to restart their
arrival—15 over the speed limit works
on Interstate 75, but on the arrival to
EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, not so
much. There are no passing lanes unless
you’re a true “fast mover.” None of us
were transmitting—because there’s no
room to get a word in edgewise.
“Friends, this is your afternoon
ATC team taking over for the morning
crew, who have been doing a fantastic
job—and you pilots have been as well!
As a heads-up, we’re landing on run-
ways 27 and 36, and keep your eyes
open because there’s an ag applicator
spraying directly beneath FISKK. Now
everybody, pick a partner, fall in behind
them, and maintain space of a half mile
up to a mile. Welcome to Oshkosh,
everyone. We’re glad you came.”
CROSSWORD ANSWERS
See puzzle on page 17 .
56 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
Before long, some controller had
me in his binoculars. “Gray Mooney
over Fisk, rock your wings!” A Mooney
is built to fly in long, straight lines,
and it really doesn’t appreciate the
ailerons hitting the stops. Add in my
airliner-deadened feet on the rudder,
and the turn coordinator was only too
happy to announce its unhappiness as
we wallowed through a quick Dutch
roll. “Great rock! Follow the railroad
northbound; you’ll be landing on 27.”
I flew the rest of the arrival as charted,
guided by the controllers along the way
when to make the turns.
kk If you’re coming to Oshkosh
for the first time: Read the
NOTAM.
Turning off the runway, I took a
deep breath, realizing my palms were a
little moist, and a little shake was sub-
siding in my hands. My day job is based
at the world’s busiest airport, but the
busy precision of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-
Jackson International Airport pales in
comparison to the controlled chaos of
the arrival into Oshkosh.
A Lifetime of AirVenture
My first time flying my own plane into
AirVenture was in 2021. Before that, I’d
flown in as an airport kid on a glorified
Young Eagles flight in 1995, and my
next AirVenture wasn’t until 2007,
when I arrived on an airliner and drove
from Milwaukee. Fourteen years later, I
showed up working with Plane & Pilot,
flying my own Mooney into the event.
Each year I’ve attended, the event has
been different, but the magic of my
first visit still hasn’t worn off.
In 1995, I got to meet Richard
VanGrunsven as he unveiled the RV-8
during its first public appearance. Once
the folks at Van’s Aircraft found out I
had an RV-4 tail kit with my grandfather,
they signed me up for a demo ride.
Crammed next to us was Mort Crim, a
famous broadcaster who inspired Will
Farrell’s Ron Burgundy character. At
an event in the warbirds section, I got
to shake hands with Tex Hill, a Flying
Tiger, and Chuck Yeager. Both of them
signed my EAA ball cap, a memento
I miss, having lost it in one of many
moves in my itinerant phase.
In a forum tent, I got to see Gordon
Baxter, a former columnist from
FLYING, speak for about an hour
of quality entertainment. I had an
English teacher back home trying to
get me enthusiastic about writing,
and as Bax held court, I realized that
writing about flying at an airshow was
basically a license to steal. After all,
who could resist the invitation for
their bird to grace the pages of an
aviation magazine?
The experience was heady stuff for a
15-year-old with nothing but big hopes
and a few lines in his logbook. I crewed
on an airshow team through my last
years of high school and college. I’ve
watched so many airshows from the
other side of the crowd line that they
don’t hold my attention like they used
to—the entertaining acts for me are the
low-performance airplanes putting on
a good show. Stock Stearmans move
to the front of the line in my book.
No disrespect for the guys flying the
high-powered monoplanes, but the
slow movers are my jam.
That said, there’s always a fantastic
lineup of performers at AirVenture,
with a good variety to captivate nearly
anyone. That’s the magic of AirVenture.
 If you love airplanes, there’s enough
here to interest you for the duration,
regardless of your market segment. You
could dive into the forums and educa-
tional opportunities for the length of
your stay, roam the antiques in appreci-
ation of yesteryear, or imagine yourself
as a military hero in the warbird area.
Shopping for an airplane? Whether
it’s a some-assembly-required kit or a
factory-built million-dollar bird, you
can meet up with owners and sales
folks who can answer your questions
and allow you to put your hands on
equipment that beats the heck out of
any online video or website.
Read the NOTAM
If you’re coming to Oshkosh for the first
time, let me say this loudly: Read the
NOTAM. I mean, you already read all
the pertinent NOTAMs before you fly,
right? The AirVenture arrival NOTAM is
longer than the entire NOTAM package
I’m given for a typical airline flight—and
that’s a lot of paper. But, unlike stan-
PHOTO CREDIT: JEREMY KING
dard NOTAMs, the AirVenture arrivals
are printed in plain English, with many
pictures. It’s almost like they really
want pilots to read it.
If you can find a friend to come
along, even better! Sharing expenses
is helpful, and a second set of eyes is
invaluable. The controllers will ask you
to maintain half-mile spacing in trail,
and most of us aren’t used to doing
that. Having someone looking at an
EFB showing the traffic ahead can be a
big help to keep your eyes outside while
they’re studying the traffic, charts,
frequencies, and fuel gauges.
Be comfortable with your aircraft
before you leave home. I’ve talked to
pilots who had just finished decades-
long restorations before heading to
the convention, and we’ve all seen
beautifully restored classics ground
looped—the two factors have almost
certainly overlapped more than once.
Be ready for the controller to call
your base turn directly toward the run-
way numbers—the colored spots used
as touchdown targets are displaced well
down the runway, and even knowing
that, you’ll feel like you’re too high to
make it. I felt the same last time, and
still had to add power and fly in ground
effect to the green dot.
Bring tiedowns. The volunteers
will want you to drive stakes into
the ground as soon as the prop stops
turning, and while you can buy stakes
on-site, the best options are the ones
you bring. If I’m camping with my
airplane, I usually wind up wishing I’d
brought sandals for the shower house.
Make sure your sunscreen isn’t expired
(as I write, the last of my Sun ‘N Fun
Aerospace Expo sunburn has just fin-
ished peeling,) and a big floppy hat
is a great idea. A cheap set of cutting
boards to roll the tires onto when you
park also helps keep your airplane from
sinking into the mud.
The item that almost never shows
up on a packing list is something to
clamp your shower towel to the propel-
ler—it makes a great clothesline, but a
breeze can carry your towel away from
your campsite. I’ve seen clothes pins
fail miserably, but big black binder
clips work well. Last time I forgot my
binder clips, but a pair of vise-grip pli-
ers from my emergency toolkit served
as a fine substitute.
It may be your first time at
AirVenture, or you may have lost
count of your pilgrimages. We may
have known each other for decades
or friends who just haven’t met, but if
you stroll by my Mooney in the vintage
campground, stop by and say hi. We’re
all family at Oshkosh. PP
planeandpilotmag.com 57
 PRO TIPS FOR
PRIVATE PILOTS

SUPPLEMENTAL
OXYGEN
For the Rest of Us

Just because it’s not required

doesn’t mean it might not be
a good idea. BY FRANK AYERS JR.
WHAT ARE THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS?
THE EFFECTS OF ALTITUDE ON WHAT DO THE REGS SAY
OUR BODIES ABOUT EQUIPMENT?
The answer is: It depends. Let’s look at the oxygen delivery sys-
Does the pilot in question live in tems available for general aviation use.
Denver, where the daily exposure to The first step is often the cannula.
the thin air at roughly 6,000 feet helps Originally derived from hospital sys-
bodies adapt to higher altitude? Or does tems, cannulas are used widely by
the pilot hail from Miami, where the patients with mild additional oxygen
elevator ride to the top of the tallest requirements. The cannula sprays 100
beachfront condo is the highest point? percent oxygen out of a certified avia-
Does our pilot exercise regularly, eat tion oxygen system into the pilot’s nos-
right, and generally sport the physique trils, leaving them able to communicate
of the folks on the covers of fitness freely through a regular microphone.
magazines? Or is our hero more into Cannulas are legal at up to 18,000
the couch-potato lifestyle? Age can also feet. However, some pilots, based on
be a significant factor with aviators in their personal assessment, have been
their 20s likely a bit better off than those known to use cannulas below 12,500
a bit older. Our pilot is feet to keep their blood
probably somewhere in
between these extremes.
Each one of us is differ-
ent, with our ability to
“
Hypoxia symptoms
oxygen level high. It is a
personal choice.
GA pilots flying turbo-
charged singles and twins
process oxygen unique can operate in Class Alpha
to us. can occur as low airspace. For these folks,
The military recog- as 5,000 feet msl. oral-nasal rebreather
nizes that humans need masks are legal up to
to adapt to the high-alti- Taking a few modest 25,000 feet. These are
tude environment and precautions... similar to the little yel-
encourages its pilots to low masks with the clear
stay in shape. might just make plastic rebreather bag that
The U.S. Air Force drops down from the air-
used to require visits
you a sharper and liner ceiling during a rapid
to the altitude chamber better pilot. decompression. These
every few years. This rebreather bags allow the
has more recently been user to mix the air they
replaced with a reduced
oxygen breathing device
(RODB) integrated into a flight sim-
” exhale with 100 percent
oxygen when they inhale.
Farther up front on the flight deck, top of our game. Eating right, some
ulator. Either experience allows the airline pilots utilize a sweep-on diluter modest aerobic exercise, and a gen-
individual to determine their personal demand mask with a clever headband erally active lifestyle are excellent
hypoxia symptoms. The earlier “cham- that inflates to allow it to pass over the preflight preparation.
ber rides” took the pilots to well above pilot’s head then deflate to hold the Second, spend a few bucks and pur-
35,000 feet. One of the most compel- mask over their nose and mouth. These chase an inexpensive pulse oximeter.
ling parts of the ride demonstrates allow flight up into the stratosphere, Use it to obtain a baseline reading at
the impact of oxygen deprivation on and on behalf of airline passengers home. Then, the next time you are fly-
color discrimination and night vision. everywhere, we are glad these pilots ing a long cross-country leg at altitude,
The chamber climbs to altitude and get the best gear. take a few readings to determine the
is darkened. The pilots are instructed difference. These devices read both
to remove their oxygen masks while ARE THEIR OPTIONS FOR US your blood oxygen level and pulse
looking at a bright, multicolored dis- DOWN HERE? rate—both good to know. And while
play. After a couple of minutes, they are Yes, there are several. you are up there, compare the oxy-
asked to put on their mask and breathe First, get out of the house and gen readings to how you feel. Mild
100 percent oxygen. The now dim gray exercise. Your doctor has been bug- hypoxia symptoms might match low
display suddenly blooms to its former ging you about this for years. Regular oxygen readings. On a long flight, the
brightness as the oxygen makes its way walking and a healthy diet will have a effects might be felt just as you are
into the bloodstream and optical nerves. positive impact on your waistline as preparing for the most critical part
This effect occurs at as low as 5,000 feet well as your ability to process oxygen. of the flight, the approach and land-
msl at night and can become a real issue. As pilots, we like to think we are on ing. Our Cirrus seminar pilots noted

60 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot

 quite unscientifically that some of their
worst approaches and landings came
after long flights at over 10,000 feet.
Third, learn to recognize any
symptoms you could be experienc-
ing. This is relatively easy for pilots
who attend altitude chamber sessions
as their hypoxia symptoms are more
pronounced at 25,000 feet. However,
after a long flight you might notice a
mild headache, slower response to
ATC calls, mild confusion, or fatigue.
If so, then you may be dehydrated,
deoxygenated, or both. So, drink fluids
and get good preflight rest.
If you notice any of the symptoms
listed, adding a can of portable pure
oxygen to your flight bag might be a
SHUTTERSTOCK
good idea. These are available in most
drugstores and aviation supply houses
for less than $20. They carry brand
names like Boost, Power Oxygen, O2
Blast, etc., and come in a variety of
sizes. Most contain between 50 and
250 breaths of approximately 99 per-
cent pure oxygen. Many come with a
breathing adapter to place over your
nose and mouth. These were originally
designed for athletes, skiers, and those
traveling in the mountains. After a few
breaths of this compressed oxygen,
most pilots will feel a positive differ-
ence. A quick glance at the pulse oxim-
eter will confirm the improvement.
A couple of important safety tips:
Non-certified commercially available
canned oxygen containers are not a
legal substitute for a certified aviation
oxygen system for flight at or above
12,500 feet. Additionally, any oxygen
source—certified or for occasional
use— should never be used around
an open flame. As we learned in high
school chemistry class, nothing good
can come of that.
LET’S PUT THIS ALL TOGETHER
Each pilot is going to be the best judge
of their personal fitness level, oxygen
processing capacity, and the impact of
reduced oxygen levels on mental and
physical acuity. The FAA regulations
are a great start, but they cannot pos-
sibly cover every situation. Hypoxia
symptoms can occur as low as 5,000
feet msl. Taking a few modest precau-
tions like knowing your hypoxia onset
symptoms, carrying a pulse oximeter,
and using either a certified or safe over-
the-counter oxygen booster, might
just make you a sharper and better-
prepared pilot.
Fly safe! PP
planeandpilotmag.com 61
THIS INCREDIBLE PLANE
The Bede BD-1
The late Jim Bede’s first—and most successful
M
ention the late Jim Bede
to some, and images of
the sleek little BD-5J
Microjet, flown through
a hangar by none other than iconic
movie spy James Bond, come to mind.
To others, the picture is of an incred-
ibly visionary aircraft designer who
unfortunately left more than a few
dissatisfied customers in his wake.
Over his lifetime until his death
in 2015, Bede produced many efficient
and capable general aviation aircraft
designs. However, long before the
BD-4, BD-5, BD-6, and eventually the
BD-10 jet project, his very first design,
the Bede BD-1, must be considered
his most successful. This petite little
two-seat trainer and personal travel
machine led to an entire line of fast,
efficient, and fun production aircraft.
Fresh out of college in Kansas, Bede
began his career in the late 1950s at
North American Aviation as a perfor-
mance engineer. While he remained at
NAA for a relatively brief stint, this was
a time of great innovation in military
aviation design. His later use of hon-
eycomb materials and other advanced
design features likely began there.
Returning to his hometown of
Cleveland in 1961, he created Bede
Aviation Corp. His goal was to design
and market a sporty two-seat home-
built airplane that would outperform
the Cessna 150, utilize modern design
concepts, and could be towed to and
from the airport. The result was the
BD-1, a two-seat, low-wing monoplane
that utilized revolutionary, for the
time, aluminum honeycomb; bonded
rather than riveted construction; and
interchangeable control surfaces. The
left and right wings, stabilizers, and
elevators were identical. The simple
landing gear incorporated a full swiv-
eling nose gear, which 30 years later
became the standard for new designs,
such as those for Cirrus and Diamond.
62 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
BY FRANK AYERS JR.
For the wing, he chose a tubu-
lar spar that contained the fuel and
incorporated a folding mechanism that
allowed for highway travel. This fuel in
the spar design carried through to all
of the Yankees, Cheetahs, and Tigers
produced by Grumman American and
others. Its main structural member is
a 6.5-inch cylindrical aluminum spar,
which doubles as a 12-gallon fuel tank
to provide a total of 24 gallons.
Certainly the most identifiable fea-
ture was the sliding canopy. Similar to
the jet fighters he had worked on at
NAA, the canopy simplified entry and
exit, doing away with the heavy door
structure and giving the pilot great vis-
ibility. Oh, yes, flying with the canopy
“Bede’s goal was to design
and market a sporty two-seat
homebuilt airplane that would
outperform the Cessna 150,
utilize modern design concepts,
and could be towed to and
from the airport. The result
was the BD-1, a two-seat, low-
wing monoplane that utilized
revolutionary, for the time,
aluminum honeycomb...”
open has always been cool. The entire
kit, including the engine, was set to go
on sale for just $2,500. All of this was
heady stuff for the early 1960s.
The BD-1 first flew on July 11, 1963,
and met or exceeded all design speci-
fications. The prototype featured a
117-knot cruise speed, a VNE of more
than 200 knots, and an initial climb
rate in excess of 1,000 feet per minute.
Initially designed as a kit, Bede was so
pleased with the prospects for market-
ing his new design that he decided to
go the Part 23 certification route for
the BD-1.
Soon after, Bede Aviation became
American Aviation Corp., the BD-1
would become the American Yankee,
and a group of Cleveland businessmen
came on board as investors. However,
homebuilt kit design and certification
of a Part 23 aircraft are two differ-
ent challenges. Eventually, Bede and
his new board disagreed on how to
achieve these goals, and he departed
the company in a foreshadowing of
business issues that would follow him
through his career. American Aviation,
managed by the Cleveland business
group, commissioned a modest rede-
sign of the aircraft to make it easier to
certify, and the AA-1 American Yankee
debuted in 1968.
The Yankee became an immediate
hit. With a price tag just less than
$7,000, a sliding canopy, responsive
controls, and a short-coupled fuselage,
it was a delight to fly and outperformed
the competition. It took just about
six years for the first 1,000 aircraft to
go out of the factory door. The AA-1
Yankee continued in production for
more than 10 years in several different
iterations. Its responsive controls and
outstanding performance eventually
inspired fighter-style paint jobs, such
as Flying Tiger shark mouths, and
likely even a few white scarves.
Flush with success, the American
Aviation board decided a four-seat
aircraft was required. Initially a
clean-sheet concept, the AA-2 Patriot
was designed, built, and test flown.
However, it did not meet the desired
performance goals and was scrapped.
So efficient was the original Bede
design that American Aviation decided
to simply stretch it to create the space
and performance required for a four-
seat cross-country aircraft.
FLYING MEDIA FILE PHOTO
The result was the AA-5 Traveler,
which proved to be an immediate
success, outpacing the competition
in both price and performance. The
Similar to jet fighters Bede had worked on at NAA, the canopy simplified entry and exit, doing away with the heavy door structure.
BD-1 design was flexible and seem-
ingly timeless. Unfortunately, like
so many aviation stories, this one
contains several episodes of mergers
and acquisitions.
American Aviation was soon pur-
chased by military aerospace giant
Grumman Aviation. Enter aerody-
namic wizard Roy LoPresti. A team of
Grumman engineers led by LoPresti
worked their magic on the Traveler.
Using some tricks from the high-
performance aircraft Grumman was
famous for, they created two improved
versions of the BD-1-inspired Traveler.
The 150 hp Cheetah and 180 hp
Tiger earned a reputation as rapid tran-
sit machines. Even today, the Cheetah
outruns 180 hp conventional fixed-gear
singles, and the Tiger gives retracts a
run for their money. Reduced cooling
drag, optimized landing gear fairings,
and other aerodynamic improvements
added to Bede’s elegant BD-1 design,
setting new standards for perfor-
mance, value, and fun flying.
Bede went on to design a series
of homebuilt kit aircraft. They were
simple to construct, efficient, and
often ahead of their time. His BD-5
Micro, wrapped in controversy as a
piston-powered machine, went on to
dazzle air show fans as the amazing
BD-5J Microjet.
However, his original design, the
BD-1, would shape the future of the
GA industry. One look at a late model
Cirrus, Tecnam, or Diamond, and
their simplified landing gear, modern
construction materials, aerodynamic
cockpits and canopies, and attention
to overall drag reduction are evident—
just as they were on the original BD-1.
Eventually, Grumman Aerospace
was sold to a Savannah, Georgia-based
jet manufacturer in 1973 and became
Gulfstream American. Most recently,
West Virginia-based Tiger Aviation
picked up the type certificate and pro-
duced the 180 hp Tiger until 2006.
In the end, Bede’s first design, the
BD-1, fostered a line of more than
6,000 aircraft, up to and including the
GA-7 Cougar Twin.
As a testament to the timeless
design, so many of these spirited
machines are lovingly maintained and
still flown by their devoted owners.
Thank you, Jim, for this incredible
airplane. PP
planeandpilotmag.com 63
 THIS INCREDIBLE PILOT
Jessica Koss
A longtime Garmin employee takes pride in
supporting the next generation of aviators.
T
here are many trailblazers
to celebrate in the world of
aviation. Some well-known
names wrote the first chap-
ters of aviation history decades before
each of us fell in love with the sky, and
their accomplishments and pioneering
are well worth celebrating. It’s also
important to recognize the men and
women making history today—many
of them forging paths and inspiring
the next generation of pilots.
Jessica Koss, lead transportation
pilot and safety coordinator at Garmin
in Olathe, Kansas, is one of those qui-
etly opening the doors to that next
generation, whether flying with her
three daughters, nurturing the skills of
pilots she trains at Garmin Aviation, or
introducing young people to aviation
through its outreach efforts.
Koss became interested in flying in
high school, when her dad took her to
an airshow. She started taking lessons
at 17 when her uncle connected her
with an instructor. Koss stayed in Iowa
for college and earned her certificates,
working as a flight instructor before
joining Garmin 14 years ago in August.
She started out in support and training,
worked in public relations for about
seven years, “and then I transitioned
to the hangars in July 2020,” first as
a pilot and safety coordinator before
moving into her current role.
The job allows for some variety in
responsibilities. On any given day, Koss
might be teaching ground school on the
Garmin campus, giving lessons in the
air, flying work missions in one of the
company’s many aircraft, or meeting
high school students or younger mem-
bers of the local community to give
them their introduction to aviation.
Flying the different types of air-
craft in the company fleet is a joy and
64 JULY 2023 Ç Plane&Pilot
BY AMY WILDER
kk “Visualization is huge. You
look at a mountain and think, ‘I
could never get up that thing,’
but actually you can.”
challenge for her. “I may go from fly-
ing a Citation or King Air to flying a
Bonanza the next day—or maybe even
later that day—or a 182,” Koss says.
“It keeps you on your toes.”
The Beech King Air 350 is among
her favorites to fly. The iconic King
Air is “a complex airplane. It’s a busy
cockpit,” she says. “It makes me a
better pilot. But because it’s also a
single-pilot airplane, I love having
somebody up there with me who isn’t
familiar with it and may not be even
a pilot. I flew a group of engineers to
Indiana back in September. This young
gal, a Garmin employee, was sitting up
there, and she said, ‘This is so cool!’ I
think, seven times. And it is so cool.”
Inspiring others is one of the high-
lights of the job for Koss. In March, she
took a group of high school girls flying
to celebrate Women in Aviation month.
Introducing “young ladies to aviation
and the rewarding career fields in this
industry, such as engineering, human
factors, aircraft maintenance, and, of
course, being a pilot—it’s very fulfilling
when a company like Garmin values
exposing young ladies to an industry
you love,” she says.
Many people experiencing aviation
for the first time are overwhelmed by
the requirements and the potential
cost. Looked at altogether, the hurdles
can seem impossible. So Koss breaks it
down into smaller steps for prospec-
tive aviators and also asks them what
about aviation interests them. “More
times than not, they’re not just saying
it’s because it looks cool or anything
like that,” she says. “They want to take
their kids flying, or they want to travel.
I say, ‘Perfect—me too,’ and I try to
relate to them a little bit and let them
know that it is attainable.
“Visualization is huge,” she says.
“You look at a mountain and think,
‘I could never get up that thing,’ but
actually you can.” And she tries to
show others how to do just that. People
may be worried about their lack of
math skills, but Koss tells them she’s
not good with numbers either, but she
did it. Cost can be a significant barrier,
and people may be intimidated.
She stresses you don’t have to be
the next Albert Einstein to succeed.
People follow timelines based on their
budget and other commitments—and
Koss can use her story to highlight that.
“There is no silver spoon, nothing
in my court that made me any more
fortunate than the next person,” she
says. “If I had any advice for people...
it would be to take advantage of any
and all opportunities that come your
way. Because I haven’t done anything
that’s made me lucky in any way.” PP
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