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Published: 16 October 2021

  Greetings, In last month's column, I debated with myself whether to upgrade the hodge-podge steam gauge panel in my Comanche to a glass/partial-glass solution, or to keep the steam gauges going. The math was (seemingly) a no brainer; glass can run upwards of $130k, while keeping the legacy gear running can be a couple thousand per year. It's obviously far less

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Published: 15 October 2021

    The fall weather is supposed to be on us, and fortunately the temperatures have come down a bit and the mornings have produced some really great cool flying. I certainly hope we are through with the really strong damaging monsoon winds that we had this year that blew in hangar doors and upset airplanes that were outside. Here is hoping that we can put this

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Published: 15 October 2021

  2021 TO DATE: So far, up through the end of September this year, the record now stands at 7 fatal accidents, with 8 fatalities, 6 pilots and 2 passengers, with 2 accidents listed as info not available, as listed below from the NTSB web site. A summary of the fatal accidents will be completed for the December issue, and with any luck, the NTSB might have more

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Published: 19 September 2021

~  Scholarship Corner  ~   By Chris Nugent   As this edition of the newsletter goes to print the Scholarship Committee is busy working the logistics for program information sessions at several schools and colleges across Arizona. As I mentioned last month, the vast majority of these will be virtual which works well and we’ve seen really no change

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Published: 18 September 2021

  The following are the reports of aviation accidents and incidents that have occurred in Arizona from late July, thru late August. APA will be using this detailed information to develop safety programs, briefings, and posters/flyers that would help pilots learn from the mistakes being made by others, and take the action necessary to prevent them from having similar

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Published: 16 September 2021

  Greetings, The recent massive advances in avionics technology in just the last five to ten years is astounding. My steam gauge Comanche has been considered modern only a couple times in its life. In 1960 when new and outfitted with a complete IFR package, and again in 1989 when we took ownership of it and installed a civilian radio package and updated IFR gear after

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Published: 15 September 2021

    The monsoon weather has been interesting to say the least. It’s taken down trees around the various airports, and caused other minor, and in some cases, major damage because in some cases it’s done in some airplanes also. Apparently, it wasn’t always because the airplanes weren’t properly secured. I was told, in one case, the tie down rings were torn out of the

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Published: 15 September 2021

  By Howard Deevers   Most of my troubleshooting is done with tools: Voltmeter, Amp Meter, Torque Wrench, or other tools that you would use to check for problems. What does the “nose” have to do with it? Have you ever gotten into your car and started it, then smelled anti-freeze? I hope not, but anti-freeze has an odor that you will notice immediately. Usually

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Published: 15 September 2021

  2021 TO DATE: So far, up thru the end of August this year, the record still stands at 3 fatal accidents with 6 fatalities, the one out by Williams (KCMR), the second one over by Holbrook, and the 3rd , the King Air fire-fighting crash out by Wikieup.   FOR INFORMATION ON ALL ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS THAT OCCURRED LAST MONTH, REFER TO JIM TIMM’S ACCIDENT SUMMARY

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Published: 14 September 2021

  By Paul Wiley   Mission: From FAASafety.gov: “To assess pilot knowledge, judgement and skill in critical flight and ground tasks and, to improve pilot performance in risk management, planning, and execution of general aviation flight operations.” Purpose: As stated in AC 61-91J: “The objective of the WINGS – Pilot Proficiency Program is to reduce the number