Table of contents for May 2017 in Plane & Pilot

Growing up on a dairy farm with a tiny grass strip situated out behind the big barn, I spent my teenage days in Vermont’s Champlain Valley, watching the local crop duster and story teller, Alphonse, seeding and fertilizing the fields. Visions of the feeling, the smell and the thought of flying mere feet above the rolling fields danced in my head as I procrastinated completing my childhood chores. Soon after my dad bought a 1969 Beech Musketeer, I got my pilot’s license and learned the ins and outs of getting into our own little grass runway, right there on the farm. Our strip was truly a farm strip—about 1,500 feet of sloped grass, sandwiched between a barn and a tree-lined swamp—so it was one way in and the opposite way…

Let’s get one thing straight right from the start: You cannot have your next plane printed for you. Not now, not soon, probably not ever. It’s a beautiful dream, to be sure, like the Willy Wonka invention that let kids reach into a television screen and pull out a chocolate bar. In this case, you’d work up some CAD drawings, maybe spin an on-screen model around to check your work, then hit command-P, head over to the printer, and taxi out in your new ride. Print me up a couple extra copies, while you’re at it. As I said, not going to happen. Still, there’s a good chance your future aircraft will have plenty of 3D-printed parts, thanks to huge advances in what the engineers refer to as additive manufacturing.…

“EVEN IF YOU PASSED YOUR 1ST CLASS MEDICAL YESTERDAY, YOU’LL NEED TO EITHER HAVE A SEPARATE EXAM DONE OR GET THE AME TO DO A CONCURRENT EXAM TO FLY UNDER BASICMED.” After a long wait and quite a lot of work, BasicMed is here. As of May 1, the new regulations regarding pilot medical certification are in effect. BasicMed isn’t for everyone, however. Flying under the new rules isn’t as simple as deciding you’re fit and taking your driver’s license with you to the airport. There’s a list of required examinations, limitations and disqualifying conditions that might make flying with a traditional medical a better option, especially for those who already have one. That said, how exactly does a pilot who wants to fly under the new rules go about…

Average yearly cost of severe TS damage, U.S.: $10 BILLION Number of TS worldwide/year: 16 million Average number of TS in progress at any given time, worldwide: 2,000 Number of TS U.S./year: ~100,000 Most likely time of year: SPRING/SUMMER Most likely time of day, Gulf Coast, Southeastern and Western States: Afternoon Most likely time of day, Plains States: Late afternoon/Night State with most days with thunderstorms: Florida Average TS cell diameter: 15 miles Average duration: 30 MINUTES Average TS max wind speed: 34-40 mph Average TS tops: 40,000 feet Max recorded TS top: 75,000 feet Associated aviation dangers: LIGHTNING, TURBULENCE, WIND SHEAR, DOWNBURSTS, ICING, HAIL, ENGINE WATER INGESTION, REDUCED VISIBILITY Severe storm qualifications: hail 1”+ diameter, winds 58 mph+ (50 kts), tornadic activity Percentage of storms that classify as severe:…

I WON'T MAKE ANY BONES ABOUT IT . We were getting our butts kicked as we climbed out on what seemed as though it should be an ideal early spring afternoon. The conditions were CAVU, dry air and severe clear blue skies cradling the green and rolling Hill Country of Central Texas as we headed slightly west in search of lonely runways and empty airspaces. Thankfully, both remain plentiful in the Lone Star State, and while I should say that it wasn’t technically spring but still winter, it honestly felt more like summer. The slight haze and mildly gusty conditions presaged a less than velvety ride. We were thankful, at least, that the air cooled as I hand-flew the Skylane to 8,500 feet, just barely above the haze layer and…

Before he entered the GAMA/ Build A Plane Aviation Design Challenge in 2013, Lee Luckhardt knew he wanted to pursue engineering, but had never thought much about aviation. Growing up in Saline, Michigan, about an hour from Detroit, much of the area’s attention was focused on cars, not airplanes. So when Luckhardt’s teacher registered Luke and his classmates in the national competition sponsored by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), he soon learned about aerodynamic and aviation engineering principles such as the four forces of flight, angle of attack and aspect ratio. “There’s nothing else like it,” Luke said. Instead of focusing on a specific engineering problem, the Challenge focuses on the big picture: What can I do to make this whole airplane work better? Now 21, Luckhardt is a…

“Attempting to raise a lowered wing under these conditions by using ailerons only is a potentially dangerous practice predisposing to inadvertent aerodynamic stall-spin and loss of control.” Inflight loss of control (LOC), unintended departure of an aircraft from controlled flight, is regarded by the NTSB and the 25th Joseph T. Nall Report from the AOPA Air Safety Foundation as a significant flight safety issue. Over 40% of fixed-wing general aviation accidents occurred because pilots lost control of their airplanes. NTSB and AOPA Air Safety Foundation have determined that takeoff and climb, landing, and maneuvering are the deadliest phases of flight for LOC accidents. A precipitating factor of LOC accidents may be a pilot’s incorrect use of ailerons only to raise a lowered wing, rather than correctly applying top rudder pressure…

These days, the only Skylane is the normally aspirated gas-piston model. But what happened to the two other 182s, the turbocharged gas-piston and the turbodiesel models? After all, not too long ago, they were a core part of the Cessna piston single roadmap. It’s been a few years since the turbodiesel Skylane has been in the headlines. That plane, which Cessna dubbed the 182 J-TA (an acronym that sounds like “Jet A”, the fuel type the engine uses), earned a good number of precertification orders before Cessna stopped taking orders and put the program on hiatus. The company took that step only after struggling to fix problems with the engine’s turbocharger and to tame a too-high idle, which made it difficult on rollout to get the high-lift 182 to stop…

The cost of owning and operating an aircraft can be high. Whether you’re a frequent flier, fly occasionally for pleasure or someone whose day-to-day job is flying an aircraft, having a reliable oil to protect against engine wear and prolong engine life is paramount. The protection high-quality engine oils provide can help to reach or exceed time between overhaul (TBO) with minimum maintenance, and reduce operating and maintenance costs and overall fuel consumption. Certain cases have shown that engines protected by high-quality lubricants have been so clean and in such excellent condition that they have been given extensions on the aircraft’s engine life, approved by the local authority. THE BENEFITS OF LUBRICANT ADDITIVES Engine oils with anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation additives are key to protecting the engine and helping to increase…