Learning to Fly

PFC's SMA 182 on AvWeb!

Back in late December, I had the distinct pleasure of flying with Paul Bertorelli of AvWeb/Aviation Consumer in Paramus Flying Club's Jet-A Diesel C182-SMA.  He had come in to do a story on the club's experience with this new technology.  The morning was predictably brisk, though the skies were crystal clear, and the air was calm.

The result of this flight is on the AvWeb page.

[Update: The companion article is now in the February issue of Aviation Consumer.  Subscription required for full article.]

The NY SFRA

Looking up at the sky from Hoboken (right across the Hudson from Manhattan), I thought I noticed more than usual small aircraft traffic over the Hudson today.  Perhaps people were out trying out the new NY SFRA Hudson River corridor?

More info about the new regs can be found here: http://faasafety.gov/files/helpcontent/Courses/NY%20Course/index.htm

And of course, this makes this entry entirely obsolete.

Holy sh*t!

Excuse the expletive.  This hasn't been a good year for GA in the northeast, but another small airplane "landed" in a mall parking lot.  But this one was a bit too close for comfort.  The plane in question, N6117R, is the retractable gear Cessna 172RG Cutlass used by the flight school at which I get my training. I had been in this very plane just three days ago. When I initially saw the plane on the news, it didn't register, but the tail number kept bugging me until it hit me.

I know the pilot (working on her CFI) flying the plane at the time, and the instructor in the right seat was Tom.  Thankfully both were a bit shaken but uninjured.

I guess the silver lining in all this is: Tom really knows what he is doing, and you can pretty much land a 172 anywhere.  But still...