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Ron Wanttaja

That's Charlie Manson. Ron Wanttaja

With Robert E. Lee on the left, and Stonewall Jackson on the right. Ron "Tattoo humor" Wanttaja

I've had levels approaching 70 ppm in my open-cockpit homebuilt aircraft. Had a friend get CO poisoning in a Starduster biplane, open cockpit as well. Managed to land before he passed out. Note the airflow over the wing, vs. the airflow over a fuselage: The top of the wing has low pressure...

Note, though the items I quoted about how AC felt that stability, sensitivity, and CG issues may be associated with the failures. Doubt the tail stiffening AD affected those. Ron Wanttaja

Aviation Consumer Used Aircraft Guide, Third Edition. "What makes the V-tail's high record of in-flight breakup all the more ironic is the very low breakup rate of the straight-tail 35 and 36 models, which are essentially identical to the 35 except for the tail. The V-tail's breakup rate...

Not only that, but the ability to determine height above ground is immaterial. Judging the GLIDE PATH is important, knowing whether you're 100 feet or 200 feet above the ground doesn't matter. There are external visual aids (VASI, etc.) to help pilots attain the right glide path. This reminds...

WHICH certification standards... CAR 3, dating from when the Bonanza came out in the '40s, or modern Part 23....? Ron Wanttaja

Ron Wanttaja

And how many lives is this expected to save? I haven't heard of any cases where people were killed or even injured after failing to extend the landing gear. Some WANT to have died, but..... Ron Wanttaja

Ran my name both through ChatGPT and the Microsoft Co-Pilot. ChatGPT is a reasonable summary... Ronald Wanttaja is an aerospace engineer, historian, and author known for his expertise in aviation and spaceflight history. He has contributed extensively to various publications and websites...

Ha. Gotta make the same trip next month as I did last month (Oshkosh). This time, smaller cars weren't even AVAILABLE. All they had were minivans, pickups, and SUVs. Went with another company. Ron Wanttaja

Looked at the data a different way, some of the totals might be slightly different. This run, I had a total of 43,386 entries. Of about the total entries, 22.8% did not list a prior FAA medical. Looking just at the indicated ratings, 61.8% had Private, 24.5% Commercial, and 10.3% ATP. The...

Thanks. I downloaded the current airman registry, and each entry includes two columns on Basic Med: "BASIC MED COURSE DATE" and "BASIC MED CMEC DATE" The data dictionary provided in the FAA download products does not include definitions for these, but it seems generally self-evident. The...

Is that sort of data available? I know next to nothing about the program, is the FAA notified when a pilot switches to BasicMed? I'm flying on Sport Pilot, for instance, and all the FAA has is my expired 3rd class from nearly 20 years ago. Found an interesting FAA study on BasicMed...

Just for the heck of it, I extracted the accidents involving pilots on BasicMed from the 2018-2022 NTSB accident database. Odd how the percentage has been going down after peaking in 2020. Ron Wanttaja

Steely eyes, cleft chin, and whip-like reflexes.... :) Ron Wanttaja

...Not to mention that after a major EMP event, the distribution system for liquid fuels is likely to be significantly disrupted. Diesel trucks may not be affected (though the starters may be) but the pumps involved are likely to fail. Even if the motors survive, many pumps have computer...

The problem is expertise. We complain that the rank-and-file FAA guy doesn't understand small aircraft...imagine what it's like when the FAA tries to regulate space operations. A bit over a hundred years ago, a squadron commander in the Army Air Service demanded that pilots wear spurs while...

Interesting to consider the crewed flights. Blue Origin's New Shepard is off the ground for about 11 minutes. First paying passengers flew on the 16th flight. That means the vehicle took commercial passengers after less than THREE HOURS of flight test. The FAA doesn't let experimental...