Model Airplanes

ARLINGTON — The alarm klaxon cut through the whirring noise of the airplane engine. The digital speed gauge dropped steadily toward 39 knots — the two-seat plane’s stall speed, indicating it would be going too slow to stay in the air.

As the plane stalled, its nose gently dipped toward Puget Sound about 1,500 feet below. The plane descended ever so slightly. As it lost altitude, it picked up speed. The gauge’s dial climbed above stall speed, and the plane smoothly returned to level flying. The whole thing lasted less than a minute and was hardly noticeable but for the alarm.

“The plane wants to stay in the air,” the pilot, Ben Rauk, said.

He banked the Glasair Merlin right toward Arlington Municipal Airport, Glasair’s home for more than 20 years. Rauk is a production manager and test pilot for the company.

The light sport airplane marks a major shift for the company, which has made more 3,000 kit airplanes since it began in 1979. Unlike kit planes, which are assembled by their owners, the Merlin will be sold ready to fly.

It is the first step in Glasair Chief Executive Nigel Mott’s plan to transition the company from selling kits to making turnkey airplanes.

The company is simply following the market, he said.

Private pilots increasingly want turnkey planes. While kits have never been a huge portion of small airplane sales, demand “is probably stable for now, but slowly declining” in the near future, he said.

The addition of the Merlin makes Glasair the state’s third-largest airplane

Article source: http://www.heraldnet.com/news/arlingtons-glasair-set-to-be-states-second-biggest-plane-maker/

By Jon Harper

The Marine Corps is in a “difficult place” when it comes to the readiness of its aviation fleet, the service’s top officer said Aug. 9.

While the ground forces, particularly the infantry battalions, are in relatively good shape after receiving $5 billion from Congress to reset their equipment, the same can’t be said of the service’s air component, according to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller.

“On the aviation side we’re in a little more difficult place,” he said at a conference hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We’ve flown our airplanes a long time. We’re in the middle of recapitalization of every model, type and series. We’re trying to reset through the depots the legacy aircraft we have.”

Meanwhile, air squadrons continue to face a high operating tempo, he noted. The F-18 Hornet fighter fleet is especially challenged on the readiness front, Neller said.

“There are some issues with the F-18s because the Harrier took longer to field than we thought and we’ve had some issues with the depots,” he said. “Although we’re starting to see now slow, steady improvement, I’m not going to spike the ball because we’ve got to get more airplanes on the ramps so our air crews can fly more hours.”

The CH-53 Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter inventory is also facing maintenance problems, he noted. The service made a mistake by leaving CH-53s and other rotary wing aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan for “intermediate maintenance” rather than bringing them back to depots in the United

Article source: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/lists/posts/post.aspx?ID=2269

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Article source: http://www.heraldstandard.com/news/local_news/boeing-celebrates-century-milestone/article_69207a72-8444-55f0-ab9e-77ef3a6308c4.html

ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) — In a story published on Aug. 8 about an airplane similar to one flown by Amelia Earhart, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the aircraft was being flown to Atchison, Kansas, and was to be put on display at the Amelia Earhart Foundation. The fuselage of the airplane is being trucked from California to Atchison and will be stored at an unspecified location until the foundation can build a hangar to put the aircraft on permanent display.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Plane similar to Amelia Earhart’s headed to Atchison

The fuselage of an airplane similar to one flown by Amelia Earhart when she disappeared in 1937 is being trucked this week from California to Earhart’s hometown in eastern Kansas.

ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) — The fuselage of an airplane similar to one flown by Amelia Earhart when she disappeared in 1937 is being trucked this week from California to Earhart’s hometown in eastern Kansas.

The fuselage of a 1935 Lockheed Electra L-10E, outfitted exactly like the one Earhart used when she tried to fly around the world, has begun a five-day journey to Atchison, Kansas, where Earhart was born. It is expected to arrive on Friday.

The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/2b85THC ) the airplane will be put on permanent display in a hanger the Amelia Earhart Foundation plans to build as a museum commemorating the female aviator’s final flight. The Electra’s wings, which span nearly 60 feet, and other parts arrived in Atchison last month.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan

Article source: http://gazette.com/correction-earhart-plane-replica-story/article/feed/383374