Aviation News

One of our readers, who's getting ready for their private pilots license exam, just wrote in with a few "disambiguation" questions. Can anyone help him out? Please respond by commenting on this post.

Hi,

I am preparing for my PPl exam, and came across some terms that I don't understand, or the difference between:

1. "Orbit" and "Go around"
2. Line up and wait behind
3. Continue approach
4. Call area outbound
5. Who has right of way – an aircraft about to backtrack the runway, or an aircraft on final approach to land

Many thanks

Well, we're less than a month away from the 2008 tax deadline. I had the opportunity to ask Daniel Cheung, of Aviation Tax Consultants, LLC, a few questions that Pilot Advice readers might find helpful at this time of year. Daniel is a certified public accountant (CPA) who specializes in aviation taxes.

PilotAdvice.com: What kinds of tips can you give to student pilots? Are flight training expenses tax deductible?

DC: Flight training expenses can only be deductible if there is a legitimate business purpose and profit motive for incurring the expenses.

Generally, it is difficult to find a reason to deduct training expenses to acquire a private pilot license.

It is equally difficult to deduct the cost to obtain an ATP rating as this training can lead to a new profession.

PilotAdvice.com: What kinds of aircraft expenses are tax deductible? How do you take these kinds of deductions?

DC: Once you can answer the question that there is a business purpose to deduct aircraft expenses, where you deduct these expenses will be determined by the aircraft ownership structure.

President Obama's recent budget proposal plans to raise $7 billion in "direct user charges". In the spirit of transparency, the Obama administration has made the budget proposal available for public scrutiny. Aviation groups rose to the challenge and found the mention of user fees on page 129 of the document (available here).

The charges, which total about half of the FAA's budget, would begin being collected in 2011. User fees face stiff opposition by the aviation community and previous proposed legislation has failed in the Congress. Lobbying against these fees has already begun.

Just read about this journey around the world in a single engine plane. Nine adventurers flew 60,000 km in a 3 1/2 months.

These are the basic legs:
Leg 1: 3rd of November - 17th of November Palma de Mallorca, Spain to Bangkok, Thailand

Leg 2: 17th of November - 3rd of December Bangkok to Sydney, Australia

Leg 3: 15th of January 2008 - 3rd of February Sydney - Santiago de Chile, Chile

Leg 4: 3rd of February - 22nd of February Chile - Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Read more about the Smiling Flyers.

Flying cars have never seemed to move out of the concept phase and yet they remain a fascination for many. The challenge is kind of like designing an all-in-one printer/fax/scanner. At the end of the day you get a product that is mediocre in all three tasks. But innovative materials like carbon-fiber composites have begun dropping in price and allow for the construction of incredibly strong and light structures. These materials along with new lightweight engines are starting to make the dream a reality.

The Terrafugia Transition Proof of Concept Vehicle (pictured below) made its debut at AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh, WI this past July. The Transition is a roadable (the preferred industry term) sport aircraft being designed to fly up to 400 nautical miles and to easily convert between road and fly modes from the cockpit/driver's seat.

Flying car at home
Flying Car with Wings Deployed
Flying Car with Wings Folded

Seeding Plane

With skyrocketing rice prices, California farmers are turning to agricultural aviators to plant over 500,000 acres this spring. The work is dangerous and grueling and requires pilots to fly as low as 30 feet over the ground in single engine planes loaded with a ton of rice seed. Pilots can make up to 100 takeoffs and landings in a single day and use state-of-the-art GPS systems to drop loads with an accuracy of 3 feet.

Source: NY Times

Boeing has completed test flights of a two-seater airplane powered solely by fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries. During liftoff the plane used both of these power sources. Upon reaching a cruising altitude of 1000 meters, the batteries were disconnected and the plane flew for about 20 minutes at 100 km/h powered only by the fuel cells.

Fuel cells are an intriguing power system and have most commonly been used in space vehicles. They convert hydrogen directly into electricity and heat. Water is the only exhaust product.

We shouldn't expect to see commercially viable electric planes any time soon. Aviation applications will most likely include small unmanned aircraft or auxiliary power systems.

You can also download a free screensaver

General Aviation Technology Challenge
NASA and CAFE have partnered to create a new PAV Challenge for 2008. It will be a "Pentaviathon" to advance five vital General Aviation Technologies: noise reduction, fuel efficiency, speed, safety and ease of use. NASA has named the $300,000 flight competition "The General Aviation Technology Challenge". Registration for the competition officially opened on December 23, 2007. It will be conducted at CAFE's Flight Test Center in Santa Rosa, California from August 2-10, 2008.