Cupertino Aviation would like to make you aware of a great organization – the Catholic Aviation Association. The CAA’s goal is to promote aviation through Faith, Flying, & Fellowship. There may be a local chapter near you. If not, start one! From their website: CONNECTINGWe want to connect Catholics in the workplace with one another for networking and to mutually…
You’re strapped into a Cessna 172 for the first time. The engine is running. Your instructor is beside you, watching. And directly in front of you is a panel full of dials, needles, and numbers. Six instruments arranged in two rows of three. They look simple enough, but those six instruments are about to become the most important source of…
The first time you walk up to a Cessna 172 and peer into the cowling during preflight, you’re looking at an aircraft engine with roughly 180 horsepower worth of carefully balanced mechanical complexity. Cylinders, pistons, a crankshaft, spark plugs, magnetos, a carburetor or fuel injection system, oil lines, cooling baffles, and a propeller bolted to the front. It’s a lot.…
Here’s something that surprises almost everyone the first time they learn it: you don’t “steer” an airplane the same way you steer a car. In a car, you turn the steering wheel and the front wheels point in the new direction. The car follows. Simple and linear. In an airplane, you move a control wheel (or stick, depending on the…