Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Missing its tail, pointing almost straight down, a Van’s RV-7A single-engine, two-seat homebuilt plummeted out of the blue and into the rocky ground. This wasn’t the first Van’s homebuilt to experience an in-flight tail separation. In most cases, some type of aerobatics with an increase in airspeed preceded loss of control.

True Airspeed 87

True Airspeed Indicated Airspeed Horizontal Stabilizer Aileron 87

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Missing its tail, pointing almost straight down, a Van’s RV-7A single-engine, two-seat homebuilt plummeted out of the blue and into the rocky ground. This wasn’t the first Van’s homebuilt to experience an in-flight tail separation. In most cases, some type of aerobatics with an increase in airspeed preceded loss of control.

True Airspeed 86

True Airspeed Indicated Airspeed Horizontal Stabilizer Aileron 86

AV Web

OCTOBER 6, 2024

To recap my journey, I’m an instrument-rated private pilot and former owner of a 1954 V-tail Bonanza – and before that, a two-seat Grumman AA1-B. Gus had scribbled down a list of mostly minor squawks, but he was thrilled with the true airspeed readouts he saw on the hour-plus hop to SMQ.

True Airspeed 52

True Airspeed Tail Weather Airplanes 52

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

My true airspeed, 68% power, 6,500 feet, was 161 mph. I lucked out to El Paso with a slight tail wind that got me down there in nice style. The many hours of plodding over these routes had put the towns, rivers, railroads and other features firmly in my mind and, like riding a bicycle, you never forget.

Weather 75

Weather Airplanes Lift Pilot 75

Chess In the Air

JUNE 24, 2022

The Rifle ASOS recorded a gust of 43 mph from the south: a 100-degree shift in direction, putting it right on his tail. The Rifle ASOS recorded a gust of 43 kt from the south: a 100-degree shift in direction, putting it right on his tail.” He expedited his landing trying to fly out of what was likely epic sink.

Pilot 52

Pilot AGL Wind Shear Runway 52