We all have them but what do we use logbooks for? The obvious answer is to record our compliance with the rules and regulations. For example, have we done enough instrument approaches in the last six months or do we have enough solo hours to take our commercial check ride?

After ten years and nearly 800 hours of flying, I’m coming to the end of my first log book.

When you think about it, saying that your logbook is just paperwork is like saying that your wedding ring is just a fashion accessory.

As I look back over the record of ten years’ flying, it makes me think that logbooks are more important than that. They do a lot more than record compliance:

• Names and faces. It helps me remember Tim Harvey my first instructor.
• Milestones. My first qualifying cross country, my first solo and “Satisfactory PL(S) requirements satisfied” which is the bureaucrats way of saying ‘you’re a pilot now’.
• Moments. The flight in NASA’s Space Shuttle simulator when I was a tech journalist (the remarks say: “One abort RTLS. Two approaches KSC RWY 15.”), that test flight in a PC-12 over the Alps or the flight to Old Warden with two WWII veterans.
• Friends and family. I took Ellie to the Isle of White, Claire to Stratford, Tim to Exeter.
• Weather. “TCUs after lunch”, “Sun in Haze”, 132 hours in real or simulated IMC.
• Exploration. All those trips to Holland to practice my Dutch. Flights to Germany, France, Belgium, Scotland and Ireland. Going out of my comfort zone.
• Learning. It really is a licence to learn. My log book records all the crazy new things my instructors tried to get me to do: “NDB tracking”, “holds”, “Chandelles”, “8s on pylons” and all those new systems to learn on the Garmin Perspective, Avidyne R9 etc.
• Lots of lunches. I think I can account for the extra pounds I gained in the last ten years by looking at all the restaurants I have visited.

If my log book is my best index to all those memories and significant moments, why is the ‘remarks’ section so small. In 150 years’ time when I am (just) too old to fly, my log book will be all I have to remind me of all those hours in the air and my overriding thought will be ‘did I have tiny handwriting?’

Imagine yourself flying low and slow through New York City: buzzing the Statue of Liberty, weaving between buildings and circling the Brooklyn Bridge. Illegal? Unsafe? Probably. But Raphael Pirker of Team Blacksheep, a group of R/C airplane enthusiasts pioneering the use of first person video, has found a way to do it. His aerial joyride through New York has been viewed over a million times on YouTube and offers a unique and incredible view of Manhattan.

Some things to look for: The launch site is the newly opened section of the Brooklyn Bridge Park. You will notice what looks like a large bandage on the Brooklyn Bridge, part of a maintenance project that is scheduled to be completed 2014. The team makes some incredible low passes on buildings in Downtown Manhattan as well as the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The large suspension bridge halfway through the video is the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island. And it’s hard to miss the seven-pointed crown and torch of Lady Liberty.

In an interview, pilot Raphael Pirker discusses the necessity of experience and safety when operating R/C aircraft in the vicinity of people and property, and he warns that you should not try this at home. He claims that they were stopped by police and park rangers several times while making the video, but he kept everything safe and legal through extensive research of local laws and FAA regulations.

Regardless of the legality of the flight, questions have been raised as to the safety and wisdom of operating in such a populated area. Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Spinners just look cool. They give airplanes that sleek and aerodynamic “ready to take flight” look. And they are so pervasive in propeller-driven aircraft that we can scarcely imagine attaching a prop without that slick cone ahead of the nose. But spinners do more than look cool. They do cool.

Jabiru's cowl features a ridge that matches the contour of the spinner

The purpose of the spinner is to direct cooling air to the engine inlets. They work together with the cowling to maintain a stable and safe engine temperature.

Think of the spinner as an air-scoop. It makes contact with the relative wind and smoothly directs it into the cowling. The spinner is just the first step in the whole air-cooling process and as such, is a critical part of the airplane’s powerplant.

Of course, there are other benefits of having a spinner. Much like engine cowling, the spinner has a few aerodynamic benefits. In most cases, the spinner blends with the upper surface of the cowling and keeps the airflow smooth over the nose. This decreases drag and boosts fuel efficiency as well as speed.

The P-51D Mustang spinner seamlessly blends into the cooling air inlet and engine cowling

For more information on spinners, see Mike Collins’ article in the October 2011 edition of AOPA Flight Training magazine.

I fly a Cirrus SR22 for fun and on business and I’m based in England. Mostly I fly to Europe, especially Holland and Northern France and it’s fairly technical flying in airways and into big airports. But the other day the weather was beautiful and I just took the morning off and went flying. I went up to Wellesbourne Mountford solo VFR. A nice simple flight that I’ve done lots of times before. Sometimes the best flying is just going somewhere fun and familiar. It reminded me how many great airports we have in the UK that welcome light aircraft. Here are some of my favourites:

• Wellesbourne Mountford. This is actually near Stratford-upon-Avon and a great place to visit. There’s a classic English ‘greasy spoon’ airport diner on the field as well as a Vulcan bomber (see picture). Nearby, there’s Shakespeare’s birthplace and the Royal Shakespeare Company plus an old English country house.
• Newquay. Newquay is an old RAF base and it has a huge runway. But now it has been civilianised. What makes it special is that it is only a couple of miles from the North Cornwall coastline and a beautiful beach. You can have lunch at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant right on the beach or go to beautiful Padstow for lunch at Rick Stein’s.
• Duxford. Duxford is home to the Imperial War Museum’s aircraft collection. It’s a fantastic museum with a Concorde, a B52, an SR71 (just 49 higher than an SR22 – talk about turning it up to 11) and many other beautiful and famous planes. Even better if you can fly in during the Duxford air show. I was number 2 to a landing B17 last time!
• Cosford. Another airfield with a museum attached. This time it’s the RAF museum and more wonderful planes. The place is operated by the RAF but they welcome visitors and it’s a great place to fly into. I had a great day out there.
• Denham. My home base. It’s very close to London – just north of Heathrow Airport and there’s a train station within walking distance of the airfield  so you can land and be in Central London in 30-45 minutes. Unlike nearby Northolt or Farnborough, it doesn’t charge outrageous landing fees so you sometimes see four or five Pilatus PC-12s lined up by the tower as they ferry in their VIPs. (The runway’s too short for jets, however.)

“Maybe airplanes are a bit like people. You don’t really get to know them until after you’ve lived with them a while.” At least that’s what the narrator says in this 1943 Army Air Force training film. Even though this video and the associated technology is over 70 years old, a lot of the information is still relevant to pilots today. They stress the importance of checklist usage, reminders to trim the airplane and even crew resource management. I was amazed to hear the instructor hit on the hot-topic in today’s airline industry: “Flying means fatigue. Always run your checklist.”

I wonder how accurately these videos represent flying today’s restored B-17′s. Please drop a comment if you have any experience in present-day B-17′s.

Just a few weeks ago, the general aviation community rallied in Hartford Connecticut for the annual AOPA Aviation Summit. There was plenty of eye-candy and excitement for airplane geeks, including the news of a new set of rules governing airmen medical certification.

Relive some of the sites with this gallery of my favorite pictures from AOPA Summit.

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This sobering video from Tucson, AZ shows a nose gear collapse in a Remos G3. The accident occurred during a training flight with a student pilot at the controls. After flying a high approach, the aircraft lands hard, appears to bounce, then the nose gear collapses. According to the student pilot’s remarks, the airplane stalled prior to touch down, but I don’t buy it.

What really went wrong?

First off, this airplane did not stall. According to Remos, the G3 600 has a power-off stall speed of 45 mph and power-on stall speed of 49 mph. Just prior to impact, the airspeed indicator shows a speed just over 50 mph. Of course, stall is based on angle-of-attack and the actual speed at which an airplane stalls will vary. In this case, the pilot is in ground effect and is below max gross weight, both factors lowering the speed at which the wing will stall. Furthermore, there is a notable absence of a stall warning (edit – according to commenters, there is no stall horn on the Remos), which ought to have been blaring had a stall actually occurred.

The real problem lies in the flair. As the airplane enters ground effect, the pilot lifts the nose and balloons. He then overcorrects by pushing the nose over, generally a bad idea, and flies the airplane into the ground.

An extreme nose-low attitude right after the bounce.

Next, the airplane bounces, and this is where it gets real ugly. As the plane lifts into the air, the pilot pushes the nose way down. Just look at that pitch attitude prior to the second touch-down! As promised, the nose gear collapses and the beautiful LSA suffers some scrapes and a prop-strike.

Let this be a reminder to land with your nose up, and if the approach doesn’t look good, please go-around. This is also a sobering reminder as to why flight instructors have to be on guard all of the time.

Please post your thoughts in the comments section below.

If AOPA and EAA have their way, medical certificates may become a thing of the past. Amidst a dramatic Star Wars entrance at the annual Pancake Breakfast, AOPA President Craig Fuller and EAA President Rod Hightower announced a united front to change the face of medical airmen certification.

The two organizations are petitioning the FAA for an exemption to the medical certification rule that will allow a pilot to operate an aircraft recreationally with only a driver’s license and special training in medical self-certification.

Craig Fuller and Rod Hightower discussing medical certification at AOPA Summit 2011

Fuller and Hightower pointed out that this petition could save the federal government as much as $240 million without adversely affecting safety. For seven years, sport pilots have been allowed to operate without an FAA issued medical certificate and Hightower was eager to point out that there has not been a single medical incapacitation accident since the sport pilot rule was approved.

On safety, Fuller claimed that replacing medical certificates with a self-certification training course will likely improve safety. Under the current rules, pilots holding a 3rd class medical need only visit a doctor once every 24 to 60 calendar months depending on age, but receive very little training on determining their personal fitness for flight.

If accepted, the new exemption will allow many older pilots to return to the cockpit while opening the doors for more student pilots who might otherwise be denied private pilot training.

Rain set in early Friday morning in Hartford, shifting the focus from nearby AirportFest to the indoor exhibits and seminars at the Hartford Convention Center. Cirrus Aircraft got a lot of attention on the heals of their 5,000th delivery as well as Dave Klapmeier’s return to Cirrus as their new CEO. On the opposite end of the floor was brother Alan Klapmeier’s company, the Kestrel Aircraft Company with their roomy single-engine turboprop mockup. Terafugia’s roadable airplane was another big hit attracting crowds of people on the verge of realizing their dream of the flying car.

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Highlights from the seminar floor were Max Trescott’s thorough and technical talk on the finer points of GPS and WAAS approaches and a candid panel discussion on Spin Myths by Dave Hirschman, Judy Phelps and Mike Goulian. Ian Twombly and John Zimmerman’s seminar on iPad’s in the cockpit stole the show with a full house — over 450 in attendance, an indication of the increasing interest in mobile apps.

I’ll be at AOPA Summit 2011 all day Friday and Saturday (Sept. 23-24). Bookmark AviationChatter.com and follow me @patflannigan on Twitter for daily coverage, pictures and highlights from Hartford, CT.

A Cirrus Vision VLJ parked in the middle of downtown Hartford, CT? A sure sign that AOPA Summit is in town.