G – Gas (Fuel on the proper tank, fuel pump on as required, positive fuel pressure)
U – Undercarriage (landing gear down)
M – Mixture (fuel mixture set)
P – Propeller (prop set)
S – Seat belts and Switches (lights, pitot heat, etc.)
To help remember 91.205(b) (VFR Day Instrument Requirements) we’ll use A TOMATO FLAMES. Once filled out it looks something like this
A – airspeed indicator
T – tachometer (for each engine)
O – oil pressure gauge (for each engine using a pressure system)
M – manifold pressure gauge (for each altitude engine)
A – altimeter
T – temperature gauge (for each liquid cooled engine)
O – oil temperature gauge (for each air cooled engine)
F – fuel gauge
L – landing gear position indicator
A – anti collision lights (for aircraft certified after March 11th 1996)
M – magnetic compass
E – ELT
S – safety belts
We have a limited supply of used headsets for sale. For details click here. We also have an older STS handheld transceiver for sale. We’re selling the transceiver for half of what they go for on ebay.
Earlier this month we celebrated Easter Sunday and Harry & Pat hosted an Easter dinner poolside at their home.
History Trivia: Have you ever thought about how the US adopted the current tail number system for all US registered aircraft. Click here to find out.
How many Beatles fans have ever heard of the Nerk Twins? John & Paul did one gig together as a duo (under the name Nerk Twins) on April 23 1960. Click here to read more.
Achievements & Special Recognition: Pat’s student Uma recently earned her Private Pilot Certificate. You may remember Uma, her and Pat hit a goose with this very aircraft. Click here for the post about the goose.
Harry recently said goodbye to an old friend. Detour Dave as he was known. Detour Dave was an airborne traffic reporter in the 80s and 90s. Harry flew him around in the early 1980s.
Aviation/Aviators in the news: Harry recently attended DPE class at FAA headquarters in Oklahoma City. He passed the final exam missing only one question. Harry should be up and running as a DPE in late April or early May. Visit the new Practical Test section of the Flymall for more information. Below is a picture of Harry at the school in Oklahoma City.
Here are a few rare pictures of Harry doing what he loves to do, fly airplanes.
64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes, and 5 seconds. That is how long a Cessna 172 flew without landing from December 1958 to February 1959. The two pilots refueled from a truck and slept in shifts on a single mattress. Since they did not land anywhere except from the departure airport, they could not count it as cross country time!!!
Car/Motorcycle Show News: The Flymall team attended the annual Laytonsville Volunteer Fire Department all you can eat roast beef and shrimp dinner. The fire department will often bring their 1930 Brockway Fire Truck to Harry’s Laytonsville Cruise In. In fact, a few of the firemen that work there own their own vintage fire trucks. If you enjoy looking at fire trucks close up and shrimp & beef, this annual dinner is for you. In addition to the 1930 Brockway, they have several other older fire trucks that are kept in working condition. Click here for more pictures from the event.
Here is their 1930 Brockway.
Here’s some good news for our classic car and motorcycle friends/fans. Harry is becoming a broker for Hagerty Collector Car insurance. We can appraise your collector vehicle and now we can offer insurance to you as well. The Flymall Wheels & Wings site is becoming your one stop site for all of your wheels and wings needs.
The Flymall team attended one of District Harley Davidson Saturday morning breakfast. Jett is very welcome there and she usually makes their Facebook page.
Barn Finds/Hangar Finds: In the past we have brought you barn finds and hangar finds in this section. This month we have a first for the newsletter. We have a wall find.
A 1916 Traub. This bike is the rarest of the rare! This 1916 Traub was discovered in 1967, concealed in a brick wall of a residence in Chicago. Its maker is unknown. All of its parts–excluding the seat, carburetor, and magneto appear to be hand-built. None of the parts are interchangeable with the components of any other early machines known. The bike is in perfect operating order and performs flawlessly up to speeds in excess of 80 mph. Although the bike’s origin is still a mystery, efforts to uncover the Traub’s true story continues to this day!
CFI / DPE Notes: Visit our new Practical Test page on the Flymall. Harry will be available to speak at flight school monthly meetings sharing his experience as a long time active flight instructor (over 33 years) and pilot examiner. Harry is in the process of making his Question & Answer section open to the public for a small fee. Click here for a slide show highlighting the Question & Answer section.
Weather in the news:On Friday April 5 2019 we had another storm system moving from west to east that stretched from the southern border all the way up into Canada.
Check out the TAFs for BWI and IAD for April 27 2019. Some strong winds for a spring frontal passage.
Three Wheel Association (TWA): Harry is currently speaking with the owner of 3-wheelers.com to purchase the website. This will be a great addition to TWA and Harry’s 3 wheeler museum.
At the same show there was a half scale replica of an 1886 Olds 3 wheeler. This was the very first Oldsmobile. The builder and owner is an old friend of Harry’s and there are plans for the builder to build another one for Harry’s collection.
Prototypes: Just like the wall find we highlighted in our Barn Finds section, here is another one of a kind! A factory 1 of 1 1971 GTO Judge Wagon. Special ordered from the factory and signed off on by Jim Wangers and John DeLorean themselves.
Animals in the headlines: Meet Juji the dog. A Facebook find by Harry. A photographer that started a story about his dog that grew to a very large size. It was just a story, the pictures are done in PhotoShop. Still, very cool!
We close this newsletter with these words of wisdom: Begin each day with your favorite music.
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METAR aviation routine weather
report
KBNA Nashville, TN
281250Z date 28th, time 1250 UTC
(no modifier) This is a manually generated
report, due to the absence of
“AUTO” and “AO1 or AO2”
in remarks
33018KT wind three three zero at one
eight
290V360 wind variable between
two nine zero and three six
zero
1/2SM visibility one half
R31/2700FT Runway three one RVR two
thousand seven hundred
SN moderate snow
BLSN FG visibility obscured by
blowing snow and fog
VV008 indefinite ceiling eight
hundred
00/M03 temperature zero, dew point
minus three
A2991 altimeter two niner niner one
RMK remarks
RAE42 rain ended at four two
SNB42 snow began at four two
METAR aviation routine weather
report
KSFO San Francisco, CA
041453Z date 4th, time 1453 UTC
AUTO fully automated; no human
intervention
VRB02KT wind variable at two
3SM visibility three
BR visibility obscured by mist
CLR no clouds below one two
thousand
15/12 temperature one five, dew
point one two
A3012 altimeter three zero one two
RMK remarks
AO2 this automated station has a
weather discriminator (for
precipitation)
SPECI KCVG 152224Z 28024G36KT 3/4SM +TSRA BKN008 OVC020CB 28/23 A3000 RMK TSRAB24 TS W MOV E
SPECI (nonroutine) aviation special
weather report
KCVG Cincinnati, OH
152228Z date 15th, time 2228 UTC
(no modifier) This is a manually generated
report due to the absence of
“AUTO” and “AO1 or AO2”
in remarks
28024G36KT wind two eight zero at
two four gusts three six
3/4SM visibility three fourths
+TSRA thunderstorms, heavy rain
BKN008 ceiling eight hundred broken
OVC020CB two thousand overcast
cumulonimbus clouds
28/23 temperature two eight,
dew point two three
A3000 altimeter three zero zero zero RMK remarks
TSRAB24 thunderstorm and rain began
at two four
TS W MOV E thunderstorm west moving
east
Earlier in March, the Flymall team attended their annual FAA FAAST Team Rep training at the College Park Airport. Afterwards they spent some time in the College Park Aviation Museum. Great place, with lots of aviation history. Click here for some pictures of their visit to the museum.
The Flymall is your one stop source for pilot supplies, automotive parts, appraisals, real estate, aircraft sales, and more. We have a limited supply of used headsets for sale. For details click here. We also have an older STS handheld transceiver for sale. We’re selling the transceiver for half of what they go for on ebay.
In late February Harry visited his hometown of Dundalk Maryland and stopped in the famous Herman’s Bakery for a few of their famous strawberry shortcakes. A few (he purchased 6 of them)!!!
This month we’re introducing a new section to our newsletter, History Trivia. We’ll have something new each month. We also have a “Today in Aviation History” fact at the bottom of our webpages each day.
History Trivia:Does the name John Coffey ring a bell? John Coffey was a crew member on the Titanic. He snuck off in Queenstown Ireland. Some reports say that he had a bad feeling about the trip, possibility a disaster was going to happen. Father Francis Browne was another passenger that got off of Titanic in Queenstown Ireland. Browne is best known for his pictures he took of the Titanic and the crew before he disembarked.
Earlier in March we remembered George Martin, The Beatles producer. He passed away on March 8 2016. Many do not know that George Martin played on many Beatles songs. You can visit March 8 in our Events Calendar to see the list of songs George Martin played on. This date along with many other Beatles dates are listed in our Events Calendar.
Achievements & Special Recognition: Earlier in March we helped another aircraft broker sell this fine looking Socata TB20. There’re usually very hard to sell since there is not a big market for them. We sold the aircraft is less then a month to one of our repeat customers. Like most of our aircraft sales, this was purchased sight unseen based on our good reputation.
It has taken years to build up an excellent sales reputation and to be able to sell aircraft sight unseen. We’re proud of that!
Aviation/Aviators in the news: Chances are that if you go to an airshow this season, you will see a jet powered aircraft fly. Are you familiar with the dawn of the jet age? The jet engine had a slow start with numerous setbacks. The jet engine wasn’t always smooth sailing. Frank Whittle is credited with inventing the turbojet engine. Whittle started tinkering with engine design in the 1920s. He first started with a motorjet design. He soon discovered that a motorjet would weigh as much as a conventional piston engine of the day, so the motorjet idea was scrapped. That is when he switched to the turbine idea. Whittle has numerous setbacks and delays, some due to financial reasons. Meanwhile in Germany, Hans von Ohain had started work on a prototype in 1935, and had by this point passed the prototype stage and was building the world’s first flyable Jet aircraft, the Heinkel HeS 3. Whittle did not have a jet aircraft flying until 1941 while Hans von Ohain had a jet flying by 1939. Both Whittle and von Ohain had setbacks and numerous other issues, however, they started the jet age of flight.
Ira Walker of Walker Aviation is the shop for restoration of your fabric wing aircraft. Ira is a long time advertiser on the Flymall. Ira also restores and builds Snow Cars. Click on the image below to be redirected to Ira’s Facebook post about his Snow Cars. You can also visit Ira’s Facebook page called Forgotten Transportation of America for more interesting videos on his snow cars. You can access Ira’s page on the Flymall by clicking here.
Car/Motorcycle Show News: Numerous air show and car show events have been added to our Events Calendar. You can also visit the Day Tripper section of the Flymall for fun and unique places to visit, like Jules’ Undersea Lodge. The Laytonsville Cruise In is 10 years old this year. We have a lot of new special events for the cruise in this year.
Here are just a few of the surprises for the Laytonsville Cruise In this year:
We plan to have a sponsor for the opening cruise in (May 17). Free ice cream if you drive a classic vehicle.
June, July, August, September – The TFR and Kraemer Aviation will sponsor awards for the 3rd Friday of each month for awards. We plan to mix it up as far as voting goes: Popular vote, Judges, Participant votes.
We may also have various food trucks on Friday.
Barn Finds/Hangar Finds: The Flymall Forum is a great resource for reports on various vehicles, motorcycles, aircraft, and more. You can add a review or just see what others have written. The forum is accessible from our home page Flymall.org. The forum has a lot of other useful information such as a section on Home Improvement and a Pilots and Pets section.
This month we have a hangar find. Harry has located a Beechcraft Sundowner that has been sitting for a while in a hangar. It does have some current damage and damage history. This would be a great buy for someone just for the engine. Click here for details.
Our Market Watch is a valuable tool for researching prices for various vehicles, aircraft, collectibles, and more. It is smart phone friendly and easy to use. For many vehicles (aircraft, automobiles, motorcycles, etc) our Market Watch is the only database available to view price data.
CFI / DPE Notes: Visit the new Practical Test page on the Flymall. Harry has a Question & Answer database that references the Airman Certification Standards with the Knowledge Test Codes. You can also look up a Knowledge Test Code and see the FAA questions for that code. Harry plans to have FAA test figures referenced as well as the FAA figures for all of the maneuvers required on a Practical Test. You can search it by key words. You can search it by the different Areas of Operation in the ACS or PTS. It is a work in progress. It will soon be available to the public for a small fee for a year access. Click here for sample screenshots of the database. We’re considering a $12 per year fee for access to the database. If you interested you can leave some feedback in the comment section below.
Weather in the news: March 3 2019 winter storm.
Here is a video showing some tornado damage at an airport. This was from early in March.
March 9 2019 storm that stretched from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Three Wheel Association (TWA): Morgan, Darmont, Sandford??? What is the connection?
About the time of WWI, a French gentleman named Robert Darmont started his business as a importer of the Morgan 3 wheeler from England. After the war he obtained a license from Morgan to build the Morgan 3 wheeler in France. The Darmont-Morgan was born. The Morgan and Darmont-Morgan are basically identical, although one was built in France. Pictured below is a 1926 Darmont Special.
Stewart Sandford, another French gentleman was selling the Morgan 3 wheeler in France. Stewart saw the need for a faster, more powerful 3 wheeler so he designed the Sandford 3 wheeler. It had a 4 cylinder Ruby engine in it. Very different from the Morgan. The Sandford is all steel with the engine fully enclosed. The Morgan F series 3 wheeler did have an enclosed engine. A Sandford is pictured below.
Both the Darmont and Sandford are often confused as Morgan Three Wheelers.
Prototypes: This month we’re featuring some GM concept cars and prototypes. Here is an interesting GM concept car, the Corsair.
Here is an older post we did just on the Chevy Camaro and some of the Camaro concepts. From his very early teens, Harry was a Camaro man. His first car was a 1972 Camaro. He soon added a second Camaro, because two are better than one. Pictured below is Harry with his 1972 Camaro.
Animals in the headlines: This month our own Jett is in the headlines. She often accompanies Harry on aircraft sales trips and can often be found just hanging out at the airport. Click here for her page on the Flymall.
We close this newsletter with these words: Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
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As a young child in the early 1960s I grew up hanging out
in the garage with my father, at the marina with my grandfather, and at small
local airports. My interest in flying
cars started about that time. Around
1963 I was given a book called “The Golden Stamp Book of Automobiles of Today
and Yesterday”. I still have this book
and the price tag on it was 42 cents.
The last car featured in the book was called the “Ford Dream Car”. It was an atomic powered car that could
fly. It was around this time that the
United States was in the space race with Russia. In school, classes were stopped to watch our
rockets being launched. As a young child
seeing the Ford Dream Car and watching rockets being launched into space, I
became very excited about flying cars. I
would see sports cars of the 1960s like the Corvette Stingray and tell my dad
that car could be made into a flying car.
I would often draw cars with wings on them. The book I received in the 1960s has
developed into a very large collection of flying car related memorabilia,
models, books, videos, and other miscellaneous items.
Fast forward to the 1980s and I have my pilot’s
license. And my interest in flying cars
was still there. It was when I started
using small aircraft to travel that I realized how practical a flying car would
be. After renting an airplane, I still
needed to rent a car to get to my final destination.
Flying cars are just about as old as airplanes. Glenn Curtiss is credited with having the first
flying car. It was 1917 When Glenn
Curtiss showed the world his “Autoplane” at the Pan-American Aeronautical
Exposition in New York City. This was
only 14 years after the Wright Bros first flew and just nine years after the
Model T was introduced.
Over the 100 plus years of powered flight, there have
been numerous attempts to build a flying car.
In the 1930s Waldo Waterman designed and built a 3 wheel flying car
called the Aerobile. The wings were
detachable for ground operations. Powered
by a water cooled, six cylinder, Franklin (Tucker) engine, in the air, it was
capable of speeds as high as 110 miles per hour. A prototype flew in 1937, a total of six were
made. As with many of Waldo Waterman’s
designs, this was tailless.
After the birth of powered flight and once the average
person could get a pilot’s license, we soon discovered that general aviation
aircraft only got you close to your destination. Once you landed, you still needed ground
transportation. Flying cars/roadable
aircraft were born practically out of necessity. This is very true with Robert Fulton and his
Airphibian. During WWII Robert traveled
a lot by small aircraft only to wait at the airport for his ground
transportation. He thought if only my
small airplane could drive me to town. And
in 1946 Robert Fulton designed the Airphibian.
It could convert from plane to car in about 5 minutes with no
tools. It has been reported that the
Airphibian was as easy to drive as it was to fly. It could fly at speeds up to 110 MPH and 55
MPH on the ground. The drawback to
Fulton’s design was that you had to detach the wings and leave them at the
airport.
Molt Taylor and his Aerocar made an appearance around
1950. Molt Taylor met Robert Fulton and saw his Airphibian. Molt had a better idea. Why not make the wings fold back and form a
trailer? This way if you had to land
because of bad weather, you could continue on to your destination with the
wings in tow. Once the weather improved,
reconnect the wings and you’re back in the air. Two models of the Aerocar were build.
Fast forward to the 21st century we find the Switchblade,
a 3 wheel flying motorcycle. Still in
the development stage, the plans are to offer the Switchblade as a kit. The Switchblade is built of carbon fiber and
other new light weight materials. The
company hopes to have a prototype flying by the end of 2019.
There is a flying car that you can purchase now. The PAL-V built by the Dutch company PAL-V
International BV. Their vehicle is an
autogyro or gyrocopter that is capable of being driving on public roads. The last check of their website shows a price
of $399,000 USD for their basic model.
These are just a few of the attempts to build and market
a successful flying car or roadable aircraft.
Over the past 100 plus years there have been numerous attempts, some
never making it past the drawing stage.
But as the 21st century begins, there are many
visionary companies that see a world filled with cars that fly. Some are nearly
ready for production, some will be all electric, some will be based on
motorcycle frames. The industry is in a
technological revolution, much like cars at the dawn of the last century.
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Looking for something we covered in the past? Our newsletter section is searchable. Just use the search box (in the newsletter section) to search for key words or a phrase. We have thousands of topics in our archive.
It has been 50 years since the Beatles’s roof top concert. Visit our Events Calendar for more dates in Beatle history. Just select the “Beatles” category. You can have the calendar email you a reminder about an event, or you can download the event to your calendar.
The Flymall team attended The Family Room birthday party earlier this month and Pat got to meet the mayor of Laytonsville.
In an effort to better serve the needs of our aviators selling airport homes or airport property, Harry has teamed up with Sarah McNelis of Long & Foster Real Estate. This partnership will allow us to better serve our clients from coast to coast when it comes to selling their unique airport homes. Visit the Real Estate section of the Flymall for more information.
Achievements & Special Recognition:
Here’s a great story about a formerly homeless young lady in Oklahoma City who was able to rise out of a bad situation to become an automative mechanic, aviation technician, and now a civilian employee (working on jet aircraft) at Tinker Air Force Base, and also an instructor at MetroTech teaching others. Very inspirational story! Porsha Lippincott is a fine example of a person that turned around a bad situation and made her life better!
February 20, 1962: John H. Glenn becomes the first American astronaut to orbit the earth. If you enjoy aviation history, we have a new fact each day at the bottom of our webpages. For some days there are more than one, just refresh the page to see if a new fact appears. We also have the current aviation news headlines on our main page.
Aviation/Aviators in the news: Want to see the world’s oldest aircraft fly? Add a visit to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome to your bucket list for this summer. They have a 1909 Bleriot XI that flies regularly throughout the airshow season June to October each year in Rhinebeck New York. Click here for pictures from when the Flymall team visited the Aerodrome years ago.
Where is my flying car??? It’s in The Netherlands! A bit pricey, but you can purchase a roadworthy, airworthy flying car. The PAL-V Flying Car.
Here is an interesting watercraft we found. Its called Flynano. Its half jet-ski, half airplane. The company claims that you do not need a pilot’s license to fly it. Not sure about that part. Click here for their site.
A Facebook find. Here is a story about a solar powered aircraft that will fly to the edge of space and back.
Harry’s friend Brenda who started Bravo Flight Training at the Frederick Airport has expanded to KGAI. If you are looking for an award winning flight school in Montgomery County Maryland, Bravo is the place to go.
Car/Motorcycle Show News: Have you ever seen a Ford electric scooter? Here’s the Ojo Electric Scooter. This would be great to scoot around at car shows this season. Imagine the territory you could cover. These are built in California by Ojo Electric under a license agreement with Ford. A win win situation for both companies. Ojo, a little unknown company gets to put the familiar Ford logo on it’s new line of electric scooters. Now-a-days everyone is all about cleaner and greener. The Ojo is just that and it even has the Ford name on it.
The “Speeding Ticket” is 123 years old. In 1896 driver Walter Arnold received Britain’s first speeding ticket. He had been caught in a Motor Carriage very similar to what we have pictured here. He was going four times the speed limit – at 8mph. He was chased and pulled over by a policeman on a bicycle.
Here are some interesting predictions regarding cars of the future. This was published in a book in the early 1960s. Next to the prediction we have stated about when this was available.
By the 1970s we’ll have:
Gas turbine engines in cars – Chrysler had one by 1963. However, Pontiac had built one in 1953. Although not intended for production, it was called the Firebird I.
Here is a story about a triple Bugatti (yes, 3 of them) barn find. Click here for the story on BarnFinds.com.
Need help restoring your barn find or hangar find? Visit the Tech Tip section of the Flymall for resources to help you while you’re restoring your barn find.
CFI / DPE Notes: Pilots and flight instructors can visit Harry’s lesson plan page on the Flymall.
Stay tuned for a new section on the Flymall. Coming soon, Practical Test. This page will have information for pilots preparing for checkrides.
Weather in the news: We have had a lot of winter storms this season. January 29 2019 snow. Click here for some pictures from this snow storm.
The next day, January 30 2019 we had a snow squall come through that produced strong winds and heavy snow.
And on February 20 2019 we have another storm in the northeast with a rainbow of colors on the radar.
Three Wheel Association (TWA): Here is an interesting 3 wheeler, its called the Ampere. Its got 1960s Corvette styling. Their website said that it will be available this year (2019).
TWA had a few of their vintage 3 wheelers out for some exercise earlier this month.
For other vehicles in the TWA collection click here.
Here is an interesting story about a French three wheeler that was entered in the inaugural Peking to Paris race and ended up in the Gobi Desert west of Beijing, abandoned for more than a century. Click here for the full story.
Prototypes: The Flymall team attended the District Harley Davidson Open House for the roll-out of the all new all electric Harley Davidson. Just a few short years ago this was just a concept with a prototype.