Was so excited yesterday when I was looking around on the Diamond Aircraft site and discovered a local FBO (KCAC) had recently been selected as a Diamond distributor — Okay, so I was only moderately intrigued at this point; give me a second I’ll get to the good part…the rest of the story after the jump.
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I want to thank Student Helicopter Pilot Jason of for the heads up on this story.
A few days ago, on the heals of the ENG helicopter crash in Phoenix, there was amazing video of an apparent engine failure on Bell 206 Jet Ranger Helicopter for the FOX station in Dallas-Fort Worth. The video shows them en-route when you can clearly hear an alarm tone — most likely the engine failure warning — go off in the cockpit. It sounds like the helicopter rolled after landing on some uneven ground. Everyone got out and there were only minor injuries. In a helicopter you only have a few seconds to: realize the failure, start the autorotation, get turned into the wind if possible, pick a safe landing site, and hopefully walk away. More details and links after the jump!
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Last month, AOPA had a great article (AOPA members only) by Steven W. Ells about Robinson Helicopters and their manufacturing facility in Torrance, CA.
It just so happened that I was out in the Los Angeles area for a training conference with 10,000 other network engineers and I realized how close to the factory we were going to be. A co-worker and pilot friend of mine and I decided to skip lunch on Tuesday and go take the tour in Torrance. Keith is not much of a helicopter person per se, but I’ll keep working on it. Full write-up after the jump!
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Last spring when I visited the Cessna Plant in Independence Kansas, they told us that 2006 was the last year could order standard round instrument gauges (commonly referred in the Cessna world as Nav I and Nav II avionics packages); being replaced by the new Garmin G1000 system (called Nav III). I was a little surprised at this decision given the G1000 had only been out a short while, however, on the trip to KIDP, I got my first taste of a G1000 equipped aircraft and although a little bit overwhelmed at first — mostly because I was flying a Turbo 182 for the first time — it was a very fun system to fly — with some CFI guidance in the next seat. Find out all about my G1000 checkout after the jump.
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Last week I was listening to episode 485 of Buzz Out Loud (BOL) and heard them discussing the recent Tivo earnings report and that Tivo was hinting at a possible price drop of the Series 3 (HD capable DVR that retails for about $800). After hearing that, I decided to check the Costco Web site and noticed that they added a new $200 rebate bringing the Costco price down to $399. This is an awesome deal for a HD capable Tivo! They are requiring a 1 year service contract, but I think I will be ditching my Comcast DVR very soon!
After discovering the price drop at Costco, I fired off an email to the BOL crew, and it turns out they picked it up on today’s episode (see show notes for episode 487). Molly, Tom and Veronica put on a great tech news podcast and I would encourage you to check it out. I listen to it everyday on my drive to work.
If you are interested in the audio of them discussing my email, my 30 seconds of “fame” starts at 24:17 into Episode 487. Or you can download the clip here. BOL Clip of Episode 487 
In Kansas City we’ve had a few days close to 70 degrees and nothing motivates the hibernating pilot like some warm weather. I have not flown since last fall and my instrument currency expired late last summer. I logged in to check some of rental availability and what I find is that some of my favorite rental aircraft have moved on to bigger (and better?) things.
Details about what changes happened to the KC rental market this winter after the jump.
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