The Official Daily Newspaper of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
Monday, July 29, 2013
www.AirVenture.org
RedHawk 101: An experiment in flight training
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PHOTO BY MIKE STEINEKE
Take the venerable Cessna Skyhawk, stir in a mix of Diesel power, modern avionics, and a supportng cast of businesses ranging from insurers to leasors and you have Redbird Flight Simulations’ new concept for lowering the cost of flight training: the RedHawk.
TOWER FREQUENCY: Welcome, FAA controllers By Jack J. Pelton
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or many years the first welcome that pilots arriving at Oshkosh receive is from FAA controllers. It is tradition that the tower controller greets each landing pilot with those magic words, “Welcome to Oshkosh.” And I am so happy that the controllers are here again to welcome us all. We have made it very clear that EAA believes that controlling traffic for AirVenture Oshkosh is a fundamental part of the FAA mission. Separating traffic in crowded airspace is what the FAA is tasked to do no matter if that crowded airspace is at O’Hare, LaGuardia, or during AirVenture Oshkosh. That why we disagree with FAA leadership, who has decided to
By J. Mac McClellan
he RedHawk 101 is a highly modified Cessna 172 that made its public debut yesterday here at Oshkosh when EAA Chairman Jack Pelton landed the airplane on Runway 36. Redbird Flight Simulators is spearheading the RedHawk project that mates a Continental Centurion diesel engine to an existing Cessna 172 airframe. The engine-airframe combination is fully certified. Other companies participating in the RedHawk project are Aspen and Bendix/King for avionics, Brown Aviation for lease options, and Starr Companies and Aviation Insurance Resources for insurance. The goal of the RedHawk program is to create an effective training airplane for the global market using a mixture of existing and new technologies. The Continental diesel resolves the avgas issues that are critical around the world, and provides excellent fuel efficiency in any environment. The Skyhawk airframe has decades of proven experience as a durable and effective training aircraft. And by totally reconditioning an existing airframe, the RedHawk can be priced more than $100,000 less than the cost of a new 172. The RedHawk has Aspen flat glass PFD/MFD to teach new pilots to fly with the latest technology. Plans call for Bendix/King to supply a stack of avionics as soon as certification is complete. Cont. p20
Sponsor of the day PHOTO BY PHIL WESTON
charge EAA nearly $450,000 to cover the expense of providing the more than 80 controllers needed to supervise traffic flow during the Cont. p20