- 5 hours ago
For educational purposes
Flying for sport, business, agriculture and photographic survey, a fleet of mostly single engine light aircraft comprised a fast growing segment of aviation.
The technological inventions in general aviation are usually not state of the art, but rather clever ways of using existing technology to make affordable aircraft for private owners.
Featured Aircraft:
- Beechcraft Bonanza
- IAI Westwind business jet
Flying for sport, business, agriculture and photographic survey, a fleet of mostly single engine light aircraft comprised a fast growing segment of aviation.
The technological inventions in general aviation are usually not state of the art, but rather clever ways of using existing technology to make affordable aircraft for private owners.
Featured Aircraft:
- Beechcraft Bonanza
- IAI Westwind business jet
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01Hi, I'm Neil Armstrong. Join me for an adventure through time.
00:58After the First World War,
01:00unemployed military pilots and aviation enthusiasts search for an affordable way to fly.
01:06Many turned to war surplus airplanes as a source of cheap private aircraft.
01:12Soon the fledgling industry realized the potential of this market.
01:16Companies began building aircraft for barnstorming, pilot training, air taxi, mail service, bush flying, crop dusting, and acrobatics.
01:25In time, this market became known as general aviation.
01:37In the 1930s, many airports were little more than farmers' fields.
01:42Civilian flying, for the most part, was done by barnstorming and stunt pilots.
01:55The de Havilland Tiger Moth was considered the definitive biplane trainer.
02:00They were produced initially in 1931 for the Royal Air Force.
02:06It was simple in design and construction, and very inexpensive to own.
02:11For many private pilots, there was no formal training.
02:14They just bought military surplus aircraft and took off.
02:18They either got the hang of it, or they didn't.
02:22As a famous maxim puts it, there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots.
02:37Slowly, those farmers' fields, especially the ones near cities, developed into airports.
02:44Businesses began seeing that putting an aircraft to work made sense.
02:49Mail delivery was one of the first uses.
02:52Private company mail planes under government contract hauled letters and packages in all kinds of weather.
03:00And general aviation's small aircraft brought civilization to remote places of the world.
03:07Plus, businessmen were having their first flights on company-owned aircraft, cutting travel time in half.
03:14In aviation, there's always been that irresistible desire to set records.
03:20New altitudes.
03:22Longer distances.
03:23The need to be first at whatever.
03:27Pilots set records for money and fame.
03:30It was a glamorous, highly paid, and dangerous business.
03:34In 1934, a young woman flying this racer in France set a new world speed record of 275 miles per
03:41hour.
03:42She was killed three months later in a training flight.
03:47That same year, the Italian Angelo and his Mackie seaplane upped the record to more than 400 miles per hour.
03:55In 1935, New Zealand's Jean Batten was the first woman to solo across the South Atlantic.
04:01American Amelia Earhart was the first woman to solo across the North Atlantic in May of 1932.
04:06The world was shocked when she disappeared on a later Pacific flight.
04:111933 saw Wiley Post circumnavigate the globe in seven and three-quarter days.
04:17The legendary Howard Hughes would later do it in four days.
04:22There were many more risking it all, and if lucky enough to survive, getting rich and things.
04:29Not all aviators, though, had the best built or maintained airplanes.
04:34With all the resulting crashes, the public considered airplanes dangerous toys.
04:40The U.S. government imposed more and more regulation on civilian aviation.
04:45To set a record, pilots now needed aircraft certification before they set out.
04:52In 1938, Douglas Corrigan was forbidden to make a solo transatlantic flight.
04:58The U.S. government refused to issue a certificate for the trip because of his poorly restored aircraft.
05:04He got into his Curtis Robin anyway and said he was flying from New York to California.
05:11After a 28-hour trip, Corrigan landed in Dublin, Ireland.
05:15That earned him the nickname of Wrong Way Corrigan.
05:19Doug claimed he'd misread a compass.
05:25Early general aviation aircraft had very few instruments.
05:29A compass, altimeter, and that was about it.
05:349-1-5-8-Juli, departing runway 4, left closed traffic.
05:38Now, flying is much more involved.
05:42As a wise flight instructor said to a young student pilot,
05:45you need to know at least 1,000 very simple things to fly.
05:50The trouble is, you need to know them all.
05:53All the time.
05:55Windsock says a little bit left crosswind.
05:57That's it.
05:58No left wind down in the can.
06:00That's it.
06:01That's it.
06:02Better flow.
06:04Stop warning.
06:08Very good.
06:10Okay.
06:10Flaps down.
06:11Full pump.
06:14The private aircraft had to be cheap and reliable.
06:17Early models had wood and metal structures covered with fabric.
06:22It had one small piston engine, enough space for one passenger,
06:26some luggage, and fuel for a short trip.
06:32In contrast, the modern private aircraft is fully equipped
06:36with radio, navigational equipment, extremely reliable engines,
06:41wing flaps, and dual controls for the pilots.
06:45Private flying has become costly, but also safe and dependable.
06:54During the Great Depression, when money was scarce and flying was for the very rich,
07:00a man by the name of C.G. Taylor created the J-3 Cub.
07:04A short time later, William T. Piper bought Taylor's company and his airplane.
07:11With the onset of World War II, the production of general aviation aircraft came to a halt.
07:18Piper's company built 10,000 military versions of the Cub, called the L-4.
07:23The Piper Cub then became the catalyst for the phenomenal post-war boom in private aircraft
07:30in the U.S. and around the world.
07:33War surplus made them plentiful.
07:36Piper Aircraft Company would join Cessna Aircraft of Wichita, Kansas
07:41as the world's major producers of general aviation aircraft during the 50s,
07:46and the next two decades as well.
07:49Both sought to make private and corporate aviation common, and did so.
07:54All of the early post-war aircraft were tail draggers,
07:58meaning the third wheel was under the tail.
08:00To this day, some pilots are very chauvinistic about their tail draggers,
08:05and insist they're still the only way to fly.
08:08Landing one requires the learned skill of making the perfect three-point landing.
08:14No less than perfect, and one might expect a ground loop.
08:18That is, a dangerous spin out of control on landing.
08:22Then, in the early 50s, small airplane makers developed tricycle gear models,
08:27meaning the third wheel was under the nose.
08:30They were easier to land, and ground loops were unlikely.
08:34Piper Aircraft Company claimed anyone could fly one.
08:38And then, in 1964, Piper's PA-28 Cherokee, a two-seater,
08:44became the backbone of its single-engine line of airplanes.
08:48The Cherokee also began a Piper tradition,
08:51naming its aircraft after Native American Indian tribes and weapons.
08:56The other giant of U.S. general aviation was Cessna.
09:00In the 20s, Clyde Cessna, along with Walter Beach and Lloyd Stearman,
09:05started the Travel Air Company in Wichita, Kansas.
09:09Cessna and Beach left to form their own companies.
09:12One of the first post-war Cessnas was the all-metal 195 Airmaster,
09:17initially sold in 1947, and it was very popular.
09:22They ranged in price from $12,000 to $24,000.
09:26Its following of friends and owners is so loyal,
09:30there still exists the International 195 Club.
09:36In 1959, Cessna came out with its popular two-place trainer,
09:41the Cessna 150, later known as the Cessna 152.
09:45Earlier, in 1956, Cessna had introduced the immensely successful
09:49four-place Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
09:55It seemed as the 70s approached,
09:57there was no stopping the size of the general aviation fleet.
10:01In the late 70s, though,
10:03the production of new aircraft began to decline.
10:07Aviation fuel skyrocketed in price,
10:10then climbed higher.
10:12And then a complex legal concept erupted in U.S. courts
10:16called product liability.
10:19Aircraft manufacturers began paying huge sums of money
10:22in product liability lawsuits, settlements,
10:26and insurance from aircraft accidents
10:28they did not feel responsible for.
10:31In 1985, Cessna took action
10:34and stopped all of its production of 172s
10:37and all singles, except one,
10:40a large cargo-hulling caravan.
10:43Piper struggled along until it ran out of money in 1991.
10:47The general aviation fleet of used private aircraft remains large
10:51because they get refurbished quite often
10:54and by regulation remain airworthy.
10:57Even so, the fleet is aging.
10:59And that worries pilot Hal Chevers.
11:02He is the successful owner of Sporty's Pilot Shop,
11:05which sells aviation products to pilots worldwide.
11:09Since few new pilot training aircraft are being made,
11:13Chevers believes the supply of them is critical.
11:16He wants to use an existing Cessna 172 Skyhawk
11:20as a template to develop blueprints
11:23so he may build and sell this aviation favorite.
11:27As for cloning the 172,
11:30the reason for doing it is
11:31it's the most successful airplane ever built.
11:35There are about 30,000 of them.
11:36The universities like them for flight training
11:40and so do the fixed-base operators.
11:43It's an ideal aircraft for giving flight training in
11:47and then it can be sold on the used market
11:49as an entry-level family aircraft.
11:53While Piper and Cessna flourished in the 60s,
11:56so did Walter Beach's Beach Aircraft of Wichita.
11:59Though it did not produce the same volume of aircraft,
12:03it did manufacture more expensive corporate aircraft
12:06like the venerable Twin Engine Beach and the King Air.
12:10Beach still makes them and the Beach Bonanza.
12:13The Bonanza is called the Mercedes
12:16of single-engine executive aircraft
12:18because it's spacious, luxurious, and a pleasure to fly.
12:22It is extremely stable in the air and responsive, too.
12:27Los Angeles TV newscaster Hal Fishman
12:29both plays and works in his Beach Craft Bonanza.
12:33Neil Armstrong joined him in the cockpit
12:35for a news mission over Los Angeles.
12:38Beautiful.
12:39Yep, thank you.
12:47Let's make yourself at home right there.
12:49This is a pretty familiar cockpit to you, though, isn't it?
12:52Yes.
12:54Bonanza, 499, are you capable of an immediate?
12:57499, affirmative.
13:00Bonanza, 499, taxi and a position in a hole.
13:02Be ready to go.
13:06There's that turbo cutting in.
13:09There's that turbo.
13:09Yep.
13:10There's that turbo.
13:11There's that turbo.
13:12There's that turbo.
13:12There's that turbo.
13:16...
13:18...
13:19...
13:25...
13:26...
13:29What's the maintenance thing?
13:32No problem.
13:34You know, what's special?
13:35Nothing.
13:36It's never created a problem.
13:40$600 and $650, maybe.
13:41I suppose you're really able to go essentially anywhere with it.
13:47That's right. It's equipped with Loran, which is a great aid to get to the shortest distance between two points
13:55and not having to depend upon line-of-sight radio signals.
14:00And it has a flight director. The engine is a 300-horsepower continental turbocharged.
14:08And it has a yaw damper on it. It's a three-axis autopilot.
14:12So it enables us to do just about any kind of aerial coverage we want.
14:17And we can go 1,200 miles range with the aircraft before refueling, which would be stretching it a bit,
14:24but figured a comfortable 1,000 miles.
14:28And at speeds of 230 miles an hour, you can really get around and cover the news.
14:39I love to fly and I love to broadcast.
14:42You have limited choices as to what you could use for this kind of responsibility.
14:48You certainly couldn't use commercial aircraft.
14:50No, that's right.
14:51You have to know where you want to go when you want to get there.
14:54Precisely.
14:55It has to be available at a moment's notice.
14:58That's one of the great things about general aviation.
15:01It gives you the ability to do the task without having to depend upon a commercial air carrier.
15:07Now, we'll put the cameraman in the back, right behind us.
15:10You can see all the room we have back there.
15:13And he'll shoot out the back window so that the lone wing is not in his way.
15:18He gets a completely clear shot of whatever we want to shoot from the air.
15:22Oh, I see.
15:24I mean, we have photographed right up here along the shore.
15:26We've photographed oil wells that have blown out.
15:30We've had ships in distress.
15:32We had Soviet spy ships back in the old Cold War days that were flying offshore.
15:37We've photographed those, and we bring the story back to the people.
15:54The use of jets in general aviation is limited to the more expensive side of the market.
16:00They're most often used by large companies for their specialized travel needs.
16:05The business jet is fully equipped, just like any modern airliner.
16:11New models are continually being developed,
16:13and business jets are perhaps the most thriving part of general aviation.
16:26The Learjet has been steadily developed over the years and built in large numbers.
16:31Its prolific creator, Bill Lear, also invented the car radio, 8-track stereo, the ADF, aircraft automatic direction finder, and
16:42the autopilot.
16:43The first of the modern corporate jet transports was the 1963 Learjet 23.
16:49It hangs in the Smithsonian.
16:52The newest versions accommodate more passengers and fly well above any weather systems.
17:00Business interest in executive jet travel has mushroomed.
17:04Corporate jets today can cost anything from a few million dollars on up to more than 30 million.
17:09For the Rolls-Royce of corporate aviation, the Gulfstream IV.
17:19The Gulfstream IV, like many of the newest corporate aircraft, has a glass cockpit.
17:24In place of dials or gauges, there are full-color digital displays of weather, navigation, and aircraft operations.
17:33General aviation has an interesting way of using existing technology, maybe years behind what the military employs,
17:41that makes it work productively for peacetime purposes.
17:45Some of the latest designs in corporate aviation are a mix of fuel efficiency, long range, and payload,
17:52using the cutting-edge engine technology, avionics, lightweight composite materials, and breathtaking aerodynamic design.
18:04Two examples, the Italian Avanti and the American Starship.
18:12Interestingly, both employ front wings called canards for stability.
18:16They have highly efficient pusher turboprop engines, and combine luxury and efficiency in exciting packages.
18:24There are now many corporate aircraft manufacturers around the world.
18:29Neil Armstrong talked with pilot Misha Hauserman about his fast, Israeli-built Westwind jet.
18:40As you're a business jet operator, how can you characterize the business jet business?
18:46What kinds of things do you do?
18:48Well, our business is mainly charter operations for corporations, and we do that both in jets and in helicopters.
18:57This jet, for example, is a reasonably priced jet that goes long distances.
19:02It can make Los Angeles, New York, nonstop. It can carry eight passengers.
19:06We typically do trips where corporations need to make five or six stops in one day,
19:11and thereby they can keep up with the schedule they could not possibly otherwise do in an airline environment,
19:18where you have to do reservations and all those things.
19:20How do businesses use an airplane like this?
19:24Will they take any particular kinds of people, or for what purposes? What might they use it for?
19:31Typically, they would be a team of people. For example, we have a flight going out this evening,
19:37a combination of businessmen, architects, accountants, going to a place, in this case to Las Vegas.
19:44They're going to spend three or four hours there. They're going to turn around and come back.
19:47They can do that in this airplane, both time and financially, more efficiently than they could on the airlines.
19:52I see.
19:53You have to account for the fact that, in business, the person's time is very valuable.
20:08I don't think people realize how much flying is done in general aviation.
20:12As a matter of fact, general aviation puts more flight hours on each year than all the airlines combined.
20:33This one is probably a little more heavy handed than most. It is built very, very solidly.
20:38And it takes quite a bit of time to really get qualified in them.
20:43We typically have a 50 to 100 hour program for our pilots, even if they are rated in some other
20:49type of jet,
20:50where they go through a co-pilot training with us and then captain training before they get into this.
20:55Things happen in a hurry. They happen faster. You've got to be on top of things.
20:59But the level of safety is enhanced by the fact that you always have a two man crew.
21:04Well trained.
21:12General Aviation makes a valuable contribution to the world.
21:16Bringing emergency services, spare parts and people to small communities and remote areas not served by major airlines.
21:24One of the charms of general aviation is its ability to bring the benefits of flight to so many people.
21:32One of those benefits is learning to fly. An experience like no other.
21:42Join me next week for First Flights.
21:55We'll be looking back.
21:55will be the first time we get an error
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