Short Final

From the U.S. Naval Institute Facebook page: After the engine cut out, a Dauntless returning to USS Yorktown began to fly erratically and lose altitude until the pilot was able to restart it. The pilot called to his gunner: “I bet 50 percent of the people down there thought we were going to crash.” The […]

From IFR Magazine reader Larry Anderson: I recently had my Jetprop panel updated at a Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport FBO. We conducted several test flights to verify everything was working correctly and the airplane could be signed off for release. On one approach, this was the conversation with the Tower: Jetprop: “Phoenix Tower, Jetprop 1234 […]

Overheard on a Unicom frequency: In a busy traffic pattern, one aircraft turns base to final with arguably excessive altitude. A couple of other aircraft in the pattern chime in: Aircraft No. 1 – “That looks awfully high. How is he going to get down from up there?” Aircraft No. 2 – “I usually use […]

From IFR Magazine reader David Brown: In 1994, my wife and I flew from Virginia to Daytona, Florida. This was our first flight together in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). Several times, the controller called out traffic for us, and on most occasions, I responded with “16 Romeo is IMC.” When we landed at Daytona Beach, […]

From IFR Magazine reader Rick Sanders I heard this pilot report recently over the plains when turbulence was affecting everyone in the sector. A flight descended to a lower altitude to find a better ride, and ATC asked how the ride was at the original altitude. “The ride up there was as rough as Third […]

From IFR Magazine reader Chris Wells: I just obtained my private certificate and was on the ground at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (KVPS) in Florida. I called Ground Control and requested flight following back to Pensacola. I forgot to request an en-route altitude, so the controller asked, “What altitude do you want?” I had a […]

From IFR Magazine reader Daniel Spitzer: I heard the following at Orange County Airport in New York: Instructor: “Diamond taking Runway 04 for departure,” followed immediately by ”Diamond aborting, groundhog crossing the runway veeeerrrrry sloooooowly.” Wise guy on frequency: “Did the groundhog call Ground for clearance?” followed immediately by ”Well, groundhogs don’t have a lot […]

On my AirVenture pilgrimage from New Jersey to Oshkosh many summers ago, I was watching a couple of small but darkening red splotches showing up ahead on the Nexrad screen of my handheld GPS navigator. This was in the early days of having weather radar displays available on portables, and I was glad I had […]

In the late 1970s, I was fortunate enough to spend some one-on-one time with Royal Air Force Battle of Britain hero Robert Stanford Tuck. I had worn out the pages of his biography, Fly For Your Life, and was awed by the chance to have a face-to-face conversation about flying Spitfires and Hurricanes while engaging […]

For AVweb fans who are also students of music theory, from reader Mike Toews: I teach aerobatics part-time at a local flight school and received the following text from a musically inclined student who was getting frustrated with numerous booking cancellations due to weather, maintenance, scheduling issues, etc., etc. “I’m writing a song called ‘Aerobatic […]