Search Results for: vfr

It’s sometimes difficult for pilots to understand why air trafficcontrollers do the things they do. They often reject our requestsfor altitude changes, vector us away from our destinations, oroccasionally request what seem like unnecessary speed adjustments.These delays are bad enough when IFR in real weather but they’redownright aggravating when you’re IFR in good weather. If […]

Monday, August 21st: SMX-BFI A fter topping the tanks of my trusty Cessna 310and packing it with lots of charts, coats, luggage, cameras, and survivalgear, I take off with my brother-in-law Joel for a long-anticipated flyingvacation trip to Alaska. It’s the first time for both of us, and somethingI’ve dreamed about doing for 20 years. […]

Digital version of this AIM section was provided courtesy of Summit Aviation, publisher of the Computerized Aviation Reference Library CDROM which may be purchased on-line here on AVweb. Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) Official Guide to Basic Flight Information and ATC Procedures U.S. Department of TransportationFederal Aviation Administration Section 2 – Radio Communications Phraseology and Techniques […]

Digital version of this AIM section was provided courtesy of Summit Aviation, publisher of the Computerized Aviation Reference Library CDROM which may be purchased on-line here on AVweb. Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) Official Guide to Basic Flight Information and ATC Procedures U.S. Department of TransportationFederal Aviation Administration 4-1-9. TRAFFIC ADVISORY PRACTICES AT AIRPORTS WITHOUT OPERATING […]

FAA tiger teams are still trying to sort out exactly what happenedin the wake of an unprecedented, 45-minute power outage that shutdown all radar and radio communications at Oakland Center on Wednesdaymorning, August 9th. All ARTCCs are equipped with three independent sources of powerfor critical equipment. Each includes an emergency diesel generator,plus a bank of […]

General aviation pilots tend to shy away from flying into majormetropolitan airports, either because of traffic density or becauseof worries about ruinous landing and parking fees. Yet many bigmetro airports are surprisingly GA friendly and at the top ofmy list is Washington National. National is one of a handful of busy big-city airports that tracesits […]

Digital version of this AIM section was provided courtesy of Summit Aviation, publisher of the Computerized Aviation Reference Library CDROM which may be purchased on-line here on AVweb. Advisory Circular AC 90-48C Pilots’ Role in Collision Avoidance U.S. Department of TransportationFederal Aviation Administration 3/18/83Initiated by: AFO-820 1. PURPOSE. This advisory circular is issued for the […]

In 1980, the National Transportation Safety Board conducteda special study of air taxi operations in Alaska. The Safety Boardfound that for the study period, the rate of non-fatal air taxiaccidents in the state on the basis of hours flown was almostfive times higher than the national rate, and the fatal accidentrate was more than double […]

I never intended to buy a twin, actually. I was perusing Trade-A-Plane looking for a nice T210 or P210. But you know how it goes…it’s impossible to resist the urge to see what Lear Jets or King Airs or DC-3s are going for. And so it was that I noticed that the market for piston […]

Picture this. You’re flying a textbook VOR approach. You’re ahead of the airplane and doing everything right. ATC gave you a perfect radar vector turn-on to the final. Crossing the FAF, you started the timer, dropped the gear, and pulled the power back for a nice steep 1,000 FPM non-precision descent. You’ve committed the MDA […]