Search Results for: vfr

Sometimes I wonder that if in an earlier incarnation I was a great aviator. Because of that previous life, perhaps some of that superior genetic code lingers on inside of me. That is the only explanation that I can think of for my superior piloting skills. I am superior, you know. A natural-born pilot is […]

Small children have vivid imaginations. They create imaginary playmates and re-enact stories, movies, etc. Unfortunately, as we grow older we tend to lose the ability to apply imagination to our activities. In training instrument students I explain the three skills required of an instrument pilot – instrument cross-check (scanning), instrument interpretation (what are these gages […]

It takes a crowbar to separate image from reality with the big Commander twins-the image pitched by Rockwell Intl. in a blaze of promotional glory-and the one left by Bob Hoover in his airshow demo, hanging a Shrike on a prop and deadsticking it out of a loop. When the image is pried away, what […]

Welcome to the first installment of my monthly column for AVweb. I’ve been associated with AVweb since late 1996, when I moved into the weekly news-writing rotation. Those were the days when our subscriber base numbered around 20,000, we worked hard to have fun with our news products and the principal question we received was […]

Sort of an intermediate hybrid between the venerable 172 and the inestimable 182RG Skylane, the Cutlass rode a fine line for the five years it was in production. Its ill-defined market niche, coupled with the advent of the general aviation recession, kept the production numbers fairly low. Indeed, only 1,191 were rolled out of the […]

You do it before you commence a flight. You do it when you elect en route to continue a flight. You do it when you decide to land. It’s the most challenging to teach, the toughest to learn, and the most important skill for a GA pilot to develop — making the Go/No-Go Decision. The […]

It may not be sleek, sexy or fast, but the relatively new Maule MXT-7-180 does deliver typically good Maule short-field performance for a relatively low price, while leaving the bugaboo of taildragger ground handling behind. The tri-gear Maule is the companys first attempt at direct competition with mainstream four-place, fixed-gear singles. Introduced in 1991, at […]

Nothing sprouts an argument among pilots quicker than a regulation. And the bud bursts into full flower when the argument is over the rules surrounding “known icing conditions.” A look at the history of this controversial phrase reveals a strange mixture of clarity and contradiction and offers a set of cautionary tales to those who […]

One of the unsung benefits of being a general aviation pilot is getting to meet and know a lot of different FBOs. A Fixed Base Operator can be anything from a single-purpose business which sells fuel, or supplies, or provides training, or performs maintenance, or sells aircraft, or it can offer a combination of services […]

Scott Puddy’s final installment in his icing trilogy sure was exciting, wasn’t it? Who doesn’t love a simple tale of Good versus Evil? Through able, one-sided storytelling, outright error and the liberal use of conjecture where the facts fail, Mr. Puddy obligingly spins up the moribund saga of Administrator v. Watkins into a life-like Hollywood […]