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Parts of this book are disturbingly familiarfor those who follow the FAA’s internal infighting, politicking and intrigue.Mary Schiavo, as the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation,tried to dig into the inner workings of the FAA, intrude on the good-old-boynetwork and root out mutual hand holding between the inspected and the inspectee.Unfortunately, she achieved only […]

If you don’t want to fly around thunderstorms in Floridain the summer months, don’t fly. But I got more than I bargained for inmy most recent flight from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to home base in BocaRaton Florida. Friday, June 13, 1997 Theusual clusters of storms over the Southern Florida peninsula were evidentboth on the radar picture […]

It was a wonderful South African Sunday winter morning.Clear skies, still a bit cold, but the weatherman insisted it would reach25 C later today. Sigrid, my wife and a pilot, too, was preparing for theflight to Lindbergh Lodge. Lindbergh Lodge is a private game and hunting farm in the North-Westprovince of South Africa. At an […]

Everyone in General Aviation -pilots, journalists, alphabet groups and even competitive plane makers – seems to behappy to see Cessna building piston aircraft again. After a decade-long hiatus, theappearance of new piston Cessnas has been widely hailed as a sign that G.A. is finally onthe road back from near extinction. But at the same time, […]

Theannual trek to Sun ‘n Fun was, as usual, a great deal of fun. Flying myPiper Arrow down and back is always the best part of the entire week, andthis year was no exception. The weather cooperated for the most part, andthe bird ran flawlessly. When my wife and I departed Howell, Michigan, there was […]

Moving is difficult for a family, but in these days of “upwardcorporate mobility” it’s not unusual for mid-level managersto change domiciles routinely as new opportunities arise. Severalyears ago, a private pilot moved his family and household goodsfrom California to New Jersey, then returned to the West Coastto pick up his Bellanca 260A and bring it […]

Pilots transitioning from one type of aircraft to another havea responsibility to themselves and to their passengers to ensure that theyare comfortable and safe in the new aircraft. Others, from instructors todesignated check airmen to company managers, have the job of overseeing theprocess and ensuring that when a recently upgraded pilot makes his firstflights in […]

Eureka has become one of my favorite spots to get away and decompress.Situated on the northern California coast, just slightly more than 200nautical miles north-northwest of San Francisco, Eureka is one of thosespecial places that’s easy to reach by light plane but a long hard drivefor the wingless masses. During the summertime, when everything from […]

The following is the full text of a letter sent by the author to the FAA. This letter is to inform you of an incident that occurred during a routine flight from Austin, Texas (AUS) to Addison Airport, Dallas, Texas (ADS). This incident in no way deals with any violation of current FAR’s or use […]

April 19, 1996. There I was, 5,000 MSL (about 4,000 AGL) with my wife besideme in our 1954 Piper Tri-Pacer. The problem was that I was at full throttleand pitched for a standard climb, but we were descending.. I’d been cleared to 7,000 and instructed to contect Center upon reachingthat altitude TriPacer Zero Seven Papa […]