Search Results for: vfr

I just got back from a very enjoyable flying vacation trip toMexico with my wife and another couple. I flew my Cessna 210from Dallas to the beautiful city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.After nearly a week in PV, we moved up the coast and over intoBaja. We departed on November 10, 1994 with the expectation ofspending […]

From a mountain clearing, safely ensconced within a strong and comfortablecabin, a thunderstorm at full throttle is an awesome and beautifulsight. But from a small aircraft in flight, with thunderstormsin all quadrants, the sight loses much of its beauty; and if inIMC with embedded cells, there is no beauty at all.  Thunderstorms are highly developed […]

I think many of us in the Northeast are looking for relativelyshort trips that can be flown in three hours or less — and TangierIsland neatly fits that description. US Sprint’s TV commercials in spring of ’95 gave tons of freepublicity to Tangier Island, an isolated fishing community inthe middle of Chesapeake Bay. The commercial […]

If you ever wonder why ATC seems to give preferential treatmentto airliners and bizjets and to discriminate against small planes,you need only monitor any busy ATC frequency. As a serious generalaviation pilot, nothing frustrates me more than hearing a lightplanedriver tie up a busy frequency and aggravate a controller throughpoor radio procedure. SoCal screeeee, Cardinal […]

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 […]