Search Results for: vfr

As the government’s budget sequestration gains steam, the FAA is expected to announce which control tower might close as a result, perhaps as early as today. Discussion on this topic has produced plenty of opinions, some valid and some best characterized as fear mongering, in my view. Sequestration cuts will likely result in at least […]

A Hawker Beechcraft Premier I jet that crashed into a house on Sunday had made two attempts to land, the NTSB said Monday afternoon. The airplane hit two houses before crashing into a third near South Bend [Ind.] Regional Airport. The owner of the aircraft, Wesley Caves, 58, of Tulsa, Okla., and his friend Steve […]

Mid-airs aren’t always fatal, and all of them can be avoided. Keep up your speed, look outside and vary your aircraft’s attitude to eliminate blind spots. Few chapters in the great book of safe flying are as incomplete and misleading as guidance for avoiding mid-air collisions. In over 50 years of active flying, I have […]

Popular aviation charts vendor Air Chart Systems has sent a notice to its subscribers that it’s ceasing publication of the spiral-bound paper atlases that were its signature product for more than 50 years. In a note attached to the March 7 electronic update of en route charts and approach plates, the company suggests it’s out […]

An old and often-used justification for owning a light General Aviation aircraft is the ability to bypass the automobile and the airlines in order to spend valuable time in a more productive manner. This rationalization focuses on the time savings created by flying oneself. Thus, according to the reasoning, it is possible to easily meet […]

Each week, we run a sampling of the letters received to our editorial inbox here in AVmail. One letter that’s particularly relevant, informative, or otherwise compelling will headline this section as our “Letter of the Week,” and we’ll send the author an official AVweb baseball cap as a “thank you” for interacting with us (and […]

A pilot who had twice extensively damaged airplanes by flying into thunderstorms tries it a third time. This time he doesn’t live to tell about his own foolishness. Remember back to when we were student pilots, with maybe 20 hours under our belts? We all asked our instructors “How many hours do you have?” Even […]

Growing up in New Jersey, I learned that when a stranger sitting on the bar stool beside you asks, “How ya doin?” the last thing the stranger wants to hear is how you’re doin’. Moving quickly past the obvious question — Why did I hang around bars as a kid? Because they had good bowling […]

We are all, I suppose, victims of our own obsessions and one of mine is the notion that among the many things we don’t teach well in aviation is risk assessment. That’s not risk management, mind you, which I view as an overused buzz word, but rather a realistic grasp of what’s most likely to […]

Each week, we run a sampling of the letters received to our editorial inbox here in AVmail. One letter that’s particularly relevant, informative, or otherwise compelling will headline this section as our “Letter of the Week,” and we’ll send the author an official AVweb baseball cap as a “thank you” for interacting with us (and […]