Commentary

The recent mid-air between a Kazahk IL-76 and a Saudia Boeing 747 near New Delhi highlights a concern which we have been discussing between ourselves for months. While all the details may not apply; this disaster does dramatically illustrate our concern. The modern onboard GPS and/or DME-updated IRS/INS navigational equipment has greatly enhanced the ease […]

I must take issue with Mr. Ponder’s guesteditorial. There is little doubt that the B737 rudder PCU has known rudder problems-but they should not upset the aircraft. Until the recent tests at very extreme conditions, no one could demonstrate any rudder malfunction that could have rolled USAir in Pittsburgh or United in Colorado Springs into […]

The FAA has just issued an Airworthiness Directive for Boeing 737 aircraft that incredibly does not offer to solve known problems with the aircraft’s rudder Power Control Unit (PCU), but instead mandates crew training so pilots can attempt to survive sudden control problems. NTSB investigators remain unsure why two Boeing 737s crashed, one near Pittsburgh […]

January 30, 1997 Dear Mr. Marbach, The National Business Aircraft Association recognizes the significant role single and light twin piston-engine aircraft play within business aviation. We encourage operators of all types of general aviation to participate in NBAA Membership and the various informational programs offered by the Association to the entire business aviation community whether […]

This year’s National Business Aircraft Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, was judged by most of the press as a success. It sure looked like it: Lots of heavy metal on the spacious conventions site floor (more at the static displays at the airport), and lots of suits walking around looking like they had money to […]

AirworthinessDirectives have been with us since the 1940’s, butit seems as if the industry’s attitude toward them has changeddramatically in recent years. Twenty years ago, manufacturerswould often brag in their sales literature that their airplanesor engines “have never had an AD issued against them.”Issuance of an AD was considered a black mark against a manufacturer,suggesting […]

The stereotype of pilots – tall and fit, with lots of hair andperfect vision – is one that not many of us live up to. Butthat doesn’t mean we can’t aspire to the image of dashing barnstormeror cocky cockpit commander. Poor vision not only shatters that image, but for many peopleit represents an inconvenience severe […]

The transcontinental lightplane flight of7-year-old Jessica Dubroff was strictly a made-for-TV event fromthe outset. Although billed as an attempt to “set the record”for the youngest pilot ever to make such a flight, there was norecord at stake here. Neither the National Aeronautics Associationnor even the Guiness Book of World Records recognizes such”youngest pilot” feats. When […]

Editor’s Note: In ATC parlance, a “FAM” isa familiarization ride in which an air traffic controller is permittedto ride jumpseat in an airline cockpit to observe what the ATCsystem looks like from the point of view of the cockpit crew. As I entered the cockpit of the Boeing 787, I couldn’t help butbe impressed. My […]

Two thousand miles in an open-cockpit biplane. Richard Bach did it. Steven Coonts did it. Clearly nothing that I can’t handle! Never mind that Bach and Coonts did their biplane treks in thesummertime and carefully picked their weather. My journey wouldbe in November…the only time I could find four free days ina row to make […]