Features

When proposals for a custom paint job on my second-generation Cirrus came in as high as $25,000—with up to 10 weeks of down time—I considered stepping up to a newer model. But my investment in numerous upgrades and my comfort with the aircraft in a variety of missions and weather convinced me to keep my […]

Anchorage Approach:“Skylane X, traffic four miles at your one o’ clock, type and altitude unknown. Possibly birds.” Skylane: We have the birds in sight. Approach: Say type and altitude. Skylane: They’re ducks at 4300 feet, westbound. Don’t get to give a PIREP on ducks every day! William Fraley

It seemed innocuous enough—an email from Nathan Richards, Ph.D., a reader of our sister publication, IFR magazine, asking if someone would be interested in flying a Learjet in-flight simulator as part of a project his employer, Barron Associates, was doing on upset recovery. I wasn’t sure what an in-flight simulator was, but I’ve been very […]

I like the Black Knight scene in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Black Knight is getting beat in a sword fight by King Arthur and losing one limb after the other. He won’t admit he might be in over his head, instead he tells King Arthur, “Tis but a flesh wound.” […]

About 25 years ago I was hauling cargo in a beat-up C210 at dusk near PFN, FL, and overheard the following: ATC: “Comair 1234, Nat’l Wx Service just advised us they have recently released a balloon in your area and they say “it should be approx your altitude, and it’s pretty large.” Pause of a […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine and is published twice a month. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause in the NTSB’s web site at www.ntsb.gov. Final […]

In the last few editions of Wind Tunnel, we looked at how changes to the surface of an airplane’s skin can affect the aerodynamic performance of the airplane. We have seen that judicious use of tape to seal and smooth the skin can significantly reduce drag, and that ice, even in relatively small amounts, can […]

Some years ago I was flying into a very congested London Heathrow Airport when I heard the following exchange with Heathrow Approach. Heathrow: “Speedbird 123, what is your position in the hold at Lambourne?” Speedbird: “We are just turning outbound at flight level 200.” Heathrow: “Roger, Speedbird, could you possibly cross Lambourne inbound at 3000 […]

In its March 2017 issue, our sister publication Aviation Consumer ran an article with guidance on the interesting challenges of buying and owning antique and classic airplanes—and will be following it up in the next few months with a similar piece on warbirds. We have been watching the process of old airplanes changing hands and […]

I recently had a beautiful IMC flight on which I relearned how wonderful our capability to operate in the IMC world is. It’s easy to lose that awe for the beauty of our environment and the utility of the machines at our disposal as we move safely through this environment. Such is the stuff of […]