Features

Even among the ex-RAF Eagle Squadron 4th Fighter Group, which was not known for its strict USAAF discipline, breaking radio silence at critical points on a mission was still considered a major transgression. The German Luftwaffe ground forces were adept at keying in on air-to-air transmissions as a means of locating incoming fighters and bombers. […]

Back in the days of flying around New Zealand NORDO (no radio), the method of sneaking past RNZAF Base Ohakea, near the coast, was to use the transit lane seaward of the beach. Due to the M306 Raumai Bombing Range along the route, the standard procedure was to land at a convenient airfield short of this airspace […]

You may have noticed changes to the appearance of AVweb in the past few days as a result of upgrading our Web platform. As these things usually go, there are some glitches and loss of functionality and we’re working to address those as quickly as we can. Among the casualties is the comments section, but […]

A Cessna 172 has gone viral on social media this week as it completed a ferry flight from California to Hawaii. According to FlightAware, the aircraft, N176TA, departed Merced Regional Airport (KMCE) in California on Tuesday and flew some 2,425 miles before landing in Honolulu, Hawaii, 18 hours later. The flight was more than three […]

On a recent trip from the West Coast to the Midwest, I’d just checked in with Center after a couple sectors in NorCal. A few minutes later, the controller gave us a climb to our final altitude, FL230. Then, after another few minutes: Center: “Uh, 40N, did I give you FL230? I know I thought […]

I worked for Dassault Falcon Jet at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey for a few years, and though my usual commute was by car, there was one time when it made sense to fly my V-tail Bonanza to work. On a Monday morning, I was returning from a weekend trip to New England, and rather […]

From IFR Magazine reader Mark Klebanoff I used to live in the Metro D.C. area and pretty much nobody was cleared direct. To make controllers and the ATC computer happy, I used to file a flight plan with lots of airways, named fixes, and VORs. Then I moved to Ohio. Old habits die hard, so […]

Back in the early 1980s, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon launched a popular religious movement whose followers were known as “Moonies,” no relation to Al Mooney, designer of fast and efficient general aviation airplanes. This led to some amusing confusion. One day at a crowded airport with a common traffic advisory frequency (then known as […]

I was preparing for some instrument and maneuvering practice with my instructor, Andy. Sitting in the apron area in a Cessna 172 with the engine running, I made my initial call to Texarkana Ground as follows: Me: “Texarkana Ground, Skyhawk 62689, Texarkana Flying Club; ready for departure with information Delta.” Texarkana Ground (in a completely […]

One of the joys of being based at an airport with a very active flight school (Orange County, Montgomery, New York) is the entertainment value of some of the radio transmissions. Witness: Slightly bored instructor voice: “168 Lima Alpha, 45‐mile final Runway 22.” Overly excited voice, hence probably a student: “Did you say 45‐mile final?!” […]