Features

Every year it’s the same same questions. “You’re going back?” “Why?” “Haven’t you seen everything?” “Isn’t it just the same airplanes over and over?” I sometimes can’t help but wonder if the questioners believe that I’m living out the definition of insanity when it comes to Oshkosh; doing the same thing over and over, expecting […]

The takeoff might better have been described as a launch. With the new 150-HP Lycoming engine in my 700-pound RV-3, it was off in no more than half the 650-foot runway length and climbing aggressively at my normal 80-mph climb speed. At an altitude of perhaps 150 feet, the engine quit abruptly (whammy #2). The […]

The Weekender is packing for a campout weekend out west, with fly-in options around the country found on SocialFlight. The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire will host its second annual Homebuilt Aircraft Fly-In on Saturday. Arrive in your homebuilt aircraft to the museum at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, and enter judging for a People’s Choice Award […]

Heard on a recent flight ATC: Skymaster 12345 clear to land 12345: I don’t know about a “Master” but my instructor thinks Im a pretty good pilot. Clear to land thanks. Greg Mills

Founder and CEO of Icon Aircraft, Kirk Hawkins, spent his formative years in a way many pilots would envy—motocross racing, skydiving, flying little airplanes and ultralights and mucking around with boats. In the process he picked up a private pilot certificate and acquired an understanding of the wide appeal of motorsports, including recreational flying, across […]

Many of our ranks are professional pilots because they simply love to fly. They find a way to fly no matter what. For them, retiring from a career in aviation simply means they no longer get paid to fly, but they’ll find a new ride. These are usually superb pilots—pilot’s pilots—but they can sometimes struggle […]

SocialFlight has a busy schedule for The Weekender, with plenty of events to choose from.EAA Chapter 611 will host the 47th Annual Cracker Fly-In on Saturday in Gainesville, Georgia, at the Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport. Warbird rides will be on hand, along with more than 150 aircraft expected to fly in, with judging in several […]

I was flying an A-36 Bonanza through the SFO Class Bravo a few years ago and there was quite a bit of airline traffic departing at the time. ATC advised me of a Southwest 737 climbing out at my 1 o’clock and I let them know I had it in sight. Controller: “Southwest 9999 traffic […]

Brainteaser People’s Choice Awards By Paul Berge The Brainteaser #220 Bonus Question asked readers to name their favorite airshow performers or performances. The results are in, and no one appearing on the upcoming November ballot made the cut here. Readers are picky. [Editor’s Note:This article is also available as an audio recording by the author.] […]

Remember films like The Blue Max, The Red Baron or Flyboys? They all depicted WWI aerial warfare, in machines invented some 15 years earlier. Instead of defined runways, pilots of that era landed and took off from large, broad fields, which always allowed them to fly into the prevailing wind. One of the reasons those […]