Features

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 […]

The Weekender’s looking forward to Fourth of July celebrations, with some three-day events found onSocialFlightand the weekend starting on Friday. See the U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform at the90th National Cherry Festival Air Show in Traverse City, Michigan. Three airshows will run through Monday, and the Cherry Festival will run until July 9. Treeport EAA […]

Thirty years ago, the idea of carrying sophisticated digital radar in anything under a medium twin would probably have been met with roars of laughter, but technology has brought amazing advances. Now it’s possible for even an ultralight pilot to use the Internet to access essentially the same tools that are available to forecasters. In […]

We’ve watched the evolution of the Diamond DA40 series with interest. Our first reaction to what would become the Diamond Star was to be less than impressed. We thought the canopy was a marketing ploy that would make emergency egress difficult, and the cabin looked small and uncomfortable. Then we flew it. The canopy provided […]

The Weekender’sSocialFlightcalendar runs from Oregon to Georgia with a variety of campouts, cookouts and vintage car and airplane displays. Join fellow vintage aircraft pilots at the “Greatest Little Airport in Kansas” in Gardner, where the fun starts Friday with a potluck, movies and camping. Saturday’s fly-in will feature breakfast, lunch, light-sport landing and beanbag drop […]

Overheard while flying through the New York Class B airspace: Pilot: Departure ABC 795 off 14L climbing to 5000′. Controller: Is this 725 or 795? Pilot: What did I say? Controller: 795. Pilot: Oh sorry, I guess this is 725. Controller: Don’t worry about it, I mix up call signs all day. Pilot: Yeah, but […]

Over the years one of the issues that has plagued aircraft owners and airport sponsors alike is trying to figure out what can be stored in an aircraft hangar that’s on an airport that receives federal grant money through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). That money comes with strings, the big one is that the […]

The Weekender found plenty of Father’s Day weekend outings on SocialFlight, cookouts included. On Saturday, Boulder Airport Day and Open House will feature aircraft of all kinds, including warbirds, antique and corporate aircraft. Many will be open for cockpit climbs. The Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum will host a special “KidSpace” for […]

We were inbound to Auckland after a long 12-hour Pacific sector through the night. It was around 5:00 a.m., and there were four other wide-body inbounds (787s, 767s, and 777s) arriving about the same time. Auckland Control was doing a no-nonsense job, without any chit-chat, when the terminal information changed due to a pressure difference […]