Features

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 […]

Competing with the Cessna Skyhawk, the Piper Warrior is a reliable combination of functionality and performance. The Warrior is a Jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. The plane features smooth, honest flying with no surprises. Piper Warrior History Back in the day, the quest to come up with the perfect personal airplane may have seamed […]

Contests, fly-bys and helicopter rides are in store on The Weekender’s SocialFlight calendar. Join fellow pilots for a spot landing contest Saturday in Augusta, Kansas, hosted by Great Planes Aero Club. The $10 entry fee will benefit the local Civil Air Patrol cadets. Prizes will go to the top three spots. The Lincoln Regional AirFest […]

As with most things in life, a successful flight is all about preparation; unfortunately, the longer we fly the more complacent we tend to get. We can handle any situation that arises—we can ‘wing it’ when we have to. However, to fly the perfect approach you have to prepare for it. Reviewing the approaches that […]

Without nearly enough fanfare, some excellent guidance on a subject that is becoming increasingly critical for pilots was released two weeks ago. Entitled Flight Safety in the Drone Age(FSDA), it is a three-page document that should be read and digested by every pilot. While the FAA has enacted regulations concerning drone operations and the respected […]

Many moons ago, as a Boy Scout in Montana, we told a story around the campfire about how to catch a raccoon: you’d anchor a clear bottle to the ground and put some crumpled tin foil inside. A passing raccoon (there’s always a raccoon passing by) would be transfixed by the glint of the foil […]

This dates back many years, to March 1989. I was transporting a heart for transplant, together with a doctor and nurse, from the southwest of England to Papworth Hospital near Cambridge. Because it was the middle of the night, the only open runway nearby was a USAF Alconbury. As I approached, I was asked a […]

Pull the mixture or condition lever and the propeller comes to a stop. Turn off the switches and what had been saturated with noise and vibration becomes still and quiet. After removing your headset and while sitting in the momentary silence that follows a flight, perhaps you’ll hear the engine ticking as heat dissipates. It’s […]

Standing to get a closer view of my tower’s radar display, I said, “That doesn’t look right.” Somewhere in the dense, ragged and choppy 300-foot overcast outside the tower windows, there was a Piper Matrix inbound on the ILS. Well, supposedly on the ILS. His target was crossing the final approach fix several hundred feet […]