Features

While flying from Chicago to Bismarck, North Dakota on New Year’s Day, my co-pilot and I were monitoring 121.5 when someone asked if anybody had any New Year’s resolutions. Without skipping a beat, my co-pilot keyed the mic and responded:“Yeah, NOT talking on Guard!” To which someone else responded:“Yeah, me too.” Jim Burns

The inability to achieve normal power output (e.g. poor static power) can be an insidious, difficult-to-troubleshoot condition that ultimately affects almost every small engine sooner or later. Sometimes, the cause can be pinpointed quickly, especially via multi-probe engine analyzers. But many times it can’t. The best bet is often analyzing all the power instruments that […]

Aviation lore is full of heroes like Chuck Yeager, who saved the day while calmly muttering on the radio something about “some little fire going in them engines” or such. The quiet, unflappable, laid-back flyer has been the role model for young pilots since the days of the Lone Eagle. But is there such a […]

The Weekender is starting to venture out a little as the SocialFlight calendar includes some fly-ins and fly-outs. On Saturday, Palatka Municipal in Florida will host its sixth annual Community Open House & Fly-In. See warbirds, vintage and modern-day aircraft plus automobiles on display, plus airplane, biplane and helicopter rides. Also Saturday, get a behind-the-scenes […]

This occurred on a flight from Cincinnati to Roanoke, Virginia around 2005, give or take a couple years; I’m too lazy to look up the actual date in my logbook but remember that flight distinctly. I was the pilot monitoring, and John, the captain, was the pilot flying. We were approaching from the west, heading […]

Back in the 1950s, social critic and philosopher Lenny Bruce said that no one is shocked anymore. He was probably correct, given our national tolerance for the excesses of those in the entertainment biz, and those seeking to join the weirdness. Yet, I find my level of amazement at flight schools that grind out new […]

“I’m shopping for insurance.” We hear this phrase all the time, but what does it really mean when it comes to protecting your plane—whether it’s still in hundreds of pieces or it has hundreds of hours in the air? It’s not like you’ll be taking a trip to the airplane mall and comparing makes, models, […]

Winter doldrums won’t stop the Weekender from heading out as SocialFlight has a few fun and informative events, all indoors. On Friday in Atlanta, Fulton County Airport’s Aviation Community Cultural Center-Contemporary Gallery opens its new aviation photography exhibit featuring 21 large prints by aviation photographer John Slemp. Southern Maine Aviation in Sanford will host a […]

Last November, I transported 40 endangered sea turtles (stranded on Cape Cod) from the Boston area to a turtle rescue center center in Georgia. I put “transporting endangered sea turtles” in the comments section of my IFR flight plan and had two interesting exchanges on the trip. — Providence Approach (PVD):“69 Tango, how’s your cargo […]

The Piper Archer, aka the Cherokee 180, is a four place, low wing, single-engine airplane. It is a common upgrade from entry-model trainers. Slow with unremarkable handling characteristics, the Piper Archer is a safe, stable plane, that is easy to land even on short runways. Piper Cherokee Beginnings and Competition In the heady days of […]