Features

A while back, a controller at RDU International spoke in a robotic Cylon voice, using all official phraseology including “tree” and “fife” for “3” and “5.” We though he was trying to show everyone up and be a model of correctness. One night, I was practicing instrument approaches with a safety pilot, and that controller […]

Still the only production four-seat or side-by-side, conventional gear airplanes being built in the U.S., Maules have been attracting owners who march to a slightly different beat for over 50 years. In general, the Maule airplanes are easy and forgiving to fly when in the air, yet not so much on the ground—the runway loss […]

As summer arrives and the days get longer, pilots may let their guard down when it comes to weather. Icing and large hail may certainly be less of a factor during the balmy dog days, but the June, 1999 American MD-80 runway excursion and the Delta L-1011 crash in August 1985 are some of the […]

SocialFlight’s offerings for The Weekender range from lakeside getaways to big-name airshow performers and more.Saturday’s Escape to the Lake at the privately owned Johnson Lake Airport in Nebraska offers a 2800-acre lake with over 10 miles of shoreline. Camp on the field or at the state park, which is within walking distance. The event will […]

On approach last week to an Eastern North Carolina airport, we heard a Piper J-3 announce:“Taking off on runway 23.” Followed shortly afterward by:“Headed toward the coast.” We then asked:“East or West Coast?” Robert Schellenberg

“Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits. Fanatics will never learn that, though it be written in letters of gold across the sky. It is the prohibition that makes anything precious.” Mark Twain The month of May brought some good news to those who care about aviation, users of airports and the value of […]

No matter how smooth and enjoyable the flight, your passengers always will remember the landing. Anything other than a single, bounce-free touchdown is ripe for comment and, if your passengers also are pilots, ridicule. While a good landing is a combination of many factors, the last chance you have to affect its outcome is in […]

The Weekender kicks off camping season with some fly-in tent trips found on SocialFlight.On Saturday, there’s the annual all-you-can-eat breakfast fly-in at Ojibwa Airpark (D11), just northwest of Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Pilots eat free, and french toast is back on the menu. The field will be open to campers the night before.The annual Colorado BackCountry […]

Piper Cub 12345:“Bozeman tower, Cub 12345 is with you 10 miles to the west. I would like to transit through your airspace to the west.” Bozeman Tower:“Cub 345, squawk 0123.” Piper Cub 12345:“Bozeman Tower, Cub 345 is unable to comply as this is a non-electrical Cub. Those transponders were not invented in 1945.” Bozeman Tower:“Cub […]

Fog along the West Coast of the United States has been documented as far back as the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century. Ship captains in later years learned to take it seriously; 100 years ago when the Marine Exchange in San Francisco was asked what proportion of coastal shipwrecks were the result […]