Features

On a recent trip from the West Coast to the Midwest, I’d just checked in with Center after a couple of sectors in NorCal. A few minutes later, the controller gave us a climb to our final altitude, FL230. Then, after another few minutes: Center: “Uh, 40N, did I give you FL230? I know I […]

An important part of the Aviation Consumer magazine Used Aircraft Report monthly feature is the accident scan section. For any used model, a look at the most recent 100 wrecks that make the NTSB database is the same as it’s been for years: Pilots are wrecking aircraft for the same reasons they always have. We […]

Years ago, I was a student pilot on a night flight with my instructor. We flew from Palo Alto across San Francisco Bay and over the hills to Livermore for some touch-and-go landings. After several turns in the pattern, we headed back over the hills to find the bay covered with a thick marine layer. […]

High-end avionics upgrades require real planning—from deciding where to place backup instruments to keeping tabs on the shop doing the work. A misstep in the project can send an otherwise good upgrade in the wrong direction. One recent flagship Garmin upgrade in a Cessna T210 went exceptionally well because the aircraft’s patient owner stayed involved […]

Dangerous Osprey? The V-22 Osprey is the only aircraft that I would refuse to fly on. If a helicopter is a group of parts trying to shake itself apart, these things are worse. How many of these things has to crash before someone up high decides the design is just too complicated for routine military […]

All my flying for the first several years of owning my Grumman AA1-B was VFR, even at night. And my electronic navigation was limited to the Narco Escort 110 in the panel, which could navigate and communicate, but not both at the same time. I learned the trick of setting what seemed like a good […]

I was making a late‐night approach to Des Moines International Airport. Me: “Des Moines approach, Baron 12KA, 15 east at 3000.” Tower: “12KA turn left heading 180, descend then right to land on 23.” Me: “Roger, 12KA.” I was on a heading of 270, then turned left to 180 and headed south. With the airport […]

Any pilot who got an instrument rating in the last 25 years knows that part of the training requires a 250-NM (for airplanes) cross‑country flight under IFR. It is called the “long cross‑country” flight, although there’s no “short cross‑country” flight. That flight requires three approaches, but which three has been a source of confusion. The instrument […]

Space Bureaucracy Prompted by this AVweb article I looked a little up about this issueWant to launch a commercial space vehicle and you have to deal with: EPA on the groundFAA in the atmosphereNOAA – Office of Space CommerceFCC – Allocated radio frequenciesMaybe NASA but I am not sure about thatand once you get up […]

A few years ago during my private‐pilot solo long cross‐country I was heading to a southern Wisconsin airport with a tower known to be easily annoyed. So I was an over‐prepared nervous student pilot who had ATIS as soon as I could get it and listened to it more times than I needed. Full of […]