Features

One summer, while flying over the largest wilderness in the lower 48 states, I heard a radio call: “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. White Cessna… [broken and inaudible transmission].” I heard just enough to understand something bad was happening, but not where. I repeatedly tried to hail the aircraft to get them to repeat their location, to […]

My wife and I were on a PALS flight (PALS = Patient Airlift Services) and we had an Afghanistan war refugee and her helper-dog, Oscar, whom we took to Columbus, Ohio. Approaching Columbus information Oscar was current on ATIS. I told the controller, “We have Oscar.” After we landed, the lady whom Oscar was helping […]

You never know quite what to expect from CubCrafters these days. The company started by the late Jim Richmond in 1980 grew conventionally enough at first, refurbishing the Piper Cub in its many forms and then seeking to improve the design with more modern materials and practices than could ever be envisioned by Piper during […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

When we talk with busy avionics shops around the country, it’s clear that electronic flight displays are tops for major upgrades. For aging aircraft, that means yanking out spinning iron gyros and usually the vacuum systems that feed them. These upgrades replenish the used gyro market, making it easier to maintain older panels still sporting […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

You’re feeling pretty good as you descend towards your destination airport. Under Center’s watch, you’ve just checked the latest ATIS, briefed the advertised approach to Runway 27, and you’ve got your avionics all set accordingly. Center switches you to Approach. Your check in with Approach ends with, “…and I’ve got information Charlie.” Approach responds, “Expect […]

Why No Love For The B-21? Frustrating as it is, there doesn’t seem to be any real alternative to the endless -and expensive- process of staying up with the defense technology wave. Curt LeMay could just as well have said “it’s ALL interim”. Technological advances can strike deep. The Navy problem Paul mentions was simmering […]

In the early 1960s, a young Jim Katz was absorbing page after page in Air Progress magazine, and when he saw an article that included three-view drawings of the Bowers Fly Baby, his eyes widened. “Man, I could build that!” he said to himself. That thought never left him. In 1971, when Jim was in […]

Several years ago, I was flying into St. Petersburg during the NCAA Final Four. There was quite a bit of traffic and the Goodyear blimp was circling the domed stadium in which the games would be played, about one mile from the field. On the way into Albert Whitted Field, I had the following exchange: […]