Features

Greetings from South Africa. My story concerns ZS SAJ, a classic jumbo that received a loud and traditional paint job as part of South Africa’s bid for the 2010 Olympic games. Whilst taxiing at JFK, the ground controller asked, “Say, Springbok, did you park in a bad neighborhood last night?” Tod Burnsvia e-mail

Some owners are reluctant to buy avionics warranties, but they might not realize the high cost of component replacement and flat-rate factory repairs. On top of that, there’s expensive shop labor. The going hourly rate at most avionics shops is over $100 and won’t include the shipping costs for sourcing replacement parts. For some glass-cockpit […]

During the ’80s, while with Mugu Approach, a controller asked an aircraft “to state position.” Pilot came back: “Fiscally conservative. Socially, somewhat liberal. Two miles west of Point Dume.” Greg Andrewsvia e-mail

A documentary filmmaker says the NTSB got it wrong (or was told to get it wrong) in its findings in the explosion and crash of a TWA Boeing 747 off Long Island in 1996. The NTSB is standing by its conclusion that a spark from wiring in a fuel tank downed the aircraft, not a […]

I’ve been an avionics tech long enough to remember when the extent of new avionics upgrades included a couple of flip-flop Navcomm radios and an audio panel. Even back then, some owners stumbled with otherwise simple switchology. Worse case was a missed radio call. Things have changed. Today’s avionics upgrades usually involve tightly integrated glass […]

Last week at our local airport (CYKF), the automated AWOS/ATIS was out of commission. So one of our well-known ATC guys (Dave Clark, who was working ground control at the time) was heard on the ATIS frequency stating: “The automated AWOS/ATIS is currently unavailable. Winds are light and variable, and vis is CAVOK; runway 14 […]

The NTSB’s recent release of a final report regarding the fatal November 13, 2011, crash of a Cirrus SR-22T shed light on a flight noteworthy for its aerobatics; it also invites speculation regarding the potentially untapped value of recorded flight data in general aviation. Both Avidyne and Garmin produce avionics (the Entegra and G1000, for […]

Two people died doing low-level aerobatics with a wing walker this week, and Jonathan Trappe is ready to launch across the North Atlantic in a boat suspended by hundreds of small helium balloons. Should the government be involved with adventuresome aviation feats? (click to answer) Last Week’s Question: Results Want to see the current breakdown […]

Each week, we run a sampling of the letters received to our editorial inbox here in AVmail. One letter that’s particularly relevant, informative, or otherwise compelling will headline this section as our “Letter of the Week,” and we’ll send the author an official AVweb baseball cap as a “thank you” for interacting with us (and […]

The company that I was with had a chief pilot who liked to play with ATC (in the ’60s): Bonanza 123:“Bonanza 123. Give me the word. I want to make like a bird.” Detroit Tower:“You got the nod. Leave the sod!” Bud Walkervia e-mail