Features

Back in the mid-’80s, Piedmont Airlines began flying out of Worcester airport (ORH) in Massachusetts to Baltimore/Washington International airport (BWI). A flight crew requested their IFR clearance, and I dutifully rattled it off to them in typical New England air traffic control fashion. As I concluded, the response I received in a thick Southern drawl […]

From “many years ago”: N12345:“Las Vegas Radio, this is N12345. Request airport advisory for landing Las Vegas. And would you please call Caesar’s Palace for transportation?” Las Vegas Radio:“N12345, Las Vegas Radio. Stand by for airport advisory – and I will call Caesar’s Palace if you want, but it will be 19 hours before they […]

This time, instead of incremental fees for flying the system, it looks like some of your elected representatives think a $25 “departure fee” is in order. What do you think? What’s your opinion on the latest user fees proposal? (click to answer) Last Week’s Question: Results Want to see the current breakdown of responses? Take […]

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 […]

A slight departure from our usual hijinks this week: The fallen Betty Ford was returning to Grand Rapids for the last time. Her remains were abord a beautiful United States Presidential airplane painted blue and white. The airport was closed to all other traffic for 30 minutes. Airliners waited patientally on the ground and some […]

The big show is 10 days away. Is it on your calendar? Are you going to Oshkosh for EAA AirVenture? (click to answer) Last Week’s Question: Results Want to see the current breakdown of responses? Take a moment to answer the question yourself, and then you can view real-time results. What’s On Your Mind? Have […]

[AVweb‘s reprint of Dick’s memoir began with the Introduction.] The Piper PA-18 was our introduction to flight training. It was not only a rag-wing airplane, it was a rag-everything airplane: Fabric stretched over steel tubing on all the surfaces except the engine cowling. (One of the wags at Hondo called it the “Paper Cub.”) A […]

Overheard on Denver Center: Denver Center (female voice) :“Jetlink 1234, Denver Center.” [A moment later.] Denver Center:“Jetlink 1234, Denver Center -“ Jetlink 1234 (male voice) :“Denver Center, Jetlink 1234 checking in at 240.” Denver Center:“Sorry. Guess I was just being impatient.” Jetlink 1234:“My wife does that to me, too.” Denver Center:“Well, then, it must be […]

The dispute over the potential disruption of GPS by LightSquared’s broadband network will likely have a complex and expensive resolution that will preserve both – but we’re not going to give you any shades of gray this week. What would you prefer, cheap fast broadband or GPS? What would be more important to you if […]

Overheard on a busy Atlanta approach this evening. A Cessna was attempting to get VFR flight following and had been waiting several minutes to get a response from approach: Grumpy Cessna 12345:“Atlanta Approach, how long do you think it will be until I can get flight following? It’s been over 10 minutes now.” ATL Approach:“Cessna […]