Features

F-16 Intercept in the MOA In listening to the two podcasts, it appears that the initiating factor for both the Pilatus and the bizjet were TCAS alerts (Podcasts, Mar. 31 and Apr. 4). For us “flibber” drivers, who do not have TCAS, we’d never have known there was anything going on until the F-16 appeared […]

We were a flight of three consisting of two Cessna 180s and one Maule headed into the Lake Parker holding pattern [for Sun ‘n Fun 2008]. We had dropped to extended trail and began circling the lake following a Glastar, and we had two twins holding above us as well. After about 20 minutes of […]

Fuel Economy and You Sorry, but I was one of your “None of the above” respondents (Question of the Week, Mar. 27). Another option could have been to “Fly at reduced power settings.” I now fly more hours but use less fuel.How come? Well, prior to the fuel-price hikes, I would cruise my 1986 Partenavia […]

Pick-up times can come awful early when you are laying over in Manhattan and departing out of Newark. Our 6 a.m. departure for Los Angeles from EWR necessitated a 3:45 a.m. pick-up at the “Mildew Plaza” on 7th Avenue. Our normal pick-up times in Manhattan are an hour and a half before report time, but […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” Heard on the scanner over Adelaide, South Australia: Airliner (I think it was a Qantas, but I didn’t hear the start of the transmission):“We won’t need to divert into Adelaide now. The passenger is feeling much better now that he has been moved to business class.” Controller:“Amazing what […]

This Week’s Question |Previous Week’s Answers PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, we asked how AVweb readers are coping with rising fuel prices. Nearly a third of you are cutting the number of hours that I fly, which was the single most popular answer to our informal survey. To see how the other three potential answers […]

Unexpected Aerial Tour of India Well, it was a nice story (AVwebFlash, Mar. 26). But actually it is not true.As a former air traffic controller, I couldn’t believe it. So I contacted KLM. And they told me that the crew was aware of the new airport. But when they arrived the weather conditions were below […]

Most of us taxied an airplane on our very first flying lesson. After a period when we learned part of what our feet do in airplanes (a much longer lesson in tailwheel aircraft), taxiing became second nature, quickly becoming an assumed part of our aeronautical skill set and falling out of the lesson plan and […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” I was doing practice approaches when I heard approach control contact another aircraft on a similar mission: Controller:“N1234, what are your intentions after this approach?” N1234:“I’ll be missed approach, and I’d like vectors to the ILS 36.” Controller:“Missed approach instructions: Climb to 2800 and direct to the VOR.” […]

This Week’s Question |Previous Week’s Answers PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, we asked how far you go to secure your airplane when you’re not sitting in the cockpit. Just over half of those who answered told us they keep their plane in a hangar but the hangar (and the airport) could be more secure. For […]