Features

Heard a few years ago whilst flying a 747 from LAX to LHR: Salt Lake Center:“Airline 123, you bound for Vegas?” Airline 123:“Yup.” Salt Lake Center:“You a [DC-]10?” Airline 123:“Yup.” Salt Lake Center:“Well, I guess your passengers need a 10 to take home their winnings?” Airline 123:“Nope! Our passengers can take home their winnings in […]

[AVweb’s reprint of A Pilot’s History began with Chapter 1.] Operations sent for me and I soon found myself on the way from Okinawa to Tokyo with a load of passengers. From there we flew to Manila where we took aboard a pilot from India who was familiar with the “Hump” (Himalayan Mountains) and had […]

This Week’s Question |Previous Week’s Answers PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Auld lang syne, “best of 2007” lists and new year’s resolutions haven’t quite worn out their welcome around AVweb headquarters just yet.  Last week, we asked readers to put on their Johnny Carson-style turbans and peek into the sealed envelope of the future.  What, we asked, […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” Many years ago, in Calgary: Snooty voice:“Ah, tower, Air Canada Two Oh Four. This will be a fully automatic landing if you’d care to observe.” [later …] Imitative voice:“Ah, tower, this is Canadian Six Seventy Five [rival]. This will be a fully manual landing, if you’d care to […]

APAME Electrical Flight While not denying the accomplishments of APAME, their Web site claim of the first electrical plane flight is a little over the top. Go here for a link to a story about flights as early as 1980 in the Gossamer Penguin. There may have been others. For some, just taking off and […]

This Week’s Question |Previous Week’s Answers PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Happy new year!  Last week, we asked AVweb readers to cast their eye back over 2007 and tell us which single story had the greatest impact on aviation over the past 12 months. A few of you pointed out stories that we’d completely overlooked or (just […]

We all strive for precision and safety in our flying. If there is a recurring theme to smoothly lifting off into climb, maneuvering with a safe margin above stall, squeaking the tires onto the runway at our planned touchdown point, and maintaining control and precision even in emergencies, that theme is airspeed control.Airspeed is a […]

It had started as a run out to the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport to check on plans for our annual end-of-the-year bacchanal and ended up with me wandering into a chance to learn from my betters. Sandy, our airline pilot, lost a friend of hers in a post-takeoff crash a few years back. […]

Mountain Wave In the early ’70s I found myself in a rotor from a cloudless Sierra wave (Probable Cause, Dec. 24). The T-34 I was flying experienced +3 and -2 Gs of turbulence for some five minutes. The rotor would roll the plane nearly inverted with extreme pitch changes. I’m glad I was in a […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” Returning to Princeton, New Jersey in a Seminole, I was proudly clipping along at 140 knots and can only assume that my deep voice and professional-sounding tone led to us appearing to be more than we were: Me:“New York approach, Seminole Two Two Eight, 5000.” Approach:“Seminole Two Two […]