Features

Cessna 162 My congratulations to Cessna on their amazing sales of the new 162 light-sport aircraft (LSA) (AVwebFlash, Jul. 22). Only Cessna with their long established reputation with American flight schools could generate any sales at all with this new and, in my opinion, highly questionable design.I was waiting for some manufacturer to sell enough […]

I was awakened by a phone call from a good friend. His opening words were, “Man, am I glad to hear your voice!”My instant response to that is usually, “Oh %$#@! Who bought the farm this time?”He said, “There was a fatal Mustang accident at Camarillo this morning and I’m happy to hear you weren’t […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” Overhead during a rather quiet evening on Minneapolis Center. Unknown aircraft: Minneapolis Center. Still there? Minneapolis Center: Engineering to Bridge. Aye, Captain. Tricorder readings indicate carbon-based units still infest the planet.

This Week’s Question |Previous Week’s Answers PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, Eclipse surprised everyone with a sleek, elegant concept jet design that quickly became the talk of Oshkosh.  In the midst of AirVenture, we asked what AVweb readers thought of Eclipse’s big-news concept jet debut. Reactions were mostly positive, with 31% of respondents calling the […]

Dwindling Pilot Population EAA President Tom Poberezny is to be admired for his lobbying for the LSA regulations and support by the aircraft industry (AVwebFlash, Jul 22). However, one need not look any further than your fuel price report of $4.51 per gallon for a reason for a declining pilot population.There is a point where […]

Ladies and gentlemen, I said on the PA, I know this defies belief, but we aren’t delayed in any way today. There is no gate hold, no ATC delay, and we have all the necessary paperwork to dispatch this flight.The catering, such as it is, was placed on board 20 minutes ago and all of […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” Heard on ground frequency at Oakland-Pontiac (Mich.) Airport (KPTK): Oakland Ground: Ground vehicle one, weve had a report of a hawk and a fox fighting at the approach end to 9R. Please investigate. Ground One [minutes later]: Oakland Ground, this is ground vehicle one. The fight is over. […]

This Week’s Question |Previous Week’s Answers PREVIOUS RESULTS *** With Marion Blakey approaching the end of her term as FAA Administrator, we asked AVweb readers to rate her performance on the familiar grade-school scale of A, B, C, D and F. To no one’s surprise, Blakey didn’t score so well, garnering an F from 92% […]

FSS vs. DUATS Too many problems with this one (Question of the Week, Jul. 12). Since DUAT/DUATS are due to be eliminated, with Lockheed-Martin (LM) taking over those functions, asking if FSS should be shut down in favor of DUATS really makes no sense. Any such service provided by LM would be a highly questionable […]

Aviation lore is full of stories of the pilot who soloed an Aeronca Champ or Piper Cub after only four or five hours of instruction. When I started flying in the late 1970s, it was unstated but understood that something was wrong if “first solo” didn’t come in under 10 hours. As airplanes and the […]