Features

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 […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” On a bumpy day near New York City, we heard the following exchange: Diamond 8DS: New York Approach, Diamond Eight Delta Sierra. I’m getting continuous moderate turbulence at 5,000. Request 6,000. It looks like I’ll be on top at six. New York Approach: Diamond Eight Delta Sierra. Unable […]

This Week’s Question |Previous Week’s Answers PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, an AVweb reader suggested that the difficulties many are experiencing with the newly-privatized AFSS system may be more than mere growing pains – they might be the early death cries of an antiquated system, now that DUATS, cell phone usage, and public internet access […]

I‘d driven out to the virtual airport before dawn on a Saturday morning. It only took moments to slip into the Pilot’s Lounge, load the coffee machine and push the start button, leave the box of fresh doughnuts I’d brought next to it and hurry out to where the Great Lakes was tied down. I […]