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Spending time in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport was once probably merely a vice, but over the years it has become a habit. This time it was a weekday evening. I had flown with a student and stuck around after he headed home because it was quiet and I’d run across something I […]

Kudos to ATC I would like to commend the tower personnel at Smyrna, Tenn., (MQY) for the excellent service given on May 6. EAA was holding their Sport Pilot Seminar there and the Tower made every effort to accommodate these smaller and slower aircraft.My primary reason for writing is that I was flying a powered […]

The following exchange occurred between my student, the tower, and me at KLVK on 05/08/06… Cessna N1234 (Student): Livermore tower Cessna 1234 at Sierra ready to taxi 25R with India. Tower: Roger N1234 taxi to India. [Student gives me the “Huh? You read it back,” look.] Cessna N1234 (Instructor): Tower N1234 confirm you want us […]

This much I know: Sun ‘n Fun is my first big airshow of the season and every year manages to put a new spring into my aeronautical step. Like many pilots, I emerge from the doldrums of winter ready to see lines of new airplanes, scads of new products and shiny faces everywhere. Where Oshkosh […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, February 2004. At various points in the careers of most pilots, there come times when the pilot attains mastery of the airplane and, therefore, mastery of the air. Sometimes those episodes are fleeting, beaten back into submission by some kind of learning experience that convinces the pilot that […]

If every one of our landings were a perfect “grease job” where the mains kiss the runway at an infinitesimally small descent rate — and if every runway we land on were a perfectly smooth surface without any bumps or potholes — then the landing gear on our airplanes could be dead simple. Wheel assemblies […]

GAP Diesel Engine A lot has been written (from 1998 onward) and promised (from 2000 onward) about the new diesel project that was a joint venture between NASA and Teledyne and that would result into an aircraft engine of the new age.From NASA it seems to be very successful, as all goals were met, but […]

While working as a controller at Ellsworth Approach Control in the 80’s, I heard this exchange. ATC: Western 474, Ellsworth Approach Control is utilizing a certain phase of the radar called circular polarization, which allows us to depict only the most severe areas of weather on the radar display. [Long Pause…] Western 474: Approach, say […]