Features

Sport Planes With the Question of the Week being about sport aircraft (QOTW, Jan. 12), I found this suiting. I live in Mount-Hope, Ontario, Canada, a small town just outside of Hamilton (CYHM). There is a sport plane (here called an “advanced ultralight”) flight school starting out there. The school is run by Mike Rhora […]

One of the nice things about the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport is that I get to stay in touch with some very interesting pilots. One of my favorite people on the planet is a guy I’ve flown with off and on for over 20 years. Among other things, he is considered to be […]

If ever you’ve lost your place… I fly “co-pilot” for a national carrier. This particular dark and stormy night had me eager for some real world practice. The captain had other ideas. Me: I’d like to fly the approach tonight if you don’t mind. Captain: …and how many times have you flown this one before? […]

ATC Pay Raise Just a note of clarification on your article on the FAA pay raise (NewsWire, Jan. 9): The 3.1 percent you stated in the article is not the OSI (organizational success increase), but the COLA (cost of living adjustment) for 2006. All federal employees received this raise. The OSI raise, paid in full […]

Actually broadcast on the West Palm Beach (KPBI) ATIS during the first week of the new year. “Attention all pilots, don’t land on taxiway Lima located between runway 27 right and 27 left … [pause] … Duh!””

Our 767 was number three in line at the de-icing pad and with the snow continuing to drop heavily, it looked like we had a little time to pass.Keith, my copilot, was a little apprehensive and was making damn sure we were ready to follow the de-ice procedures. About 10 years back, he and his […]

TSA and Hunter’s Threats I sent the TSA an email regarding the Missouri hunter that voiced death threats to the pilots at Smartt Airport (NewsWire, Dec. 26).The TSA has been very good about making sure shampoo bottles and nail clippers are harmless. Now they need to step up to the plate and go after the […]

An oldie, but a goodie…Overheard while flying freight near Frankfurt. ATC: F1243, desend and maintain 12-thousand. F1234: 12-thousand, F1234. ATC: F1234, can you make it to 12 in one minute? (short pause) F1234: Negative. The captain requests I inform you we’re going as fast as this Fokker will go. (silence) ATC: …Right. Lufthansa 456, turn […]