Features

Chicken Wings is an aviation-related cartoon. The cartoonists try to keep it not too technical, yet accurate enough to amuse aviators and aviation fans alike. So if you’re a professional pilot or just an air-show visitor, you should be able relate to these stories!

Record With And Against The Wind Thank you for the great article on our speed records (NewsWire, Jun. 23)! Just a couple of minor corrections:Dave Riggs holds Helo and Piston records while I hold a Piston record.The biggest reason that our speed from KPHX to KLAX was so much slower was because we were experiencing […]

Summer finally arrived, so someone stuck up a notice in the Pilot’s Lounge here at the virtual airport that stated we might as well have an airport cookout before Mother Nature changes her mind. On the appointed date the weather cooperated and there was an excellent turnout. It provided an opportunity to chat with some […]

Sometimes perspective is everything. Several years ago I was flying into OSH in the late afternoon, second in line for runway 27 behind a warbird on straight in. As everyone who flies into OSH during convention knows, there are three colored dots on the runway that help separate aircraft so the controller can land three […]

There’s an old joke among aircraft mechanics that “the most dangerous thing in aviation is an aircraft owner with a screwdriver.” (Or a wrench, or a toolbox, or a Swiss army knife …)For many mechanics, this is no laughing matter. I’ve been writing for many years (on these pages and elsewhere) advocating owner involvement and […]

Why Fly? You recently asked, “Why fly?” and gave as one response, “The spirit of flight. It’s an intellectual escape …” (QOTW, Jun. 22). The spirit and the intellect are two very different things in a human being. The responses you offered are not encompassing enough. You should have separated the spiritual answer from the […]

Thanks for the huge outpouring ofsupport, good wishes and prayers from my friends. I wasdeeply touched by everyones sentiments, whether fromreading the COPA website, listening to voice mails orreading emails. I will try to answer each personindividually, but please understand if I dont. I am writingto answer the common questions on everyones mind and toattempt […]

Every pilot will tell you that summer flying is very different from aviating in the winter months. Wasps in the pitot tubes are absent in January. There are no chunks of airframe ice keeping your stabilizer from working during July; and in the Northern Hemisphere, your gloves will never freeze to a jetway as you […]