Features

Overheard on United flight ATC audio channel. United: Center, United 123 in light chop — how’s the ride ahead? Center: Should smooth out in a couple of minutes. United: Yeah, it just smoothed out for us. Center: Sometimes it helps just to talk about it. United: You sound just like my girlfriend. (pause) Unknown: You […]

You saunter out to the mailbox expecting the usual: a utility bill or two a few pieces of junk mail, another credit-card statement that produces a mild state of depression; and, thankfully, a Victoria’s Secret catalog that at least momentarily dissipates the thought that the cost of your flight training has brought you to the […]

Pinnacle Crash Thank you for posting the various links regarding the Pinnacle crash (NewsWire, Jun. 16). As a CRJ captain myself, I find all information on the subject to be a matter of my own professional safety. That said, I have to ask why there is a 20-minute gap on the CVR reported in the […]

Welcome to EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh. As many know when you fly into EAA Airventure at Oshkosh you are asked not to reply to ATC radio communication — just wiggle your wings and comply. While flying into EAA I heard the following conversation between a landing amphibian and the tower. Tower: Amphibian say parking.(pause)Tower: Amphibian say […]

If you’ll remember, last month I left you hanging over the Snowbird VOR, in the clouds, with no radio communication. This month’s task is to get back on the ground. Let’s review.Here’s the flight plan we filed: N12345C172/A110 kts.Dep. KHKY (Hickory, N.C.) 6,000 feetHKY..BZM.V20.SUG.V185.SOT.V136.VXV..TYSArr. KTYS (Knoxville, Tenn.) And here is a low-altitude en route chart […]

N.Y. TRACON and the FAA Report I am really surprised at the report released about the abuse in the N.Y. TRACON (NewsWire, Jun. 6). I just have one think to say: They have to stop blaming the controller and look at management. Management approves all the overtime, not NATCA. So if they’re approving it, must […]

General aviation should be poised to enjoy a Golden Age. Exciting new technologies are appearing almost every day. And with airline travel becoming less convenient and more humiliating, business travelers are turning to general aviation as never before. As a result airplane sales are up and the general aviation business is booming.But general aviation’s financial […]

Overheard this Fathers’ Day…A friend and local pilot thought his father (a years-ago pilot) would enjoy a chance again at the controls. So he arranged on Fathers’ Day for his Dad to go up with an instructor. The “old man” brought it in for a squeaker. Here’s what I heard on tower frequency: Tower: Understand […]