Features

Firefighting Tankers I recently was at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center inTucson. There is a whole line of C-141 and C-5 aircraft that are being decommissioned.It would seem much more logical to convert a C-5 to a tanker rather than a 747 since the C-5 was originally designed as a cargo aircraft (AVmail, Apr. […]

While flying into Cheyenne one spring day the tower anounced to pattern traffic… Tower: Piper 1234 be aware of a flock of birds off of runway 12. Piper 1234: Tower, we have birds in sight off our right wing. Tower: Piper 1234 can you deternime what kind of birds they are? …Geese? Cessna 567: Tower […]

If you’ve ever been to the South, you might have heard the expression, “It’s fixin’ to come up a bad cloud.” It’s just our quaint way of saying that storm clouds are brewing. If you’ve ever flown in the South, you know when we say, “A bad cloud,” we mean bad. Big, bad thunderstorms are […]

Flight Service Privatization This letter responds to Fred Twigge’s letter about ATC privatization (AVmail, Apr. 18). As a flight service specialist, I would like to know what bonus package us AFSS personnel are getting! If we are not at a facility that’s staying open, come six months after L-M’s takeover, we’ll be shown the door. […]

This is what I call a great start to the flying season: Sun ‘N Fun blew into Lakeland sporting great weather and a kind of subdued enthusiasm that bodes well for Experimental aviation. Why am I pleased with anything less than a full-chat hype fest? Because a mature industry is much more sustainable than one […]

Nothing New Under the Parachute I must smile as I hear folks call these Ballistic Recovery Systems “something new” and “in genius.” Back in the 50s there was a TV show titled “You Asked For it” sponsored by Skippy Peanut Butter. The premise was that viewers would send in requests to see, on the show, […]

From time to time, we who frequent the Pilot’s Lounge here at the virtual airport put on an evening seminar in which presentations are given on topics of interest to us. Attendance varies, but is usually large enough to fill most of the chairs we borrow from the You Stab ‘Em, We Slab ‘Em Funeral […]

One chilly day last winter, after one of the many snowfalls, the crews were diligently working on keeping the runways clean at Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport. The ATIS had the usual warning about snow-covered surfaces. As I was taxiing to the runway, I heard the following conversation between the tower and a landing airplane: Airplane: […]