Features

*** PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Charley, AVweb asked our readers about their aircraft insurance.  As it turns out, our you’re a pretty well-insured group:  70% of those who responded carry full hull coverage (moving or stationary, in the air or on the ground), plus liability insurance.  20% […]

Why Not Evacuate for Hurricane? Thanks for saying this (ATIS, Aug. 19). I was one of the very, very few who moved our plane out of Clearwater (CLW), to Asheville, by the way. Why so few?What really bothered me was the lack of concern by owners about the environment they’d created. Despite us “getting the […]

A long time ago, bopping along in my 180 Arrow at 10,000 feet, IFR in VFR conditions, from Boston to Kalamazoo. It had taken me 20 minutes to get that high — 10 of that for the last 2,000 feet. Then, Cleveland Center asked me to climb to 11,000 feet for traffic… Me: You mean […]

*** PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, AVweb asked our readers to speculate about the new Light Sport Aircraft category – specifically, how well will it hold up once there’s a highly-publicized accident involving an LSA?  Would such an accident mark the end of the new cateogory?  No way, say AVweb readers – at least 240 […]

If you’ve ever had the misfortune to be around an aircraft crash, there are certain aspects of it that are unforgettable. One is the smell: a disagreeable blend of fuel, oil, hydraulic fluid and wet upholstery, and a sour, metallic odor unique to bent, broken or burned airplanes. Although the wind carried off most of […]

A couple of recent events have compelled me to write this article. It’s going to be a little different than my standard fare. You may need to shift into a different gear, so be forewarned.As most of you are aware, I’m getting to be a short-timer. I’ve got just a little over two years left […]

Heard on frequency during some nasty weather, a beech 18 night freight pilot offered a report about his current situation… ATC: Copy. Care to offer a PIREP? Beech: Sure. At 12,000, we’ve got lightning … cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-ground … so far, negative cloud-to-airplane-to-ground…

In a scene sadly reminiscent of several South Florida airports in the wake of Hurricane Andrew a decade ago, Charlotte Countys Punta Gorda Airport bore the early wrath of Charley as he came ashore just north of Fort Meyers late Friday afternoon. Radar data indicated that Charleys compact eye tracked northeasterward up Charlotte Harbor directly […]

It was a dark and stormy night. (I always wanted to start a story like that!) Hurricane Charley hit Winter Haven with its full force at about 7:30 on the evening of Friday the 13th. It was packing winds well over 100 mph (the nearest reporting anemometer blew away after recording 106) and damage was […]

A lot of folks have been saying that the training system is broken. It is and it has been for several years. The advent of technically advanced aircraft has just made that breakdown more apparent. Now, with the coming of the very light jets (VLJ) there is much hand-wringing about “amateurs” in the flight levels. […]