Features

*** PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, AVweb asked you if the much-tauted ”bonus depreciation” provision in last year’s tax bill was responsible for the upswing in General Aviation. We discovered that AVweb readers are well-grounded and not quick to make snap judgements – just over 50% of you said that while it is an upswing, […]

Over the past three and a half decades, I’ve had the opportunity (and frequently the privilege) of working with a great many aircraft mechanics. At first it was as a nave customer having them perform inspections and repairs on my airplane. Later it was as a student and apprentice swinging wrenches under their supervision as […]

DC-9 Hard Landing The aircraft in the video was Ship 909 (NewsWire, Feb. 9). I worked at Douglas Aircraft back then and remember watching this video right after the event. Ship 909 was repaired but never sold to a customer. 909 ended up being used for a number of flight test purposes, one of which […]

I was in a tent and it was raining, but at least it was warm. Standing behind a plywood podium in a “forum tent” at a recent Florida Fly-In, I had been invited to give a little talk to the experimental airplane crowd on what airline flying was really like.I was more than a little […]

Overheard at Bankstown Airport in suburban Sydney… Tower: ABC, cleared for takeoff. Caution for a rabbit at the far end of the runway. ABC: Roger rabbit…

*** PREVIOUS RESULTS *** Last week, we polled AVweb readers about the missing funds that were supposed to be allocated to General Aviation in the wake of 9/11. Almost 40% of you thought the government pulled the rug out from under legitimate businesses, but another 33% said simply that it was “business as usual” in […]

Who Are the Terrorists? While it is very unlikely that a Jewish immigrant from Israel would be a member of al Qaeda (NewsWire, Feb. 2), it is not impossible for such a person to be a terrorist.Lest we all forget, prior to 9/11 the single most deadly act of terrorism in the continental U.S. was […]

From our, “There’s a right way, and then there’s other ways,” file… Tower: Cessna XXX cleared to land 20. Cessna: Cleared to land 20. Tower: Cessna XXX can you land and hold short 31-13.(brief pause…..)Cessna: You bethca. Tower: XXX is that a roger. Cessna: …Roger. Land and hold short 31-13.

*** PREVIOUS RESULTS *** While the number of airports in the U.S. continues to shrink, TransportationSecretary Norman Mineta talks about tripling the airspace capacity. Lastweek, we asked AVweb readers what they thought about the GA closingcrunch. An overwhelming 67% of respondents felt the FAA should interveneto protect airports. The other 30% of QOTW respondents thought […]

The whole point of getting an IFR ticket is (of course) to be able to go somewhere when the weather is less than VFR. So why don’t we do that? Let’s take a trip.Let’s say you want to fly from HKY (Hickory, N.C.), pick up your buddy at MRN (Morganton, N.C.), and then head for […]