Features

Last spring, clutching a free ticket on Southwest that was about to expire and harboring an intense desire to escape reality for a while, I journeyed to Seattle for a mini-vacation devoted to nothing except looking at airplanes and eating foods that were bad for me. I had a great time and would encourage you […]

Blakey Fills Her CabinetIn today’s AVweb news the article about Marion Blakey’s top appointments was very misleading. The article makes it sound like the new administrator is making her selections for the top FAA slots from the commercial world, when in fact they may have once worked for hard money but are all actually swapping […]

Not long ago an AWweb reader wrote explaining that, as long as he has been flying, he keeps hearing about “natural pilots,” sort of Supermen of the air, who can do absolutely fantastic things with an airplane. My correspondent, Rick Grant, wrote, “From the day I started flight training in 1965 through today, during military, […]

Recently, a proposal was sent to the U.S. Department of Transportation outlining an idea to allow flight instructors to conduct air-taxi flights without taking Part 135 checkrides. The author’s intent was to help make flight instruction a career choice in itself rather than a stepping stone. AVweb presents the original proposal and two point-counterpoint views […]

Benton Jackson: Airbus InvestigationI think calling it “pilot error” might not be entirely accurate, even if pilot reactions to wake turbulence cause the accident. I’ve heard through various sources that many pilots are now being trained to use the rudder for upset recovery in addition to aileron. Pilots are also taught that full control deflection […]

AVweb’s John Deakin has told us a little (in “Pelican’s Perch #14” and “PP #47“) about his time with The Company. In this month’s Pelican’s Perch, he tells ALL the secrets – how he got in by the skin of his teeth, finally learned how to execute the “radius of action from a moving base” […]

Bert Driehuis: Airbus InvestigationThe discussion about the AA crash over Queens seems to be giving rise to a debate that has more to do with geopolitics than with safety. Airlines are not generally known for wanting to invest in instrumentation (BA is the exception that springs to mind). We can discuss scenarios where pilots applied […]

Ryan Mactaggart: Prop Spinner ProblemsI work for an aviation college in Canada that operates 4 C172s. In the last year we have had 3 spinners crack, of which one completely failed during a run up. The failure and cracks occured on the spinner back plate, a very hard place to inspect on a walk around. […]

Vince Czaplyski: Wellstone CrashRegarding the following news piece in the most recent issue, am I missing something? Conry went to a federal prison camp for more than a year beginning in 1990 for 14 counts of mail fraud. In April of 2001, he truthfully answered the question on Executive Aviation’s application form inquiring whether he […]

This week in my Area at Atlanta Center (ZTL) the main long-range radar site was out for maintenance. Yes it was Maiden, but we don’t have enough time to discuss that problem. We’ve got bigger fish to fry. So, without any chit-chat, let’s get busy. Some of you may be familiar with non-radar operations. The […]