Features

Someone, somehow, some way, goofed, and I was recently invited to join that small group of pilots in the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) who regularly fly the world’s only remaining flyable B-29. I think they mistook me for someone else, but I’m not asking any questions! Ground school took place in Midland, Texas, last year, […]

FROM: Col. R. L. Sohn – CAF, Chief Check Pilot – Bombers TO: Tina Stewart – Editor Dispatch, 15 Jan 94 Dear Tina, I just received the Winter issue of the Dispatch, the publicationlooks better each issue. Sometime I should show you some of the CAF stuff I’vesaved going back to 1965 if you don’t […]

Regular readers of AVweb are by now familiar with the efforts of several groups throughout the U.S. to re-create the Wright brothers’ first flight for the centennial celebration in 2003. One of those groups at the forefront of these efforts is the Wright Experience, based in Warrenton, Va. AVweb has periodically reported on the progress […]

Welcome back aviation fans. Your friendly safety rep here, Mr. Sunshine. I’m pleased to report to you that all is well and everything is coming up roses. Everyone on both sides of the mic has heeded my advice and we are all using perfect phraseology. Controllers are sticking to all the procedures and the pilots […]

Sometimes flying is its own reward. Youcatch the last rays of a beautiful sunset as you turn final, you calculate the fuel burnfor your trip down to the tenth of a gallon, or you grease it on at the end of your firstflight with your new in-laws. Every time we fly we usually come away […]

Here in the pilots lounge at the virtual airport a few of us are muttering darkly about May’s flying weather. It comes after a winter for wimps, so mild that the lakes never froze hard enough for skiplane operations. It says right here in the contract that we’re supposed to have a cold winter with […]

Myron Collier was born June 8,1930, on a farm near Butler, Ohio. He built model airplanes and, though hedidn’t know any pilots, knew he wanted to be one. An hour’s worth of instructionwas too expensive, so he paid for 15 minutes at a time. What he lacked infinances he made up for in determination, and […]

It’s another normal day in the life of an airline aviator. Four legs, three gate holds, two crew meals in boxes, and one layover in Little Rock awaiting us at the end of our day. This week’s version of a co-pilot, Karl, has settled into his seat after doing a walk-around in the rain and […]

When I first started writing the Eye of Experience, fresh after seven years of writing the Eye of the Examiner for FLYING magazine, I indicated that many of the Eye of Experience columns would deal with the subject of flight testing. With 17 years’ experience as a Designated Pilot Examiner, and having administered over 4,000 […]

It’s long past time to get out of the “Alice in Wonderland” mode on leaded fuels. There is so much misinformation out there on this, and so many OWTs (Old Wives’ Tales), I hardly know where to begin. There is a most elegant solution to the fuels problem now emerging, but more on that later. […]