Features

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. […]

Spring showed up last week, taking a lot of us by surprise. Everybody at the virtual airport adjusted pretty quickly except old Hack – he knows this first warm spell is just a teaser so he sat around in his heavy coat and muttered at the rest of us. As usual, the good weather brought […]

Michael Nolan was born October 24,1949, in Van Nuys, Calif. His first flight was in a PSA DC-4 out of Burbank,Calif., and he was hooked instantly. He learned to fly in late ’68 while he wasa student at L.A. Valley college, soloed on March 1, ’69, then earned a two-yeardegree from Fullerton College and studied […]

At the risk of stating the obvious, before you can use your airplane to explore the wild blue yonder you must first get off the ground. As simple as that may first appear, there are all sorts of questions to answer if you want to depart IFR. While many of you enjoy the approach control […]

The pilot lounge in Newark is larger than most but otherwise is the same as all of them. Lazy Boy recliner chairs are scattered about the brick-walled windowless room like the remnants of a close-out furniture sale. Some of them are broken down by hundreds of desperate toss-turned nights spent by harried (and cheap) commuters. […]

Several months ago I wrote a column entitled Some People (Just don’t Belong in the Air). At that time, because of lack of space I did not include what is perhaps the most blatant example of an individual who had no business even approaching within 50 feet of an airplane, let alone attempting to operate […]

As I was rummaging around in my brain for some interesting stories to amuse pilots, I kept coming across the same thing again and again: Maiden. It dawned on me that much of my career has revolved around Maiden. From the day I walked in the door at Atlanta Center, to the present day, Maiden […]

I‘ve long promised myself I’d never get in this argument again. I have resisted manfully (is that sexist?) Every time I start to say something on this subject, I cover my ears and start the usual mantra, “Pink elephants, pink elephants…” trying to avoid even thinking about it. It’s a little like the time we […]