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Up until this point I’ve been having fun writing this column. This installment isn’t going to be fun, at least for me. This is my third attempt at writing this particular column. I’ve been looking for a way to take the sting out of telling someone that they are doing something wrong. If anyone could […]

While hanging around and working at the Sarasota-Bradenton airport (SRQ) in the mid-50s, I became aware of a small group of pilots my father called “airport bums.” It was years before I realized that was intended as a derogatory term, for they were my heroes. That was probably why Dad put me into forced labor […]

NOTAM 1/1016 advises that current editions of the Aeronautical Information Manual depicting intercept signals may be incorrect (this is true for the FAA’s online version) and makes corrections. !FDC 1/1016 FDC AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION MANUAL, TABLE 5-6-2, AIRCRAFT INTERCEPTING SIGNALS, SERIES 4, 5, AND 6, THE COLUMN HEADINGS ARE INCORRECT. THE LEFT COLUMN CURRENTLY LABELED INTERCEPTING […]

!FDC 1/1979 FDC TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS OVER NUCLEAR SITES. FOR REASONS OF NATIONAL SECURITY. EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 02, 2001 2200 UTC UNTIL NOVEMBER 07, 2001 0500 UTC. PURSUANT TO TITLE 14 CFR SECTIONS 91.139, EMERGENCY AIR TRAFFIC RULES AND 99.7 SPECIAL SECURITY INSTRUCTIONS. ALL GENERAL AVIATION FLIGHT OPERATIONS ARE PROHIBITED WITHIN A 10 NAUTICAL MILES RADIUS […]

In the weeks since September 11, I’ve found that I have sometimes avoided visiting with my friends in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport simply because of the gloom and doom that has become the preferred conversation of so many pilots. While I join them in not being impressed by the manner in which […]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately (and some would say that’s a good place to be), you’re aware of the increased security concerns manifesting themselves at various locations throughout U.S. airspace. A bunch of people and their airplanes remain grounded, many aircraft owners cannot fly their machines without paying a flight instructor (someone […]

Gen. Robert L. Cardenas was bornMarch 10, 1920, in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. At age five, he moved to San Diego,Calif., with his parents. He built model airplanes and helped local gliderpilots with dope-and-fabric projects. Being the top student in math and physicsat his high school earned him a two-year pre-engineering scholarship to SanDiego State University. […]

Cardenas: Muroc tower, Air Force Eight Zero Zero taxi instructions. Tower: B-twenty-nine Eight Zero Zero cleared Runway six. Winds out ofEast seven miles an hour. Cardenas: We cleared to roll? Tower: Roger, cleared to line up and roll. Swindell (B-29 flight Engineer): She’s all yours, Major. Cardenas: All right, Swindell? Cardenas: Rolling. B-29 left side […]

Although all kinds of sport flying are for fun rather than transportation, all you “power pilots” don’t know what fun is until you try soaring; it’s so quiet the instructor can hear his students cry. Soaring in a glider or sailplane is just pure joy. With the sophisticated aircraft of today that most of us […]

I had a nightmare the other night. Boy, I hate those things. In this one, I could “see” through the eyes of a new trainee. Weird huh? Anyway, this trainee comes strutting around the corner of the control room, full of vim and vigor, and the first thing he sees is this old beat-up guy […]