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!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 […]

The events of the eleventh of September affected all of us deeply. The Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport became jammed that day and has remained so with pilots who have come together and try to sort out the myriad emotions that each felt. The attacks, the subsequent groundings and then the national suspicion of […]

Thomas W. Wathen was born October5, 1929, in Vincennes, Ind., across the Wabash River from O’Neal airport. Theairplane bug bit early. He built model airplanes, became a Civil Air PatrolCadet, and traded airplane rides for work around the airport. He graduated fromIndiana University in 1951 with a degree in Police Administration. He joined theAir Force, […]

I‘ve said before and I’ll say again, the folks in ATC (air traffic control) are, on the whole, the greatest public servants in the history of the human race. However, the Flight Standards division of the FAA is an entirely different story. The vast majority of people in Flight Standards are typical bureaucrats, shuffling paper […]