Features

It was one of those good evenings at AirVenture Oshkosh, the kind that reminds you why you return each year. The Pilot’s Lounge had moved bodily to a spot under the wing of Jay Apt’s Twin Beech. We had survived Doc Blue’s birthday party, including the part where he had surrounded the area where the […]

John Richard Rossi was born April19, 1915, in Placerville, Calif. He grew up in San Francisco and split hiscollege years between the University of California at Berkeley and the merchantmarine. He entered the Navy for flight training in the fall of 1939. Uponreceiving his wings and commission in 1940, he was assigned as Flight Instructorat […]

Not long ago, I was in the office of the Chief Flight Instructor at an FAA Part 141 approved flight school when a young man came in fresh from passing his Private Pilot certification check ride. Amid all the congratulations, one of the things the chief instructor told him was that he should start his […]

We’ve now beaten the technical issues to death, let’s go fly! If you haven’t read any of the prior material on this, please don’t fail to see “Those Fire-Breathing Turbos (Part 3).” This column is highly specific to the “turbonormalizer” systems as installed on Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM) “big bore” engines like the IO-520 and […]

The busy brick-and-stone village of Newburyport, Massachusetts, embraces a scenic waterfront on the wide Merrimack River, close to the treacherous shoals where the waters empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Its narrow streets overflow with the seaside ambiance typical of the small towns along the North-of-Boston coast: historic buildings, upscale shops and restaurants, white-steepled churches, art […]

It’s a bit disconcerting when it happens. Every once in a great while someone says something that causes your jaw to drop in utter amazement. You stare at the person who just made the statement because you can’t comprehend its magnitude. Meanwhile, your tonsils are attracting flies. It happened to me recently, here in the […]

Rich Stowell was born December 24,1957, in Newton, N. J. He grew up near Sussex, N. J., watching his neighbors LeoLoudenslager, Betty Stewart and other aerobatic champions performing theirairshow routines. He wanted to fly and took enough instruction to solo. Hisparents didn’t exactly disapprove, but they vectored Rich back onto a moretraditional career path. He […]

“With demand for air travel at record highs and many pilots facing mandatory retirement at age 60, U.S. airlines are desperately trying to fill their cockpits.” The Wall Street Journal. I don’t know that there is a general aviation pilot alive who hasn’t toyed with the thought of applying for an airline job, if only […]

I‘m a pilot, but some of my best friends are air traffic controllers. I’vecorresponded extensively with many other controllers in my role as an aviation journalist.I’ve spent dozens of hours at air traffic control facilities around the country,plugged-in and watching controllers ply their craft (usually in awe), and chewing the fatwith them in the lunchroom. […]

Several years ago, a designated pilot examiner was in the habit of asking his private applicants one question to fulfill the oral portion of the practical test, and only one. The question was this: “Which control makes the airplane go up?” If the applicant answered that the throttle makes it go up, he passed, but […]