Features

It wasn’t really a bad day, just a little challenging. The wind was gusting to about 15 and it was bumpy. The clouds were solid at 3,000 feet, but the visibility was great. Students were working hard in the crosswind and the gusts, and a couple of pilots were sitting here in the Lounge drinking […]

Henry Kisor was born August 17, 1940, inRidgewood, N.J. Age three brought his first experience in the cockpit of a TBF Avenger,and a bout with meningitis that would take away his ability to hear. Henry’s parentstaught him to read and to read lips and to find his place in a hearing world. He earned aB.A. […]

Below are links to the final conference report on H.R. 1000, the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, or AIR-21, plus additional background files.

Areader who requested that I discuss making perfect landings, – with animation, noless – prompted this column. In a perfect world it would be easy to consistently make those neat landingsin which our passengers, as we are rolling out after a real greaser, look aroundand exclaim, “When did we land?” However, I don’t live in […]

The recent loss of Alaska Airlines 261 waslike an unexpected hard punch in the gut for me, and for everyone in the airline business,because we know that Alaska is one of the very finest airlines, with excellent attitudesprevailing in the cockpits and cabins, good equipment, good maintenance, good training,and highly skilled pilots who operate in […]

The full verbatim transcript of Darryl Phillips’ trialbefore NTSB Judge Mullins, plus some “rest of the story”comments by Phillips are also available. The NTSB appeal is over and FAA lost. I now have my new certificate, with gliderrating, in my wallet. There will be no further appeal. I won. That is the end of the […]

BEFORE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICANATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD Docket No. CD-33 In the Matter of: ADMINISTRATOR FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, Complainant, V. DARRYL H. PHILLIPS, Respondent. The above-entitled matter came on for Hearing, pursuant to Notice, before WILLIAM R.MULLINS, Administrative Law Judge, at Room 1020, 420 West Main, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,on Friday, September 5, 1997, […]

In northwestern Tanzania at the lower end of Lake Victoria is Mwanza, a small port city, with a long but narrow runway. A few years back a DC-8 crashed trying to land there and the remains are scattered in various places around the airport. But that’s another story. Last week, at about 2000 local time […]

In early February, Boeing’s second-largest union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), went out on strike. I’m in kind of a unique position; I’m one of the striking engineers and also an aviation journalist. It is said that this is the largest white-collar strike in history. Couple that with the fact that […]

BetterJob? I become quite upset when I hear a youngflight instructor announce that he/she is just teaching until a “goodjob” or a “better job” in aviation comes along. I want you toknow – there is no higher calling for an aviator than to be a reallyfirst-class, professional flight instructor. There is no better job! And […]