Features

Bill Dana was born November 3, 1930 inPasadena, Calif. He graduated the U. S. Military Academy at West Point and served fouryears in the U. S. Air Force. He joined NASA on October 1, 1958, the day it was founded,which makes him NASA’s first official employee. As a test pilot he flew the triple-sonicYF-12 (precursor […]

Cecil Ewell was born December 25, 1939, inLos Angeles, Calif. After graduating from high school in Nashville, Tenn., he earned afootball scholarship to the University of Florida. He finished the pre-med program with aBachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and was accepted to medical school. Those plans changed oneweekend when he and some friends went to Jacksonville […]

Basedon the title, if you thought this column would deal with locating a place to setan airplane down in the event you were to be confronted with an unscheduledoff-airport landing (a forced landing), you would be mistaken. However, if youreally want to know my opinions on that subject, stick around and I’ll tell you,but first […]

Although the aftermath looks pretty bad, this big Boeing will probably flyagain. Special thanks to AVweb reader Will Reynolds for sharing with us theseimages, which were taken by an Australian pilot flying for Singapore Airlines. VisitAVweb’s Newswire for More

Back to AVweb’s daily coverage of Reno ’99 Preview Rare Bear, Lyle Shelton’s highly modified F8F Bearcat returns to Reno. In practice on Tuesday, the Bear broke a clamp holding an exhaust stack damaging a cylinder and other engine components. The crew was finishing up the cylinder change-out on Wednesday afternoon. After P-51 “Voodoo Chile” […]

NOTE: AVweb’s coverage includes many more photos. Preview  |  Day 1  |  Day 2  |  Day 3  |  Final Day Preview Reno — to air racing fans, the name conjures up thoughts of Mustangs, SeaFuries and Bearcats in full cry bending around the pylons on the racecourse atReno/Stead Airport. The P-51s, Furies and ‘Cats of […]

Every pilot out there is going to hate mefor this, but I cannot help but tell this story. To brag. To flaunt my pleasureshamelessly. Please, cut me a little slack, for this has been one of the most wonderfulachievements of my flying career. I cannot stop grinning, every time I think of it. Adream has […]

It’slate at night in the pilot’s lounge. Outside the windows, the pilot-activatedrunway and taxi lights are dark, silently awaiting the next airplane – althougha propeller hasn’t turned in several hours. Everyone left quite a while ago;some inquired as to whether I was going, and accepted my “a bit later”before becoming receding taillights. There is but […]

Sometime ago an AVweb subscriber, Ms. Annette Wright, requested a column onthe subject of night VFR. We here in the U.S. are fortunate in that there is nospecific rating required for a pilot to fly VFR at night. However, thissituation does not prevail throughout the rest of the world. In fact, in manycountries an instrument […]

I had just returned from my second tour in Vietnam flyingfighters and was spring-loaded to the “go” mode. Now here I was, a “staffweenie” in a fighter wing at Kadena, getting checked out in the base flight T-39Sabreliner. Although I’d had a lot of quality flying experience in a short time period, Iwas at the […]