Features

The FAA has just issued an Airworthiness Directive for Boeing 737 aircraft that incredibly does not offer to solve known problems with the aircraft’s rudder Power Control Unit (PCU), but instead mandates crew training so pilots can attempt to survive sudden control problems. NTSB investigators remain unsure why two Boeing 737s crashed, one near Pittsburgh […]

January 30, 1997 Dear Mr. Marbach, The National Business Aircraft Association recognizes the significant role single and light twin piston-engine aircraft play within business aviation. We encourage operators of all types of general aviation to participate in NBAA Membership and the various informational programs offered by the Association to the entire business aviation community whether […]

This year’s National Business Aircraft Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, was judged by most of the press as a success. It sure looked like it: Lots of heavy metal on the spacious conventions site floor (more at the static displays at the airport), and lots of suits walking around looking like they had money to […]

AirworthinessDirectives have been with us since the 1940’s, butit seems as if the industry’s attitude toward them has changeddramatically in recent years. Twenty years ago, manufacturerswould often brag in their sales literature that their airplanesor engines “have never had an AD issued against them.”Issuance of an AD was considered a black mark against a manufacturer,suggesting […]

I have always been envious of my friends who are skiers. WhileI dread the upcoming winter, they actually are anxious to see the temperaturedrop below freezing. The feeling of accomplishment that skiers feel at theend of a difficult run that has been well executed must be exhilarating.The sense of control, the rush of traveling at […]

As much as we might like to carp about the occasional circuitousrouting or ground delay, this much is certain: The U.S. air trafficsystem is arguably the best in the world. What’s less certainis how it got that way. How did we advance from the tenuous airmailroutes of the early 1930s to the sophisticated IFR system […]

U.S. Department of TransportationFederal Aviation AdministrationOffice of the Administrator800 Independence Ave., S.W.Washington, D.C. 20591 LETTER TO PlLOTS Several recent occurrences at non-towered airports (either airports without control towers or airports where control towers do not operate continually) have given rise to concerns about operations at airports without operating control towers. The loss of life from […]

I admit it: until a few years ago, I found Civil War history tiresome; there weretoo many battles, too many deposed Union generals, and too many politicalfacts to master. Now, midway through my fifth decade, I have the patience,the curiosity and the time to try to understand something of this mosttroublesome episode in our American […]

The 33rd annual Reno National Championship Air Races opened on September9, 1996 and with it brought both excitement and disappointment. In recentyears the “fastest motor sport in the world” has been slightly waning interms of participation and competition. However, the 1996 campaign showedgreat encouragement for there were a number of new unlimited racers on theramp […]

The folks atMoffett Fieldlocated in Sunnyvale, California, musthave a thing about building things BIG. If you have ever overflown Moffettor driven past it on the Bayshore Freeway, you won’t forget the size of thehuge Navy blimp hangars. The largest was built to house theairship “Macon” and would swallow a whole squadron of P-3swithout any effort. […]