Features

Veterans Day: Thinking Past Thanks For Your Service Beautifully written, thoughtful piece, Paul. As you describe, my adding years is also one of those waypoints on the chart of life that just seems to allow for more mental space to step back and turn more freely in thought when looking at issues like, in this […]

There’s normal, and then there’s normal. Which is to say that while much of aviation relies on routine procedures and aircraft configurations, among other things, there are exceptions to most norms. For example, the FAA long ago declared a “normal” landing to be one with an airplane’s wing flaps, if any, fully deployed. That’s not […]

In the summer of 1970, at the ripe old age of 16, with a total of 27 hours (13 solo), I convinced my instructor to let me fly my family’s Cessna 140 from Atlanta to Panama City for my first long solo cross country. My instructor, a former Air Force pilot and my Dad, would […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

Two Bernies Who Saved Aviation The incongruously named “KSFZ – North Central” leaves local residents of Smithfield, RI unaware that there is an airport in town. And where are the North Left and North Right airports anyway? Funnily enough North Central moniker IS used to help identify a trifecta of fields that used to be […]

We’ve been owning and flying airplanes long enough to know for certain that the sport has many things going for it. But let’s be real—membership also comes with some downsides. This includes rising insurance premiums, ever-changing fuel prices, monthly database updates and, of course, maintenance and upgrades. While we encourage owners to perform as many […]

About 25 years ago, I was working ‘ramp’ for a local airshow. Three Warbirds called the Tower upon their arrival. Number one was P-47 followed by Corsair and lastly a P-40. The P-47 was cleared to land and numbers two and three were in close trail. The P-47 was on the ground and rolling out […]

After the primary flight controls—elevator, rudder and ailerons on conventional airplanes—the most frequently used secondary control is pitch trim. That’s because a typical flight in any airplane involves a range of speeds, and pitch trim is used to minimize control forces throughout the operating envelope. Even if the pilot can supply that force, it’s fatiguing. […]

Can We Finally Prove The Impossible Turn Isn’t Impossible? For 30 years I’ve taught–based on numerous exercises and flight with experts, and by putting hundreds of pilots through the exercise in a type-specific Beech Bonanza simulator–that the decision isn’t between “straight ahead” and “land on the reciprocal runway.” Instead, it is a range of possibilities […]

Even with modern gee-whiz panel integration, there are obvious reasons why the portable com radio soldiers on. When the electrics quit, it could be the last tool in the bag for talking your way down for a landing (and for some, an instrument approach), it’s useful for preflighting and copying a clearance when you don’t […]