Reader Mail

I’m Not A Robot! Many times I’ve shared a thermal with a vulture or even a Red-tailed hawk, but I have yet to share one with a Bald eagle. And the few times I’ve shared the sky with them, they offered little or no accommodation, so instead, I yielded. Are Bald eagles airborne snobs? I […]

Slips: Forward Or Side, What’s The Difference And Why Care? As usual, great article…and for once a clear explanation that a slip is a slip…forward or side. I demonstrated a turning slip to a mission aviator trainee one day in our straight tail 172 with full Horton kit. Once established on base, I did a […]

Crash Videos: Horror For The Click “Myriad unpredictable variables legislate against unyielding rules applied ahead of the fact.” Absolutely correct. As many have already pointed out, depends on airplane make and model, weight, wind, altitude, location, current pilot proficiency, the pilot’s ability to recognize and accept an engine failure/emergency, process with a fast enough reaction […]

Already Had My Electric Airplane, Thank You Eventually pilots flying piston aircraft will be like pilots flying taildraggers now. Some will respect the extra skill required, while many will be puzzled why people still bother with old technology when there is the magic of one switch, one handle, electric flight. My goal is to be […]

SpaceX Starship Explodes After A Near Perfect Landing What’s being missed here… especially by this community… is really more interesting than the landing difficulties. All three of these flights have successfully demonstrated using areo surfaces to glide this massive booster back to a precise spot on the surface. That was the major unknown for SpaceX […]

Spaceflight In The Age Of Cute VERY cool to find these “insider” things. I’ve been lucky enough to meet and speak with several astronauts and talk with them in enough depth to see not only how focused they are, but several “insider” personal anecdotes. We lionize our heroes and ascribe superhuman attributes to them, but […]

What’s So Special About Special VFR? If I’m not on an instrument flight plan, I don’t like getting close to controlled airspace where I will be getting vectored (controlled) by ATC in less than favorable conditions. ATC cannot see the clouds, and under VFR you as PIC must remain clear of the clouds. I was […]

Bombardier To Close Down Learjet Production End of an era. It’s safe to say if there had been no Lear, Bombardier’s (and probably everyone else’s as well) bizjet product line would be completely different – if it would exist at all. Chris K. I have 6 business jet type ratings. The Lear was fun to […]

Musk, FAA Spar Over Next Mars Rocket Test Launch I have had considerable experience in space launch and was part of a team that developed the FAA/USAF safety standards. I do not know exactly what occurred here, but you need to realize that launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB involve the use of government […]

Replica Spirit Of St. Louis Flies In 2010 I had the opportunity to fly the Spirit replica once around the patch with Sean Elliott as PIC. It absolutely responds like a Mack truck without power steering. How Lindbergh wrestled in to Paris is incredible. This aircraft is one of two at Oshkosh. It’s not a […]