Reader Mail

Borescopes Are So…Intrusive Years ago I was performing an annual inspection for a friend of mine. As was our routine, the inspection was owner-assisted. That day I was looking over the busy bits forward of the firewall, as he was doing some kind of open-up in the cabin. Suddenly, from inside the airplane, he exploded […]

Bahamas Relief Flights I respect the position and knowledge of AVweb and enjoy reading your articles. However, as the second aircraft to put wheels down at Marsh Harbor on Thursday – I disagree with a majority of your coverage of this issue. Having extensive prior knowledge of these islands prior to the storm I was […]

Boeing 737 MAX This MCAS problem reminds me of the “unintended acceleration” of the Audi 5000 from the 1980s. From most of the press reports, it sounded like the car would go full speed on its own, with the brakes failing to work at all, the drivers rendered as helpless passengers as the cars went […]

Why We Lose Control This analysis is good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. A common misconception among aviation safety analysts is that pilots are rational, knowledgeable, risk-averse and teachable. Those who go to informal pilot gatherings — not big events and conventions — know that much of the […]

737 MAX Panel: Change The Certification Process My day job is jet engine certification, and we also operate under ODA. The manual of instructions to write your company’s ODA manual (which itself must be approved by the FAA) is 350 pages long. Getting set up under ODA is onerous, to say the least. The FAA […]

NTSB Issues Safety Alert On Jet Fuel Contamination Seems to be some strong feelings here about whether to blame the FBOs exclusively or the EPA, or the NTSB. Let’s look at some points. The NTSB ONLY investigates and advises, period. They legislate nothing. The EPA is only interested in environmental issues, they do not get […]

Accident Probe: Twin Training Just for my two bits worth: Many years ago, I was involved in a test program to defend Beechcraft in a lawsuit based on a spin/crash during training in a Beech 58 (non-turbo). We were at 10,000 feet over Borrego Springs (L-08), CA, where ground elevation close to 600 feet. At […]

Boeing 737 MAX Has anyone questioned Boeing, if the MCAS was never installed in the Max, would the aircraft still have been safe to fly? My goodness, how have thousands pilots around the world logged millions of flight hours without stalling an aircraft in the past? This entire Max story is a frustrating and needless […]

Paul’s House I took a tour of The Poberezny Estate on the first day it was opened for Airventure 2017. I, too, was awestruck by the beauty of the place, the thoughtful organization of the spaces he built and the restoration of a beautiful old Farm home. The docent who gave the tour said that […]

Flying to OSH Last year was only my second time flying the Oshkosh VFR arrival, so I’ll take everyone’s word that it was the worst they’d ever seen. And I’ll believe that too, because it was the craziest thing I’d ever seen and I’m surprised there weren’t any mid-airs because I saw some dangerous flying […]