Reader Mail

Letter of the Week:First Officers on the Ground I’m sure the FOs can work remotely – but why? The airline is still paying the FO’s salary. Additionally, how will the FO get stick time? The incidental expenses the airlines saves by keeping the FO home likely won’t pay the legal settlement the next time a […]

Letter of the Week:Orion a Step Backward I viewed the test flight of the Orion crew capsule with mixed emotions. I’m glad that we are finally getting our act together so that we are not relying on the Russians to get us into low Earth orbit and sad that we are now back to shooting […]

Letter of the Week:Third Class Medical Issues Regarding Woody Beck’s article on the decline of GA: He states the following,“Over the longer term, changes in the third class medical will have no significant impact because its cost is negligible, roughly the cost of 15 gallons of av fuel every two years for us older pilots.” […]

Letter of the Week:Buy a Good Pulse Oximeter I am 85 years old and have a lung condition. I had a pulse oximeter for years, and it normally indicated a saturation level of around 92 to 94 percent. It was one of the American-made units and cost about $150. Eventually it quit, and when I […]

Letter of the Week:Hangar Policy Proposal No doubt this proposal makes sense in some arcane budget discussion among ignoramuses divorced from aviation. But saying aircraft can’t be built in an airport hangar simply to preclude inappropriate use of federally funded airports makes about as much sense as saying birth can’t occur at home because the […]

Letter of the Week:USA Today‘s Strategy Only a personal injury lawyer would write a Lettre de Cachet like the black adventure story published in USA Today. My sympathies for their reduced ad revenues and declining circulation. But holding public executions and sensational smear campaigns has never worked for any publication. Even the networks hesitate to […]

Letter of the Week:UAV Technology Won’t Wait for FAA A UAV (or any remotely controlled air vehicle) flown under 400 feet still has the potential to easily take down a manned aircraft, particularly if flown near final approaches to airport runways. I’d imagine that the 400-foot altitude limitation would also make low-flying manned aircraft vulnerable, […]

Letter of the Week:Adjusting GA I find it very interesting that AOPA is planning to refurbish three Cessna 152s looking for a price point of $85,000. Also, the comments about the 1,320-pound gross weight limit for LSA being a problem in the U.S. for flight schools. Both of these concerns lead me to believe, as […]

Letter of the Week:Flying to St. Barths I watched with great interest your video with the Aztec landing in St. Barths and finishing on the beach. I happened to be in St. Barths recently. I fly there regularly in my Cirrus SR-22 but was there most recently flying an airliner. Here are a few words […]

Letter of the Week:The Rest of the Story The new rest rules do not cover cargo flights, nor do they cover foreign flights in U.S. airspace. But the basics should be that professional pilots take care of their bodies, including getting adequate rest. Carriers give crew regulated rest periods, but unless the FAA wants the […]