Reader Mail

Southwest Airlines Just read your blurb regarding Boeing defending Southwest Airlines (AVwebFlash, Mar. 7). What you did not mention — and I believe you should have — is that the FAA approved of the action taken by Southwest Airlines after the airline self-disclosed the problem. The action to defer the inspection for 10 days was […]

ADS-B and Privacy Regarding ADS-B (AVwebFlash, Feb. 27):Am I missing something here? I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t fully understand ADS-B, but some parts of the program make me really nervous. Not just because of the cost to a GA pilot, but because of the extraordinary surveillance capabilities it gives the government. […]

Air Traffic Controller Staffing As an air traffic control supervisor at one of the nation’s busiest airports, I am angered and disappointed by the opinions expressed by Mr. Jim Trinka, FAA director of technical training and development (AVwebFlash, Feb. 10). Either Mr. Trinka is [unaware of] the plight of FAA ATC field facilities, or he […]

Light Sport Aircraft Who will profit most by my purchase [of an LSA]? Who will profit least by my purchase?The trend of business in the U.S. today seems to be driven by the notion that we can simply be the brokers and let everyone else do the “work.” Our fathers left us with the ability […]

Cessna Skycatcher I am a 73-year-old private pilot living in Bend, Oreg. I have had nine airplanes, starting in 1955. Six of these have been Cessnas: two C172s, two C180s and two C182s. I still own and fly a 1972 C182P.I was delighted when Cessna purchased Columbia with the decision to continue manufacture here in […]

Better Way to Save Gas? Nice story (Airmanship, Jan. 13), but no mention of a Rotax-powered aircraft? Cirrus or Diamond as a gas saver? Please! Time to catch up with 21st century technology: Go for the Rotax. An IFR legal Tecnam Sierra goes 20 knots faster than my C172 on half the fuel, automatically adjusts […]

Cessna’s China Blunder I am amazed at the public-relations spin spooling up over at Cessna … and being propagated by the air-related media (AVwebFlash, Jan. 7). Comments against taking their Skycatcher manufacturing to China are more like 50:1 against it, not the 50/50 split being reported with the negative “remarks appeared to be based on […]

APAME Electrical Flight While not denying the accomplishments of APAME, their Web site claim of the first electrical plane flight is a little over the top. Go here for a link to a story about flights as early as 1980 in the Gossamer Penguin. There may have been others. For some, just taking off and […]

Mountain Wave In the early ’70s I found myself in a rotor from a cloudless Sierra wave (Probable Cause, Dec. 24). The T-34 I was flying experienced +3 and -2 Gs of turbulence for some five minutes. The rotor would roll the plane nearly inverted with extreme pitch changes. I’m glad I was in a […]

Environmental Impact of Flying I don’t agree with any of the options you give on the “Question of the Week” about the environmental impact of GA (QOTW, Dec. 6).Having worked as a news journalist for 10 years, I know a lot about the environmental lobby. They all believe in saving the planet but most just […]