Reader Mail

Killer Kites Re: Hitting a kite (NewsWire, Jan. 23):I was the Captain on a B727-200 inbound to LAX Runway 25R several years ago and on short final we noticed a kite flying just short of the approach end of the runway and could not avoid it without causing a traffic conflict. We continued the approach […]

Sport Planes With the Question of the Week being about sport aircraft (QOTW, Jan. 12), I found this suiting. I live in Mount-Hope, Ontario, Canada, a small town just outside of Hamilton (CYHM). There is a sport plane (here called an “advanced ultralight”) flight school starting out there. The school is run by Mike Rhora […]

ATC Pay Raise Just a note of clarification on your article on the FAA pay raise (NewsWire, Jan. 9): The 3.1 percent you stated in the article is not the OSI (organizational success increase), but the COLA (cost of living adjustment) for 2006. All federal employees received this raise. The OSI raise, paid in full […]

TSA and Hunter’s Threats I sent the TSA an email regarding the Missouri hunter that voiced death threats to the pilots at Smartt Airport (NewsWire, Dec. 26).The TSA has been very good about making sure shampoo bottles and nail clippers are harmless. Now they need to step up to the plate and go after the […]

Hunters Threatening Parachute Pilots I just read about hunters threatening parachute/ultralight pilots with a gun at Smartt Field in St Louis, Mo. (NewsWire, Dec. 26). If this were an airline passenger plane, the [person] with the gun would probably be spending the rest of his life behind bars, or possibly shot himself by the Sky […]

V.P. Restricted Airspace The FAA must have the dumbest people in the world working for them. All the bad guys have to do is look where the restricted airspace is.Who in the world would have known where in the world is the Vice President’s new home?We do now thanks to the FAA and the new […]

Lockheed Martin FSS I’ve had a little different experience with Lockheed Martin FSS than Ted Anderson (AVmail, Dec. 5).I retired from the Oakland, Calif., FSS in 1998. One reason was that I could see the “handwriting on the wall.” The FAA was pouring millions into updating FSS equipment. But between management ineptness and foot dragging […]

FAA Takes Credit? I am sure glad to hear that the Teflon FAA has found something to be responsible for — all those safe flights (NewsWire, Nov. 28). Well, at least I’m glad for the smile it brings. Allow me to state the obvious: Credit goes to those individual cockpit crews and especially those individual, […]

Lightgun Signals I have never had occasion to respond to light gun signals while in a plane, either on the ground or in the air (QOTW, Nov. 17).Once, however, at night I was walking on a taxiway in a non-movement area from my hangar to a friend’s hangar somewhat further down, but still within the […]

EZ Rocket Cross-Country Flight XCOR Aerospace should check German archives from the mid-1940s before claiming a record for their upcoming EZ Rocket flight (NewsWire, Nov. 14). It’s quite possible that an ME163 diverted to an alternate base after a mission exceeded 11 miles in controlled, rocket-powered flight.Robert Wolff Your story on the EZ-Rocket and its […]