Reader Mail

The Long, Twisted And Slightly Ridiculous Story Of Avgas Good articles 1 and 2. I didn’t see much on the FBO’s point of view. I talked to my home airport FBO. They can’t afford multiple fuel tanks and pumps so they only sell Jet A and 100LL. The types of fuel that they buy are […]

Short Final: Soaring Not far from the USAF Academy was Black Forest Gliderport (now closed). One of my fondest aviation memories is a wave-soaring flight over Pikes Peak in the early ’80’s. Dressed in cold-weather gear and breathing from a diluter-demand oxygen mask, we released at 7,500 MSL and then soared the wave to 21,000 […]

Too Much Avionics? Avoid Sensory Overload Joe sixpack here. I spent a long time wondering if I should give up the six pack and finally did it. The installation has been repeatedly delayed because I need the airplane for work and haven’t had the time to take it off line. Next month will be the […]

Will Russia Really Leave The ISS? Thank you for a well written, experience-based commentary. Having had the great opportunity to work with a former NASA engineer for several years, I too see the team finding a workable solution to manage orbit, if it hasn’t already been designed and with plans sitting on the shelf. James […]

Air Force Looking At Semi-Autonomous Hercs Early elevators in buildings required elevator operators using multiple levers to ‘drive’ the elevator car to the correct floor, match the floor height, and open doors in the right sequence. Later, pushbutton elevators were invented that did all those functions automatically. But the general public was distrustful of this […]

Is It Better To Be Lucky Or Good? Yes I learned to fly out of Elmendorf AFB in the early 70s, and many of our “sorties” in the 150s were to Fort Richardson’s then towered single airstrip. In fact, that’s where I solo’d. I remember early on my instructor warning me to beware of two […]

Best Of The Web: The Death Of An Airplane You can tie down an airplane as securely as you want, but Ma Nature has ways of defeating your best efforts. One day a long time ago a local Super Cub, well tied down and facing south (90° to the prevailing winter westerlies), ended up across […]

The Avionics Market Was There For The Taking. So Garmin Did For a VFR flyer, Garmin’s competition in avionics is the device I’m posting from. Installed avionics are one of the few things that make an Apple product look like a bargain. Steam gages and a recent iProduct for SA (or droid if so inclined) […]

In The Presence Of Greatness With No Presence Of Mind Having been around the Pellegrenos a few times your description is most accurate. Ann is very modest and very passionate. Will never forget a Saturday afternoon spent with her at an antique fly in in Ranger, Texas or lunch at a Ladies Love Tail Draggers […]

American Parks 100 Regional Jets, Others Cut Schedules Like a many of us that fly, it was always a dream to wrench planes and learn how it all works, so I took advantage of the pandemic out-of-office to cram in an A&P. I graduated last year feeling very sad about aviation’s future – like visiting […]