Reader Mail

Me And The A-10 When two PA-48 Enforcers arrived at Edwards AFB from Piper in Lakeland in 1984, the USAF wouldn’t establish a formal “Joint Test Force” (later, Combined Test Force) for them. The two airplanes were assigned directly to the Test Pilot School for evaluation. The ‘golden arms’ loved the things. One is now […]

Seeing The Invisible Operating a commercial hot air balloon operation for two decades, your wind summary is spot on. Wind is the engine, directional control or brake for a lighter-than-air (LTA) aircraft and its through understanding critical to safe operations. We use all the elements mentioned in maneuvering a LTA and its understanding critical when […]

New Research Suggests There’s Still A Lot To Learn From Birds Or… pilots could learn best landing techniques and practice accordingly, enhancing safety in that manner rather than adding complexity to the hardware. Though I do agree, there is a lot to be learned from birds, such as how to stay up all afternoon making […]

Opinions Differ On Pilot Shortage As I have progressed through my career as a pilot, I have found that when moving to a crew environment and into transport category planes it takes more brainpower to do these jobs. Add to that a motivated FO who works with you to make sure the flight goes safely. […]

My Fleeting But Memorable Fling With The AN-225 My then-young son Peter and I were attending the Paris Air Show in 1989. We were walking down a fence line in the parking lot abutting runway 03. It was a plane spotter’s paradise. Everything on short final was passing overhead and touching down a few dozen […]

Plane Swap Gone Half Bad; FAA Not Amused Back when aviation was nascent and exploring boundaries there could be some acceptance of the dare devil, the showman, because just getting up in one was seen as a risk. It can also be noted that even if filmed, the number of people who (1) watched it […]

Updated Airport Design Guidance Includes Turf Ops I have 31″ Alaskan Bushwheels on my Maule MX-7-180 so I land on grass whenever possible. They cost $1,800 each and wear out faster when operated on pavement. Many GA airports have a grass strip beside the hard surfaced runway but the condition varies widely. Some have obstacles […]

Sun ‘n Fun 2022 In Perspective All the glowing reports of Sun N Fun fail talk about the big elephant in the room: Amazon has moved in with a 24-hour operation right at the approach end of runway 10. That includes jet aircraft landing and taking off during the night hours (when the airport is […]

Pilot Exodus Blamed For Alaska Cancellations The age of air carriers being able to take advantage of pilots due to pilots love of flying may finally be coming to an end. Since it is supposed to be a pilots’ job market rather than the other way around, those pilots who are leaving a current employer […]

Last Learjet Rolls Off Bombardier’s Wichita Assembly Line It breaks my heart to hear that the last Learjet just rolled off the line. I was the Director of Manufacturing Control Systems from 1984 to 1985. It was my job to implement a new manufacturing control system. I remember getting frustrated trying to convince the VP […]