Short Final

From IFR Magazine reader Barry McCollom, of Kerrville, Texas My great grandfather was a Texas Ranger in 1890. One day he was following an outlaw into a dark night. He tied a lantern to his saddle so he could see where he was going. It is the first know use of Saddle Light Navigation.

From AVweb reader Erik Eriksson Rounding out my 1980s helicopter training in a Robinson R-22 in Maryland, my instructor upped the game by sending me on one final cross-country flight, including a landing at Dulles International. As I got close to the airport and Potomac Approach established my position, the following conversation ensued:Approach: Maintain current […]

From AVweb reader Tony Greene I flew a semi-obscure aircraft type to a local “Taco Tuesday” weekly fly-in Arcadia, Florida. After a couple of great tacos and even greater camaraderie, I boarded and buckled in preparation for engine start. I noticed a young gentleman approaching the aircraft from behind the wing. When close enough he […]

My old Narco Escort 110 could navigate and communicate, but not both at the same time. That led to some interesting conversations with controllers. I was just stretching my legs to add VFR flight following to my toolkit, but rather than relying on VORs (only available part-time) I still preferred to navigate in a straight […]

From AVweb reader Bob Wood: Recently, my private pilot student and I were returning to Aurora State Airport (KUAO) in Oregon, from a lesson. At the 10-nm mark, he properly contacted the tower with “KUAO Tower, [N-tail number], 10 miles northwest, with Mathew.”Tower responded, “[N-tail number], I’m sure Mathew is very nice, but information Mike […]

Even among the ex-RAF Eagle Squadron 4th Fighter Group, which was not known for its strict USAAF discipline, breaking radio silence at critical points on a mission was still considered a major transgression. The German Luftwaffe ground forces were adept at keying in on air-to-air transmissions as a means of locating incoming fighters and bombers. […]

Back in the days of flying around New Zealand NORDO (no radio), the method of sneaking past RNZAF Base Ohakea, near the coast, was to use the transit lane seaward of the beach. Due to the M306 Raumai Bombing Range along the route, the standard procedure was to land at a convenient airfield short of this airspace […]

On a recent trip from the West Coast to the Midwest, I’d just checked in with Center after a couple sectors in NorCal. A few minutes later, the controller gave us a climb to our final altitude, FL230. Then, after another few minutes: Center: “Uh, 40N, did I give you FL230? I know I thought […]

I worked for Dassault Falcon Jet at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey for a few years, and though my usual commute was by car, there was one time when it made sense to fly my V-tail Bonanza to work. On a Monday morning, I was returning from a weekend trip to New England, and rather […]

From IFR Magazine reader Mark Klebanoff I used to live in the Metro D.C. area and pretty much nobody was cleared direct. To make controllers and the ATC computer happy, I used to file a flight plan with lots of airways, named fixes, and VORs. Then I moved to Ohio. Old habits die hard, so […]