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This month marks the start of the conjoining of the European national air traffic services, as aviation authorities are embraced by the EASA umbrella. Europe is set for an interesting couple of years as individual aviation authorities — sometimes with widely differing capabilities — unite to create pan-European legislation. More as time goes on. Meanwhile, […]

We all strive for precision and safety in our flying. If there is a recurring theme to smoothly lifting off into climb, maneuvering with a safe margin above stall, squeaking the tires onto the runway at our planned touchdown point, and maintaining control and precision even in emergencies, that theme is airspeed control.Airspeed is a […]

It had started as a run out to the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport to check on plans for our annual end-of-the-year bacchanal and ended up with me wandering into a chance to learn from my betters. Sandy, our airline pilot, lost a friend of hers in a post-takeoff crash a few years back. […]

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 […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Nov. 2005. We all have so-called “personal rules” we use to help us make decisions when everyday challenges arise. In aviation, they are sometimes called personal minimums and are used to help us decide whether this morning’s low visibility and cloud cover — even if legal VFR — […]

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Eclipse Aviation, manufacturer of the world’s first very light jet (VLJ), announced that it has received certification of Avio NG from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Avio NG Total Aircraft Integration system, exclusive to the Eclipse 500 VLJ, provides centralized control of virtually all Eclipse 500 systems and avionics functions. Avio […]

Last July, I made my annual pilgrimage to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., with a detour to Cadillac, Mich. The purpose of the detour was to participate in a pre-AirVenture floatplane weekend organized by AVweb columnist Rick Durden (The Pilot’s Lounge). The Cadillac Lake shindig is an informal affair where a bunch of pilots spend […]

[Editor’s Note: Recently two flight instructors wrote a book on how to use Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) to enhance pilot training and to provide sim-only pilots a guide to making their flying more realistic. AVweb is reprinting several chapters from this book, the first of which was Chapter 13 — Weather. To download the […]

Environmental Impact of Flying I was heartened to see how many respondents to the Question of the Week knew that flying is the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation (QOTW, Dec. 6). The worst thing one can do is to build a road. The road interrupts ecosystems. It also requires materials such as asphalt or […]