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Jacksonville’s Ban On Home Aircraft I read the article describing Jacksonville’s city ordinance attempting to prohibit aircraft repair, restoration or kit construction at residential homes (AVwebFlash, Aug. 31). I then visited Brian Kraut’s Web site, viewing pictures of his home and numerous neighbors’ homes. The obvious distinguishing difference between his home and the others appears […]

Over the past two weeks the topic of discussion in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport has been preserving and restoring our aviation treasures. It evolved from conversation regarding the staggering sums spent to restore individual airplanes with historic significance, into the surprising lack of interest in the airports, buildings and structures that figured […]

Lexington RJ Accident In regards to the Comair crash (AVwebFlash, Aug. 28): It seems there is plenty of talk about “what should be done to correct a problem” that doesn’t exist. No disrespect to the pilots who were in charge of the Comair flight, but facts are facts. Why should the aviation community pay to […]

I subjected my still-new (and barely broken-in) Barrett-built IO-390-X to the kind of abuse that would make the old pelican himself, John Deakin, stand up in a crowd and shake his fist at me. I ran the cylinder heads to a temperature that would make any half-smart metallurgist cringe. I flogged my four-banger in a […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, June 2004. When we’re not accustomed to operating in high-density areas, flying into a busy terminal in a single or light twin can be unnerving. It’s busy airspace, and everyone expects a certain level of proficiency. Planning ahead and refusing to be intimidated into doing something with which […]

Prop strikes come in all kinds of flavors. Some involve obvious sudden stoppages of the engine (for example, a gear-up landing). In others, the engine keeps running, perhaps with some short-term loss of RPM as the prop tips curl back. Still others occur when the engine is not running (such as when a car backs […]

Circling Approaches Having read Brian Johnson’s article regarding the accident of the Bonanza circling at Chester, Conn., (Probable Cause, Aug. 21), I’m reminded how often I see pilots, especially high-time pilots, attempt the same maneuver without an ATC clearance to do so. The circle-to-land must be part of the approach clearance from the Approach Controller. […]

Summer is always a cornucopia of weather delays, hot cockpits and long duty periods. If you add in the occasional terrorist scare, you can spend quite a bit of time at the airport or in the airplane.You usually smell and feel pretty good while doing this, but with yesterday’s confiscation of my crew’s deodorant, toothpaste […]

CEO of the Cockpit #61: There’s No Trying to Reason With the Terrorist Season – (Aug. 27, 2006)Do you want to see the captain of your airline flight walk through security in stocking feet with his “air marshal” government-approved gun in a clear plastic bag? AVweb’s CEO of the Cockpit just wants to keep his […]

This article will cover brake linings, disc replacement, inspection guidelines and operational tips and techniques for Cleveland/McCauley-type brake systems, the most prevalent in piston, single-engine, GA aircraft. There are also Goodyear-type brakes, which will be covered at another time. It should be noted that repairs to brake systems are not considered “Preventative Maintenance” by FAR […]