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The FAA held its second public “summit meeting” about aging GA airplanes on March 22-23, 2006. More than 170 representatives of government, industry, owner groups and type clubs packed the meeting room in Kansas City to listen to what the FAA had to say on the subject, and to present their views and ideas to […]

IFR Pilot Complacency Re: Probable Cause #7 (May 28):AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation did a study of fatal accidents that showed IFR pilots were responsible for a disproportionate amount of fatalities. In my opinion, they tend to become too comfortable with someone else (ATC) watching out for them. As a long cross-country VFR pilot, I don’t […]

One of the advantages of flying from the Eastern Time zone to the Pacific is that when you get there it always seems early and you always have enough time for a good dinner.Our 6 p.m. arrival in SFO was really a 3 p.m. arrival by their left-coast standards, which left enough time for a […]

It’s an unfortunate fact of life that aircraft engines are often not the cleanest things in the world, especially when compared to a typical auto of today. Loose engine-fit tolerances, the use of leaded fuels, substantially higher constant power levels and designs optimized for power rather than cleanliness tend to make oil staining and leaks […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, December 2004. IFR accidents typically fall into a few specific categories: Someone will get it wrong on climbout or approach, weather smites an unsuspecting pilot or a plane encounters something substantially more solid than a puffy cloud.Which makes the following accident interesting in what the pilot didn’t do. […]

I need a new phrase. The ones I know just don’t quite fit. There’s a growing trend in aviation — for both pilots and controllers — and it troubles me: We aren’t paying close attention. The “little things” seem to slip through the cracks more often than in the past.I’ll just talk it out and […]

NASA Langley’s Many Wind Tunnels Thanks for the article, “Blended-Wing Prototype Nears Flight Test” (NewsWire, May 11), about model testing of what the article called “the X-48B, an advanced-concept, fuel-efficient blended-wing body, in the Langley wind tunnel in Hampton, Va.” But please note that NASA Langley’s historic Full-Scale Tunnel — important as it is after […]

Spending time in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport was once probably merely a vice, but over the years it has become a habit. This time it was a weekday evening. I had flown with a student and stuck around after he headed home because it was quiet and I’d run across something I […]

Kudos to ATC I would like to commend the tower personnel at Smyrna, Tenn., (MQY) for the excellent service given on May 6. EAA was holding their Sport Pilot Seminar there and the Tower made every effort to accommodate these smaller and slower aircraft.My primary reason for writing is that I was flying a powered […]

This much I know: Sun ‘n Fun is my first big airshow of the season and every year manages to put a new spring into my aeronautical step. Like many pilots, I emerge from the doldrums of winter ready to see lines of new airplanes, scads of new products and shiny faces everywhere. Where Oshkosh […]