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Our 767 was number three in line at the de-icing pad and with the snow continuing to drop heavily, it looked like we had a little time to pass.Keith, my copilot, was a little apprehensive and was making damn sure we were ready to follow the de-ice procedures. About 10 years back, he and his […]

TSA and Hunter’s Threats I sent the TSA an email regarding the Missouri hunter that voiced death threats to the pilots at Smartt Airport (NewsWire, Dec. 26).The TSA has been very good about making sure shampoo bottles and nail clippers are harmless. Now they need to step up to the plate and go after the […]

CS&A Aviation Insurance(This article originally appeared in Aviation Insurance & Risk Management, Fall 2005) In the aviation insurance business we see many companies and individuals consider the purchase of “corporate” aircraft. For purposes of this discussion, I am referring to seven- to 15-seat, cabin-class piston twins or large singles, turboprops, and jet aircraft like Piper […]

I‘m always fascinated by how little I know about the things I use every day. The ILS is one of those things. The ILS is the “bread and butter” of the instrument approaches. If there’s a choice, most pilots and most controllers will go with the ILS. (Actually, most would prefer a visual approach, but […]

Hunters Threatening Parachute Pilots I just read about hunters threatening parachute/ultralight pilots with a gun at Smartt Field in St Louis, Mo. (NewsWire, Dec. 26). If this were an airline passenger plane, the [person] with the gun would probably be spending the rest of his life behind bars, or possibly shot himself by the Sky […]

Disaster, exultation, milestones, conflict, celebration, tragedy, and remembrance … in 2005, the world of general aviation saw all that and more. Here’s our year-end review of the news, with links to AVweb’s original coverage for more details. Oshkosh Shows Us The Future If it seemed that after 100 years the world of flight would have […]

V.P. Restricted Airspace The FAA must have the dumbest people in the world working for them. All the bad guys have to do is look where the restricted airspace is.Who in the world would have known where in the world is the Vice President’s new home?We do now thanks to the FAA and the new […]

While in the Pilot’s Lounge here at the virtual airport, I got to checking my email and found one that took me to task for asserting that the Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) created as a result of Hurricane Katrina were ill-conceived and poorly planned. I had complained because of the difficulties reported by some pilots […]

This is a bit embarrassing, but I might as well come clean: Up until a few years ago, I was still flying my Cessna T310R with only the primitive engine instrumentation installed by the factory in 1979. Shame on me!I’d long since upgraded my avionics stack with conspicuous quantities of glass, including a Garmin GNS-530 […]