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When Greg Herrick asked me 18 months ago to be one of the pilots for his five aircraft on the National Air Tour he was re-creating, I reacted like most every one else: “Sure I would!” To be perfectly honest, I thought there was no way in hell he could pull this off, so I […]

National Air Tour Received your much-read article this morning (Newswire, Sept. 18). The information on the National Air Tour is a little bit in error. You may want to check the route they are taking (it will be modified a little along the way due to weather).They left Wichita on Sunday morning for Tulsa, not […]

I‘ve put it off long enough. We’re going to have to delve into this subject sooner or later. It might as well be now.Class, please pull out your copy of the Aeronautical Information Manual: Official Guide to Basic Flight Information and ATC Procedures. Open your book to Chapter 5: Air Traffic Procedures and turn to […]

No, not the windstorm after which it is named, but the Hawker Hurricane, the airplane credited with winning the Battle of Britain (although the Spitfire got more publicity). Most reports show the Hurricane with more kills than all other aircraft combined.As one British friend mournfully told me, “John, old boy, if you’re going to fly […]

Contract Towers Comparing “safety” at contract towers with FAA staffed towers is nigh onto impossible (Newswire, September 8). What is the unit of measure, metric? The OIG uses reported errors (systems errors and systems deviations) exclusively.And who is more likely to report that error/deviation: A manager who might be given two weeks notice by the […]

I spent all day — it was a Monday — with my plane, poring over each system part and preflight check until I was satisfied the only tests left were those that must be answered in the air. It was late when I got home, and at least 1 a.m. before I finally made it […]

Despite the ongoing silliness of a Transportation Security Administration that continues to treat general aviation pilots as if they were criminals, it’s been a pretty good summer here at the virtual airport. People are learning to fly, a couple new pilots have purchased airplanes and hangared them here, and we’ve enjoyed the conversations that ensue […]

Contract Towers I’m puzzled why you would make a statement or accusation (funny as you may have intended) suggesting that the “10 times the normal participation rate” to the privatization survey was either a “technical problem or union participation,” (Question of the Week: August 20).I have been a professional pilot for 24 years — and […]

The North American SNJ is the U.S. Navy’s version of the venerable T-6 “Texan,” a big, noisy, radial-engine trainer aircraft from the WWII-era. The T-6 equals “airplane” in the mind’s eye of every kid who dreams of flight, as just about every airplane that every kid has ever drawn looks like one. That’s not to […]