features_old

The Pilot’s Lounge Thank you, Rick Durden! Your article on the Alexis Park Inn was most welcome. Yes, we are tight-fisted SOB’s and, yes, we are self-destructive to our own passion. But maybe continued exposure to nice destinations like this are just what we need. Many pilot mags contain articles on major destinations for major […]

George is holding a phone in his right hand. On the other end of the phone, a pilot is telling George his woes of the day — how the weather was bad in Louisville, how lunch didn’t agree with his co-pilot, and how his wife spends too much money. Between his head and his shoulder, […]

Airliner Missile Defense Awash in all the absurdity proposed (and implemented) by idiot bureaucrats in the name of “national security,” this Stinger missile defense seems totally at odds with the new totalitarian U.S. government’s new goals (to eliminate civil aviation). How can the nice brave soldiers at the Pentagon shoot down the airliners that stray […]

This article appeared in the July 2002 edition of Aviation Safety and is reprinted here by permission. One of the nagging questions that plagues the pilot who doesn’t fly every day is, “Am I really ready for this flight?” The problem is even more serious when contemplating an instrument flight, particularly when the weather is […]

There is a deep, abiding pleasure in discovering a place that is somehow both pilot- and family-friendly; where a pilot can share the joy he or she feels when in the sky with the most important people in his or her life. Not long after I had listened in on a gripe session in the […]

For 35 years, Howard Fenton’s been telling airplane owners about the health of their engines by analyzing their oil. Howard has spotted everything from broken piston rings to excessive bearing wear to worn valve guides. Once he tracked down an airplane he was convinced was about to throw a jug — and it was. In […]

Washington ADIZ Why can’t the FAA and DoD set up air corridors for safe passage into the three DC airports affected by the ADIZ?Dave Rumney GPS Jamming Obviously, we need backup systems. With today’s technology Loran-C can provide 2d navigation for enroute and terminal, and some non-precision approaches.Local precision navigation can be provided by a […]

The Beginning of the Endalready?Ron Saeger TWA 800 Conspiracy For those interested in an exhaustive review of the evidence that TWA 800 was downed by a missile (most likely fired by the U.S. Navy in a botched exercise), get a copy of (ex) CBS investigative reporter Kristina Borjesson’s article published in “Into the Buzzsaw.” I […]

It is a sure sign of old age that you spend your time talking about the past. I almost never do unless asked. Today I found myself getting a hundred-dollar hamburger at an airport greasy spoon with a teenage student pilot son of a friend. He wanted me to tell him some “true stories” about […]

Forecasts of a delay before recovery of the helicopter market were barely out the door when sales of new helicopters at Heli-Expo 2003 started defying those prognostications. And with improvements in every other gauge by which convention successes are measured, the buzz on the floor of the Dallas Convention Center was considerably upbeat compared to […]