features_old

This December I find myself beached, grounded, laid-up. In the life of an airline pilot, you have to expect that some time or other you’ll find yourself out of the game for a month or two as you nurse yourself back to health from whatever malady you are bound to suffer from. Many pilots have […]

I‘ve laid my soul bare on a couple of occasions in my life but this is getting ridiculous. There, spread before all on a cheap folding table at LaGuardia Airport, were the contents of my shaving kit, sans the nail clipper, which I’d presciently left at home. “What’s this?” asked the white-shirted, freshly bepatched TSA […]

The controller rapped out the approach clearance with the ease of ordering a pizza: “Cross HOLOW at 3000, cleared approach, radar service terminated, change to advisory frequency approved, report canceling IFR this frequency or on the ground with flight service.” The airplane was miles from the airport, and the pilot later said that he “felt […]

Last spring, clutching a free ticket on Southwest that was about to expire and harboring an intense desire to escape reality for a while, I journeyed to Seattle for a mini-vacation devoted to nothing except looking at airplanes and eating foods that were bad for me. I had a great time and would encourage you […]

Not long ago an AWweb reader wrote explaining that, as long as he has been flying, he keeps hearing about “natural pilots,” sort of Supermen of the air, who can do absolutely fantastic things with an airplane. My correspondent, Rick Grant, wrote, “From the day I started flight training in 1965 through today, during military, […]

This article appeared in the February 2002 edition of Aviation Safety and is reprinted here by permission. Thunderstorm. That word causes more angst among aviators than just about any other atmospheric phenomenon. The thought of getting tangled up in the violent bowels of a mature thunderstorm – heavy rain, severe turbulence, hail and lightning – […]

AVweb’s John Deakin has told us a little (in “Pelican’s Perch #14” and “PP #47“) about his time with The Company. In this month’s Pelican’s Perch, he tells ALL the secrets – how he got in by the skin of his teeth, finally learned how to execute the “radius of action from a moving base” […]

This week in my Area at Atlanta Center (ZTL) the main long-range radar site was out for maintenance. Yes it was Maiden, but we don’t have enough time to discuss that problem. We’ve got bigger fish to fry. So, without any chit-chat, let’s get busy. Some of you may be familiar with non-radar operations. The […]

According to Garrison Keillor, Lake Woebegone always has quiet weeks. That isn’t the case here in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We have been known to have some pretty raucous moments; particularly if Old Hack and a couple of other folks show up at the […]

2002 Holiday Special! From now until December 31, 2002, get 10% off all items when you order online. GIFT CERTIFICATE!Can’t decide which Pilots Guide to get as a gift. Well, let them decide. Just send them a Pilots Guide gift certificate. Order them online. It is probably not an exaggerationto say that these three books […]