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It had been one of those lovely, late fall mornings. You got up, looked out the window at a nearly clear sky and decided to fly the 70 miles to visit an old friend for coffee. The forecast said nothing below 4000 feet and four miles vis, so off you paddled. Coffee consumed, you shot […]

Just as in the car industry, if the notion of sure-thing profit exists in the world of general aviation, its in high-dollar airframes, not entry level two-place designs. Thats one reason why new trainer production came to a standstill during the 1980s and 1990s and why the volume in this market continues to be low. […]

I was sitting in one of the big chairs here in the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport when I read that the president, on June 6, 2002, had signed an executive order dictating that air traffic control is no longer an inherently federal function. That act was a significant procedural step toward imposition of […]

Wally Roberts was born October 22,1936 in Pasadena, Calif., close enough to the Monrovia airport to see airplanesin the pattern. Around age 12, he watched a PT-13 auger in after stalling at thetop of a loop, killing the pilot and his girlfriend. For a while after that hehad a phobia about airplanes, but when that […]

The ILS approach was in heavy rain and came at the end of a long day. One of those days that was a never-ending five-leg load of crappy weather, surly passengers, a lethargic ATC system, and air-conditioning packs that just never seem to catch up. My co-pilot for this four-day “hostage crisis,” Scott, summed it […]

PERFORMANCE Takeoff distance, ground roll: 0 ft Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle: 0 ft Maximum demonstrated crosswind component: 15 kt Rate of climb (typical ascent profile at 130,000 ft): 132,000 fpm Orbit Altitude: 185 to 643 kilometers (115 to 400 statute miles) Orbit Velocity: 27,875 kph (17,321 mph) Lift-to-drag (glide) ratio — Hypersonic: 1.05 Subsonic: […]

Having flown family and friends and done a substantial amount of on-demand passenger charter flying in singles and light twins, carrying all kinds of people (from babes-in-arms – to old folks who had to be assisted into the airplane – to invalids) over an aviation career that has spanned more than half a century, I […]

Someone, somehow, some way, goofed, and I was recently invited to join that small group of pilots in the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) who regularly fly the world’s only remaining flyable B-29. I think they mistook me for someone else, but I’m not asking any questions! Ground school took place in Midland, Texas, last year, […]

FROM: Col. R. L. Sohn – CAF, Chief Check Pilot – Bombers TO: Tina Stewart – Editor Dispatch, 15 Jan 94 Dear Tina, I just received the Winter issue of the Dispatch, the publicationlooks better each issue. Sometime I should show you some of the CAF stuff I’vesaved going back to 1965 if you don’t […]

Regular readers of AVweb are by now familiar with the efforts of several groups throughout the U.S. to re-create the Wright brothers’ first flight for the centennial celebration in 2003. One of those groups at the forefront of these efforts is the Wright Experience, based in Warrenton, Va. AVweb has periodically reported on the progress […]