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Small children have vivid imaginations. They create imaginary playmates and re-enact stories, movies, etc. Unfortunately, as we grow older we tend to lose the ability to apply imagination to our activities. In training instrument students I explain the three skills required of an instrument pilot – instrument cross-check (scanning), instrument interpretation (what are these gages […]

If the Justice Department does not step in and halt the process, the U.S. domestic airline industry may soon be dominated by three mega-carriers. United may purchase US Airways, American may join forces with TWA and/or Northwest and Delta may absorb Continental or America West — at least that’s the way things stood earlier this […]

It takes a crowbar to separate image from reality with the big Commander twins-the image pitched by Rockwell Intl. in a blaze of promotional glory-and the one left by Bob Hoover in his airshow demo, hanging a Shrike on a prop and deadsticking it out of a loop. When the image is pried away, what […]

The Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six/Saratoga comes close to being the epitome of a utility airplane. In the payload/capacity/cost equation, its hard to find another airplane that can carry so much for so little. As such, its popular with charter and cargo operations, and fills the need well. With six seats and fixed gear, its only […]

Welcome to the first installment of my monthly column for AVweb. I’ve been associated with AVweb since late 1996, when I moved into the weekly news-writing rotation. Those were the days when our subscriber base numbered around 20,000, we worked hard to have fun with our news products and the principal question we received was […]

Saddled with a battered image, handicapped by a powerplant with a nasty reputation, the Turbo Arrow should be approached with caution. But various upgrades and a kind of Darwin effect may have weeded out many of the real clunkers by now. When Piper hung a 200-HP turbocharged Continental onto the basic Arrow airframe in 1977, […]

We’re talking of course, about the North American T-28 “Trojan.” This time, AVweb’s resident warbird maven invites you along as he qualifies for his FAA Letter of Authorization in the T-28. Although the Trojan has only about half the horsepower of the Bearcat, it’s a considerably more complex airplane. Why, even learning to operate the […]

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Sort of an intermediate hybrid between the venerable 172 and the inestimable 182RG Skylane, the Cutlass rode a fine line for the five years it was in production. Its ill-defined market niche, coupled with the advent of the general aviation recession, kept the production numbers fairly low. Indeed, only 1,191 were rolled out of the […]

You do it before you commence a flight. You do it when you elect en route to continue a flight. You do it when you decide to land. It’s the most challenging to teach, the toughest to learn, and the most important skill for a GA pilot to develop — making the Go/No-Go Decision. The […]