features_old

Problem? What Problem? Last summer, I flew 43 cross-country flights, traveling over 20,000 miles. I didn’t have one cancelled flight, I experienced no delays and my wife’s baggage never got lost. My Aerostar and the air traffic control (ATC) system performed flawlessly. The airlines and their passengers weren’t so lucky. True, I never got closer […]

The NTSB supplied complete copies of the documents in its docket on the October 16, 2000, crash of Gov. Mel Carnahan’s Cessna 335 on CD-ROM. Data on the CD-ROM consists primarily of a series of TIFF images comprising the various documents in the docket. A display engine is also provided for installation on computers running […]

Pregnant Pilots One question I am frequently asked was not an issue when I got my pilot’s license 30 years ago — what about pregnancy and flying? Women were just breaking into the left seat of heavy airplanes and there were not all that many even in general aviation. Now, the aviation community has seen […]

There is nothing that can prepare one for a life of poverty like being an on-demand flight instructor in Chicago in the winter. Don’t talk to me about your starving artists – none of them was required to pre-heat a frozen 150 in below-zero windchill just to make a buck. (Yeah, I know, I’m starting […]

In many ways, watching Cirrus Design Corp. evolve into the two-model company it is today felt similar to watching a child mature from adolescence into adulthood. From its roots in the experimental community, Cirrus evolved from a niche airplane-kit maker into an advanced manufacturing firm. From serious airplanes for people with money and building ambitions, […]

Okay, let’s tie the ribbons on this series by discussing the right way to manage our turbocharged powerplant at the end of our flight when it’s time to get our airplane down from altitude and back on terra firma. (We’ve been airborne for five months now, and frankly I’m ready to stretch my legs and […]

Books reviewed for this article: Violation, by Howard Fried Paper; 184 pp; Kindred Spirit Press Inc.; 1999; U.S. $29.95 Flying & Learning: Basics For Every Pilot, by William “Phil” Heitman Paper; 156 pp; Dreamflyer Publications; 1997; U.S. $14.95 TRACON, by Paul McElroy Paper; 493 pp; Japphire Productions LLC, 2000; U.S. $7.50 So, You Want To […]

I have to admit to a fondness for the colors of autumn. I find that I look for excuses to go flying when the trees put on their all-too-brief displays before the iron of winter clamps down. I find that I’m not alone in my compulsion, as the virtual airport has been busy the last […]

Charles Perriguey, Jr. was born inGlendale, Calif. and grew up in nearby San Gabriel. He had only flown once on anairliner when he enlisted in the Marines after high school. He trained at NASPensacola in fixed-wing aircraft, then the Marines offered him the chance to flyhelicopters and he took it. In Vietnam he flew Sea […]

Diamond’s New Star, the DA40: More than a Katana AllGrown Up Is it safe? That’s generally a good question to ask before any flight in the first of anything: The newer the program, the more daring the design, the more important the question. But rolling the prototype DA40 from base to final at the Plant […]