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Bernoulli, Daniel (1700-1782) — Swiss doctor whose name was given to equations developed by Leonard Euler. These principles are widely credited with keeping aircraft aloft and the curving of baseballs. Dr. Bernoulli and Master Euler No wonder Master Euler put somebody else’s name on this business. Few scientific ideashave ever been as widely misapplied. Poor […]

I suspect Cap’n Jepp is rolling in hisgrave over the latest Briefing Bulletin – Vertical Navigation (VNAV), dated 12 NOV 99 -from Jeppesen in Denver. Not that it’s Jeppesen’s fault; they’re just charting the latestindustry foolishness. But Captain E. B. Jeppesen was an airman of the old school, and Ibelieve he would have rejected VNAV […]

The Bootstrap Approach is a method which lets Joe (or Jo)Pilot calculate his (or her) airplane’s performance numbers – performance for any grossweight at any density altitude – without a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering.You simply fly some sawtooth climbs and glides (less than an hour), calculate fournumbers, pick up five more numbers from your […]

Quick Links Little John, Lady J Adapter Brief Relief #1 Travel John Recommendation Quick Links Little John, Lady J Adapter Brief Relief #1 Travel John Recommendation Quick Links Little John, Lady J Adapter Brief Relief #1 Travel John Recommendation Onceupon a time, there was an entrepreneur-pilot – let’s call him Herb – who, after decadesof […]

Ifirst became acquainted with pulse oximeters the hard way — in a hospital Emergency Rooma few years ago. My wife and I were in the midst of a brief mini-vacation in theCalifornia High Sierras when I fell ill. After I spent a horrible sleepless night in thehotel, feeling nauseous and dizzy, my wife made a […]

Tomost of us who fly, aviation is as important as breathing. Or, at least it seems that way.We take our flying very seriously, and spend countless hours receiving ground and flightinstruction, and reading every book and magazine article and accident report we can getour hands on, trying to learn everything we can to make us […]

Little John, Lady J Adapter Brief Relief #1 Travel John Recommendation Little John, Lady J Adapter Brief Relief #1 Travel John Recommendation Little John, Lady J Adapter Brief Relief #1 Travel John Recommendation Onceupon a time, there was an entrepreneur-pilot — let’s call him Herb — who, after decadesof flying lesser aircraft, decided that it […]

Manypilots dream of strapping on a $45 million F-15E Screaming Eagle fighter, but few get todo it. I had the honor of doing so November 12, 1999, and learned a lot about what ittakes to support these jet jockeys — both their aircraft and their lives. Click on any image below for a higher-resolution version. […]

Given our aging general aviation fleet —average age now over 30 years — there are bound to be some problems regarding thecondition of an airplane at the time of sale. That’s because some owners are notwilling to put the necessary money into the proper maintenance of the aircraft, whileothers don’t fly enough to ensure that […]

Anytimea vector takes me across the scene of a hot-rod show or an ad hocdrive-in gathering, memories of weekend nights spent idling through hometowncruising spots nearly always sweep me back to my teenage years. That neverhappened with an airplane, though. Until, that is, those same hot-rod imagesflashed back to me upon my first glimpse of […]