features_old

Lie #1:Lycoming engines are better than Continental engines.(Or vice-versa.) Ibought my first airplane 30 years ago. It was a Cessna 182 powered by a ContinentalO-470-R engine. Since then I’ve owned a succession of airplanes, and each one-quitecoincidentally-was powered by a big-bore Continental. My engines have always made TBO andbeen relatively trouble-free. So it’s not surprising […]

Part of my job as an aircraftappraiser is to research the logbooks of each aircraft I inspect. It’s amazing how much,or how little, you can tell about a particular airplane by what’s in the maintenance logs.Some airplane records detail every nut and bolt that has ever been tightened, while otherstell little or nothing about the […]

Knowledge Tests are required for thePrivate, Commercial and Airline Transport Pilot certificates and for the instrumentrating. If you know the material, what follows is a surefire way of passing whichever ofthe knowledge tests you are attempting, and doing so with a high score. I have used thissystem for a great many years as I prepared […]

Ms. Jane F. Garvey Administrator Federal Aviation Administration 800 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20591 Dear Ms. Garvey: A recent incident demonstrates a number of problems with the current system of FAA handling of alleged violations, and why you were absolutely right to put a stop to the Form 2150-7 “ticketing” plan. A couple of […]

The FAA has issued Bulletin No. 98-1 (dated February 10, 1998) announcing a new enforcement program that will allow FSDO inspectors to issue “tickets” for flight violations. The FAA will use Form 2150-7 which they call an “Administrative Action” — I call it a “ticket.” The inspector will decide on the spot whether the ticket […]

A pilot who requests flight following (VFRtraffic advisories) or who flies IFR on a cross-country can expect to talk to a number ofATC controllers. Each controller works a sector of airspace, and as a pilot approaches theborder between sectors, the controller instructs him (or her) to contact the nextcontroller on the appropriate frequency. Complying with […]

Thismay well turn out to be AVweb’s most controversial editorial since I co-foundedthis publication three years ago. It’s about the FAA’s sudden decision to stop makingairman mailing addresses available to the public, reversing the Agency’s decades-oldpolicy. I first caught wind of this decision a couple of weeks ago, and have discussed itprivately with dozens of […]

Depart “Depart” is test pilot slang for “Departure from controlled flight.” It can refer to something as mild as a wing drop during a stall to a high-altitude “upset” that results in the airplane literally falling out of the sky. Enrichment Virtually all engines have some mechanism or device to enrich the mixture at high […]

The only other words that will more quickly capture the attention of the steely-eyed, granite-jawed airline captain are “Uh, oh, they forgot to load the crew meals,” or “Company’s talking about a cut in per diem.” The latter two don’t even bear thinking about, but we do cheerfully train for the engine failure. But let’s […]

Myfirst exposure to “serious” simulator training took place in October of 1987,about six months after I’d purchased my T310R. My motivation was the usual one: insurance.Despite the fact that I had 180 hours in type, 4,000 hours total, and 23 years ofaccident-free flying behind me, I was having a heck of a time finding aircraft […]