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Driggs, Idaho, is in southeastern part of the state,northwest of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and on the opposite side of the majestic Teton range.The short, scenic Teton Pass provides easy highway travel between Driggs and Jackson (mostof the year, at least), and many find Driggs an attractive alternative to the congestionand high prices that have characterized […]

In-Flight Fire And Impact With TerrainValuJet Airlines, Flight 592, DC-9-32Everglades, Near Miami, Florida HISTORY OF THE FLIGHT: On May 11, 1996, at 1413:42 eastern daylight time, aDouglas DC-9 32 crashed into the Everglades about 10 minutes after takeoff from MiamiInternational Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida. airplane, registration number N904VJ, wasbeing operated by ValuJet Airlines, Inc., as […]

Last year’s TWA 800 accidentgenerated an extraordinary amount of public and media interest, perhaps because,thankfully, airplanes don’t often turn into fireballs and fall out of the sky in pieces.Its aftermath has only emphasized the peculiarities of the incident and heightened ourawareness of the political nature of reaction to such tragic events. The initial responseto the […]

I recently participated in a six-state satellite based interactive video conferencethat addressed the concerns and the difficulties that Fixed Base Operators are currentlyexperiencing. The conference took place on November 12, 1997. It’s subtitle was”Survival of FBO’s: can this industry succeed or is it doomed to disappear?” Theconference was attended by Directors of State Aeronautics Organizations […]

The Rocky Mountains of central Colorado have been greatlyaffected by the fast-growing popularity of skiing. It wasn’t long ago that the smallColorado mountain community of Aspen came to realize this in a big way. Every year,thousands of enthusiasts flocked to their town to ski their “hills,” many ofthem arriving by air. The amenities of Aspen […]

It was a cool, not quitecold, day for my flight from Champaign, Illinois to Chicago’s Midway airport. Theperformance charts indicated that I would be airborne in about 2,200 feet at close togross weight. With the passenger load I was carrying, I had enough fuel to fly to MDW,then on to Milwaukee (the alternate) and then […]

Although nowadays I usually fly with my BoseANR headset, I still have the first aviation headset I ever bought: a venerable DavidClark H10-40 that I bought back in the 1970s, now covered with scratches earned duringmany years of faithful service in the cockpit. It has new gel ear seals, but has beenrelegated to back-up and […]

It’s only human nature. There you are, looking through the Bonanza or Cessna 210 or Mooneyads in Trade-A-Plane to check out how much your retractable single has appreciated-or maybe to find out what it would cost to trade up from your fixed-gear bird. Suddenly,without warning, your eyes are drawn down the page by a mysterious […]

In the search for your dream plane, one of the foremost considerations is value!If you’re like most of us, you don’t mind paying a fair price for anything you purchase.But in the case of an aircraft, it’s often difficult to determine exactly what that fairprice might be. Is the Skyhawk advertised above really worth $33,500? […]

Start looking at the airport closest to your home, because you have a chance to see theaircraft without incurring any expense. This works well if you’re looking for a Cessna 150or other small common aircraft. But by the time you’re stepping up to a four placeaircraft, you should begin to look farther afield. The best […]