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Letter of the Week:Volunteer Controllers? My response to the letter from Tom Lanhamand his effort to justify the FAA charges for air traffic controllers at aviation conventions: Have any of you FAA controllers ever thought about volunteering? I was always under the impression that these guys were aviation enthusiasts and were volunteering, just like the […]

For any pilot wanting or needing the ATP certificate, the window is about to slam shut on earning that rating at an affordable price. Beginning in August, a new FAR kicks in requiring sharply higher flight experience and training for any pilots who plan to use the ATP in Part 121 operations. Bottom line: The […]

Letter of the Week:The Real Costs of the Super Bowl? Regarding the story about the NFL not being charged for air traffic services for the Super Bowl: There is a lack of understanding of the difference in cost of supporting AirVenture and the Super Bowl. I am a retired controller who worked EAA three times […]

During WWII, tens of thousands of Americans were either taught to fly by the U.S. military or were exposed to the routine use of air transport to cover long distances quickly. Aircraft manufacturers naturally assumed this fertile crop of newly released soldiers, armed with the recently enacted G.I. Bill of Rights, would generate a sales […]

Last week I was on the telephone with Tim Roehl, one of the founders of General Aviation Modifications, Inc., the folks who created the tuned fuel injectors called GAMIjectors. We were talking about a number of things, including Lycomings fairly new IO-390 engine that puts out 210 HP and is getting attenion in the aviation […]

Letter of the Week:Overregulation to Blame Regarding the “Question of the Week”: GA was in decline long before the recession and will not recover to its glory days until the cost of aircraft ownership comes down. A new single-engine piston basic trainer currently costs the same as a Ferrari. This is due to a long-standing, […]

Face it, buying an airplane involves more of the former Federal Reserves Chair, Alan Greenspans irrational exuberance than it does steely-eyed appraisal-its easy to fall in lust with a paint job. Thats especially true after having had an enjoyable time learning to fly while making new friends in aviation-it can be hard to believe that […]

Aviation lore is full of heroes like Chuck Yeager, who saved the day while calmly muttering on the radio something about some little fire going in them engines or such. The quiet, unflappable, laid-back flyer has been the role model for young pilots since the days of the Lone Eagle. But, is there such a […]

With all the literal and figurative bells and whistles in todays cockpits, something as mundane as losing communications with ATC is rare. One reason is the stuff we have in the panel these days is a couple of light years ahead of even two decades ago in reliability. But loss of communications-going no radio, or […]

Letter of the Week:Affordable Avionics Garmin’s comments are just silly. They don’t want to use open standards because then they would have to admit there are things that might be better than what they have. A bunch of years ago, some large computer manufacturer said, “Don’t get locked into open systems,” and that large computer […]