FBOs

I was in a tent and it was raining, but at least it was warm. Standing behind a plywood podium in a “forum tent” at a recent Florida Fly-In, I had been invited to give a little talk to the experimental airplane crowd on what airline flying was really like.I was more than a little […]

The whole point of getting an IFR ticket is (of course) to be able to go somewhere when the weather is less than VFR. So why don’t we do that? Let’s take a trip.Let’s say you want to fly from HKY (Hickory, N.C.), pick up your buddy at MRN (Morganton, N.C.), and then head for […]

Let’s take a few pot shots at some of the more common errors in the seemingly simple procedures of starting an engine and doing the runup, and also cover some new techniques with engine monitors. I’ve written a little about some of these procedures elsewhere, but I’ve never pulled all of them together. For Starters […]

Just recently, one of the regulars here at the pilot’s lounge of the virtual airport, Ed Williams, who in the real world is a plasma physicist, took a break in studying for the ATP written, stopped by and showed us one of the published questions on that written. It said: “Who should be advised if […]

The employee cafeteria in the ground-training building is a sad place, filled with the forced boisterousness of the indentured student.Facing either a five-day stint for recurrent or the “serious time” of a five-week initial, the diners found in this plastic forked purgatory gather at round, Formica-covered tables festooned with pepper and salt shakers, the current […]

Well here we go. Another year gone. Another page turned. This New Year’s, I spent a lot of time thinking about my upcoming retirement (less than three years away). It seems too early to start looking for another job, but in reality I guess it’s never too early to start dreaming. Hope really does spring […]

The 100th anniversary of powered flight was the date for our annual holiday gathering in the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport. It meant braving blowing snow and icy streets, but the goal was worth the effort. Everyone brought some food and some pretty good booze or wine and after an hour or so the […]

Holiday Inn bars really aren’t so bad if you need a place to spend the afternoon on a long layover. I had gotten into Memphis at noon and didn’t have to leave until the next morning, so sometime around four I gave up on cable TV and found myself in my normal corner booth in […]

“The primary purpose of the ATC system is to prevent a collision between aircraft operating in the system and to organize and expedite the flow of traffic.”Sounds simple doesn’t it? That one sentence is the meat and potatoes of Air Traffic Control. It’s amazing how complex the system has to be to accomplish that one […]

In reviewing Part 1 of this column last month, I remembered another story that illustrates “cockpit culture.” Remember the story of the Flight Engineer (FE) and “backing up” the thrust levers, as a carry-over from the props days? Levers And Fingers Well, one late night in the DC-8 simulator at Japan Airlines (JAL), I was […]