FBOs

With Spring just around the corner I thought we should spend some time talking about VFR operations. I know it’s been a while since we’ve covered the real basic stuff in ATC so if you’d like to review what I’ve already written, you can find everything here, including ATC 101 and ATC 102.Speaking of review, […]

First, the usual “housekeeping.” One alert reader pointed out that I had referred to the in-flight mag check, but never explained it. Let me do that in my next column. Some of the excellent “reader responses” (by e-mail and a couple of forums) deserve mention here. Those Skydiving Airplanes First, I don’t think I’ve ever […]

There is a deep, abiding pleasure in discovering a place that is somehow both pilot- and family-friendly; where a pilot can share the joy he or she feels when in the sky with the most important people in his or her life. Not long after I had listened in on a gripe session in the […]

For 35 years, Howard Fenton’s been telling airplane owners about the health of their engines by analyzing their oil. Howard has spotted everything from broken piston rings to excessive bearing wear to worn valve guides. Once he tracked down an airplane he was convinced was about to throw a jug — and it was. In […]

It is a sure sign of old age that you spend your time talking about the past. I almost never do unless asked. Today I found myself getting a hundred-dollar hamburger at an airport greasy spoon with a teenage student pilot son of a friend. He wanted me to tell him some “true stories” about […]

I‘m sure that I’m not alone. All of us, at one time or another, do something stupid. There are no doubt a great many dumb things that I’ve managed to do in my more than seven decades of life, but as an aviator, two particularly stupid and dangerous events stand out. Towing the Line Several […]

Eye of Experience#63:Confession Time – (Articles – Feb 12, 2003) Admit it: You’ve done some stupid things while flying, haven’t you? We all have, and it is always better to learn from someone else’s stupid mistakes than to make even more of our own. AVweb’s Howard Fried has told us about a lot of things […]

Yes friends, it’s that time again. I just had another “tape talk” so now it’s your turn. I was less than pleased with mine, so I have some work to do. So do you.To bring a little order to the process I thought I’d make a “Top Ten” list of things we should do for […]

My thanks to those who are patiently (and not) putting up with the many problems on AVweb for the past couple months. The new owners changed servers, changed a lot of the software, and more changes are coming. The system is extremely slow, at least for some, and the messages section where readers respond has […]

AVweb’s John Deakin has been studying, testing, and teaching about piston engines for a long time. This list is a collection of all his Pelican’s Perch columns related to piston engines. Pelican’s Perch #7:Run That Fuel Tank Dry! Pelican’s Perch #8:Go Ahead, Abuse Your Engine! Pelican’s Perch #15:Manifold Pressure Sucks! Pelican’s Perch #16:Those Marvelous Props […]