FBOs

The subject of this column was suggested by a reader, a former gofer at the flight school I operated. (We always had an ambitious young person who did “grunt work” on a trade deal in exchange for flight instruction.) Larry was one such, and now he is a graduate electrical engineer and part-time flight instructor. […]

I know it will come as no surprise to you that the recent midair collision on the Swiss-German border has been dominating my thoughts this week. It’s the ultimate nightmare in ATC, for pilots, passengers, and controllers alike. We will have to wait months before we know precisely what went wrong. The waiting will be […]

Folks, I love being positive and cheerful. I’d much rather write about pleasant things, good memories, good products, good people, and fun things. I didn’t enjoy doing the Whyalla column, and I’m not going to enjoy this one. But Flying (July 2002, page 73, “Can your engine run too lean?“) missed the boat so badly, […]

I just finished giving my favorite curmudgeon here at the virtual airport, Old Hack, his flight review. He had the windows of his Super Cruiser open, so the pleasant breeze was a nice bonus to a flight that went well. After we flew, we went back to the big chairs in the pilot’s lounge to […]

Noel Merrill Wien was born April4, 1930, in Virginia, Minn. His father, Noel Wien, was born in Lake Nebagamon,Wisc., went to Alaska in 1924, was the first to fly the 350-mile route fromAnchorage to Fairbanks, the first pilot of a passenger flight from Seattle toFairbanks, and the first pilot to fly over and beyond the […]

I had this great idea, see. I’m always getting questions like, “What’s it like being a controller?” and, “So, what does a Safety Rep. do, exactly?” I never really have a good answer for either of those. At least, not an answer that I can give in less than a minute. So I thought I’d […]

On the morning of June 18, 2002, Scott perished doing what he loved:practicing aerobatics in a Yak-52, in the mountains of Brentwood, Calif. He hadrecently been working to advance his aerobatic skills, and placed 13th among 19pilots in his first competition, at Paso Robles, the weekend of June 8. He hadalso flown aerobatics in Citabrias […]

I was sitting in one of the big chairs here in the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport when I read that the president, on June 6, 2002, had signed an executive order dictating that air traffic control is no longer an inherently federal function. That act was a significant procedural step toward imposition of […]

Wally Roberts was born October 22,1936 in Pasadena, Calif., close enough to the Monrovia airport to see airplanesin the pattern. Around age 12, he watched a PT-13 auger in after stalling at thetop of a loop, killing the pilot and his girlfriend. For a while after that hehad a phobia about airplanes, but when that […]

Having flown family and friends and done a substantial amount of on-demand passenger charter flying in singles and light twins, carrying all kinds of people (from babes-in-arms – to old folks who had to be assisted into the airplane – to invalids) over an aviation career that has spanned more than half a century, I […]