Flight Planning

In this world where cell phones can perform more functions than the computer of only a few decades past, many pilots prefer to brief themselves. Doing so when the weather is good is easy—when the online aviation weather options show a dry, high pressure system with no indication of turbulence or other adverse weather advisory. […]

On a recent flight home, we were cruising along at 7,000 feet in good weather, except for the occasional encounter with the very top of a cumulus cloud. Knowing my wife is not a fan of any amount of turbulence, I asked ATC for a climb to 9,000. ATC replied, “That’s approved. What’s the reason […]

We just had our annual summer cookout here at the virtual airport. It was a success—we didn’t run out of brats, burgers or beer and nobody got food poisoning. Ok, we set the success bar low, but there was an excellent turnout and folks seemed to have a good time. Better yet, because the flight […]

Mixed News On Refurb Trainers I think the key issue is what you said in your next to last paragraph: The cost of replacement parts is out of control. I can’t speak for Piper, but Cessna parts have skyrocketed in the past 5-6 years, making a full 172 refurb prohibitively expensive. Add to that, the […]

I was flying southbound in the Los Angeles basin in mid‑July 2017 when I heard a VFR pilot trying to get a shortcut through the Los Angeles Class Bravo airspace. SoCal: “NXXXXX how do you plan to navigate the LA Bravo airspace?” Pilot: “SoCal I’d like to go through the Bravo, LAX direct Brown Field.” […]

Back in the days when Pueblo, Colorado, still had a TRACAB (terminal radar in the tower cab), I was visiting with the controllers when the following took place. A Cessna pilot, who hopefully was a student, was on a flight from Colorado Springs, field elevation of 6,172 feet MSL, to Pueblo, elevation 4,725 feet MSL. […]

The FAA plans to shut down circling approaches wherever feasible, and last week the agency published its selection criteria for deciding which approaches will be cancelled. The changes are part of an effort to “right-size” the National Airspace System, and eliminate redundant and unnecessary procedures, the FAA said. Input from AOPA was taken into consideration. […]

Flying an RV-8 from Los Angeles, California to Oxfordshire, England in 19 days may strike many as an adventure of a lifetime. For me, the 7,000-n.m. trip was my way to return home after working four years in the Tesla Motors Design Studio in Hawthorne, California. Airfields along the Crimson Route, partially developed in WW-II […]