Flight Planning

My daughter and I flew back from AirVenture on the last day of the show. While flying over Eastern Iowa and monitoring 122.80 we heard the following conversation that we assumed was between a couple of crop dusters: Pilot 1: “Hey XXX did you make it to Oshkosh this year?” Pilot 2: “Yeah, we got […]

Aug. 21 will likely go down in history as one of the most interesting for pilots, the FAA and airports across a middle swath of the country that will include the path of totality for a solar eclipse. The level of activity expected at airports along the path is pretty well documented but what is […]

If you’re planning to fly toward the path of totality to view Monday’s coming solar eclipse, you won’t be alone. The FAA says several airports located in the path said they are expecting “a significant increase” in traffic before and during the eclipse. Many of these airports are non-towered and have limited capacity to accommodate […]

Members of Congress are back in their home districts this month, leaving Washington quiet and empty, but that doesn’t mean the efforts of general aviation lobbyists who oppose ATC privatization are on hold. “The GA community can’t let its guard down,” said Mark Baker, president of AOPA, in a statement issued last week by several […]

I landed at KCMA, Camarillo, CA on a windy day and checked in with ground. Ground: “18 Sierra Romeo, taxi to the ramp via Foxtrot, caution, tumbleweed all quadrants, not my control” He wasn’t kidding either; huge tumbleweed balls were passing over the taxiways and runway heading downwind like a scene from an old Western […]

The City of Santa Monica has approved a contract for shortening of the runway at SMO from 4,973 feet to 3,500 feet. After years of attempts to close the airport entirely, the City of Santa Monica entered into an agreement in January with the FAA that would permit the city to shorten the runway immediately […]

My wife, the captain, and I were flying to AirVenture 2017 in our C-152 in July. We were on an IFR flight plan out of Gainesville, GA (KGVL) and cruising at 5000 feet. We were talking to Atlanta Center. Centre: “Cessna 1234, cleared to FL230.” We just looked at each other and laughed. Fairly quickly, […]

On the Saturday night before AirVenture opened, I was listening on my iPhone to KOSH tower for 27, wishing I was there instead of doing yard work. Evidently, weather was not great so traffic was slow when I heard a pilot tell tower he was turning final. Tower: Low wing cleared to land 27 Pilot: […]

At AirVenture 2017, AVweb’s Geoff Rapoport spoke with Angela Anderson, ForeFlight’s director of marketing, about the ForeFlight Scout—the smallest and least expensive ADS-B in receiver on the market. Designed specifically to integrate with ForeFlight Mobile, they’re on sale now for $200. view on YouTube

Sometimes you just get set up. You got up early, looked out the window at a nearly clear sky and figured you’d fly the 80 miles or so to visit a buddy and hang out at his airport instead of yours. You whipped out your tablet for a full briefing and to make sure there […]