Flight Planning

I just now heard this while listening to the McKinney, Texas (KTKI) tower: N1234:“McKinney Tower, N1234 is 10 east, inbound at 2,500 for touch-and-goes.” Tower:“N1234, ident.” N1234:“Ahhh. Uh. I am about 10 east at 2,500; heading: 270 — a red-and-white Cessna 172.” Tower:“N1234, just press the identbutton on your transponder please.” N1234:“Oh, O. K.” Ron […]

Back in the late ’90s, as a radio operator on MC-130E Combat Talons, I was returning to EGI from the East Coast. As I neared home, the pilot asked:“R. O., see if we can get lower.” I asked ATC for lower, as directed by the pilot. The kind folks at ATC denied our request. The […]

Structural failure accidents, often from getting too friendly with thunderstorms, kill both people and what little good press GA is able to garner. In the last decade, 50 accidents—about 10 per cent of all accidents—were due to in-flight structural failure. Worse, even with better weather data in flight, these accidents aren’t going away. Turbulence, Not […]

Going through Air Force pilot training at what was Williams Air Force Base (now Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport), we used tactical call signs for our training flights, and one of those was “Foe.” The numeric portion of the call sign was determined by the last two digits (minutes) of your scheduled takeoff time One day, a […]

Short-field landings are all about using excellent technique to get your airplane into a tight spot. That same technique, however, can put you in an even tighter spot when it’s time to leave. Most general aviation aircraft land shorter than they leave. This performance disparity can be subtle at sea level, where the two numbers […]

Heard over north central Florida: Cirrus 123CD:“Jacksonville Center, Cirrus 123CD. 5,000.” Jacksonville Approach:“Mooney 123CD, altimeter 30.05. Fly heading 220.” [no reply] Jacksonville Approach:“Mooney 123CD, fly heading 220.” Cirrus 123CD:“Sir, was that for 123CD? Because you keep calling us a Mooney, but we are a Cirrus.” Jacksonville Approach:“Well, if you keep calling me ‘Center,’ I’m going […]

In 2009, I was making multiple flights around the southeast U.S. and landed in Columbia, South Carolina at Columbia Downtown Airport (KCUB) on multiple occasions for business. The runway at KCUB is parallel and adjacent to an active railyard. After contacting the KCUB tower for my IFR departure clearance on a clear VFR day, the […]

As part of AVweb’s Features, we’re starting an occasional series on innovators who are making a difference in general aviation—the young guns of GA, so to speak. We’ll be doing interviews with them where they can talk about what they’ve done and their vision for the future of the area of general aviation where they […]

On a training flight between Terre Haute, Indiana and Indianapolis, Indiana, I heard the following exchange between Hulman (Terre Haute) Approach and a Cessna 172 requesting flight following: N12345:“Are you enjoying your Saturday?” Hulman Approach:“Negative. I’m at work.” John Sutherland

Phoenix approach asked a GA aircraft:“N1234, how far are you from your present position?” They were greeted with silence. Randy Richmond