Flight Planning

True story: During my first visit to AirVenture, known as “Oshkosh,” around 1996, I brought my hand held radio to listen to the tower. I heard a guy ask one question:“Tower, can you tell me where the traffic is?” Tower responded:“Sir, their is traffic in front of you, behind you, to your left, to your […]

In its weekly perusal of developments in aviation, AVweb’s staff turned up news of an expansion of SocialFlight, insurance benefits for customers of Crosswind Concepts, the annual convention of the Silver Wings Fraternity and certification of Piper’s M-Class airplanes in China. SocialFlight, a web and mobile app for finding events and interesting places to fly, […]

AVweb’s weekly look at the aviation activities on SocialFlight uncovered everything from an Aire Faire at Bonne Terre through a Horse Bend Festival, a Display Day and a Wings N’ Wheels celebration. The Bonne Terre Aire Festival is taking place on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6 and 7, at the Bonne Terre, Missouri Airport. From […]

Amazon, Google and plenty of others are eager to use drones; the FAA is facing a deadline to allow them into the airspace; pilots are worried about how this will affect them — and amid all this worrying, NASA scientists are working on new technology that could solve the problem. The solution, says NASA’s Parimal […]

Last Friday, we departed Detroit City VFR northbound in my SR22 for some sightseeing and requested traffic advisories from Selfridge Approach. Shortly thereafter, we heard this exchange: Selfridge Approach:“Cessna XXX, traffic at one o’clock and two miles. A whacko.” Then a brief pause. Selfridge:“Correction: That’s a ‘Waco.’” Cessna XXX:“Maybe he’s both!” Brian Litch

The Recreational Aviation Foundation is making great progress in its effort to amend laws in all 50 states to make it easier for pilots to gain access to privately owned airstrips. AVweb’s Mary Grady spoke with John McNade, an RAF volunteer, about how the RAF is getting it done and why it’s important. Duration: 7:44 […]

Sometimes I feel as if Lockheed-Martin Flight Services is the Rodney Dangerfield of aviation-no matter how sophisticated, cool and user-friendly its weather briefing and flight safety services become, pilots don’t seem to be paying attention. That being the case, I’ll say it up front: the free-that’s free-services Lockheed-Martin have for pilots are cutting edge, impressive […]

Last week, my wife and I heard this radio exchange while flying across Texas: San Angelo Approach:“Cardinal XXX, you got time for a quick question?” Cardinal XXX:“Sure.” SJT Approach (in a deep Texas drawl):“Is there somethin’ special about your flight today? Special cargo or something?” Cardinal XXX:“Nope.” San Angelo Approach:“They just have you on a […]

The aviation industry has been warned about the possibility of flight disruptions caused by activity at Iceland’s largest volcano system. Intense seismic tremors have been recorded at Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano for the past several days, although there are no signs yet of an eruption. Iceland’s Met Office has raised the risk level to the aviation […]

Our weekly review of aviation events on SocialFlightuncovered everything from a fly-in cookout through a Big Toy Day to a PilotPalooza coming up this weekend. Middlebury State Airport, Vermont, is hosting a cookout fly-in Saturday, Aug. 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Organizers report that burgers, hot dogs and more food will be served […]