Flight Safety

The Wright Brothers were successful because they combined two vital elements of airplane design: control and stability. Wilbur and Orville achieved control through a pioneering design that evolved into what’s used in almost all fixed-wing aircraft today — a system that makes use of the stability designed into the airplane. Controllability cannot exist without some […]

This article originally appeared in IFR magazine, Mar. 2006. In spite of the avalanche of stern e-mail that’s sure to come, let me start with my core position: Flight planning is dead.I can hear it already, “Boy, didn’t they teach you that you should ‘plan your flight, and fly your plan?’ ” They sure did. […]

No matter where pilots gather, it’s only a matter of time before someone starts a debate over which are the best and worst airplanes. It is no exception in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport, and the battle was raging one afternoon when I happened to wander in. Old Hack was adamant that the […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb‘s “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to Indy Aero at KMQJ in Mt. Comfort, Indiana. AVweb reader Penny Litz, a volunteer for the American Military Heritage Foundation, told us how Indy Aero came to her rescue recently: [T]he AMHF operates a rare Lockheed twin-engine PV2 Harpoon […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Apr. 2006. It’s rare to find even a brand-new airplane without at least one “squawk” — a mechanical deficiency. Of course, the FAA would say that all equipment and components of an aircraft must be working properly or placarded as inoperative, else the airplane isn’t legally airworthy. The […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb‘s “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to Quality Aviation at KFBL in Faribault, Minnesota. AVweb reader Rick Lemon made a day stop at Quality while touring a nearby college with his daughter and wife: Jerry [from Quality] met me at the plane and provided a courtesy […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Consumer magazine, Nov. 2006. It’s never a good time for an inflight fire. Stoked by fuel or an electrical short, this nasty brand of emergency is near the top of most pilots’ list of nightmares. But a cabin fire’s consequences can be mitigated by using a smoke hood, which […]

A good copilot is a good copilot, no matter what the aircraft. I fancied myself a good copilot back when I was a first officer on various airliners. I considered myself better than the average bear when it came to flight engineering, as well. Being a good copilot is harder, in my estimation, than being […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb‘s “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to a relatively new FBO, Air 51 at LEX in Lexington, Kentucky. AVweb reader Graham Richardson discovered Air 51 “quite by accident”: We were stopping for fuel at [another FBO] as is our habit when at LEX when we passed […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, June 2007. Professional pilots have been hounding the FAA for years to increase their maximum retirement age past 60 for a number of reasons. [And the increase finally happened, although after this article was originally written.] One reason is financial: More time on the job translates into larger […]