Flight Safety

James Morgan Tucker, Jr. was bornSeptember 7, 1951, in Miami, Fla. He grew up two blocks from MIA with A&Psfor neighbors, and watched Eastern Airlines transition from props to jets. Hewent to college in Alabama looking at a law career, but a carrier aviationposter in the recruiter’s office caught his eye, and he became a […]

I‘ve been writing for AVweb just over a year now. It’s amazing the things I’ve been learning. One of the things that I’ve learned is that new people start reading this column all the time. And they don’t necessarily go back to where I started and “catch up,” as it were. So, at the risk […]

No, we don’t mean you should “knock off” the right-seater; but unless you’ve trained together, that second set of hands groping your dials can be a liability. As Chip Wright wrote recently in IFR magazine, there are good ways to take advantage of a second IFR-rated pilot sitting next to you. This article appears in […]

When I was young, I had fantasies of becoming a test pilot. I’d done some test flying in the F-51 and lesser airplanes, but with no college at all, no money, and very poor high-school grades, it seemed an impossible prospect. Then I joined Air America in 1963, and the money started flowing into my […]

A collection of images to accompany “Pelican’s Perch #61: Test Pilot School.“ KEDWAirspace Chart Click the image for a much higher-resolution version, which will open in a new window. Note: CHUM (see lower right corner of chart)stands for Chart Update Manual. The CHUM has all the changes to the charts for new towers and obstructions, […]

Last month I said that this month’s column was going to be the third in the series on flying tailwheel airplanes. In working on it, I have spent quite a bit of time in the Pilot’s Lounge here at the virtual airport, and received a lot of very good feedback on the subject. I’ve enjoyed […]

Oh sure, pilots have the FARs and the AIM, and controllers have the 7110.65, to tell us what we must do and can’t do. But where do you go — besides AVweb — to find out how the ATC system really works out on the firing line — like VFR climbs and descents, approach gates […]

Everyone I told about my upcoming checkride wished me “Good Luck.” Why did I need luck? Luck is for the incompetent. I only needed their blessing for good weather, because I was trained to fly “good.” Maybe if I keep telling myself that, I will start to believe it. In trying to remain confident, my […]

Several years ago here on AVweb I wrote an Eye of Experience column entitled “Eye of Experience #17: I Can’t Believe They Did That,” dealing with unusual events I witnessed over a 17-year career as a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE). At that time, I promised more of these reflections of a DPE. Now it is […]

Hello again, class. This series of 300-level classes will be dealing with the structure of airspace. This particular article will be about airspace stratums. While most everyone is comfortable thinking in terms of lateral boundaries depicted by almost any chart, air traffic control must be thought of in three dimensions. Unfortunately, we are not all […]