Flight Safety

According to Garrison Keillor, Lake Woebegone always has quiet weeks. That isn’t the case here in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We have been known to have some pretty raucous moments; particularly if Old Hack and a couple of other folks show up at the […]

In 1958 Bill Kershner was a student looking for a project to blend his interests in aeronautical engineering and journalism. He took a look at the Civil Air Manual 105, decided it was poorly written, and decided to write his Student Pilot’s Flight Manual. It’s now in its ninth edition with over 800,000 copies sold. […]

Smaller Stadiums Ask For Flyover Bans Its a tough time to be in the banner-towing business. No one wants anything that scary flying over a bunch of crazed, hairy-chested and painted patrons. The FAA recently released a new ruling that said flights would not be allowed over stadiums with more than 30,000 people unless a […]

When I was first recruited by AVweb to write a column coming fresh off my FLYING magazine column dealing with flight testing called “The Eye of the Examiner,” I was given the freedom to write whatever strikes my fancy (so long as it is in reasonably good taste). At that time, I informed the readers […]

You probably know when an alternate airport is required for an IFR flight. But if you pick an alternate that is affected by similar weather patterns as your destination, how useful will it really be? When the destination weather is in the toilet, you may have to motor down the airway some distance before you […]

LEGEND: JT = Jim Tucker [Co-pilot] AC = Auburn Calloway [Jumpseat Passenger] AP = Andy Peterson [Flight Engineer] DS = David Sanders [Pilot] Center = Memphis ARTCC Tower = Memphis Air Traffic Control Tower UV = Unidentified Voice AW = Autowarning UA = Unidentified Aircraft UNIN = Unitelligible [UNIN] [Laughter] DS: I can’t believe it, […]

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 […]