Flight Safety

Myfirst Aerostar, a 1974 600A, came equipped with a Wulfsberg Flightphone I. Thiswas a manually-operated early model — “New York operator, this is QM-2602I’d like to call 215-555-5575 please…” — and was only half-duplex. Thatmeant only one person could speak at a time; “I’ll be home at 6:30 …over,” I’d say to hear my wife […]

Elbert Rutan was born in Dinuba, Calif., inJune 1943. After receiving a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Cal Poly, he worked forthe U. S. Air Force as a Flight Test Project Engineer at Edwards AFB, Calif., until 1972.After two years designing and developing the Bede BD-J5 he formed RAF, the Rutan AircraftFactory. For the next […]

Oneof the things that has always driven me crazy about the commercial first aid kits that youfind in drugstores and pilot supply catalogs is that they’re filled with crap that istotally useless … and sometimes even harmful. Never one to be soft-spoken orunopinionated, I have tried to make my feelings known (vigorously) to variousmanufacturers of […]

When you arrived at Plant City you were on a VFR flight plan. What was your original plan for the day? I started in Melbourne. I was building cross-country time for my instrument rating. I want to get the instrument rating first, then I’ll have enough hours to go right into the commercial rating. At […]

I am not proud of this all-too-true story.It demonstrates incredible stupidity and poor judgment on my part, and it is the closest Ishall ever come to dying without doing so. I have told the story to only a very smallhandful of people, and I am certain that some of those probably don’t believe it, as […]

As the snow piles up around the windows at the virtual airport and some of the resident airplanes grow funny appendages on their landing gear, I always ponder the fact that many pilots will spend a pile of money to put their feet into skis but few ever explore flying airplanes with skis attached. That’s […]

Rod Machado was born in Oakland, Calif., in1953. He’s half German and half Portuguese, which he claims gives him a geneticpredisposition to conquer a country and then go fishing. He began flying at 16, soloed at17, took his private pilot checkride with legendary instructor Amelia Reid, and, a fewyears later, began to teach flying. After […]

Asis the case with many of my columns on AVweb, a reader who wrote andasked for an article on the Ercoupe inspired this one. Our reader had this tosay: You should do an article on the Ercoupe. What other plane can you buy for less than $15,000 that cruises at 110 mph, burns less than […]

No, I haven’t changed my mind about theusefulness (and the dangers) of the classic early descent to MDA and flying along levellooking for the runway, nor the usefulness (and the dangers) of doing CANPA, the so-called”Constant Angle Non Precision Approach” when appropriate. But my previous column obviously needs a little follow-up. Like theseven blind men, […]

Winteris finally getting a grip here at the virtual airport. Airplane owners aresniffing the air and have set up engine heaters. Lots of hangars have airplanesplugged into wall sockets, as owners hope their steeds will start on the coldmornings without damaging the engine. The regulars here at the Lounge arestarting to look forward to our […]