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The other day, as I was trying to get a couple of lead balance weights to stick to the rear wheel of my motorcycle, I should have said a silent prayer. Not to get them to stick, but in gratitude for living in Florida where we can still touch lead. I guess that’s no longer […]

At last week’s SAFE symposium, John King banged a drum I’ve heard him bang before. He points out that in general aviation, we continue to promulgate the idea that flying a GA airplane is “safe.” The oft-used comparison is that the drive to the airport is the most dangerous part of the trip. While that’s […]

Is flight training hopelessly and irretrievably broken? And if it is, is there anything we can do about it? Those two questions were at the top of the agenda at last week’s first Symposium of Aviation and Flight Educators.Permit me a paragraph on the organization of this event. It was simply superb. Organizers Doug Stewart, […]

There’s been a lot of talk lately among the GA community about how to attract more people to flying, especially the next generation. But most efforts seem focused on getting new pilots directly into Cirruses, or 172s, or at least an LSA. All the other options out there that get folks into the air a […]

On the Fiddlin’ Around America tour in 2009 after we landed at Cessna headquarters in Wichita I asked for directions to a bathroom after the bumpy and coffee-fueled morning flight from South Dakota. I was directed to a recession-empty reception and administration building steps from the parking space of our DC-3.As I walked through the […]

If NATCA, the controller’s union, was entertaining the slightest notion that the FAA would approve its members reporting for midshifts with jammies and blankets in tow, I’d say that idea is probably a dead letter by now. Last week, Rep. John Mica, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, told Reuters that he believes NATCA is […]

If you haven’t read this recent decision (PDF) on a lawsuit filed against Cirrus, it’s definitely worth a 15-minute scan. The court’s opinion makes several interesting points, but I found two particularly compelling. In a nutshell, Minnesota’s Court of Appeals reversed a 2009 judgment which required Cirrus to pay $14.5 million in damages to the […]

I’ve been corresponding with a center controller friend of mine and we’re trying to figure out exactly what happened with this First Lady aircraft fiasco. Was there a loss of separation or not? Piecing together the fractured, inaccurate and overheated coverage from the mainstream media, I think I have finally figured out that there was […]

Writes reader Mike Gillis: “I think a story could be done on tie downs. I noticed in a video at Sun ‘n Fun a row of planes blown away, yet two remained tied down. They had three-legged yellow tie downs. Quite a testament to their holding power. So many secured planes were damaged by planes […]

As this somnambulant controller situation goes from the ridiculous to the utterly ridiculous, I was happy to be diverted by this video of the Navy dousing a flaming F-18 that trapped aboard the U.S.S. Carl Vinson last week. I’ll get to why the two are related in a minute, but first let me say that […]