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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 […]

Only the U.S. government could, in response to a labor situation in which the job is so boring and low-key that workers can’t stay awake to do it, double the workforce. That’s essentially where we are now with the sleeping controller fiasco, as the FAA announced adding a second controller to what had been solo […]

Investigators looking into the A380 and CRJ collision at JFK International got a lucky break: Someone was evidently videoing where the collision occurred using a cellphone camera. The rest of us got something astonishing to look at. What surprised me is how the force of the collision spun the CRJ nearly 90 degrees on its […]

When I took my ATP checkride some years ago, the examiner, who knew me, posed a question: Could I prove that I met the requirements of FAR 61.153 (c)? In case you’re a little rusty on the FARs, that clause requires ATP candidates to be of “good moral character.” Hah,hah…very funny. But I do wonder […]

When I was listening to the ATC recordings of United Flight 497’s emergency in New Orleans – you can hear them here – I was overwhelmed by one fact: Even in a sophisticated, multi-million dollar FAR 25 transport category tested to a fare-thee-well, things can go to hell in a hurry. What starts out as […]

This year, going into Sun ‘n Fun, I thought about making a blood pact with Russ Niles and Mary Grady to just shoot anyone who proposed any kind of a story related to “recovery” in 2011. Or 2012. No one can answer this, so I just vowed to stop asking the unanswerable and resigned myself […]

Despite a diligent search, I am unable to find a video record of the look on Randy Babbitt’s face when he learned that one of his controllers thought it a good idea to request a little impromptu formation flying between a Southwest 737 and Cirrus gone quiet near Jacksonville this week. But I imagine he […]

I hate getting my feet wet but as my mud-caked sneakers dry by the door of my warm, dry hotel room and my spiffy green AVweb shirt dries on a hanger, my pruny toes are of little consequence. Out at Lakeland Linder Airport, the cleanup is already well under way as vendors, show volunteers and […]

Asleep on the Job In my spare time, I’m working on becoming a connoisseur of interpreting Randy Babbitt’s facial expressions. And watching an ABC report last week, I’m pretty sure the glazed-eyed look I saw on Mr. Babbitt’s mug essentially said, “I can’t believe my job requires me to sit here and answer such stupid […]