Features

From AVweb reader Ron Rands: Overheard on the radio while en route to Oshkosh. (An Albatross is a Grumman-built Amphibian. See photo): Albatross: “Peoria approach, Albatross N54321.” Peoria approach: “Albatross N54321, Peoria approach.” Albatross: “Peoria, request flight following, destination Oshkosh – Oscar Sierra Hotel.” Peoria approach: “Albatross N54321 flight following approved, squawk 2451.” Albatross: “Squawk 2451.” After a brief pause… […]

The aviation safety culture can be brutal and unforgiving. Consider this sage advice from Angus Kydd, one of the instructors at my home-base airport, years ago. Chatting with a group of students about risk-taking, he said, “Before you do something stupid up there, think of what everyone sitting down here will say about you after […]

During the early days of World War II in the Pacific, the Curtiss P-40 served heroically well, despite its shortcomings against the Japanese Mitsubishi Zero, which was more maneuverable in a dogfight. As the story goes: After one harrowing mission, a P-40 pilot returned to base. After stowing his flight gear, he ran into a […]

From sister publication IFR Magazine’s “On the Air” letters page: A female tower controller at a flight-school airport was known to have a sultry voice that the young male instructors found … appealing. On one occasion, she advised one of the school aircraft that had been waiting for ground fog to dissipate: Controller: “Cessna Five […]

From AVweb reader Erik Klavon: After an unusually long period of silence on a Denver center frequency, I heard the following exchange: Unknown pilot: “Still there?” Denver Center: “For another 25 years.”

The results were pretty conclusive this week and we got more than twice the average number of responses. More than half of almost 5,000 AVweb readers think DEI is hurting aviation.

My old Bonanza was a very capable airplane for instrument flying, but my panel avionics did not include an FAA-blessed GPS navigator. My Garmin portable was a highly capable situational-awareness tool, but for IFR flight planning, I always stuck to VOR-to-VOR airway routing, even if the turns from one fix to the next involved nothing […]

In the 1980s, when I worked at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire, it had an innovative flight training program with a diverse fleet that included Grob G109B motorgliders, Mudry CAP 10 aerobatic trainers, and swift and slippery Mooney 201 complex singles. Based at Nashua Airport, DWC’s high-density flight operations blended in with a […]