Unicom

Your article on GPS approaches featuring WAAS-enhanced glidepath generation was very informative and clarified a number of points. There is also another approach which is not an official FAA approach and, as far as I know, is only available using Garmin WAAS navigators. It is a LNAV+V approach, and you will not see it on the minima section of an approach chart.

In response to your October editorial, Hot Water, what I took from these two tragic accidents was that the culture of fear surrounding declaring an emergency is killing people. The FAA needs to change its policy calling for an emergency declaration investigation to address this fear.

Your article “Keeping Me In Suspense,” September 2014, nicely explains the purpose of the OBS button on the Garmin GNS430/530 series when performing a missed approach. The GPS unit will “suspend” and stop displaying navigational guidance until the OBS button is pushed upon reaching minimum altitude. Although unrelated to an approach, this is the perfect time to mention the second purpose of the OBS button on the Garmin GNS 430/530.

This passage from “As We Know It,” the July 2014 Editor’s Log, caught my attention: “What we’ve seen, instead, is the proliferation of smaller, lighter airplanes, often with range and capabilities that seem limiting when compared to what was the norm 30 years ago. This market is populated by storebought LSAs and experimental aircraft. They’re great for a $100 hamburger run, and possibly even an overnight getaway to the mountains or a beach, but the destinations need to be close, the load light and the weather good.”

I take exception to the reader’s rhetorical question in your July issue: “Why would anyone practice an engine failure on takeoff by doing an engine failure on takeoff?” I started practicing low altitude teardrops at idle because a giant auto salvage yard bordered the departure end of my runway and I had to know what my options and capabilities were.

Articles like the one by Mike Hart, “Takeoff Engine Failures,” June 2014, are the reason I think this publication is the best aviation magazine around. I routinely practice VX climb to 350 feet, engine to idle, hold nose up till VS then make a teardrop return to the runway. That maneuver, though, has none of the pucker factor that engine-out practice has from 100 feet!

Has any one done the math on what would happen to the airlines’ costs if pilot wages were less stratified at the long end of seniority and fairer all around?

It was great to see Jeb Burnside’s February article, “Doing It Yourself,” on owner-performed preventative maintenance (PM) tasks allowed by the FARs. Beside the economic benefits such effort, an aircraft owner will be much more in tune with his or her aircraft and its operating condition. Having been fortunate to have A&P/IAs willing to allow me to help and learn the aircraft during annual inspections and other maintenance endeavors, I am much more informed on issues that arise with continued aircraft operation, and I can give an A&P a heads up on something that may or may not need attention, and I have greater understanding and confidence in the aircraft systems. As Jeb stated, “…it can be a natural extension of your ownership experience,” and I will add rewarding as well.

I enjoyed reading “Wrong Airport, Wrong Runway” by Mike Hart in your January 2014 issue and appreciate his stressing the use of data to overcome errors and biases. One tool I find useful when approaching an airport with two runways pointing in similar directions is my direction indicator, HSI or not.

I just had to comment on Tom Turner’s recent article, “Departure Difficulties,” in December’s issue. It’s perhaps one of the best and thought-provoking articles I have ever read in your magazine.