You’re not a pilot unless you are flying. Maybe you once were a pilot, or are one in spirit, or perhaps continue to be a pilot on paper (compliant in satisfying regulatory definitions). But in my eyes, until you pull back on the yoke and defy gravity’s ancient pull, you aren’t one. I did not […]
The ADS-B deadline was looming. We wanted to keep our airplane as a practical transportation tool. But in addition to being legally required, ADS-B and the technology associated with it would make our flights safer. The FAA’s safety analysis on the accident rate of ADS-B-equipped aircraft between 2013 and 2017 is out: For the continental […]
Santa Paula Airport is a 20-minute flight from my home base, Whiteman Airport. The fuel there is $1.25 per gallon cheaper, however, so when I’m flying around the local area, I often stop at Santa Paula to refuel. The precise economics of fuel tourism are an SAT-level problem, but if I’m over Santa Paula anyway, […]
Somewhere among all your stuff, there’s undoubtedly a stash of old logbooks. Mine are on a bookcase in the den—except the most recent of six, which is sitting open on the dining-room table, patiently waiting to be updated. It’s been several years since that’s happened, but I keep stickers for flight reviews and jot down […]
Traditionally, the purpose of an instrument approach is to stabilize the pilot and the aircraft, lined up with the runway and in just the right position from which to land. Well, not in this case. The localizer directional aid approach, also commonly called the “localizer darn angle” approach, lines the aircraft up to the airport […]
In California, my current home state, one is surrounded by quite a few within the populace whose level of inanity seems as homogeneous and predictable as that of the Three Stooges. Perhaps the state motto should be changed to: “Too many lemmings, not enough cliffs.” But I say, in the midst of this mélange, one […]
On a hot August day 50 years ago, I was deposited in front of the Trans World Airlines terminal at Kennedy Airport in a rented Cadillac. The Caddy needed some timing work done on the engine, and the ambient temperature had outpaced the vehicle’s air conditioning, but I didn’t care. I was flying to London […]
I planned to make a flight on a Wednesday from my small community airport in the Detroit area to KLUK near Cincinnati, Ohio. Late on Tuesday afternoon, I found out the runway would be closed at my strip on Wednesday as part of an FAA-mandated taxiway destruction. If I wanted access to the airplane on […]
It was a cold February morning on the way to Europe in a single-engine Cessna 210. I was enjoying the performance and steady rumble of the big-bore Continental IO-55O engine. I had my little red booklet on the dash where I continually scribbled down speeds, fuel burn and temperatures as part of my performance log. […]
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