Flights Above started in 2012 with humble beginnings as a group of passionate aviators on Facebook in the Pacific Northwest. Fast forward to 2018 and Flights Above is a collection of nine regional groups with more than 12,000 members. At the Feb. 24-25, 2018, Northwest Aviation Conference, Flights Above founder Brice Van Baren proudly stated […]
Do you like oysters and airplanes?
If you like oysters and airplanes, then you might want to check out the March 24, 2018, Oyster Roast fly-in at Big South Fork Airpark in Oneida, Tenn. Starting at 12 p.m., attendees should be “ready to relax, have fun and toast the beginning of warmer weather,” according to organizers. Even if oysters aren’t […]
Are backup systems overrated?
What’s the point of carrying a handheld radio if you have one (or two) radios installed in your panel? For that matter, why carry a paper sectional chart if you have a fancy glass panel cockpit or an iPad running ForeFlight or FlyQ? Besides common sense, what’s the point in having a backup to your […]
It isn’t a pilot shortage, it’s a compensation shortage
Not long after Mark Baker joined the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) as president, I was at a breakfast the AOPA Foundation hosted at SUN ‘n FUN. Following a briefing from Mark, he called for questions. “What’s your opinion of the pilot shortage we’re starting to hear so much about?” asked a fellow attendee. Mark’s […]
Retiring airline pilot returns to his roots
An email from John Wade recently plopped into my inbox. It begins, “I recall enjoying an article you did about taking airline and military pilots flying in General Aviation aircraft and it resonated with me.” John has a good memory because that article was from August 2016 after I took a friend of mine, both […]
Air Scan cuts the sound of silence
I’m fortunate. I work from home and I enjoy that benefit. If there’s a downside, it would be the noise or lack thereof. It can be energizing to have the subtle din of fellow workers sending emails, making calls, thinking out loud. You know…working. As I sit in my shop, by myself, too often I’ve […]
A dose of FAA revenue reality
I was recently poking around the FAA website when I came across the Airport and Airway Trust Fund Fact Sheet for fiscal year 2016. It was like re-reading a section of the FARs after too many years. The trust fund was created in 1970 to fund aviation programs with aviation-related excise taxes on passengers, cargo, […]
Video: Controlling an airport from 80 miles away
“London City Airport’s getting a new control tower, but it’s just going to be a large mast with 14 high-definition cameras on it,” says YouTuber Tom Scott. “The actual tower will be 80 miles away, in the headquarters of NATS near Swanwick. It feels questionable, but is it?” Watch Tom’s video on YouTube or below.
Alaska aircraft registration proposal is a tangled web in the making
“Oh, what a tangle web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” To be honest, I have no idea if this line from Walter Scott’s poem “Marmion” is apropos to the proposed aircraft registration discussion currently taking place in Alaska. But it was the first thing that popped into my head after reading through […]