Do the yellow shapes surrounding cities on the VFR Sectional Chart show the appearance of the various cities’ lights at night? Our intrepid columnist investigates this colorful query.
Questions from the Cockpit: What is a Fowler flap?
Fowler isn’t a what, but a who. They’re named after Harlan Davey Fowler, the guy who invented the most complicated flap in our arsenal.
Questions from the Cockpit: A long-winded answer to a short-field question
“How short must a field be to be a short field?” It’s a question that you’d think would have a simple answer…
Questions from the Cockpit: Fire starter
Is it true you can break a whiskey compass and use the liquid to start a fire in a survival situation? And why are they called “whiskey compasses” any way?
Questions from the Cockpit: Are non-towered airports more dangerous?
Are non-towered airports really like the wild, wild west? And should there be more laws governing them?
Questions from the Cockpit: Doing a barrel roll on ADM
The FAA tells us that learning effective aeronautical decision making (ADM) is critical. But how can CFIs do that? William E. Dubois suggests CFIs do a half barrel roll and look at things differently.
Questions from the Cockpit: The lower the better?
What’s the lowest density altitude ever recorded? And just how well would a plane perform in those conditions?
Questions from the Cockpit: Break glass in case of emergency
Is there any truth to the story that if your static port gets blocked you can break the glass on the vertical speed indicator to restore the system?
Questions from the Cockpit: Better names for the airplane’s occupant
Through the years, we were variously labeled as Aeronauts, Aviators and Aviatrixes; Birdmen and Birdwomen; Eagles; Fliers; Pilots; and sometimes Operator or Occupant.