The first fly-in specifically for owners of Flight Design’s CT — the nation’s No. 1 selling Light Sport Aircraft — was held recently in McMinnville, Ore. The fly-in was sponsored and hosted by Roger Heller, a CT owner and founder of the on-line CTFlyers.com discussion group. The gathering was attended by 13 CTs and by […]
TOP 10 FLYING MOVIES
Yuk, not “Top Gun” (“Top Gun” takes top honors, but is it really the greatest aviation movie of all time? May 18 issue). Here’s my list of flying films that often get overlooked in top 10 lists; some have nutritional value, some are amazing only because they are in color, and some have pretty interesting […]
WHO WERE THE FIRSTSMOKE JUMPERS?
I am writing in response to the letter from John Townsley in the May 4 edition (Tough pilots, tough planes, tough flying). John’s letter disputes a comment in your article on the Museum of Mountain Flying (Tough planes, tough pilots, tough flying: Montana Mountain Flying Museum showcases the best of aviation in the Big Sky […]
STEPHEN HAWKING CONFUSED?
Stephen Hawking was never “briefly free of the gravity normally limiting his motions.” (When boundaries flew away: Slipping the surly bonds of gravity, May 18 issue). In the article it states that, “Although he was weightless for about a minute, actually in free-fall…” In free-fall he was being accelerated toward the earth with the full force […]
A READER REACTS
A few days ago as we were taxiing the Xenon back to the hangar an elderly gentleman was following us in his truck and waving madly. As soon as the prop stopped he was at our side. “Wow I just read all about the Xenon in General Aviation News,” he exclaimed. He could not believe his luck that […]
A CALL TO ARMS
During a recent Senate vote, the senator from Washington, Maria Cantwell, chose to vote with the airlines, and against the rest of aviation. It was a narrow vote — 11 to 12 — so her vote had a significant impact and could have easily turned the tide on this one. The battle is not over, […]
FSS CONTRACT: FIRST STEP TO USER FEES?
Everyone is up in arms about user fees. Where were you and others when the Flight Service System was being contracted out? That was the first step to to user fees. It seems no one wants to admit that, but all of you cannot be so blind as to see where this is all heading. After two […]
the buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
“Rock your wings with gusto.” — Instructions for acknowledging the tower in the NOTAM for the EAA Fly-in in Arlington, Wash., July 11- 15. “As they have in the past, airlines attempt to blame others for their own flight delays.” — Ken Mead, former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, on new ads by […]
WHAT IS DUAT?
The DUAT (Direct User Access Terminal) system is an online weather briefing and flight planning service created in 1989 when the FAA awarded contracts to two companies, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) and Data Transformation Corp. (DTC), after an open bidding process. The two companies process millions of transactions a year, with a transaction defined by […]