Air traffic controllers say a September decision by FAA officials to ban weather radios, commercial radios and cell phones from its ATC facilities placed air traffic controllers in danger in the control tower cab and radar room at Daytona Beach International Airport when a Christmas day tornado roared within 150 yards of the facility before […]
News
Got O2?: Do you need oxygen when you fly?
If you ask private pilots when they should start using supplemental oxygen during a flight, most of them will parrot back the verbiage that appears in the FAR AIM under regulation 91.211: “After 30 minutes if you go above 12,500 feet MSL.” The regulation actually reads: “No person may operate a civil aircraft of U.S. […]
Sponsor-A-Rivet for Red Tail Project
It takes a lot money – and a lot of rivets — to rebuild a P-51 Mustang. The Red Tail Project, a Minnesota-based not-for-profit organization that is rebuilding a rare P-51 flown by the Tuskegee Airmen, has kicked off a new campaign to raise funds for the project. The campaign is called Sponsor-A-Rivet. For a […]
Your medical: How can you make the system work for you? Some advice and tips from OKC’s top man
Aviation Medical Examiners, like any other type of medical specialist, are very different. There are some who, when confronted with a pilot who doesn’t have a perfect health history, will walk over to a phone, call a doctor at the Aerospace Medical Certification Division in Oklahoma City and get approval for that pilot right there […]
Nall Report shows jump in accidents
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s just-released 2006 Joseph T. Nall Report shows a jump in the total accident rate for GA pilots in 2005 to 7.2 per 100,000 hours of flight time, up from 6.5 in 2004. The rate for fatal accidents also increased slightly, rising to 1.4 per 100,000 hours, compared to 1.3 in […]
WHAT ARE THE DISQUALIFYING CONDITIONS?
Certain medical conditions are considered disqualifying for pilots. But if those conditions are “adequately controlled,” the FAA will issue a medical certification contingent on periodic reports. Those conditions are: • Angina pectoris • Bipolar disease • Cardiac valve replacement • Coronary heart disease that has been treated or, if untreated, that has been symptomatic or […]
Veterans Airlift Command makes first flight
The Veterans Airlift Command, a network of volunteer private pilots, flew its first mission in November, carrying an injured Marine from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., to his home in Florida. Last June, while serving in Iraq, Cpl. Christopher Brink was injured in a bomb blast that killed two others. While still recovering from his […]
When a pilot goes LASIK: Cirrus Design’s Alan Klapmeier tells us about his LASIK surgery
“I’ve worn glasses since about the first grade,” said Alan Klapmeier, co-founder of Cirrus Design Corp. of Duluth, Minn., which makes the Cirrus SR20 and SR22. “I remember thinking I wouldn’t be able to fly.” Klapmeier has done a lot of flying since then, as we all know, but decided to have LASIK eye surgery […]
‘Diamond Li’ undergoes extreme makeover
The Commemorative Air Force’s “Diamond Lil” may be no more. The B-24, the oldest in existence, is in the midst of a restoration that will return it to its original B-24A status. Based at the B-29/B-24 Squadron at the CAF’s Midland, Texas, headquarters, “Diamond Lil,” was put in the paint scheme and markings of the […]