Believe it or not, there was a time in my career as an aeronautical nut when I couldn’t wait to get out of the little spam cans I was flying. My plan was to move on to bigger, more capable machinery. Multiple engines were calling my name. Oh, to be operating airframes of much greater […]
Opinion
Pilot Perspectives: Anthony Oshinuga
By DEREK ROBERTS. “All I want to do is fly airplanes,” says the 32-year-old aerobatic competitor, air racer, airshow performer and air tour operator. “I’m really passionate about it.” Indeed, Anthony Oshinuga lives and breathes aviation. As the owner and chief pilot of Air Oshi, based in Temecula, California, Oshinuga offers aerial tours of the […]
Human Factors: Ambiguity
GPS and air data computers make en route navigation the most precise it’s been in aviation history. In some ways, too precise. Transoceanic airliners began to suffer hours of sustained turbulence caused by dozens and dozens of wide-body aircraft flying on the same track, through each other’s wake vortices. Eventually, international airlines flying those routes […]
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 […]
The 12 steps that lead from here to there
The Boy Scout Law isn’t something that keeps me up nights. Well, not most nights, anyway. Yet I find myself thinking about it more and more often these days. Those 12 points from my youthful, somewhat rudderless phase of life seem to keep coming back to me at the oddest times now. If you were […]
Boeing P-12, F4B refined the art of American biplane fighters
The decade of the 1920s was a transitional time for American military aircraft design and construction. Early fighters of the era, though better than the machines of the recently concluded Great War, were hardly revolutionary. They began employing welded steel tube fuselages, a design advancement proven in combat with Fokker fighters flown by German airmen. […]
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 […]
Awkward hellos and somber goodbyes
Climbing into an airplane with the intent of getting airborne is an exciting endeavor. Even for those fortunate enough to have been doing this for years, it’s still a thrill. Yet our emotional response to flight isn’t always positive or uplifting. It’s those other reactions that really make this journey through an aeronautical life a […]
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, […]