Concerning your article on Lockheed Martin’s debacle on our flight service stations (Frustrations abound on FSS, June 8 issue), I, being from the country and spent a lot of time hunting, had an old saying: “Don’t shoot a running dog” or in city-folk’s language: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We had an operating […]
THE BEST PART ABOUT THE DC-3
I’m a retired USAF fighter pilot of over 20 years and flew most of them in the inventory from the F-80 to F-105/106 and F-4E. I have also flown many other military and civilian aircraft from the J-3 Cub to the B-52; and several flights in the C-47. What I wanted to inject is no […]
B-17 IS THE GREATEST
My vote is the B-17 Flying Fortress (The Greatest Airplane Ever, June 8 issue). This airplane was derived around 1934-1935 from the DC-3 when we needed longer range. (When we needed longer range for the Pacific, we built the B-29.) The B-17 was a beautiful machine and to the surprise of many people it was […]
Transponder X2
“You don’t take chances when you are flying in the ADIZ,” says Kent Larson, owner of Aerial Photographers LLC, based in Vienna, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. Larson flies a 1972 Cessna Cardinal with two transponders on it – one more than the FAA requires, “Just in case one gives out,” he explained. The aircraft […]
ATC facilities falling apart: Leaky roofs, asbestosand snakes just afew of the problems
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Air traffic control facilities are in such bad repair that the FAA told Congressional investigators that it estimates the backlog of maintenance costs is between $250 million and $350 million — yet the last two years the administration has requested less than $60 million annually for maintenance. A Congressional committee’s oversight and […]
July 2005 Accident Reports
The animal on the runway during the landing, which caused the pilot to take off and land a second time, resulting in an overrun.
How time – and memories – fly
It got very little mention, either in the general or aviation news media, but May 20-21 was the 80th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight from New York to Paris. In May of 1927, and for decades afterward, Lindbergh was mobbed wherever he went and anniversaries of his flight were celebrated, quite literally, in song […]
Super-fast builder assistance for RV owners: John Nys averages less than three months each
Nys Aircraft works strictly to the FAA’s 51% rule, under which a kit airplane builder must do 51% of the work as defined by the FAA.
Fly Now! A colorful story of flight fromhot air balloon to the 777
When aviation was developing, one of the greatest challenges was finding a way to make it appealing to the masses as a means of travel. Airlines and aircraft manufacturers spent a good deal of time and money creating advertising campaigns to woo customers. “Fly Now!” is a peek at the National Air and Space Museum’s […]