Military artist William S. Phillips and surviving Doolittle Raiders Col. William Bowers, Lt. Colonel Richard E. Cole, Lt. Colonel Frank Kappeler, Lt. Colonel Edward Saylor, MSgt. Edwin Horton Jr., Thomas Griffin and David J. Thatcher gathered in Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend to commemorate one of the most famous aviation events of World War II […]
Who should be in charge? AOPA’s Boyer debates airlines’May over control of the airways
The fight over how to fund the FAA is, in reality, an argument about who will control the national air transportation system, stated AOPA President Phil Boyer during a debate late last month with James May, the Air Transport Association’s chief lobbyist. During the debate, held at the Aero Club of Washington, Boyer laid out […]
Having trouble? If you can’t reach flight service, you have options
.You can not only check weather, but file flight plans through DTC DUAT (DUAT.com) or CSC DUATS (DUATS.com). Both companies are approved by the FAA as weather sources and — perhaps more important — are independent of the FSS. You can go online to get continuously updated weather information and file, and close, flight plans. […]
Audit shows problems were possible
A just-released report by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General predicted that Lockheed Martin’s aggressive consolidation schedule could lead to problems. The report is the result of an audit undertaken to see if the FAA had implemented effective controls to transition FSS to Lockheed Martin, achieve anticipated savings, and ensure that the operational needs of […]
Virtual airman: The history of the Berlin Airlift goes high tech
Climb aboard the C-54 Skymaster that is a flying museum devoted to telling the story of the Berlin Airlift and the first person you see is…not a person at all, but a virtual depiction of one. This virtual airman is projected onto a flat-screen TV located next to the rear door. He tells the story […]
the buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
“Only nine steam gauge airplanes were ordered in 2007 and it shocked us.” — Jack Pelton, president, chairman and CEO of Cessna Aircraft Co. “There are still flight schools that pay instructors only for their flight hours. The pedagogical aspect of flight instruction is at least as important as the pilot in command aspect and […]
Full leather jacket: it’s much more than a fashion statement
“Why are you wearing that thing?” “That thing” is my leather A-2 flight jacket, the one with all the patches. I wear it all the time, including at Sun ‘n Fun in Florida in April. I have a weakness for flight jackets. When I decided I was going to learn to fly, one of the […]
THE BATTLE IS ON
The battle over FAA funding and its proposed user fees is now heating up on Capitol Hill. That’s why I’m asking all GA pilots to stay informed and ready to be heard in the halls of Congress. And make no mistake, GA pilots are being heard in Washington loud and clear. So far we have […]
WHY NO NATIONAL HOLIDAY TO HONOR CHARLES LINDBERGH?
I was a 4-year-old in 1927 when the greatest man of my generation, Charles Lindbergh, flew across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris. On May 20 and 21, we celebrated the 80th anniversary of that historic flight. No one person has ever achieved a greater accolade from Europe or America than this man […]