Forty-Seven Years in Aviation: A Memoir; Chapter 8: Advanced Flight Training By Richard L. Taylor For advanced flight training in Texas, Dick Taylor and his class try their hands at the B-29, which by the mid-'50s was used as a trainer. And yet, although huge and pressurized, with a third guy in the cockpit (flight engineer), it still had a castering nosewheel.
Forty-Seven Years in Aviation: A Memoir; Chapter 6: Basic Flight Training, Part 2 By Richard L. Taylor Jumping straight from the T-6 to the B-25, Richard Taylor gets to experience not only a huge airplane but one that requires two crew (giving new meaning to the term "solo"), and also experiences the joys of winter in Oklahoma.
Dumbest CTAF Phraseology By Paul Berge In Brainteaser Quiz #163, we asked, "What is the dumbest phraseology you routinely hear on CTAF?" About 100 AVweb readers responded, and we have the results.
Forty-Seven Years in Aviation: A Memoir; Chapter 5: Basic Flight Training, Part 1 By Richard L. Taylor In the fifth chapter of his memoir, Richard Taylor moves to Enid, Okla., in 1955 to begin basic flight training. Ground school includes the requisite navigation courses (albeit celestial navigation), Morse code, and even the operation of atomic bombs.
Quest to Replace the Ramp Rat By Paul Berge In Brainteaser Quiz #162, we asked, "Now that ICAO has eliminated 'ramp' from the aviation lexicon, what do we call the kid who runs the fuel truck, since we can no longer use the term 'ramp rat'?" Here are the results.
Forty-Seven Years in Aviation -- A Memoir: Chapter 4 -- Primary Flight Training Part 3 By Richard L. Taylor Richard Taylor continues his memoir with the final section of primary flight training: navigation, night flight, and IFR. After a short delay to avoid not one but two hurricanes in North Carolina, he graduates and is ready to go on to basic flight training in Oklahoma.
Forty-Seven Years in Aviation -- A Memoir: Chapter 3 -- Primary Flight Training Part 2 By Richard L. Taylor In the third chapter of his aviation memoir, Richard Taylor begins flight training in a Piper PA-18 Cub -- including being "kicked out of the nest" for his first solo before he had 10 hours of flight time -- and then moving on to the (comparatively) massive T-6 Texan.
Forty-Seven Years in Aviation -- A Memoir: Chapter 1 -- From the Beginning through 1954 By Richard L. Taylor In the first chapter of a new aviation memoir, Richard Taylor goes off to college and Air Force ROTC, gets bit with the flight bug in a Piper Cub and then during a familiarization flight in a T-33, and graduates ready to go on to flight training.
Forty-Seven Years in Aviation -- A Memoir: Introduction By Richard L. Taylor This month, AVweb begins serializing a new memoir by Richard Taylor, who learned to fly in the U.S. Air Force just after the Korean War and continued to fly for 47 years.
What Does a Pilot Look Like? By Alice Speri Although it's not uncommon to see a female pilot on the flight deck, the front office is hardly representative of the gender and racial diversity of the U.S. York College students in New York are out to change that. The current class in the college's Aviation Institute is 60 percent female, and most of the aspiring pilots are women of color. Alice Speri takes a look at the program and the students.
Jump For The Cause (JFTC) just set a record on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, for the largest female-only formation parachute jump of 181 women. Not being female and not being a skydiver, Dr. Brent Blue decided to tag along anyway. Good thing, too, since Brent learned quite a bit logging air time with several dozen parachuting women and one talking lamb.
Just Ask Talley By Jeff Van West and Talley Kingston What was it like training pilots to fly on instruments in the Link trainer during wartime? Here's an inside view, complete with the cheap tequila.
IFR by the Sun and Stars By Bill Castlen Not that long ago, crews flew thousands of miles with no navigational aids except the sky itself. It's such an elegant solution.
Spark Plugs By Kim Santerre It doesn't get much more essential for getting rated engine performance than a properly functioning set of spark plugs.
Flying the PAR By Jeff Van West It can best the ILS for minimums and requires no fancy equipment, yet this approach is becoming a thing of the past.
VFR For IFR Pilots By Frank Bowlin Sure, you can fly an ILS to minimums in a summer hurricane without breaking a sweat, but can you fly a VFR traffic pattern on a clear day?
Vague Vectors By Tom Gilmore When the rules say to fly a procedure turn, ATC may have other ideas. Here's why you should stand your ground and do the right thing.
RANS S-19 By Marc Cook Randy Schlitter's latest design is purpose built for Light-Sport rules but intended to be one of the easiest-to-build kits around.
EGT and CHT Interpretation By Light Plane Maintenance Staff We go beyond the basics in this article on getting the most out of your digital engine-monitor system.
Safety Pilot in IMC By John McCloy We all agree the real learning happens when you take it into the clouds, but no one says the guy in the right seat has to be a CFI.
Panel Replacements: Metal vs. Overlay By Larry Anglisano If you're sinking $30,000 into new avionics, that old, cracked, Royalite panel has got to go. Here's a look at some options. FAA approval may be the tricky part.
Can I Land On That? By Meredith Saini Urban areas present few open areas for emergency landings when we need them. Do mall parking lots and warehouse rooftops offer safe alternatives?
Aeromedical Articles about preserving your health and keeping your medical.
Airmanship Flying techniques for the serious pilot.
ATIS AVweb's editorial and op-ed pages. Position papers and opinion pieces by the staff and guest commentators.
Aviation Law Articles about protecting yourself and your certificates.
Avionics Choosing, using, and maintaining those black boxes.
Careers Articles of interest to pilots and others planning careers in the aviation industry.
Homebuilts Articles about homebuilt, kit-built, and experimental aircraft.
Insurance Articles about insuring your aircraft (and yourself) against loss and liability.
Maintenance Information about maintaining your aircraft.
New Aircraft Articles about aircraft presently in production.
News Features Expanded coverage of aviation news, including supporting documents and in-depth reports.
Places to Fly Ideas for that flying vacation or $100 hamburger.
Profiles Conversations about lives enriched by flying. Some will be names you know, and others will be new faces, but all will give you insight into the hearts and souls of people who choose to fly.
Reviews Our in-depth reviews of the newest and niftiest products and services for pilots and aircraft owners.
Safety Aviation safety articles, plus reports on noteworthy accidents and incidents.
Skywritings Articles, stories, and fiction about flying, the joy of aviation, and some of the things it means to be a pilot.
Training Articles of special interest to aeronautical students and instructors.
(P.S. All serious pilots consider themselves students, no matter how many hours they've logged.)
Used Aircraft Articles by industry experts to help you choose, locate, appraise, and buy a used aircraft.
