AVmail: May 10, 2010

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Each week, we run a sampling of the letters received to our editorial inbox here in AVmail. One letter that’s particularly relevant, informative, or otherwise compelling will headline this section as our “Letter of the Week,” and we’ll send the author an official AVweb baseball cap as a “thank you” for interacting with us (and the rest of our readership). Send us your comments and questions using this form. Please include your mailing address in your e-mail (just in case your letter is our “Letter of the Week”); by the same token, please let us know if your message is not intended for publication.

Letter of the Week: Clearance Change Overdue

The change to the FAA “Taxi to Runway” clearance is way overdue. ICAO procedures (in use outside the U.S.) require that a pilot receive a clearance to cross each individual runway when taxiing from any point on an airport to another point on the airport.

This has been a set-up for U.S. pilots, used to FAA regs and unaware of ICAO procedures, to have a runway incursion when outside the U.S.

Bob Ryan

Cell Phone Use Encouraged

I routinely fly in Canada, and not only are you permitted to use your cell phone in flight, you are actually encouraged to use it for things like border crossings, emergency situations like a radio failures, etc. It’s also legal to use your cell phone to call the FBO, arrange fuel, transportation, pizza delivery, etc. The only time using your cell phone is not recommended is during flight in IMC.

Phil Seizinger


LORAN Backup

I remember sending an e-mail to Garmin some time ago with the suggestion they develop an add-in board to their G400/500 series of navigators which would add LORAN capability. Never really heard back. I have always thought it would have been a near no-brainer.

I have two panel-mounted GPS receivers – because I believe in redundancy. Most pilots do. Adding LORAN is simply an extension, and with all the logic and display already in place, it simply is the logical extension. As letter writers so nicely stated, LORAN is the reasonable and cost-effective solution to providing all users of navigation services redundancy.

But this may be simply too rational for our government leaders to deal with.

J. T. McDuffie

It’s plain to see how little knowledge the average aviation user of GPS has with regards to LORAN-C and E-LORAN by the number of responses to AVmail. I used LORAN-C (in Canada) in the days before GPS and found it wanting only before the mid-continent chain. After that, it served my purposes just great. E-LORAN should be carried on with and the technology incorporated into GPS receivers for true backup. And consider the bragging rights of another antenna on the airframe!

John Phillips


Best Wishes

Our hearts and prayers go out to the Colemill Enterprises staff at Cornelia Fort Airpark. My wife and I have used Cornelia Fort for the last few years to visit our family in Nashville. They have always bent over backwards to take care of us, including putting our airplane in a hangar on Christmas day to thaw out following an ice storm. An excellent operation with excellent staff. We wish them the best and hope for them to rebuild soon.

Josh Johnson


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