AVmail: May 8, 2003

Reader mail this week about a Chicago VFR corridor, Louisianans with Texas accents and more.


Chicago Lakeshore VFR Corridor

The closure (temporarily, we hope) of Meigs tower greatly increases the danger of mid-air collision, as single-engine aircraft flying VFR -- almost all between 2,000 and 3,000 MSL -- prefer to fly within a mile or so of the shoreline.Why doesn't the FAA NOTAM a CTAF (121.3) for all aircraft between Montrose and East Chicago -- at least recommended, as at non-towered fields.Ken Kaye


Short Final, May 5

I just want to know why those ag pilots in Many, La., had Texas accents. We don't allow Texans to fly planes in Louisiana. ;-)Bob Mears


Garmin Posts Record Quarter

AVweb wrote,

Remember that post-9/11, war-induced, economy-in-the-toilet downturn the aviation industry is battling? Someone forgot to tell Garmin and the company just kept making money.

This is interesting because we also are still going up despite the economy (up 53% year-to-date this year vs. last year), and I have been pleasantly surprised by that. My guess is that even though aircraft purchases are way down post-9/11, most aircraft owners are not so severely affected by the economy that they are curtailing relatively "minor" purchases as GPSs and engine heaters. The tendency may be to keep the plane they have but upgrade it with new avionics, etc. In our case, they may be more motivated to help their engines last longer and hopefully postpone or avoid a major expense down the road.Robert Reiff
Reiff Preheat Systems


Editor's Note:

We have fixed the technical issue that prevented AVweb subscribers from reading and making comments about AVweb columns. Thank you for your patience as we upgrade our systems.

Kevin Lane-Cummings
Features and AVmail Editor