Jetwhine

PBI ATC: One Bad Apple Won’t Spoil the Bunch

Jetwhine — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:56:19 GMT

One of t he truly enjoyable parts of life – for me at least – is the chance to travel often aboard a business airplane. If I’m not in the left seat, I’m usually pretty close as I was last week on board an Embraer Lineage enroute from West Palm Beach Florida...(read more)

FAA & Test Takers a Step Closer to Learning

Jetwhine — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:48:49 GMT

Tests are an important part of the learning process because they assess the knowledge students have acquired—and retained. This measurement is as important for students as it is for teacher. As anyone who’s taught any subject for the past century or so...(read more)

Proverbs for Powered Flight’s Second Century

Jetwhine — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:34:34 GMT

Aviation is all about change, and it makes rapid advances in short spurts of time. World War I was once such spurt, and World War II was another. Capabilities soared and crew size shrank as progress took the place of navigators and radio operators. The...(read more)

When the Feds Revoke Your Pilot’s Certificate

Jetwhine — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:18:51 GMT

You NEVER, EVER want to receive a letter like this one from the FAA telling you that all your months or years of hard work and effort to win your pilot’s certificate have just gone up in smoke. After flying past Minneapolis a few weeks back, the...(read more)

Warning! Read Technology’s Fine Print

Jetwhine — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:35:36 GMT

Preparing for my first encounter with a new (to me) integrated avionics system, I dove into the system’s reference guide with eager anticipation. With a PFD, MFD, and FMS keypad this baby had all the bells, whistles, and databases that qualify it as a...(read more)

Be Very Afraid of This Pilot

Jetwhine — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:54:46 GMT

After running this blog for three years or so I can honestly say I’ve seen and heard quite a few really interesting stories about the aviation industry. I’m headed to AOPA Summit in Tampa next week because I want to hear a few more. The other...(read more)

Ag Interest Reveals Risk Management Handbook

Jetwhine — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:40:22 GMT

Ag flying has always interested me because it is one of the last bastions of professional stick and rudder flying. Sure, technology has infiltrated the cockpit, but here it replaces the flagman (human or otherwise) who helps the pilot apply even coverage...(read more)

The Top 10 Reasons They Missed MSP

Jetwhine — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:24:05 GMT

Just like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, unraveling the real story behind the Northwest/Delta Airlines crew who forgot to land at MSP just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. Brings to mind the gap in the Nixon Watergate tapes. If that doesn’t...(read more)

Who Will Fly for America Tomorrow?

Jetwhine — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:01:28 GMT

So, you wanna be a professional pilot, huh? Despite the economy, there will be a good number of vacant cockpit seats in the next decade or so as the last of the baby boomer bulge reaches 65, the airline pilot retirement age. If you are a Wall Street bonus...(read more)

Why Being Geeky is Cool

Jetwhine — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:47:23 GMT

Most of you probably know that a few months back I was abducted at propeller point and forced to assume co-host duties at the Airplane Geeks . About that same time, I met Dan Webb, my other co-host, a truly brilliant young man who continues to impress...(read more)

Chance of Better Aviation Future is 51%

Jetwhine — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:36:32 GMT

In the grand scheme of American aviation, at least as the FAA sees it, amateur-built aircraft aren’t even on the radar sweeping through regulated skies. Created in home workshops and comparatively unfettered by the bureaucracy, these flying machines have...(read more)

Flight to the Edge of Space

Jetwhine — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:28:02 GMT

My pal Rod Rakic – better known as Mr. My Transponder – and I were chatting today about his upcoming vacation to Florida, not too far from the Kennedy Space Center and almost in time for the next Shuttle launch. I would do almost anything...(read more)

Visual Distractions Still Affect Flight Safety

Jetwhine — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:06:13 GMT

When I learned to fly back in the mid 1970s, the airspace over the LA Basin was pretty crowded. Because of the smog that then reduced the visibility to some degree every day, most aviators were usually quite serious about seeing and avoiding each other...(read more)

Brennand Airport: A Work in Perpetuity

Jetwhine — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:32:36 GMT

Owning and operating an airport was never one of Ted Vander Wielen’s life goals. But in 1995, Ted says, he learned that Bill Brennand was retiring and selling the airport he built 10 miles north of Oshkosh in 1968. The only party interested in buying...(read more)

Business & General Aviation: Letters Won’t do it All

Jetwhine — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:43:43 GMT

Even for me, this whole business aviation as the bad guy thing is becoming pretty tiresome. In last week’s USA Today article about Aviation Trust Fund dollars being rudely sucked away from big airports to keep podunk runways usable, the Air Transport...(read more)