At what point does one normally set flaps before take-off? I've been doing it only when aligning with the runway, on the theory that extending flaps prior to that would just make me more vulnerable to wind while on the taxiway or at the gate. Similarly, I retract the flaps completely as soon as...

Hi everybody, just a simple question: does anybody of you know a simple way of calculating the Top of Climb and Top o Descent points? Thanks in advance for any useful hint. Ciao Andrea

I've been a pilot for 12 years now. I've been married (this time) for 10. Three years ago, the DE who passed me on my private and instrument tickets died in a stupid accident. My wife had met him a few times at flying club dinners and around the airport. A few weeks ago, a club member who...

Yesterday was clear, in the 60s (in November in Iowa!), and -- best of all -- our day off. With the kids in school, and the plane fully fueled, it was off to...where? Prairie du Chein, sitting at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, beckoned, with its beautiful approaches,...

Early Thanksgiving morning I saw the clouds starting to form. They run parallel to the the Sierras and indicate that the "Minden Wave" is taking shape. This gets the glider pilots excited, but makes me a bit nervous. My wife's family was driving down from Reno for Thanksgiving, and her brothers...

Anyone else having problems getting on Avweb's site? (2115z Sunday afternoon) Happy Flying! Scott Skylane

Are VOR's all MH based? I was flightplanning the other day (I must be one of the few poor souls left who flight-plans by hand... I guess I just haven't been flying long enough to get sick of it yet, I consider my flight planning to be 'part of the experience') And I got to thinking- Why in gods...

As of today, the FAA has imposed a dress code on their employees, requiring that they (*gasp!*) NOT where flip-flops and cut-offs to work! Amazingly, believe it or not, these employees are now actually going to be required to wear (*Oh-mi-God*) DRESS PANTS and a DRESS SHIRT to work! In the face...

Maybe he shouldn't have had the fish. Thank goodness Karen Black was working the flight! http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/06/flight-attendant-helps-pilot-land-plane.html Flight attendant helps pilot land plane June 15, 2010 A flight attendant who has a pilot's license replaced an ill...

Out of fuel, out of hope: 'Help, I'm in the water' A 20-year-old from Springfield who had hoped to swim in the Olympics was flying a single-engine plane to his college in Wisconsin late Monday night when he ran out of fuel over Lake Michigan. at...

Ok, it's the year 2016. You are in a little Cessna 150. You're plane isn't pressurized because it will implode, so you're wearing a pressurized body suit. You have an oxygen mask. You plane is powered by a very powerful brushless electric motor supplied by a 20lb carbon nanotube source that is...

At what point does uneven terrain become "mountain flying"? Do rolling hills represent a problem? Is there a threshold of ruggedness or altitude or some other distinctive characteristic of terrain (other than variable elevation) that serves as a warning that mountain flying skills will be...

Current language usage compels me to use the term "socialist" when describing Hillary Clinton. The actual word we need to use is "fascist." The left, however, has managed to take the "fascist" word and turn it into an epithet against right-wingers. Nazis were fascists, right? Perhaps you might...

I need some information from people 'in the field'. My husband has his private license and is just starting to work on his IFR for recreational flying. He wants to buy into a plane partnership, saying he will be saving money rather than renting. We have 2 little girls. I worry for his safety as...

I wonder if the insurance companies (and the federal government) will FINALLY wake up to the fact that building permanent structures below sea-level in a hurricane zone is folly? Just in the last couple of years (after paying out billions to re-build homes along the Mississippi -- again) these two...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050804/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/capital_restricted_ airspace Tony -- Tony Roberts PP-ASEL VFR OTT

If you have an AOPA/MBNA credit card then you should check the APR on your last statements. MBNA has been raising the APR on AOPA cardholders, even if you pay on time. So check your credit card statements and call AOPA credit card services to complain. And also call MBNA to drop the rate back down.

It seems as if Microsoft is pulling the plug on MS Flight Simulator. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7902468.stm --

I'm filling out the 8710 for my upcoming commercial flight test and am not sure what to put into three of the fields. I'll ask my CFI next time we meet, but I thought I might get a quicker answer here. For Solo, Cross Country Solo and Cross Country PIC, I'm not sure exactly what they want. I...

http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Widescale+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm Well, looks like we have been slacking off on our duty... Get out there and run those engines and warm things up.... Anyway, the comments on this article were fun to read... Lots of knee jerk, spittle...