Okay, I've decided to start on my commercial, and after looking at 61.129 I have painfully accepted the fact that the 300nm cross country really needs to be vfr, solo. That means long trips I've done on instrument flight plans (imc or vmc) won't cut it, and more painfully, long trips I've done with...

Hello all, I was thinking about flying the family up to NYC to see the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Anyone recommend an airport to fly in to? I would rather not rent a car, just get into town somehow and then the walk or cab it while in the city.

Neat -- the AOPA web site indicates that a) Phil Boyer has been at the helm for 15 years as of two days ago, and b) new fix names in his honor for the June publication of updated terminal procedure charts. RNAV (GPS) RWY 5 approach for FDK will have new names for fixes: PHILB, DEFND, and GEEAY....

some questions if anyone knows the answers... is 757 fly by wire or fly by cable? The FMCS has full flight and landing capability, is it a separate control system? The FANS network, is it capable of directing "goto location/altitude" and "set airspeed to K" type commands to the plane?

Is this for real, or has this video been manipulated?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bkUt9CzRpg

I know that hot starting IO-540s is a subject for considerable debate. I was taught a method that I was told worked 100% of the time, and up until yesterday it had. But yesterday, after flying for an hour and then sitting in the hot sun for half an hour waiting for customs, I couldn't restart the...

Anybody know whether the Diamond DA40 is available with diesel power in the U.S.? I checked the website and the only engine is the ancient Lycoming IO360.

Check your local PBS listings 8PM the SwissAir crash in Canada 9PM the Tenerife (sic) 747 collision

We had an incident a few days ago at my home airport with a couple in a Cessna 182 that never showed up after a local flight. It still hasn't been determined whether the flight ran into difficulty or where they went. The story was on the news last night and as we're watching the TV coverage, my...

Listening to http://audio.liveatc.net:8012/kjfk_app_final , I hear a lot of instructions from the tower to follow other traffic, but the pilots don't always know what aircraft they're following. It sounds like the tower expects them to be able to recognize an airplane (type, airline, etc.) from two...

What's the highest altitude that you ever saw a bird swoop past your plane? The other day I was flying at 5000' MSL, over land that was mostly about 1000' (so 4000' AGL) and saw a flock of birds, hawks of some sort I think, one of which came close enough to make me quite nervous (although from...

I love reading and posting in this group, but we need some of this time to time...Now THIS is a great aviation video: http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/PBY_fishing.wmv Not only is it hilarious, it's the best video of a PBY Catalina I've seen, too! Many thanks to John O. for...

I will be flying down to the NASCAR race in Atlanta on March 14th. For those of you who have flown out of races, it is a pain in the butt to get an IFR clearance and get out of the airport quickly. By far, the best way is to take off VFR and try to file and get a clearance in the air. The...

I talked to someone who has seen a drawing of the new Cessna line of models. It will be high wing and it is planned to have four doors. Up to six seats should be possible. The cabin width will be 54". The interior will be more "automotive" style with G1000 avionics. It will be as fast as the...

Went to Mobile Downtown Airport this morning to fly my airplane out of harm's way, and ended up leaving it there. I saw the line guys putting the bizjets in their hangars and, with minimal begging and pleading, got them to stuff '87D in there with the Citations and Lears. The building is supposed...

Well, our upcoming trip to Dulles has been expanded. Weather permitting, we'll be leaving this coming Wednesday, heading up to Door County, WI, spending the night there, and proceeding up to Mackinac Island on Thursday for brunch. From there we ill be heading direct to the Washington, D.C. area,...

Hi all, I seem to remember a few years back there was a program run by one of the airlines where for a fee of around $1500 or so you would go and train for a weekend on a Boeing 737 and at the end you would actually get to fly one for half an hour or so. Does anyone know if that program still...

For those of you who were following the posts about the model B52 a few months back- http://www.stukastudios.se/b52.htm

I am planning my first international flight from the Seattle area to Port Hardy, BC, Canada during the week of July 4th. I have bought all the relavent Canadian charts (VFR and IFR), and have Googled for previous discussions on flying in Canada. However, I would appreciate any tips on the actual...

After our last discussion about the SR-71 Blackbird, a debate ensued as to whether the Blackbird actually overflew Soviet airspace, in direct violation of the agreement the U.S. signed with the U.S.S.R. after the Francis Gary Powers incident. This agreement forbade overflights. I was under the...