Hi All, I need some advise. The summer is starting and my plane is a rotten climber, certainly on hot days at MTOW. The best it can do in these conditions is about 300fpm. My idea is to use thermals to climb (much)faster like gliders do. Is this a stupid idea? If my idea is not that stupid how do...

A friend recently asked me to explain the magenta circles seen around numerous airports on sectionals. It got me to thinking about how useful they are. Personally, if the weather isn't good enough to fly VFR in Class E airspace, I'm not going to fly VFR, even if it is legal in Class G airspace. So,...

Hi Everyone, Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I purchased a backup handheld radio for cross country flights, etc. and was wondering if it is permitted to use it so I can contact my family while flying over the local area. I would use a frequency not used locally for any other...

I've wondered if it is legal to utilize an "unused" frequency to communicate between planes or to someone on the ground for non-critical communication? I don't know what for, but let's say you want to talk to your friend or CFI on the ground who might give "additional instructions" on things. Or,...

I'd like to put this argument to rest, once and for all. Since I was in Center ATC back in the 80's, I used to hear that cell phones needed to be turned off because it interfered with the avionics. Well, let me tell ALL of u that as recently as six months ago a junior captain, Michael D, for...

I have been in the construction business for many years and I was wondering if any pilots here write off their flights for business. I've seen a few of our posters in here posting in cunstruction forums, but never mentioned aircraft use in there.

How many uses are there for a stopwatch or similar device aboard an aircraft? I note that a clock with an elapsed-time function is required equipment. The only time I've had occasion to use it is for holding patterns. What other uses are there? -- Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by...

AOPA CRUNCHES THE NUMBERS FOR FAA FUNDING PLAN Staffers at AOPA have been sorting through the FAA's funding proposal to figure out exactly what all the proposed changes would cost. They've found that if the FAA gets its way, fliers of piston-engine aircraft would see their fees increase $100...

If someone really wanted to hit the issues on this, they would do a detailed comparison among three similar countries with similar challenges and traditions, i.e., the U.S., Canada and Australia. Europe has multiple side issues, which make the comparison less useful. On the main point, I don't have...

The threat to general avaiation from "User Fees" is right now. I know this has been discussed for as long as I've been around aviation which is 30 years now, but this is not hot air this is a real 2006 problem. As you can see from the articles below the white house, FAA and airlines are all in...

This is an interesting article and pertinent in the debate over user charges. The NATS operating environment is very different to the FAA but it was interesting seeing where the risk was being taken re 9/11 type events. http://www.atwonline.com/magazine/article.html?articleID=1387

Attempts at moderation are usually futile because enough people disagree with moderation decisions and begin to leave or argue with moderators. Moderators are the biggest problem with walled gardens. A good moderator only blocks spam, not controversy. Alas, most moderators censor opinions...

CFIs, will you please, PLEASE stop teaching students this stuff?!!! 8^) On 122.75: Making 30+ second long position reports, 4500 feet over some non-descript / podunk town. More annoying when the broadcaster does so in broken english. Even more annoying when the broadcaster does so every 5...

I was browsing through the Contents page on my Summit Aviation CD and ran across the Accident Prevention Publications....as I read down the list of titles, I could tie many of them to recent posts in the rec.aviation newsgroups I visit. For example: Stepping Up to Your Complex...

Hi everyone, I want to share with you a new website I have found about electronic union of travel industry www.euoti.net. It's an organization provides services for all tourism sectors allover the world. It provides a huge directory contains everything related to tourism like hotels, tourism...

You can pan and zoom Sectional and Terminal aeronautical charts, as well as get instant weather observations: http://skyvector.com/#12-24-7-0-0 I have no affiliation with SkyVector.

To search Aviation related information, try the new Aviation Swicki at http://www.vbinfo.net/index.php?pr=Aviation This is a community powered search tool - the more it is used, the more it learns about what sites are useful to the community of users. You can even obtain the code for free if...

Is there an effort to develop flight software and avionics integration to allow for a remote pilot (using remote control) to co pilot a general aviation plane? With SatNav readily available and with cameras on the nose of high end aircraft (regular and night vision) there is really no reason that...

After decades of national policy prohibiting use of hand-held VOR and GPS on FAA check rides, FAA Flight Standards Headquarters in Washington DC (AFS-800) finally reversed itself and is now allowing the use of hand-held VOR and GPS on Private, Commercial and Instrument FAA check rides. So, if your...

Hi, I've never been in these emergency situations, but have had a few scenarios where it has come close enough to get me thinking what would I do if the scenario was a touch worse (and, well, of course, how to avoid getting that close in the first place). One thing I'd like opinions on is the...