After reading “Fly the Sleazy Skies,” an editorial in the November 26 New York Times, my first reaction was to say unkind things about politicians. In public they say bad things about business aviation, and then they get to eat their cake when the Federal Election Commission gives them a loophole that allows them to [...]

In a recent Fast Lane post, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood wrote about the first meeting of the new aviation advisory committee that reports directly to him. Its members hail from airports, air carriers, management, labor, manufacturers, general aviation, and consumer groups. Their mission? “To examine the industry, its competitiveness, and its ability to address [...]

One of the 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 to Teterboro. In the [...]

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 will tell you, going over the test questions missed—replacing misunderstanding with the right [...]

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 latest, and still burgeoning spurt, started about the time powered [...]

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 FAA pulled the certificates of both of the [...]

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 primary source of navigation and flight information. It is designed to [...]