Air Traffic Control Posts

Like a lot of aviators, I like to read about the problems faced by other pilots to learn how they dealt with them, and to refresh my memory of lessons I’ve already learned. A number of aviation publications present these scenarios, but none be…

It’s another frosty night in Chicago, but I stayed at work late to write because the issue of who will become the next FAA Administrator is really gnawing at me. Like the November election, this administrator choice is going to be an importan…

By Rob MarkIs there anything more stressful than knowing you want to buy your budding aviator something, but knowing full well that the economy has taken a toll on your pocketbook? Sure they might love anything you buy them now, but after Christmas…

I can only wonder what truly dumb move will be next from the folks running some of the U.S. auto makers now that both Ford and GM have decided to work together for the first time. No, I’m not talking about building an F-150 Tahoe-like vehicle,…

Most people will tell you I’m a fairly gregarious person. Even a few might tell you I talk way too much. I’m the guy that wants to introduce everyone to everyone else. But there is one place I absolutely clam up and simply shy away from …

By now, most aviators are aware of the TSA’s new focus on general aviation security now that they have slapped the airlines around enough over the past five or six years that is. I’ve always thought anything that is detrimental to any se…

Airports come and go these days, but some closings become more personal than others. Living in Chicago, we had our own sad, yes even depressing moments when Mayor Daley hacked Meigs Field to death just to prove who was really in charge. Personally, …

Hasn’t this just been an awful month or so, I mean what with the roller coaster ride of the economy, thousands of people loosing their jobs, not to mention the stress of trying to figure out who will lead the United States for the next four ye…

It only took the agency a couple of years – actually about 10 I believe – but FAA has finally taken action on the problem of too many airplanes and two few air traffic controllers to keep them all apart. And before you ask, yes, the down…

Cleaning out an old flight bag, in a long unvisited pocket I found a NASA form that must be more than a decade old. I was flying more than I do now, and I always carried the form in case I needed to submit the details of some inadvertent stupid pil…

It’s always bugged me that I need two sectional charts–Green Bay and Chicago–to get from my home in OSH to my family growing-up grounds west of the commercial Class B airspace plug stuck in the ground at ORD.It’s more than …

I remember the morning of August 3, 1981 vividly as I turned on the TV to find news stories of air traffic controller members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization-PATCO-marching with picket signs at the base of the tower at Chica…

From AirVenture 2008 – Five minutes before the blog session began at AirVenture yesterday, I was wondering if the whole thing had been such a good idea. There were five people in the room. Maybe it was too soon to talk social media.Then, as t…

From AirVenture 2008 – There’s nothing quite like meeting up with a bunch of pilot buddies on a Saturday morning for a great breakfast. The social aspect of flying, in fact, is one of the best ways for newer pilots to learn from more exp…

Anyone who follows the happenings of the FAA and air traffic control knows John Carr. He spent more than a couple of years at the helm of NATCA, the controller’s union, and was Pat Forrey’s predecessor. I had the pleasure of interviewing…

It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been nearly a year in the making, but it has. When I suggested a get together for aviation bloggers last fall I never thought I’d see much interest. But was I wrong. By Thanksgiving I’d had …

You have to love this one. And this has nothing to do with FAA!London’s Times Online and Plane Stupid are spreading the story about how the BAA apparently supported its case for a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport – the b…

Close on the heels of this 4th of July comes the realization that the most heated presidential election we will probably see in our life times is really upon us. The relentless drum-beat from both nominees is that this nation is in serious need of s…

I walked out in the alley on Saturday near my home just north of Chicago and was surprised to see a bunch of kids all staring up at the azure-blue sky to the north. “Hey guys. What’s going on?” I asked. One small boy said nothing a…

As much as stay awake at night wondering how many people around the globe are clicking through the stories here at Jetwhine, I know we are only one small fish in the sea of people who think they know just about everything when it comes to air travel…

Bloggers think they know everything. Or at least that’s what we believe when we get started as bloggers. Once we really get up a good head of blogger steam though, we realize just how little of a good blog is about us and how much of it is abo…

This year, AirVenture will include something never before seen at the massive annual trek to Oshkosh … bloggers coming together to talk about the two things they love best … airplanes and social media. Will you be one of them?The First…

Given the world’s sorry state and aviation’s place in it, hope for the future is at the coffin corner. To help maintain that delicate balance it is natural to withdraw into–and protect–our little corner of aviation’s di…

As Tina Turner said when she and Ike produced their own version of the Credence Clearwater Revival classic, Proud Mary, “We never do nothing nice and easy. We always do it nice … and rough.”So here’s your chance to take a l…