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All, I'm looking at doing the SFO Bay Tour tomorrow in a T-34, just wondering if it's an established route I request from SFO Approach, or if there are any procedures with 'the bay tour'. I suspect it's just VFR around the bay, but wanted to see if there's any info out there before I...

What good flying books can everyone here recommend? For reference, probably my favorite aviation related piece of literature is The Intruders by Stephen Coonts. Great book that captures the essence of Naval Aviation. Any others out there? I have found it tough to find another writer who...

Let me clarify. XC only = Flying machines that generally stay right side up at all times regardless of manufacturer. Better? By all means keep flying your Mooney however you'd like ;-)

I'm a big fan of sticks in maneuverable airplanes that I'm going to be flying aerobatics, low level, or formation in. RV's, Lancair's, and F/A-18's come to mind. :-) For an airplane that can do only cross country flying, the extra room that comes with a yoke can be nice. Cessna's, Pipers...

Night Vision Goggles come in handy for that ;-)

The thing about lots of modern aircraft (not the 738, but definitely airbus aircraft) is that FBW flight controls may make you think something is wrong when in fact they are operating correctly. In many cases control surfaces on FBW aircraft are dual purpose, being ailerons/flaperons/spoilerons...

It's not coincidental that Barney Clark was the first recipient of an artificial heart...

Thanks for all the replies! My main motivation for asking was that a few weeks back I cancelled flight following 10 miles from my class D destination, and it seemed to blow the controllers mind. I did not expect a handoff to tower and it seemed he was coordinating one. Good to know for the...

So, I've got a few questions regarding flight following. First, if I request flight following, am I obligated to inform approach of VFR climbs or descents, or deviations left and right of my course? Second, will approach hand me off to the Class C or D tower as they do when I file IFR...

You can absolutely get the bends from a rapid decompression of a pressurized cabin at high altitudes, but I don't think there is an airplane out there that can climb fast enough for it to be a factor during normal ops.

While part of me is very interested in this technology, another part of me bemoans the watering down of the skills that make the coveted "Wings of Gold" mean so much. So there is a three part thing working here. First it changes the traditional power for glideslope, nose for AOA and makes it...

What I really love (and the military made me a cripple to) is the bearing pointer overlay on an HSI. This makes a DME arc to a localizer a piece of cake. Just turn until the bearing pointer is on the wingtip and keep it there until you turn to intercept the localizer. I'm damn near useless in...

Best of luck to your son on his adventure! I was just like him, reading and learning everything I could about flying since I was able to read. Flew my first flying lesson at age 11, started seriously working towards a license at 16, and passed my checkride at 17. Now I'm flying F/A-18's...

Wow, what a mess of a display! I guess I'm used to the HUD in the F/A-18, which seems really simple compared to F-16's and especially this 737.

Ah, whoops! I'd enjoy hearing some A-6 stories if I can get out to MD again. Being a Boat School guy, I make it up to Annapolis every once in a while. Beers on me.

While I always wanted to fly the Intruder (I read the Stephen Coonts novel when I was 10), I don't think that the F/A-18F is in any way inferior to the A-6. While it is by no means an air superiority fighter, the Rhino is one hell of an attack jet. That being said, I'd still sell my soul for...

All these numbers make the 6000 hr life of an F/A-18 seem slightly pathetic

Only time I've used north up is to confuse the next guy I'm hot switching with...

Your point is good, but unfortunately I can't see a 172 or Cherokee being terribly useful either? With a 100-105 kt cruise, you generally don't beat the car by a significant margin when you think of flight planning, preflight etc. My cutoff is ~150-160 knots for a cross country machine...

Unfortunately, US general aviation aircraft usually have very limited aerobatic capability. This compared to European aircraft which are generally aerobatic by default. I'm not sure why this is, but in my opinion a 2-3 seat aircraft is not truly enjoyable unless it can freely maneuver in all 3...