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Doesn't matter. Science is about a process of experimentation and peer review, not personal credentials. Some absolute idiots have doctorates, like Jordan Peterson and Phil McGraw. Come to think of it, I have one too. Hmm …

I don't remember the exact history of the markings, but 27 is unusual because it has a big displaced threshold that applies only at night.

You hear that sometimes at small rural airports (I've heard it in the U.S. as well), especially if two flying buddies happen to be on the frequency at the same time. That wouldn't happen at my home airport — if a pilot were repeatedly tying up the frequency like that, someone would pull them...

Every business is about making money, but there are news outlets (again, of all political persuasions) that do it more ethically than others. It's just important to understand the limitations of what we're dealing with: even from the most ethical news outlet imagineable, you can't judge the risk...

Welcome to the Canadian contingent on PoA. Was your former AULA a Challenger? I love watching those land on the ice in the winter.

Unless there are strong wind gusts, I fly the published approach speed of 65 KIAS, adjusted down for weight. Before I cross the fence, I've started to decelerate from that (and dropped full flaps). Once nice thing about our -161s is that Piper actually publishes the weight-adjusted approach...

Yes, both, actually. News media (whatever their political persuasion) cover the exceptional, not the routine, because the routine isn't news. I remember decades ago when my local paper ran an April Fool's edition — they'd had a reader survey that told them people wanted more good news, so...

If you compare the U.S to other OECD countries (high and middle income), it has the fifth highest murder rate out of 38 — only Colombia, Mexico, Lithuania, and Costa Rica are higher: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5?contextual=max&locations=OE&most_recent_value_desc=true

The last time I was mugged I was 9 and two older kids were trying to steal my lunch money (I managed to get away). Years later, I surprised someone halfway into the window of my apartment circa 1990, but I just said "hello?" and he said (unconvincingly) "wrong apartment" and climbed back out the...

Oh yes, with rentals, all bets are off. Ditto if you're at a busy, towered airport and/or waiting to pick up an IFR clearance, or it's winter and you have to shovel snow, remove wing covers, etc. I was giving my best case of 30 minutes from arrival at the airport to VFR wheels up (since we count...

Thanks for sharing that — it was an interesting read. It's important to bear in mind that it's not a scientific analysis but just an informed hypothesis by a scientist, and that it's looking at the wing as an idealised abstraction. Here's one example: he notes that the semi-tapered wing on the...

Slightly, but about the same mean chord. The primary handling difference in the longer wing is better aileron effectiveness in slow flight (that's why Piper introduced it), but fans/critics of both shapes have let their imaginations run wild ever since, as you'll see in any Piper-wing debate...

True — the wing loading isn't all that different on most utility GA piston planes. That said, it's all about airspeed — any plane will float for ever if you bring it in too fast, or will drop the last few feet onto the runway hard if you run out of airspeed too soon. In the Piper community...

Fully agree.

Unless it's across water, the road distance is much longer, traffic is terrible — or you already live in an airpark and are visiting another one — flying rarely makes time sense for 150–200 nm. But it's definitely more fun. A good rule of thumb is to add 2 hours to the flight time to get your...

That sounds a bit like a tail stall, which is extremely dangerous, and shouldn't happen within the normal W&B envelope unless you have ice contamination or similar. Perhaps, though, it's just a matter of being trimmed too far back and releasing forward elevator pressure at a bad moment. You...

You'll experience ground effect as an unwillingness of the wheels to settle down if you come in with too much airspeed. If you push the nosewheel down to try to force the airplane onto the runway, very bad things will happen, so don't do that.

That's an interesting distinction. Maybe to be more specific, with a foreward CG, it will take more control force (or turbulence) to raise the nose from its trimmed position, and it will return to that position more quickly when you release pressure (if you want to call that "twitchy", fair...

Not a problem at all — as a Canadian pilot, I fly through US airspace every time I cross Maine heading to/from the Maritimes. If you depart IFR from Sanderson Field in Sault Ste Marie MI, you'll even get your IFR clearance from Toronto Centre. The US and Canadian systems are well integrated.

Or maybe set your travel mug on the dash…