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Rising premiums are only the most visible part of increasing costs. I have anecdotal experience suggesting denial of coverage is an increasing problem, at least among people close to me. We may all have "junk plans" and not be aware. The plan we're offered at work (I'm not on it) recently...

Or, maybe she's just been distracted by the TV appearances, commercials, her role in Fast & Furious 7, and all the other recent trappings of her success.

It's risky to make generalizations based on experience, or even measurements, in one plane. Starter motors can generate huge voltage spikes, and diodes across the contactors can fail with no warning or symptoms, leaving avionics exposed. I wouldn't be too concerned with unexpected shutdowns...

A headphone tap will actually get very faint pickup of engine or other loud sounds, because the headphone speakers act as mics in reverse, but very inefficiently. (If you listen carefully to video with audio tracks recorded off the intercom, you can hear the engine very low when the intercom is...

In all fairness, many owners of these planes appear to cruise at higher power settings than TCM had in mind for continuous operation, which is tough on engines, especially turbocharged ones.

It doesn't seem too effective. I saw a study three years ago which found it wasn't occupied hands which causes the distraction, it was occupied attention, and phone calls made using hands-free phones were just as big a problem.

This has been the hardest skill for me to master. My takeoffs and landings are always at zero AGL.

It is not true. A 200-watt incandescent bulb with a hot filament should be around 72 ohms. Current would be 1.67 amps. The cold bulb may have a filament resistance as low as 10-12% of the operating resistance, which is why they pull big surges when first lit. (Yours sounds about right.)...

I worked in a local radio station which hired large groups of inexperienced salespeople, knowing many would wash out during training, but the rare gem would do well when. This was in the 1990s, when cell phone plans were usually still limited. We'll call the coworker "Jeff." (I honestly don't...

I thought I had well-formed opinions on all this until the news story a few weeks ago about the airline captain who died on the job during a red-eye flight. He held a valid first-class medical despite a medical history which included a heart attack and bypass surgery. I now believe the whole...

To be fair, I can only imagine the nightmare this must be in the other direction, especially at Class D fields. I feel sorry for controllers some Saturdays. I also hear a surprising number of bad radio/mic/helmet setups, and not just in experimentals. We should all be required to listen to...

Fortunate they got airborne before "rescuers" reached them, or there might be an attempt to make them pay for the response.

Most of the world, it would seem! I am struck by the feel and appearance of the EAA magazine. Content is not as focused on homebuilts as it once was, but I appreciate what they've done with the aesthetics. Sadly, I was noticing this as I bundled a big pile of back issues for the landfill...

Wow. Pretty risky strategy to embarrass customers with what looks like a collection notice in the mailbox. There are some tactics which would be a permanent relationship-ender for me, and I think this would be one.

Flying an open-frame pusher gyrocopter keeps these precautions top of mind, especially for anything hard or heavy enough to damage the prop. Fortunately, there's no glareshield, no cupholders, no glovebox. Most of my summer wardrobe includes cargo shorts with velcro closures for that very reason.

Acquisition costs are also a fraction of those of new LSAs. I trained for my Private ASEL in 2002-2003, Part 61, at a small airport where there were two Champs available for rent. IIRC, one was a 1946 7AC, the other a 1956 7EC. They had tough oleo struts, mild steel tube frames and fabric. If...

Honking definitely varies by city. During the Y2K scare, when people thought traffic lights would fail on 1/1/2000, the joke about Portland, OR is that there would be massive traffic jams. Not because everyone was trying to go first, but because everyone would be waiting for the other guy to go...

Google has grown to dominate market share by offering "free" services that are only free if you don't look at the fine print. They make their money by using our preferences to efficiently send us ads focused on things we might actually care about and buy. It's creepy, but I believe the data...

The dues are not the point. Where do you see hate and vitriol in my reply to Michelle? I was outraged by the tactic, period. I was an AOPA member from the time my six-month student trial membership took effect until a couple years ago. I left for various reasons, including drift from the...

I got this in my e-mail from Michelle Petersen, AOPA's Membership VP: I felt compelled to respond. Did anyone else get this message?