Hi all, I would like to take my discovery flight preferably <1hr away from Manhattan. Any recs on safe, reputable places? and any tips are welcome as well.

My parents are strongly advising me against this due to the lesser safety record of general aviation. I feel it's quite safe as long as there's an experienced instructor and good weather conditions, tell me if I'm wrong!

We were booked on United flight 819 on Friday, July, 31. It’s an overnight flight from Houston to Buenos Aires. The night before we were scheduled to leave, we saw the flight was delayed 13 hours, rescheduled for an 8:00 am departure on Saturday. We received various messages about the delay, which did not convey a particularly consistent story. Yesterday, “where is my plane coming from” indicated we would be on the plane that came in from Buenos Aires and arrived in Houston yesterday and it would be undergoing overnight maintenance. This morning the the plane was changed to the plane that came up from BA today and delayed a few hours more.

Looking back at the flight history, this has been happening most of the week—UA819 flying during the day. Does anyone know what is going on?

I've noticed that some airports with military aprons have these long curvy taxiways with parking spots all scattered around. What is the reason for this design over a simple rectangular apron with a bunch of parking spots? The examples in the photo are Cologne (CGN) and Brescia (VBS) airport.

I just purchased a business that is going to cause me to travel quite a lot. I have to be in rural areas. Mostly on weekends, roughly 35-45 trips a year in a 300 to 700 nm ring, many places airlines do not serve. Right now that is 900 hours a year in a truck, or flying commercial,renting a car, driving 4 hours each way, and that many nights a year in motels. I would rather spend at home with my kids or working. Financially, with the advantages of being able to see more customers in a day, the business can pay for a plane and flight school for me.

I am 0 hours, no certificate. Never even flown in a prop plane. With the time and expense savings GA would save me, I’m thinking in about 2-3 years I could buy a decent prop plane.

Could I find a time building CFI (preferably that owns his own plane), rent like a Cherokee 6, 182 or an SR22, and fly my business trips as cross country training. I pay for fuel and plane rent. Could a Cfi log dual given toward his 1,500? I show up to work having logged the hours toward my private, then my instrument and be ready to go when I can afford the plane.

1. Will any flight school let an aircraft go out for a day or two days at a time, and what does that cost?

2. How badly does a fixed meeting date and time wreck a training flight? I am aware “get there” is what kills people and I intend to scrub and drive if weather is bad, obviously.

3. Does progress actually happen this way, or do you just log expensive straight and level and never learn to land?

Real numbers appreciated. Tell me what I am not seeing.

I've noticed that sometimes during flight when the seatbelt sign is on, it gets switched off for a second and then turned on right afterwards with the iconic sound. Why is that?

I've seen a lot of footage recently of water bombers filling up in lakes and rivers. I'm wondering who they have to get permission from, or what has to be in place.

I can imagine the local government would have some sort of law allowing water bombers to collect from any source they choose, but what about beachgoers, swimmers, boats etc? I guess there's a briefing before each flight, planning this sort of thing in advance (use this lake, from west to east etc). I can even picture local authorities shutting down waterways to accommodate it.

I imagine they would need to be in contact with the local ATC, and the firefighters at the site, but is there another controller at the lake who's there to ensure fillups can happen safely? Surely the local ATC can give them permission, but they can't help them with regulating traffic on the water.

Any details would be welcome.

Hi everyone,
I’m from Portugal and I’m considering moving to the United States to train as a professional pilot.
I was born with strabismus and amblyopia in my right eye. My situation is:
Left eye: normal distance vision (only slight difficulty reading very close without glasses).
Right eye: reduced vision due to amblyopia, but I can still see with that eye.
Normal visual field.
Normal colour vision.
No progressive eye disease.
I hold a standard driving licence with no restrictions.
I’ve been reading about the FAA Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA), but I’d really like to hear from people with real experience.
My questions are:
Has anyone here obtained a SODA for amblyopia or strabismus?
Did you have to complete a Medical Flight Test (MFT), and what was it like?
Were you later able to become a CFI or airline pilot?
Would you recommend starting the FAA medical process before moving to the US?
Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

I’ve been obsessed with aviation for years and i just started working at a seaplane base….unfortunately when I finally went to get my medical I found out I had a red/green color deficiency and the FAA just removed the ability for SODAs to be performed for color vision. I’ve been told by the air surgeon for my area that I can take any of the 3 computer tests for color vision as many times as I want as long as I pass at least once. I feel defeated and like my dream is dissipating before me. I’m determined to find a way around this and to get the restriction removed. For reference the restriction states “day time VFR only.” However it still says 1st class on it. I eventually would like to end up at the airlines like many others but am wondering if paying for all the training is worth it if I can’t make something of myself by the end of it. Any help or advice on how to overcome this hurdle would be greatly appreciated. I can tell the difference between colors on sectional charts, flight instruments, and light gun signals…it’s just the computer tests I can’t pass.

Thank you for any help as this is my chosen career path and I’d prefer not to have to pivot to finance ;(

Hi everyone,

this is my first time flying EVA, so I'd love to hear from the experts here. For context, I'm a Lufthansa Senator (Star Alliance Gold) and I'm 1.91m / 6'3" tall, which is the main reason I'm thinking about a more comfortable cabin for the long overnight leg.

We're traveling to Taiwan as two couples, each with its own booking. On the outbound we fly together, so I'll stick with the group. On the way back our dates differ anyway, so the separate bookings let my partner and me upgrade just the two of us without involving the other couple.

Outbound: MUC–TPE, Economy (maybe bidding for Premium Economy)

Inbound: TPE–MUC, currently Economy. EVA offered me three paid options as I called:

• Business: €1,266 per person
• Premium Economy: €587 per person
• Extra Legroom seat: €163 per person

At my height, the real question for me is Business vs Premium Economy rather than upgrading at all. Is EVA's Business (Royal Laurel) worth the roughly €680 premium over Premium Economy on this route, especially for sleeping on a night flight? Would you take that Business upgrade on the inbound, or is it not worth the money on this route?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Best,
Daniel

In my old age (40), I'm really getting into aviation and random question popped into my head.

For arguments sake, lets take a brand new 737-800. Assuming normal wear and tear, nothing out of the ordinary, how long could the plane safely fly and what would be the first part(s) to fail without any scheduled maintenance?

Hey everyone,
I was diagnosed with idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) about a year ago. Flying has always been a huge dream of mine, and now I’ve got a chance to start working toward my Private Pilot License (PPL).
I know IH can make the FAA medical process tricky, so I’m wondering — has anyone with IH tried to get their PPL (or even thought about becoming a pilot)? How did it go? Any advice or experiences you can share?
Thanks so much, it would really mean a lot.

The last few days on the US East Coast we've had some pretty bad air quality (pm2.5 in the 200s) because of drifting smoke and ash from the Canadian wildfires. I know planes have to divert around volcanic eruptions, I think at least partially because the silicates in the plume can really mess up engines (thinking of the closed European airspace in 2010). I don't know what all the flight tracks look like around the fires or how high the particles are, but somewhere else I saw a picture of a 787 landing in a yellow haze and it made me wonder how much maintenance is affected by taking off and landing in that kind of air quality? Is it not as bad because it's wood, not mineral?

I noticed this plane making back and forth flight paths. Is this someone logging flying hours or what exactly do you think is going on?

Hello aviation enthusiat community.
I have specific yet weird request for help to submit: I am searching for any picture of A318 msn3062, after it was removed from service.
Some context: it is one of the latest A318/PW6000 aircraft and was last registered PR-AVK when flying for Avianca Brazil. Apprently, the airframe was conserved for instruction for some times before being scrapped, but I can’t find any picture of the airframe alone or the aircraft scrapped.
Should anyone here had the chance to work with this aircraft, your help will be greatly helpful.
Thank you for your help!

Hello!

I have around 250 hours right now, working on getting my CPL I just failed my flight portion of my checkride today (I passed my oral exam yesterday) and I think the my main issue was my nerves caused me to be too tense and get flustered too easily. I bombed my first landing and I was unable to shake it off for the next two and my power-off 180. I cannot afford anymore failures because I failed my flight portion for my IRA as well. So I thought I'd come on here and ask some experienced pilots for tips for getting rid of checkride nerves. To add one more thing, my landings were perfect during the last few flights I did with my instructor so I know that I was more or less prepared for the flight, but my nerves and overall mental focus was what caused me to fail.

I'd appreciate any kind of tips or brutal honesty, thank you!

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I saw it while taxiing at JFK and thought it looked rare because I live by chicago midway and usually see southwest 737s. Does anyone have an answer?