New to Air Facts? This list of popular articles from 2024 is a great place to get started. Enjoy!
Sporty’s Air Facts is proud to have published nearly 160 articles in 2024, written by more than 100 writers. Many of these writers were first time contributors with a compelling story to tell, strong opinion to convey, or a lesson learned. Some authors you’ll recognize as prolific conributors, having built a loyal following with their thoughtful insights. Thank you for your many comments and spirited debate which is what makes Air Facts a unique venue for pilots. If you contributued an article this year, thank you! If you’re thinking about contributing in 2025, please do—we want to hear your story and here’s how to get started.
All of these articles have also appeared in Air Facts popular Sunday morning email newsletter—a collection of new and popular contributions to begin your day. If you’re not already a subscriber, you may sign- up here.
Please enjoy these 10 most popular posts from 2024.
10. Sounds You NEVER Want to Hear. Whenever pilots take flight, there are certain sounds they NEVER want to hear coming from the aircraft. Dale “Boots” Hill (callsign Top Dawg), describes one such time while leading a four-ship formation of F-16 Vipers out of MacDill AFB while flying a low-level training route at 480 knots.
9. Navy Primary Flight Training—The Instructor Had it Coming. As a child who watched airplanes departing LaGuardia Airport from his apartment in the Bronx, he dreamed of flying for the airlines. With a plan for the military to pay, Arnold Reiner describes what Navy primary training was like in July 1964 as a newly commissioned second lieutenant flying the T-34.
8. One of the Scariest Moments in My Life. On the day of his scariest moment, author Neal Nett was on a winter trip to Florida with his family in a Cessna Skyhawk. Just a few days earlier, in zero degree temperatures, they had departed their grass airstrip in Wisconsin. On the day of his “scariest moment,” the northern part of the Sunshine State wasn’t so sunny.
7. My Near-Death Experience. Rick Armellino’s flight began with a fateful phone call that his Mom was close to the end of life. Preparations were quickly made to fly his Mooney to Jacksonville, Florida. It was early August and the forecast included thunderstorm development. Rick would ultimately experience a powerful downdraft approaching to land.
6. The Corsair C172-V8 Experiment Update #3—Reader’s Suggestions. Past updates on Jay O’Donnell’s $20/hr Cessna 172 experiement have elicited a passionate response and this installment is no different with hundreds of comments posted. In this latest update, Jay explains that FAA leadership had no interest in supporting such a solution and the program was forced to shut down.
5. Remembering What Flying Was Like 50 Years Ago. Prominent contributing author, Dr. Ed Wischmeyer, celebrated 50 years of flying last year and describes his experiences from October 1973. For radios, the 172 had a cabin speaker and a hand-held mic. You didn’t need a sign-off to take a written exam, and they were free at the FSS.
4. One of the Last in the Air on 9/11. Mark Harris and his crew had a great layover in Narita, Japan on September 10, 2001, but he was looking forward to getting back home to celebrate his son’s 10th birthday two days later. When they got word that the twin towers had collapsed, the Captain disabled the airshow system that showed the route and arrival information in the cabin. He didn’t want to cause any panic.
3. Rubber Bands—The Reason I Quit. Walt Catlow will miss those early morning flights over beautiful fall leaves and many other experiences of a GA pilot. His friends wanted to know why he was selling his airplane while still in good health. The answer itself is simple, the construct more complex. The reason is that it is time and this is his story of how he came to that decision.
2. The Captain is Lying and We Can Prove It. Retired airine captain and contributing author, Joel Turpin, rarely had a problem with passengers during his career. But on one flight, there was an exception. Some of his first-class passengers called him a liar insisting his B757 had experienced an engine failure which, naturally, elicited a response. Here is the story.
1. What’s Wrong With the Teardrop Pattern Entry. If you’ve arrived at a non-towered airport recently, especially one with a busy flight school, you may have heard another airplane announce announce the teardrop entry—a way to enter the traffic pattern when approaching from the opposite side of the runway. In this most popular post from 2024, Air Facts Editor-in-Chief, John Zimmerman, discusses the merits.
