1) I've frequently mentioned Patrick Smith's "Ask the Pilot" column at Salon, which dependably adds an informed, common-sense, let's-cut-the-BS perspective on flying-related topics. For instance, earlier this week he discussed the lamentable reflex of adding a gratuitous "Oooooohh, could it be terrorism?" note to discussions of any mishap in aviation. Always worth reading. UPDATE: See also Blogging at FL250 an interesting personal blog by a young captain for a regional carrier. Thanks to reader JL.
2) Yes, this is inside-baseball, but: the National Weather Service's Aviation Weather home page, incorporating its Aviation Digital Data Service, is a very effective illustration of "Gov 2.0" services. That is, it uses a variety of (mainly Java-based) web tools to make raw, real-time data available to users in very easily comprehensible, and customizable, forms. Just one illustration: the graphic below (current METARs, for pilots in the crowd) combines weather reports from most airports in the country. At a glance you can get an idea of weather patterns and conditions -- from green, which is relatively clear skies, to magenta, which is very low overcast -- and the strength and direction of the surface winds, from the arrows. You can change any aspect of the display, from scale to density of info shown. If you hover over any of the little dots, you get data from that airport -- and, for many of them, the "TAF," or hour-by-hour forecast for the next 24 hours.
