The pieces.
Two pieces published in the Journal, in reverse chronological order. Listed alongside the advisor's notes that close the catalogue pages, which are not separately archived.
Courchevel: the altiport approach, explained.
An altiport at five thousand feet, a sloped runway, and a turboprop that has to land it on the first attempt.
On the Pilatus, and the case for the turboprop.
Six feet of cabin, three-thousand-foot runways, and the routings only a PC-12 will complete.
Selected lines.
Five sentences from the writings of M. Vance, drawn from the Journal and from the advisor's notes that close the catalogue pages. Compiled by the editor.
A PC-12 is a single-engine answer to a four-engine question. The question, asked from the right field, makes the answer look obvious.
Courchevel is a sloped runway at five thousand feet with no go-around. The aircraft has to land on the first attempt, and the pilot has to have already landed it many times before, somewhere else.
A turboprop reaches the field a jet cannot. The cabin is honest, the speed is honest, and the routing is shorter than the brochure suggests, because the alternate field is two valleys away.
The altiport approach is, more than any other manoeuvre, the one a pilot would like a second go at. There isn't one.
A correspondent who insists on a jet for a mountain field is a correspondent who has not yet stood at the end of the runway and looked back along it.
Where the byline appears.
one place one will find the Margaret byline, beyond the dated pieces above.
Read elsewhere.
Other bylines on the Journal masthead. For the full list see the Contributors page.
By return of post.
A short note from the office whenever M. Vance publishes in the Journal. No more than three or four notes a year, by the editorial calendar; some years rather fewer.
A quote, by return.
Provide the route, the party, and the window. An advisor will reach you within twelve minutes with three vetted options across the appropriate class.
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