From the scene of the accident to the rendering of the probable cause, the National Transportation Safety Board follows an established process to determine why an aircraft crash happened. For the NTSB investigators that form a crash “Go Team” — experts chosen from a broad range of NTSB aviation specialties — that often means unraveling the […]
Ratings Man is a ratings collector. No matter how many ratings or hours anyone has, he has more. Many of us go after the more common upgrades to our private pilot certificates, such as an instrument rating or high-performance and complex aircraft endorsements. Out in the wild blue yonder, we put these skills to good […]
One sunny July afternoon, a private pilot was returning to his home base from a lunch run to a nearby airport. He was flying a 1946 Luscombe, a well-worn classic but a new airplane to him. As he descended along the mountains skirting a populated area, the unthinkable happened — the engine quit. At his […]
Will Steven Hinton win his seventh straight Unlimited Class Gold? That was the big question at the 52nd National Championship Air Races held September 16-20 at Reno Stead Airport in Reno, Nevada. Hinton, flying Voodoo, a P-51 Mustang, screamed around the pylons with Robert “Hoot” Gibson racing Strega, also a P-51D. The suspense was building […]
A new private pilot, who had big dreams but not big money, was contemplating purchasing an older Mooney. He had limited mechanical skills and no concept of the potential cost of maintaining a complex airplane. He just liked the looks of the plane and its performance. Roger that. Many people buy their first aircraft for […]
Climbing over large boulders blocking the mouth of a narrow, sandy canyon near Joshua Tree, California, I stopped to catch my breath. Somewhere on the steep, rock-strewn hills just ahead, the remains of a TA-4F Skyhawk lay undisturbed. At 3:07 p.m. on Oct. 23, 1969, the ill-fated jet on a training flight originating in Yuma, […]
