Dale Smith

If you’re still flying behind mechanical instruments (a.k.a. steam gauges), odds are good that, probably sooner than later, one of them is going to fail. And you can only hope it will happen on a bright and sunny day. But no matter, a failed flight instrument means a trip to the avionics shop for a […]

I don’t think I’m in a minority when I say that I’m absolutely in awe when I sit in the left seat and look at all the capabilities and safety-enhancing features avionics manufactures have put into today’s glass panel displays. Traffic, synthetic vision, terrain, obstacles, moving maps, weather and more: Incredible hardly seems to do […]

By now every owner of an N-registered aircraft knows that January 01, 2020 is the FAA’s deadline for compliance with its ADS-B equipage mandate. And while that may seem like plenty of time to get your aircraft done, truth is, it’s not. Why? Consider this: According to the FAA’s NextGen office as of last December […]

Any time you find yourself with a group of pilots, the conversation will inevitably turn to the FAA’s pending ADS-B mandate. And, yes, most of the comments are way too colorful to print here. Aircraft owners can be a surly bunch. Anyway, after the first wave of FAA-bashing commentary, I try to put a more […]

While most of us are still settling into 2016, aircraft owners across the country have already circled January 1, 2020, on their calendars. Why? That’s the FAA’s immovable deadline for equipping aircraft with ADS-B Out capabilities. At 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2020, if you don’t comply, you don’t fly — at least not in […]

It’s hard to believe that glass panel avionics have been around for nearly 30 years. I’m sure some of you have never flown an airplane without glass. And it’s with good reason: From airport diagrams to synthetic vision to moving maps, glass delivers an array of capabilities that are just not possible with mechanical “steam […]

Ever since Orville and Wilbur took to the skies, pilots have been taught that the more airspeed you have, the better off you are. But over the last 100-plus years we’ve learned that’s not always the case. Take stalls, for example; the common belief is that if you have sufficient airspeed, the aircraft won’t stall. […]

Illustrations by Chris Gall| “Why don’t you just go to the airport and go flying?” Those were my lovely wife’s exact words. I should have them memorized; I’ve heard her say them, oh, 5,000 times over the past 12 years. Not that she’s nagging in any way (all pilot husbands should be so lucky). She […]