Jay Hopkins

A 727 was approaching Ketchikan, Alaska, high and fast. Despite several warnings from the copilot, the captain elected to continue the visual approach. The airplane landed long and fast on the slush-covered runway, and the captain quickly deployed the spoilers and thrust reversers and applied maximum braking. Then, when it appeared they would not be […]

Last month I discussed the need for balance between hand-flying the airplane and using the autopilot. Another example of a need for balance is in the traditional versus scenario-based flight training debate. When I received my flight training, the airplanes had only basic radios and instruments, and the only parts of most flights that were […]

It seems like in many areas people are divided into two camps, with each side strongly supporting its way of thinking while disparaging any other approach. Sometimes the pendulum of opinion swings from one side to the other, never pausing to stop in the middle. A balanced approach is usually more reasonable, applying the appropriate […]

My flying has recently come full circle. My first flight was in a Piper J-3 Cub back in the 1950s. I worked line service as a teenager in the 1960s to pay for my flying lessons, and in the early 1970s I earned my fixed-wing ­single-engine and glider commercial and instructor ratings so I could […]

The most important human factor in aviation is the pilot, and there has been considerable discussion in the aviation media about the decrease in the number of student pilots and the general lack of interest in aviation, especially among young people. Various factors have been discussed, including the increase in the cost of flying, the […]

Most people don’t like to admit that they have dug themselves into a hole and need help to extricate themselves from their predicament. This is evident in the common tendency people have to minimize their problems when communicating with others, and has led to many adverse outcomes because people who could have helped did not […]

The word groupthink has been coined to describe a common phenomenon in which a desire for harmony overrides a realistic analysis of alternatives. This emphasis on maintaining the group’s cohesion and togetherness can result in bad decisions, because differing points of view are not expressed. The description of the kind of group most susceptible to […]

Each month I receive the NTSB Reporter (ntsbreporter@aol.com), which provides an abbreviated version of some of the more interesting NTSB reports that have been issued recently, along with a paragraph or two on a number of recent accidents and other stories of interest. As I read through the weather and other information available to a […]

(March 2012) Slipping gradually toward an accident is very common, but it is not the only way accidents happen. At the opposite end of the spectrum lie accidents in which a pilot who has always flown in a safe and professional manner makes one critical mistake. One area in which this type of accident is […]

(February 2012) At first glance the NTSB report seemed like a typical “non-instrument-rated pilot takes off into IMC conditions” accident. The pilot had accumulated close to 400 hours during the five years since he had earned his private pilot certificate, mostly in the accident airplane. He was eager to depart on a trip that he […]