Les Abend

From the flight levels to low-level missions, SouthWings pairs pilots with projects to help the environment.

The airline industry is known for its highs, lows, and the resiliency it requires of pilots and crew. Something in this pilot’s soul said it was time to go.

A FLYING Magazine reader asks a question plenty of us outside the airline industry have wondered about.

Yes, the aviation community knew it was a problem long ago, but that doesn’t matter now.

Ownership has its challenges—including ADs that require major repair.

A pilot has to decide on the runway not to take off, and reflects on how things differed when he worked for an airline.

This story originally published in the September 2004 issue of Flying Magazine. It is about six o’clock in the morning. I am witnessing a brilliant golden sunrise; a few layers of thin clouds accent the picturesque view. The New York City skyline begins to appear as a faint silhouette on the horizon. I am seated […]

As a longtime contributor to Flying, I have been blessed with the good fortune of attending many events, including airshows. Having spent a career mostly mastering the art of straight-and-level flight in the stratosphere, I have tremendous admiration for the aviators that perform physics-defying maneuvers at stepladder altitudes. I am awed by the skills involved. […]

When the text blipped across my iPhone screen, I couldn’t help but grin. My friend—and JetBlue captain—Mike Strauss and his wife, Christa, were inviting my wife and I to his newly purchased home in Colorado. One of the attractive aspects of the invitation was that the trip out west would be flown in his Cessna […]

Cruising among the flight levels in excess of Mach 0.82 most times, our weather radar typically remained in an active status. The Boeing 777′s system was sophisticated enough to adjust its sweep to the attitude of the airplane and turn itself on during takeoff for predictive wind-shear-detection warnings. It was the primary long-range tool for […]