Les Abend

Paul Holmes and I first met back in the late 1990s at Miami’s infamous Columbus Day Regatta in Biscayne Bay, a boating weekend of craziness. The regatta actually involves a sailboat race, but most are unaware because of their participation in the side event, which is a massive overnight rafting of boats in all sizes […]

Not quite 10 years ago, I took the plunge into the abyss of airplane ownership. Having a civilian background in a general aviation environment, and possessing a pilot’s license for more than four decades, it seems that airplane ownership would have long ago been part of my repertoire. Finances, career focus, and other life interests […]

The airplane looked absolutely the same. It was the same Piper Arrow II with the blue-and-silver accent ribbon that flowed from the tail to the nose against a white background. It was the same airplane that was displayed on almost 200 hours of my logbook pages. I smiled knowing that my former career as an […]

As I glanced down the parallel taxiway of JFK’s Runway 31L, the idea that this would be the very last time began to resonate in my psyche. The thought wasn’t debilitating by any means, but the concept hadn’t really taken hold until that moment. No more 777. No more trips to Heathrow. No more Cat […]

Although it’s old news, the accident involving a joyride by a ground service employee flying one of Horizon Air’s Bombardier Q400s from Sea-Tac Airport on August 10 still resonates. The flight terminated in a fireball on Ketron Island, approximately 30 miles southwest of Seattle. After almost four decades as an airline pilot, I’m left shaking […]

Who would have thought that a 600-foot alteration of the departure track out of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., could make the difference in almost completely eliminating accidental incursions of the infamous P-56, the prohibited airspace over the White House? As an added layer of prevention, pilots are also provided with better visual awareness […]

Aloud, muffled boom is heard from within the cockpit. The airplane begins to buffet. The two pilots exchange wide-eyed glances. From years of routine and training, they simultaneously turn toward the center instrument panel and begin to focus their attention on the electronic engine displays. The needle of the left engine N1 gauge is gyrating […]

During a recent recurrent training period in our human factors class, the check airman instructor asked for a show of hands for those who had experienced an engine failure during their careers at the airline. The classroom consisted of about 30 well-seasoned pilots. Barely a quarter of the class raised their hands. The same question […]

About an hour away from JFK I pressed my truck’s radio button and listened to the XM traffic and weather station. No major traffic issues. Good news. A snowfall was predicted for the return home, but only a couple of inches. Again, good news. Via internet notification I had been unceremoniously assigned the early evening three-day […]

With two Cessna 172s, Flyinn had picked us up at the Queenstown Airport after shuttling our bags over from the main terminal to the general aviation side of the field. Jay and Sandy Rud, our good friends from the Chicago area, were still somewhere behind us, navigating the same bumpy sky in the other 172, […]