Mark Phelps

The best part of flying small airplanes is being able to use so many more airports than the airlines do. But if you need to visit an airport that has a mix of big jet and piston/turboprop traffic, it’s best to scope out your plan well in advance. Even non-airline airports that have intense heavy-iron […]

First-time passengers in light airplanes can be a skittish breed. You never really know how they’ll react. Hero types sometimes dissolve into ashen-faced putty. Shrinking violets sometimes prove to be the most adventurous, pressing you for steeper and steeper turns. Sometimes it can be hard to recognize when someone is less than enthusiastic about going […]

According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association first quarter tally, deliveries of new piston aircraft were off by about 28 percent compared with Q1 numbers from last year. Manufacturers delivered only 399 piston-powered aircraft in the first three months of this year, compared with 544 in last year’s first quarter. Cirrus’ numbers were down by […]

If you fly in or near congested airspace, you might have wondered at the rhyme or reason to some of your IFR routings, or the vectors you were issued when receiving VFR flight following. A good way to remove some of the mystery is to visit an air traffic control center. Though your training provides […]

Either it’s really early for next winter, or really late for last winter, but the FAA has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would disallow pilots from taking off with so-called “polished frost” on their aircraft’s wings. Part of the reason is the ambiguity of when frost can be considered smooth enough to be […]

Embraer’s entry into the light jet market took a giant leap forward last week with the first flight of the company’s Phenom 300. The first flight was reportedly at least two months ahead of schedule, and the computerized design format is credited with the advanced stages of the program. Three more test articles are planned […]

As a human being, you have no doubt evolved your own individual habits when it comes to organizing your inflight record-keeping chores. Whether you own your own airplane or rent, you probably keep your pen in the same place every flight, consult your checklists at the same time and any number of other procedures that […]

While most eyes are on smaller and smaller jets, Cessna has taken a leap forward with its CJ program. The first CJ4, the largest of the series at eight seats, took place last week from Cessna’a Pawnee engineering facility adjacent to McConnell Air Force Base outside Wichita, Kansas. The two hour, 22-minute flight incorporated some […]

Even if you fly a lot, you’ll agree that recurrent training is a good investment. But too often, pilots find that the time they spend with an instructor is largely wasted on procedures that simply don’t match up to the way they fly. For example, some instructors insist on ignoring GPS in favor of conducting […]

Littleton, Colorado-based JETTECH, which has developed reduced vertical separations minimums (RVSM) solutions for early Citations and Cheyenne turboprops, has a new product. Teaming with Sandel, JETTECH is now offering glass cockpit capability to operators of those aircraft. The core of the system is Sandel’s SA 4550 LED primary attitude unit working with the SA 4500 […]