Pia Bergqvist

All you wanted for Christmas may have been the new Garmin 750 for your airplane. If you were lucky enough to get the new touchscreen avionics or if you’d simply like to play around with the new system, you can at the very least try out Garmin’s new GTN 750 iPad 2 training app, which […]

When I first started flying, I flew using what some people call “the death grip,” a morbid term for hanging onto the yoke for dear life. I held so hard that my forearm would be sore the next day and I had a permanent tiny bruise on my thumb from pressing the push-to-talk button. After […]

The age of space tourism has already begun. In this video Robert Mason of Baltimore, Maryland, shares his flight to the edge of space in a Russian MiG-29 at the Sokol Airbase in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. While the video has no sound, you can watch as the skies darken and the curvature of the earth […]

European aviators can now install Garmin’s GTN 650 and 750 GPS/navcom systems after EASA signed off the validation paperwork for the STC Garmin received from the FAA in March for the touchscreen navigators. To achieve EASA’s validation, the Garmin 650 and 750 had to meet European regulatory requirements, such as 8.33-kHz VHF communication, immunity from […]

Loss of control has consistently been the leading factor causing landing accidents, according to the annual Nall Report, published by AOPA’s Air Safety Institute. One way to prevent loss of directional control is to learn to consistently stay aligned with the centerline of the runway during the landing phase. Some tricycle landing gear equipped airplanes […]

Space Adventures took a step closer to making its space tourism a reality this week when its partner, Armadillo Aerospace, conducted a successful rocket flight test out of Spaceport America in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company tested proprietary launch technologies using a reusable sub-orbital rocket called STIG A. “The flight successfully demonstrated many of the […]

Nearly eight years after Mayor Richard M. Daley ordered the demolition of the runway at Meigs Field near downtown Chicago, very little has been done to implement the plans set forth for the manmade Northerly Island. What had been a flourishing airport since the late 1940s was to be redeveloped into a lush park and […]

When I read about the lack of progress at the Northern Island redevelopment near downtown Chicago in political columnist Greg Hinz’s blog last week, I felt a familiar sense of nausea. It was the feeling I got when I first saw a picture of the large Xs carved into one of the most incredible aviation […]

(December 2011) Airguide Publications recently upgraded its Flight Guide app, aiming toward making it a real competitor against better-known charting and airport information systems for the iPad. Larry Garcia, who owns Airguide Publications with his wife, Cindy, claims the app became the first to display real-time traffic using Zaon’s PCAS XRX portable collision avoidance system, […]

You may, like me, have been in situations where you were confused about whether you could legally get reimbursed for your flight expenses. If you’re looking for answers, NBAA’s Reimbursement for Flight Expenses for Owner-Pilots Handbook, fresh off the presses, can help. “This guide provides much-needed clarity on the regulations and legal interpretations covering reimbursements […]