Richard L. Collins

The first “glass” cockpit airplane that I flew was a Falcon 10 or 100, well over 20 years ago. At that time the nomenclature was EFIS (for electronic flight instrumentation system), the equipment was from Collins radio and basically it replicated the mechanical flight instruments. I recall that the depiction was not particularly crisp and […]

The Continental IO-550P engine with what are called “cross-flow” heads is the latest in piston engine technology. Versions of the engine are used in new Cirrus and Columbia airplanes where they have become legendary for their power output. Now Atlantic Aero in Greensboro, North Carolina, is offering what they call 550 Tuned Induction Conversions for […]

The words “current” and “proficient” are widely used to define a pilot’s ability to fly. Actually, being current means only that you meet all the regulatory standards which, in turn, don’t mean a whole lot. Almost six months after your last instrument approach you are still considered current for an ILS to minimums. Or, for […]

Four of the last five airplanes that I bought were new. The one that wasn’t new had but 500 hours on it. That was years ago, the last being in 1979. Still, I know the real thrill that comes from getting a brand-new airplane and being the only person, other than the test pilot, who […]

I’ll say in advance that Tom and I aren’t bound to agree on everything in this series. While I think checklists and acronyms are great on the ground and in flight for things like emergencies, I don’t think you can apply them to the shades of gray we find in instrument flying. If there is […]

From a New York Daily News story: “It was too powerful, too sophisticated, too much plane for him.” Diana Munson, Thurman Munson’s wife was quoted as saying: “People who knew anything about flying and aviation knew this was nuts.” And it was said that the New York Yankees catcher and team captain didn’t plan on […]

Today, the beginning pilot has many paths to choose from when learning to fly. There’s the Light Sport activity, which gets you going in a basic airplane. Then there is the recreational route which expands horizons a bit. Finally there’s the tried and true private certificate that expands piloting privileges by a lot. If initial […]

It starts with weather. A pilot knows where he wants to go VFR and the first step is to see if the weather will allow a flight along the route that, at this point, is just in his mind. The most direct route is the first one considered. The next thing is the weather synopsis, […]

“Columbia 2536 Tango is cleared to the I69 airport, direct Hagerstown VOR, then as filed, maintain 4,000, departure on 134.15, squawk 0510.” I have gotten that same route clearance many times in my P210 and to take the measure of the new Columbia 400 I would run it out and back over this familiar 320-nm […]

I have been studying general aviation accidents for almost 50 years and it is amazing that over all this period of time we have lost eight, plus or minus a few, IFR airplanes to thunderstorms each year. It’s amazing because when I started there was little or no radar information on thunderstorms available, where now […]