Flying Staff

Evolution Revo Buckeye, Arizona / Injuries: 1 Fatal The commercial pilot, who had a total flight experience of about 4,500 hours in conventional airplanes, was learning to fly weight-shift-control (WSC) aircraft with the expressed intent of purchasing a high-performance WSC aircraft. The pilot obtained all of his 13.5 hours of WSC experience, including his WSC […]

Some instrument approach procedures just don’t seem fair. Take this approach into Hailey, Idaho, for example. Not only is it an NDB approach, it’s an NDB approach into a mountainous airport with circle-to-land minimums only. We’re seeing fewer NDB approaches as satellite-based RNAV procedures emerge, but nondirectional beacons are simple in their operation, if more […]

(function(d, s, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) return; var js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘//cdn4.wibbitz.com/static.js’; d.getElementsByTagName(‘body’)[0].appendChild(js); }(document, ‘script’, ‘wibbitz-static-embed’)); Highly skilled pilots from around the world converged at Reno-Stead Airport once again for the 53rd National Championship Air Races. About 120 airplanes competed in a number of race classes, including the Sport and […]

AOPA’s final Fly-In for the year in Prescott, Arizona, became a huge success. Five hundred sixty-five aircraft flew in for the event, and a record number of attendees, right around 6,300, walked the flight line to attend seminars on a variety of topics, visit exhibitors and watch a miniature airshow featuring Melissa Andrzejewski, Skip Stewart […]

The seventh Hollister Airshow at Hollister Municipal Airport in San Benito County, California, offered plenty of aviation excitement this year. The Father’s Day weekend event featured military jet fly-bys, airshow performances and aerobatic displays, highlighted by pilot Vicky Benzing in her 1940 Boeing Stearman. Check out the photos below and see what else the 2016 […]

Flying was on hand last week to witness the first official flight of the Junkers F13 replica in Zurich, Switzerland. The near-exact copy of the first all-metal commercial airplane was built by German luxury suitcase maker Rimowa, which unveiled the airplane to great fanfare along with an extravagant party at the historic Dubendorf Airfield. Check […]

Piper PA-12 Burnet, Texas/Injuries: 2 Uninjured The flight instructor of the amphibious float-equipped airplane reported that after an instructional lesson, while returning to the airport, the student pilot was too low “while turning base leg” of the traffic pattern so the student pilot moved the throttle forward to add power, but the engine did not […]

Beech A36 Kernersville, North Carolina/Injuries: 3 Fatal The private pilot had recently purchased the airplane, and it was more complex than the airplane he had flown previously. The accident airplane was also equipped with an upgraded avionics suite. The pilot had practiced loading and flying instrument approaches with the new avionics during recent flights with […]

Approaches to mountainous airports can present special challenges because of the inability to create a straightforward procedure due to sharply rising terrain. The LDA DME-1 approach to Runway 18 at Lake Tahoe Airport features many unusual aspects that pilots unaccustomed to flying in the mountains may have rarely, if ever, experienced. Have a look at […]

Air show performer Kyle Franklin is an extraordinary aviator in his own right, but his flying roots span three generations. As Franklin’s Family Circus neared its 50th anniversary Flying magazine featured Kyle, who continues the legacy of his father, Jimmy, and grandfather Zip. Kyle learned to fly at 8 years old and went on to […]