Editor’s Log

Faster, slower. Higher, lower. Bigger, smaller. Expensive, cheaper. Like the four dimensions physicists use to describe the universe, these four dimensions describe the universe of general aviation airplanes.

The speed, altitude and size of the airplane you fly determines the kinds and levels of risk to which you expose yourself. The most extreme example is one of a military pilot skimming the treetops at attack speed, who is in a decidedly riskier spot than that same pilot ferrying that same aircraft from one base to another in the flight levels.

The same could be said for general aviation airplanes, though perhaps the extremes are closer together. Flying a J-3 Cub at 1,500 feet agl…

Much as some people say they like winter flying, theres no way around the fact that, for most pilots, winter only seems to muck things up. Hangar flying replaces cross country flying and a whole lot of airplanes have just had an annual inspection done.

With spring comes a new commitment to flying, new chances to spread our wings and the reaffirmation of why we took this thing up in the first place. Its easy to get distracted by the prospects of a season full of new adventures and fresh challenges. Maybe a new airplane or another rating is in the works, maybe not. Regardless, this is the time of year to take stock of your flying, yes, but also your attitudes toward flying.

The ASFs…

The twin 350 hp engines were droning smoothly in the background, sending a pleasant tickle through the soles of my feet. From where I sat behind the panel, everything looked good.

The moving map on the GPS showed we were right on course, with an ETA of about 90 minutes. The on-board radar showed light rain ahead, but no thunderstorms or other nastiness. We had plenty of fuel on board, with the tanks reading nearly half full each. The autopilot was engaged and held our course through the occasional light chop.

Outside, visibility through a murky low was about 50 feet, but we cruised along smartly because, hey, there was nothing to hit. While the poor visibility was making my passengers…

File this one under Pilot as good guy, sometimes to a fault.

I like to help out controllers when I can. If the departure end of the airport is stacked with departures while Im making a leisurely VFR approach, Im quick to volunteer to extend downwind to let a couple of airplanes out. If Im in a slow airplane approaching final in front of a fast one, Ill offer to take a vector or turn to put me behind the other airplane.

While there are a lot of pilots who share this attitude, some take helpfulness to counterproductive extremes.

I was transitioning some busy airspace recently when a pilot called the tower, reporting inbound from the southwest. The controller asked his positi…

Ask yourself the following question: Which has more influence on the safety of your next flight: inflight weather-related decisions or stick and rudder skills?

Odds are, those who use their airplanes for serious transportation will opt for the weather decisions, while those who do primary instruction or fly recreationally will choose the stick and rudder skills. The accident record shows that both are important, and for all kinds of airplanes. Just as there are Super Decathlons that occasionally stumble VFR into IMC, so there are Cessna 210s that depart the runway following a loss of control due to a crosswind.

Risk management says you need to assess the type of flight youre about to…

On a gorgeous VFR day, the occupants of two airplanes never knew how close they came to having their days ruined. I watched it happen.

It was time for my biennial flight review, so my instructor and I loaded up the Citabria (sans parachutes) for some airwork in the boonies west of Orlando. Then we flew north to Leesburg, an uncontrolled airport with intersecting runways. Winds were light and there was a thin layer of cumulus that started at about 2,700 feet and went up to about 4,000.

Traffic was using runway 13, and there are lakes at both ends of the runway. Its usually a quiet little airport, although occasionally there are trainers around shooting touch-and-goes or NDB approaches…

The accident chain, like most, was as obvious in retrospect as it was elusive at the time. Consider these links:

Link 1: The pilot and his four passengers absolutely, positively had to be at the destination, 300 miles away, by early the next morning. There was an event that could not be missed, even if it meant driving. A short weather delay would be OK, but a substantial one would not.

Link 2: The pilot had had a stressful week, with both professional and personal anxiety and bouts of poor sleep.

Link 3: He had gone out with friends the night before the anticipated flight, returning home well after midnight and facing an early wakeup call.

Link 4: Th…

Its easy to feel like you have a guardian angel when youre flying into an airport with a functioning control tower, especially one thats equipped with DBRITE and well-trained controllers. But there still is no substitute for peeled eyeballs and an awareness of what other airplanes are actually doing (as opposed to what theyre supposed to be doing).

Recently I was nearing a busy controlled airport just as controllers were switching from one runway to the opposite one. There were multiple airplanes on instrument approaches, several waiting to take off, a couple in the pattern and a few more approaching pattern entry. I was cleared to enter a right base for the new runway, but by the tim…

Having just survived another AirVenture at Oshkosh, its fairly clear that pilots are both the smartest and the dumbest people on Earth.

Lets step aside for a moment and try to ignore the pageantry, the forums, the camaraderie and the sheer amazement that comes with watching Sean Tucker fly an airplane. Instead, consider the Stuff for Sale.

There are few other places on the planet where you could spend so much money and still not get one of everything. Headsets, charts, navaids, engine monitors, weather info, parachutes, hangars, traffic alerts, FADEC, airplanes, engines, seats. That just scratches the surface of the wares hawked at the worlds biggest airshow.

Pilots are experts a…

It was time to introduce a non-pilot friend to aerobatics. He had been expressing interest for some time, and finally our schedules meshed and we headed out to the airport to strap on some unusual attitudes.

He had flown in the Citabria once before, on a flight where we did some spirited maneuvering, but no aerobatics. I like to introduce neophytes this way because it allows them to get used to the motion and I can avoid having to wash out the interior of the airplane afterward.

Before that first flight, we were waiting for the fuel truck and I asked him how much he weighed. A buck eighty. I ran the weight and balance and found we could carry full fuel and still be comfortably within…