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When the pilot woke up, he was soaking wet, and cold rain was pouring down on him. He couldnt see out of one eye. His leg and arm were killing him. There were pieces of something in his mouth. He took them out. They were two of his front teeth.

It was about dawn. As he looked around, things were still fuzzy, but he realized that he was in his Comanche. The windshield was broken out, the cabin door was open, and they were sitting in a muddy cornfield.

Six months later the pilot, who also was a flight instructor, was telling the story to a group of people at the airport. How hed changed. His face was heavily scarred now, and he needed a cane to get around.

He was a poignant reminde…

A lot of people who attend airshows think of the performers as death- defying daredevils. It may come as a surprise (although I hope not), that its just not so.

As they race along in brightly painted aircraft, it may seem like theyre mixing aerial ballet with kamikaze maneuvers, but performers know the risks – and know how to minimize them. Airshow flying might be our livelihoods, but its not worth our lives to take what may be inherently risky flying and make it idiotically dangerous.

First off, its important to note that regulations dont create safe pilots. For example, I dont think spin training should be required of all pilots, but I think anyone whos serious about being a s…

As two owner groups demonstrated at Oshkosh, it takes planning, training and discipline to pull off group flights

If youre doing maintenance yourself, follow accepted maintenance procedures – and ask a mechanic for help if necessary

Healthy fear can turn to paralyzing panic if youre unprepared for an emergency. With preparation, its all second nature

When used airplanes turn into vintage airplanes, theyre easier on the budget but harder to own

By ignoring a few rules, pilot takes three friends to the bottom of a lake instead of a hockey playoff

Flying while intoxicated doesnt happen often, but when it does the results are usually tragic. A single DWI may point to trouble ahead in airplanes

All pilots have had them, those flights where you make a little mistake and it goes unnoticed for a long time.

Maybe its leaving the gear down until you get to cruise, and only then figuring out why the airspeed is so low. Perhaps you left the transponder on standby and didnt correct it until a gentle reminder crackled over the headset. And some people have been known to forget to turn off the autopilot, which makes a traffic pattern a difficult thing to fly.

The point is that minor problems rarely turn into major ones, because usually theyre caught in time. And even if theyre not caught until the airplane lands, there are few such mistakes that carry severe penalties. Occasional…

The accident involving JFK Jr. has focused a lot of attention on the plight of VFR pilots flying in marginal visibility and at night because it is a common cause of fatal accidents.

Getting boxed in by weather is easy to do, but preventing it is almost as easy. Dealing with it, while a little more difficult, isnt that hard either.

For non-instrument rated pilots, the first consideration is the pre-flight weather briefing. Despite the fact that a 1,000-foot ceiling and 3 miles visibility is legally VMC, it is not practical to attempt VFR flight beyond sight of the airport in such conditions.

Outside of the obvious problems of navigation and aircraft control, your ability to spot…