Features

Airplanes seem to like cold weather. They pick up speed more rapidly on the takeoff roll and lift off with little or no effort. The controls have a crisp, quick feel thats lacking during the summer months. The engine(s) sound at the peak of strength.

Cold air and airplanes do well together. Well, most of the time. There are a few drawbacks.

One of the biggest problems for cross-country fliers is that reliable icing forecasts are as rare as honest crooks. Icing sometimes shows up where none was supposed to be and is frequently absent from where its supposed to be.

The inaccuracy of the weather predictions leads many people to ignore icing forecasts in favor of going and taking a…

Last September an applicant for a private pilot license rented a Piper Tomahawk from an FBO in central Illinois, one of two Tomahawks the company had in its seven-airplane fleet. The applicant and the designated pilot examiner completed the oral portion of the exam and proceeded northwest of the airport to conduct the maneuvers required in the practical test.

The weather was good for the noon flight. A scattered layer of clouds was reported at 4,900 feet agl, the visibility was 10 miles and winds were variable at 5 knots.

During the maneuvers, however, something went horribly wrong. A witness described the airplane diving nose-low toward the ground with a counterclockwise rotation. Bo…

Ask any pilot in the lounge about oxygen and flying and youll get, Well, youve got to have oxygen on above 14,000 feet, and above 12,500 feet if youre going to be there for more than half an hour. Ask the same pilot how much oxygen and youre likely to get a puzzled look.

The FARs outline when to use oxygen and the Airmans Information Manual says cannulas may be used up to 18,000 feet. But other than that the aviation bibles are mute on the issue.

Pilots are left to guess how much oxygen they need as they climb into the oxygen altitudes.

In addition, lower fliers can be left wondering what to make of conflict between the regulatory oxygen altitudes and evidence that hypoxia…

The fear of stalls has led many pilots to grief. As they pad their airspeed to avoid stalling in the pattern, for example, they set themselves up for a poor approach and a less-than-optimal landing. Hounded over the years to avoid a low-altitude stall that can lead to a fatal spin, some pilots fear stalls like the plague.

There is no doubt that pilots should have a healthy respect for stalls, but they need not live in terror. Understanding stall factors can mean the difference between extracting the maximum capabilities from the airplanes flight envelope and just getting average performance.

Every pilot has learned, from the first days of pilot training, that an airplane in a bank h…

Sidle up to any pilot you see at the airport. Ask about his or her attitude toward safety. Whether flying the latest and greatest corporate jet or propping the most tired tube-and-fabric antique, that pilot will give the same answer.

Sure, Im a safe pilot. After all, its my behind thats riding just aft of the instrument panel.

Few people like to admit that they have shortcomings as pilots. And when they do, its usually tempered with some mitigating circumstance that demonstrates that bad things only happen to the other guy.

They dont fly instruments, but theyre conservative about the weather. They dont fly often, but when they do theyre extra careful. They skimp on mainte…

The accident record of overshoots and undershoots makes it clear that some people dont practice maximum performance landings enough, but you dont have to review the statistics to convince yourself its true.

Just sit out where you can watch the touchdown zone at an airport with a relatively long runway. Airplane after airplane will show that the pilot cares less about style points than somehow getting the thing on the ground.

Some will dive in at the speed of blazing heat and float halfway down the runway. Some will come in high and land 2,500 feet from the approach end. In either case, touchdown may be followed by the squeal of tires and a half-mile back taxi to the ramp.

A fe…

Moving maps may be what sell the top-of-the-line handheld GPS units, but one of the niftiest features common to all GPS units is the nearest feature that points you at the closest airports as quickly as you can push the buttons. Its a good one, for sure, but doesnt relieve you of your responsibility to constantly update your engine-out plan.

The moment of power loss is very, very busy. I have been there. After a rapid diagnosis of the problem and trimming for best glide, the next item is Where am I going? If youre flying IFR, Center may be of assistance – or maybe not, as the occupants of an MU2 found out in 1993 on their way into an Iowa barnyard.

The push of a button (or seve…

Pilots in the traffic pattern worry enough about looking for other airplanes that many ignore helicopters, even when tower controllers call out the traffic. The reasoning may be something like: They dont fly patterns that interfere with airplanes, so theyre not a collision threat, and theyre so much smaller than an airliner, how bad could a wake vortex really be?

The risk of collision is something only the pilot in the pattern can assess, but the threat of wake vortices from helicopters is actually much more ominous than most pilots realize.

Real-world research into the effect of helicopter rotor vortices on general aviation aircraft shows that some of the characteristics are the sa…

Not many people would justify the time and expense involved in being a proficient general aviation pilot without their spouse supporting the activity. While many spouses are pilots themselves, a great number are merely participants who enjoy the travel and other benefits of flying, without having been bitten by the flying bug itself.

These preferred passengers share a few traits. Theyre usually willing and able to help with some of the housekeeping chores like folding maps, watching for traffic and looking up frequencies. Some may take a pinch-hitter course or a bit of flight instruction in case the pilot someday gets a bad batch of oysters. Virtually all describe their pilot-in-command…

Year after year, airline flights operated under FAR Part 121 get top billing for safest category of flight. This should come as no surprise, considering the many well-known safety advantages enjoyed by airline pilots.

They receive the best training around, including high-fidelity, full-motion simulator training not available to most GA pilots. Their job performance is closely scrutinized by their peers, by management, and by the FAA. An average line holder flies 700 to 900 hours every year, so they generally enjoy a high level of currency and comfort with the airplane they fly.

The hardware is often the best that Boeing or Airbus offers, with better performance margins and greater…