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ELTs are there to aid rescuers, but false alarms are compounded by the fact that ELTs usually dont work when they should.

In a little airplane, a final longer than a half-mile is a gross waste of national resources. Tighter patterns are better and more fun.

Old airplane and twin-engine psychology take Apache pilot down the wrong road toward emergency landing.

[IMGCAP(1)]Listening to ATC is a favorite diversion for my wife as we approach our destination, particularly when the weather is ugly. The chatter between pilots and controllers can be comforting, giving an eavesdropping passenger the impression that were all professionals quietly going about our routine missions.

But whats truly routine to a pilot can startle a passenger unfamiliar with the finer points of IFR flying. I recall the look of horror on my wifes face the first time she heard the phrase radar contact lost when I was cleared for an approach while we were bouncing around inside some turbulent gray clouds.

Like many, she had the impression that we couldnt land without…

[IMGCAP(1)]A friend of ours likes to say that flight training is supposed to be difficult and unpleasant, otherwise everyone could learn to fly. We have to wonder if his grim humor forms more of the underpinning of the flight training edifice than were willing to admit.

Perhaps thats one way to explain the illogical way pilots learn the basics of flight planning generally and IFR planning specifically. The IFR written still contains a series of impenetrable questions that require pin point use of a whiz wheel to calculate time en route and fuel burns to a resolution of a couple of minutes – this despite the fact that no one does that in the real world and probably hasnt since the 1950…

As much as it pains some people to admit it, light airplanes are seldom the kind of go-anywhere-anytime transportation tools most pilots would like them to be. Generally speaking, the smaller the airplane, the less capable it is to perform all-weather duty.

The limitations of flying light aircraft are such that weather can easily overwhelm any pilot who does not both recognize and accept the fact that sometimes the wheels ought to stay on the ground. While thats a lesson instructors and examiners try to instill in every private and instrument applicant, sometimes the lesson comes too late to do the pilot much good.

The temptation to push the envelope of both airplane and pilot is stro…

[IMGCAP(1)]Aviation training is often bashed for having a tombstone mentality. We tend to ignore certain shortcomings until an accident or incident instills new religion. Emergency descent training is a prime example of this.

Throughout my private, commercial and ATP courses, I dont remember getting instruction in emergency descents. Yet after the ValuJet, Swiss Air and FedEx accidents-each of which involved fire in flight-every checkride Ive had has included an emergency descent.

Whats the big deal with emergency descents? And is this skill worth your attention? Take one look at the burned wreckage of the FedEx DC-10 at Newburgh, New York in 1996 for your answer. That crew had…

Advancing your ratings makes you a better/safer pilot. Weve probably all heard that statement more times than we can count, and most pilots probably accept it as an empirical truth. However, others feel that their lack of advanced ratings does not make them any less safe or competent to fly the planes they do, the way they do.

At the risk of sounding like a lawyer, the truth, I think, is that whether advanced ratings makes you a better/safer pilot depends a lot on what you mean by better and safer. Many folks equate the type of flying a pilot does or the certificates/ratings he holds with some sort of rank ordering of pilot skill/safety/proficiency.

Few people would argue that…

[IMGCAP(1)]It was a typical pre-9/11 afternoon as we approached White Plains. New York Tracon handed us off to White Plains Tower and the controllers were issuing their usual rapid-fire instructions to the arriving mass of airline, regional, business and general aviation aircraft.

The frequency was so congested that most of the arriving aircraft were unable to read back the instructions. We had the TCAS turned down to a six-mile range and our heads were on swivels since the airspace was so busy. The TCAS screen was full of targets.

We were watching the business jet ahead of us turn onto final when suddenly it made an abrupt nose-up maneuver. The pilot cried over the frequency, What…

[IMGCAP(1)]Like the speed of light and the fact that the best parking spaces are already taken, one of the constants in the universe is this imponderable question: Is a twin safer than a single? Does having two motors really add measurably to the safety margin or is it, like so much else in GA, undiluted marketing hype?

If we could answer this question, we could also turn lead to gold and all of our computer hardware would actually play when plugged. In the end, however, we think there are too many variables to say with assurance that an extra engine really does improve the safety margin for the average owner-pilot. We emphasize average as a means of noting that not all owners pursue th…