Features

Most of us who travel from small airport to smaller airport recognize the importance of weather and fuel requirements, but the alternatives available is often neglected in our training. Instead, were focused on getting a weather briefing and knowing things like runway lengths, ATC frequencies and whether the destination has a restaurant. Too often, we learn the hard way that services at the small airports closest to our ultimate destination may not be available when we need them most.

One of the more common complaints heard when pilots gather is that someones spouse and kids wont fly with them or dont like flying in little airplanes. The person issuing the lament insists he (its almost invariably he) cant figure out why. Often the reason is he has scared the bejabbers out of his family members at least once and has displayed absolute cluelessness when it comes to making the flight an enjoyable experience.

A large number of non-pilot passengers have told me they don’t like flying in clouds. They want to be able to see the world outside the window. If you are going to be in actual instrument conditions, say so ahead of time and give a brief explanation about what to expect. I’ve had some pilot […]

Until the 1990s, when backup options became widely available for personal aircraft, a vacuum system failure in instrument conditions was an extreme emergency. These days it still is, but electric backup instruments are relatively inexpensive and easy to install.

To its credit, the business aviation community has risen to meet the challenge of procedural noncompliance. I serve on the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) Safety Committee and for 2015, procedural non-compliance is one of the committee’s top safety priorities. I should point out that procedural noncompliance (PNC) is also on the NTSB’s 2015 Most […]

From the beginning of our primary training, we learn how to check our airplanes fuel quantity and quality, and how to position various controls to ensure the engine starts and stays running. We know we can turn the fuel off and on, and perhaps select from which tank the engine will draw, but what happens after that often is a mystery. Whats going on between the fuel selector valve and the engine?

A gouge really is nothing more than a clever saying-east is least, west is best-or a rule intended to remind us of something we already know. One thing about memory gouges is theres virtually no end to them. Another thing, ironically, is we tend to forget them. With that in mind, heres a quick refresher on a gouge designed to help us fly a glideslope.

Key officials introduced legislation in Congress that would establish an independent, not-for-profit corporation to modernize and operate ATC in the U.S. The federally chartered ATC corporation would be governed by a board representing the aviation systems users and the public interest. Many major U.S. airlines applauded the bills.

What if getting to B by burning as little fuel as possible is our objective? Or we want to stay aloft as long as possible? There are speeds to fly to achieve those goals, but well have to slow down, usually a lot. And those exact speeds, for best range and for best endurance, usually arent published for personal airplanes. A workaround is to simply use the lowest book power setting. If no limitations prevent it, best range or endurance usually is found at even lower power.

When its time for the instrument rating-the thinking rating-the instructors obligation ratchets up a few notches. An instrument-rated pilot is potentially going to be flying in high-risk environments-night IMC, ice, thunderstorms, approaches to a mere 200 feet above the unforgiving ground-with high workloads and in complex airspace. The instrument instructor must take a VFR pilot-who may have a casual attitude about checklists, systems, weather and risk analysis-and teach some respect for those subjects. He or she must impart the knowledge and skill needed to stay upright in awful weather, plus develop the savvy needed to think so far ahead of the airplane that the pilot is ready for whatever nature, ATC or system failures deal out.