Learning Experiences

By the time I realized what had happened, I was in the back seat and the airplane was headed straight down.

While at a tower-controlled airport that has intersecting runway, I was having my student practice touch and goes. After about five, we were on crosswind and told the tower we wanted to depart the airport to the southeast after this landing.

We were cleared for the touch and go while on downwind, and the tower told us to keep our pattern tight. We acknowledged and started our base turn and then turned to final. The student proceeded to bring the airplane down to the runway. After the wheels were on the ground and the airplane was stable, he retracted the flaps and added full power for the takeoff. I was watching the climb angle, the field ahead and the airspeed as we started the climb ou…

During my training, I quickly realized that the majority of flight training involved what to do in emergencies. I quickly caught on. I read everything I could get my hands on regarding engine-outs, snow blizzards, bird strikes, short field problems and so on. A few months after passing my checkride, I realized I was afraid to leave my home airport and paranoid of flying outside visual sight of any object that could lead me back home.

I knew I had to conquer my fears and decided that a trip from Atlantic City, N.J., to Key West would force me to become a real pilot and do the kind of flying Id always dreamed of doing. With an instructor and a student pilot friend, we set off. The plan was…

I have approximately 1,600 hours as a private pilot, with about 400 hours IFR. I was still a little concerned about a recent IFR flight from the East Coast to Nashville in my Saratoga.

The weather at point of departure was overcast and windy, with no Pireps of tops, and a front was rapidly passing through the area. The western Carolina Mountains can pose some interesting and difficult problems for low-level flight, VFR or IFR. The forecast for later in the evening was clear.

I departed IFR in the early afternoon and broke out into the clear above 7,000 as I climbed to 10,000. The winds were strong and out of the west, but I encountered no significant turbulence en route to Nashville….

I am an 1,100-hour instrument pilot flying an A-36 Bonanza. The other night, my friend Bill (a student pilot) and I were flying along in the Pittsfield, Mass., area and encountered a situation I had never seen before.

We were cruising along northbound VFR on top at 7500 ft. in smooth air and unrestricted visibility with autopilot engaged at 154 knots IAS. There was a broken layer below us with tops estimated at 6,000 feet. The winds at our altitude were from the northwest at approx 65 knots. Outside air temperature was right around 0 Celsius. The highest terrain in the area was about 4000 ft. The nearest weather front was a strong low hundreds of miles to our south.

In front of us we s…

I was assigned to ferry an OH-58A (a.k.a. Bell JetRanger) from Fort Bragg, N.C., to Corpus Christi, Texas, for overhaul. I was a newly minted Army captain, two years out of flight school, with about 500 hours of helicopter time.

I was on the second day of the ferry flight, with the VFR helicopter loaded down with sectionals and all of the helicopters logs and records. The weather was good VFR, and I was flying along the Texas coast from Galveston to Corpus Christi, listening to local radio on the ADF. I was flying low enough that it would have been illegal over a congested area, but high enough that my whirling wings werent kicking up sand as I blew down the coast at all of 90 knots.

I have been flying for 19 years and now fly corporate/mission operations overseas. The overseas operations, which I have done for six years, have provided many excellent learning opportunities – as well as some scary moments.

Last week we were returning from an international, operating our Twin Cessna in and out of marginal VFR/IFR conditions.

When descending for the main international airport it is always imperative to monitor every transmission. This is doubly true in developing countries. Although this particular airport is an international airport, the radar operates perhaps 30 percent of the time and ATC uses broken English and fluent French. In many instances there are two and…

After a 20-year hiatus, I returned to flying a couple of years ago and try to fly as often as I am able.

I filed for a 2:00 p.m. departure from New Orleans Lakefront to St Louis Downtown Airport but, as I drove to the airport, it was apparent that I would be delayed by some heavy thunderstorms that moved into the New Orleans area and seemed intent on staying for awhile.

I spent the time at the airport watching the radar and talking with some Navy pilots who were on a training mission and planning their return to Texas.

At about 5:30 p.m., the storms were clearing from west to east and, after discussing it with a briefer, I decided to depart toward the northwest with a turn to the n…

I thought I would send you a note of something that really could have ruined my day.

I had asked a friend to go flying with me one evening. The sunsets here in North Dakota are fantastic and I thought she might really enjoy seeing them from a different perspective. I had already pre-flighted the airplane when she called and said she would be late. I told her I would take-off and do some landing drills while I awaited her arrival.

We have a small non-towered airport and I explained that when she arrived that she should park next to my vehicle on the ramp and keep her headlights on and I would then taxi to her and pick her up.

When she arrived I landed and taxied to her, facing the…

A Piper PA28-181 Archer crashed in night IMC approximately two miles from its destination airport, killing the pilot and passenger. The aircraft was destroyed. The instrument rated commercial pilot had approximately 300 hours total time, including 70 hours actual or simulated IMC and 90 hours in the accident aircraft. Witnesses reported hearing the engine begin to run roughly then go silent followed by the sound of impact a few moments later. FAA investigators drained less than one gallon of fuel from the left wing tank and found only trace amounts of fuel in the right tank. Fuel starvation was listed as the cause of the accident.

I have read dozens of accident reports similar the one a…