Aviation Safety

I’m a firm believer in using supplemental oxygen; there’s a portable O2 tank in my airplane right now. For a variety of reasons, I usually go on oxygen when I’m going to be at 10,000 feet or higher for any length of time. I typically fly long legs, and when I use oxygen, I’m not […]

With the proliferation of electronic flight bag (EFB) software running on tablets in our cockpits, it’s often easy to forget that some of the data we download every 28 days may not be correct. In fact, the charts, approach plates and airport information we use—to name just three categories—can easily be missing important material or […]

It basically doesn’t matter why you need to discard your visual landing approach and go around. It could be something as routine as another airplane or a vehicle on the runway, a poorly flown approach or configuration error, or a controller’s direction in response to something you can’t even see. But go around you shall, […]

Pull up a digital copy of the FAA’s regulations and search for “hard IFR.” Can’t find it anywhere in the FARs, can you? That’s because it’s one of those terms that everybody understands on one level but really can’t agree on a definition for. It’s a popular term though: you’ll hear it from instructors, hangar-flying […]

A good landing is any landing you walk away from. A great landing is when you can use the airplane again. Who doesn’t enjoy the classics? As humorous as these sayings can be, they occasionally do contain some nuggets of wisdom. For example, I would consider Captain Sully’s landing in the Hudson River a good landing, […]

After 20 years as a flight instructor, I’ve observed that too many general aviation pilots do not monitor nor understand the significance of maintaining cylinder head temperature (CHT) within the proper operating range. Thanks to aircraft system ignorance, failure to maintain engine situational awareness, laziness, apathy or combinations thereof, many pilots are remiss at monitoring […]

A friend of mine died recently when his airplane crashed. He was returning to his home airport when the engine failed and his plane crashed short of the destination. Brad “Launchpad” Marzari was what I call a stone aviation junkie, as evidenced by his frequent, enthusiastic presence at major air shows like Sun ‘n Fun and […]

July 1, 2021, North Pole, Alaska Cessna 170B At about 1500 Alaska time, the airplane was destroyed during a takeoff attempt. The pilot and three passengers were seriously injured. Visual conditions prevailed. A witness observed the airplane take off and climb to about 100 feet above trees on the departure end of the runway. The […]

My buddy in his Warrior and me in a rented Skyhawk met up somewhere over southeastern Virginia, on our way to a fly-in beach for the day. We both had people aboard our planes, eager to put their feet in the Atlantic Ocean and catch some rays before flying back home that night. We had […]

Beechcraft 58P Pressurized Baron Drain Nipple Debonding Newly manufactured inboard leading edge tank was installed nine months earlier, replacing OEM p/n 60-921057-3. Low point drain nipple internal reinforcement debonded, allowing complete draining of left wing fuel load. Aircraft was on ground at time of incident. Recommend manufacturing process be reviewed. Part total time: 55.0 hours […]