Aviation Safety

While visiting France a few years ago, I found an Aero Club that would let me fly with one of their pilots. At the club I was introduced to M. Bus, a retired businessman. My French was barely better than his English, but we spoke the common language of aviation. The airplane was a Piper […]

When considering the industry’s take on risk management, one of the arrows in the quiver is something called personal minimums. One idea behind personal minimums is that the FAA’s regulations are minimum standards—we’re free to exceed them: If VFR requires three miles and 1000 feet, why not bump that up to five miles and 2000 […]

With a respectful nod to Don Brown, a now-retired ZTL controller who helped popularize the phrase, a “flick” is the “big picture.” In the ATC biz, this typically refers to traffic load, major runway flow directions, widespread poor weather, staffing/sectorization and a host of other factors. In other words, strategic information. Pilots need the same […]

One of the benefits (and frequent challenges) of flying IFR is operating under positive ATC guidance and control. If you are operating only at towered airports, this is fairly simple. Clearance or ground control will issue your clearance, and when you land safely at your destination, they will make sure to close your flight plan. […]

I read with interest Colleen Mondor’s “Moose Stalls” piece in the May issue. As a pilot who avoids both scouting for moose and low-altitude turns, I wonder if there’s another factor. At low altitude, a pilot likely subconsciously perceives the greater relative motion of the aircraft over the ground as greater airspeed, perhaps leading the […]

May 2021 brought three news items of interest to anyone paying attention to how the general and business aviation industries are faring as the Covid-19 pandemic winds down in the U.S. Taken together, the top story seems to be cautious optimism tempered by a healthy dose of reality and an understanding that the pandemic may […]

With the rise in quality and quantity of GPS approaches, especially at smaller airports, the beloved circling approach is becoming an infrequently used maneuver. That’s a shame, since circling to a preferred runway after breaking out on an approach can help resolve many challenges in the IFR environment. Having the confidence to circle is one […]

I started learning to fly at the quaint, waterfront Albert-Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, Fla., back in the 1980s. It was a great place to fly—beautiful scenery, plenty of options of places to go for practice landings and a reasonably easy airspace set up to facilitate painless statewide cross-country flights. There was one caveat, however. Just […]

There’s normal, and then there’s normal. Which is to say that while much of aviation relies on routine procedures and aircraft configurations, among other things, there are exceptions to most norms. For example, the FAA long ago declared a “normal” landing to be one with an airplane’s wing flaps, if any, fully deployed. That’s not […]

When my student crashed last week, I was one of the first to know. After experiencing relief that there were no injuries and disappointment that the Tecnam P2002 Sierra likely would not fly again, an unsettling feeling—was there something more I could have done?—took over. Maybe by relating in detail what happened, what decisions the […]