Risk Management

The equipment is different, sure, but so is the standardization, pressure to excel and the adult supervision. 

Your private certificate is truly a license to learn. The good news is the opportunities to gain experience are endless. 

Finding and learning the lessons from others’ mistakes is all part of our continuing education as pilots.

Knowing how we respond to fear can help prevent panic, and turn a bad situation into one with a favorable outcome. 

Anyone who paid attention to news coverage during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic likely is familiar with the term “personal protective equipment,” or PPE. In the medical profession, PPE can include masks, gloves, gowns, booties and more. But PPE isn’t only for doctors and nurses. Construction workers wear hardhats, steel-toed boots and Day-Glo […]

Airports and their runways come in all shapes and sizes, from turf strips lacking any real markings, but with trees at both ends, to massive, busy, complicated affairs like ATL, DFW, JFK or ORD. And pilots are expected to understand and comply with all procedures for operating at them, including taxiways and hotspots, runway intersections, […]

So I’m flying along one day, fat, dumb and happy in the pattern at the Winchester (Va.) Regional Airport, KOKV. When I lived in the area not too long ago, Winchester was our preferred local practice field when Leesburg Executive Airport (KJYO), my airplane’s home base, got too sporty. There were many other area airports […]

If you ask a pilot, “Have you ever panicked while flying?” and they respond, “No,” watch them closely. They’ll probably lie to you about other things, too. Speaking for myself, the times I experienced panic were a little more, uh, “justified,” maybe, and they hit me right quick. Just what is this thing called “panic?” […]

My passenger arrived late, as usual, and talking on his cellphone, as usual. “What about sushi tonight?” I heard him say. Then: “I should be home in 45 minutes.” I tried to attract his attention but he waved me off, as usual. I was surprised that he could be heard over the noise of the […]

There I was, 1000 feet above the airport, flying the pattern, with no safe way to land my plane. I was lonely, angry, afraid and somehow also at peace. “Fly the plane!” Those words kept repeating more than I could count. My past instructors’ words offered encouragement. It’s now been two years since that flight, […]