General

On the afternoon of September 3, 1996, I had just taken off from the Mineral Wells, Texas, airport where I worked as a test pilot for an autopilot manufacturer. The aircraft I was flying was an Experimental Lancair (N353RD), and I was conducting a test on an S-Tec 50 autopilot. Another pilot was supposed to […]

On a beautiful day in San Diego, we loaded our two small airplanes for a trip to the Baja Peninsula. My friend Rick would fly his Cessna 177 with his friend Ted. Greg and I would fly the Finley Flyer, a vintage Piper 140 modified with a 180-hp Lycoming retrofit engine with only 500 hours […]

From a New York Daily News story: “It was too powerful, too sophisticated, too much plane for him.” Diana Munson, Thurman Munson’s wife was quoted as saying: “People who knew anything about flying and aviation knew this was nuts.” And it was said that the New York Yankees catcher and team captain didn’t plan on […]

Major concerns for anyone planning single- pilot operations with a jet airplane are first the availability and cost of insurance, and then what limitations are going to be placed on the pilot and the use of the airplane. The issues the insurance companies have are first that the pilot applicant doesn’t have the requisite experience […]

As you’ve been reading, flying a jet single pilot is one of the most challenging piloting skills there is. It demands an unrelenting focus on the job at hand; the wherewithal to swap hats quickly; and the ability to use automation consistently and efficiently to ease the burden, especially during high-workload phases of flight. In […]

Eagerness brought me to Miami Operations an hour prior to my scheduled sign-in time. After almost 22 years with the airline, I was doing something new. I wanted a non-rushed opportunity to review material that I was not completely comfortable with. My trip was to the Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport in Paris. I was […]

When the first Flight Management Systems (FMS) were being introduced many years ago, a common phrase heard in the cockpit was, “What’s it doing now?” Up to that point it was the pilot who analyzed the raw data and made all the decisions about when to change over to a new fix or a new […]

Each month, Flying answers questions about the new Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authority on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: I renewed my CFI this year but don’t use the rating. Actually, I am now flying in the Sport Pilot […]

There’s a crosswind. A stiff one. Yuck. I sigh and do a conscious file-sort through the very dusty bins in the back of my brain. Let’s see. Slip to the left and land left-wheel first, being careful not to overreact on these super-light controls, be ready to add a little power if it bounces, and […]

One Saturday morning in the early 1990s my six-year-old son and I headed out for a little IFR adventure. Ceilings were 700-900 feet, and the winds were mild. In Topeka, Kansas, we have the benefit of two controlled airports. Billard has a very active instruction and general aviation program, and Forbes is a former Air […]