General

Each month, Flying answers questions about the new Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authorities on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: Can a person earn a private pilot certificate in a light-sport aircraft exclusively, or must some of the training be […]

The story of Frank Whittle and the invention of the jet engine would make a great B movie, and probably has. I can just see all the mustachioed boffins of the Air Ministry conferring in their offices about how to rid themselves of this pestilential fellow obsessively slaving away in a brick basement in the […]

I have often marveled at the illustrations that John Borra does for my articles. Some topics have obvious possibilities, but others don’t seem to lend themselves to an illustration. In fact, more than once I have sent my article in wondering what on earth John would come up with, and every time I have been […]

Each month, Flying answers questions about the new Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authorities on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: My understanding of the FAA terms “category” and “class” in the new “class-specific” would suggest that the exams are “category-specific,” […]

It was on a Tuesday night at a watering hole near my house that I first noticed it. The main course had been cleared, the coffee had arrived and I was contemplating a cognac or a grappa. The company was bright, interesting and warm. I wanted the evening to stretch out ahead, even though I […]

One of the more difficult concepts for the student pilot to grasp is the idea of angle of attack. I pulled The Student Pilot’s Flight Manual, by William K Kershner, off the shelf and found that Kershner uses words like “confusing” three times in his description of angle of attack. Kershner starts with a simple […]

I know nothing about art or photography. Nothing. Can’t tell a Rauschenberg from a Rosenquist; a Diane Arbus from an Airbus. I do, though, have some favorite images that I store in my mind and, when I have the money and the wall space, in my home or office. Of course, most of these images […]

My Dad, a renowned research doctor, used to argue that the human gene pool has reached its zenith and is on the decline. He’d cite the recent efforts at promoting intelligent design, ignoring global warming, preventing stem-cell research and the disavowal of science in general. Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I’m beginning to wonder if […]

One of the great things about flying for an airline that is taking delivery of new aircraft is that you occasionally have the opportunity to fly “right out of the box” a brand, spanking new jet. That was the case one morning when, as a relatively new first officer still in my probationary first year […]

Forcasting future trends is difficult in any business, but predicting the direction aviation will move has been particularly inaccurate over the past many decades. Part of the problem is that aviation is fundamentally cyclical, both in the manufacture of airplanes and in their use. Changes in the economy appear to have more to do with […]