Pilot Proficiency

Well, I guess you and the FAA will have to spank me. The stabilized approach is just a technique. Some pilots do not believe in this concept and fly decelerating final approaches for a specific reason-better energy available.

A good friend of mine is a physician and a pilot. (No, there isnt a Bonanza in his hangar; he happily flies a Mooney Ovation.) Ive always found him to be a very safety-conscious pilot. He gets an IPC every six months and does other periodic training. When he wanted to do something different, I suggested he get an airline transport pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating. (ATP-SEL) Why? was his first reaction. I dont need it for the kind of flying I do.

As a requirement for our upcoming flying safari trip in New Zealand, I had to produce evidence of a “type rating” in a Cessna 172. The type rating was part of the qualifications necessary to obtain the equivalent of a Private Pilot license. Although I have flown a C-172 periodically throughout my flying lifetime, I […]

For pilots expecting never again to face a non-precision approach tied to a land-based navaid, we can confirm that rumors of the demise of the VOR have been greatly exaggerated. In 2016, the FAA began eliminating many of the GPS overlay approaches tied to older VOR procedures ahead of plans to also eliminate a significant […]

Pilots who want the most out of their Garmin avionics can attend a number of new, expanded pilot training classes this year. The instructor-led classes are available for the GTN 650/750 touchscreen navigators, the G500/G600 glass flight display systems, and all Garmin integrated flight decks, including the new G1000 NXi platform. Garmin says supplemental eLearning […]

For his first video of 2018, Flight Chops (AKA Steve Thorne) is conducting a sort of victory lap for what he says is probably his best accomplishment of 2017. The feat? “Actually starting and finishing something.” We all know how good that can feel. More specifically, he earned his multi engine rating, and now his […]

Some things are inevitable. Sunrises and sunsets. A character in every Star Wars movie saying, Ive got a bad feeling about this. Also… at some point during your instrument flying career, youre going to get your first of many reroutes.

It had to happen one of these times. Today youll fly the approach that makes NetJets pilots wish theyd taken that cargo job over the Great Lakes: the infamous LOC/DME-E into Aspen, CO. Its 3500 feet of localizer stepdowns to a MAP thats still 2.6 miles from the runway. The missed is a climb on dedicated backcourse past hills so dramatic one Citation pilot friend puts it: When we fly into Aspen, I dont look out the window until were about to land. And even then, I dont look up. Many companies require special training to fly paying passengers into Aspen, Eagle, and similar mountain airports.

After about eight months, as of early November, according to AOPA, approximately 25,000 pilots had taken advantage of BasicMed since the official roll-out on May 1, 2017. Since the FAA does not track this, we dont know the exact percentage of pilots who did not have a current medical after a multi-year hiatus from flying and decided to get back into flying with BasicMed, as opposed to pilots with medicals who renewed expiring medicals with BasicMed. AOPA estimates about 50% for each group. It will probably take at least two years for the BasicMed numbers to stabilize as pilots with current medicals decide to renew with BasicMed, but at this time it seems to be working.

Pilots around Lake Michigan know theres a popular route down the lakeshore with the Chicago skyline just off the wingtip. This offers fantastic views of downtown Chicago and is a practical way to transit from eastern Wisconsin to anywhere southeast of Windy City. You might even have a reason to stop at Chicago Midway and get a really close look at that famous skyline.