Pilot Proficiency

I find myself — and I’m sure I’m not alone in this — consulting Google Maps before setting off by car even to places I know perfectly well how to reach. The Google lady knows even more than I do about the roads. She checks all the shortcuts. She tells me there is “usual traffic” and that […]

We touched down beneath a dismal overcast at the Detroit Metro Airport, the runway a mixture of compacted snow and patches of bare, black concrete. The irregular pattern of snow removal indicated that the slippery area was mostly at the departure end of the runway, beyond the spot where the main wheels contacted the surface […]

The weather was great last week, but it’s morel season so I was searching in a beautiful woods on Doc Terrell’s property in Highland County, Ohio. One of the few reasons to sacrifice a good flying day is to hunt the magical sponge mushrooms that peek up every year in spring. There are people who […]

There are days in every pilot’s life that are destined to be remembered forever: first solo, the Private Pilot check ride, the first time landing a taildragger or seaplane. Those of us who fly for the airlines don’t have many memorable flights, which is by design. Airline flying, done properly, is a mildly enjoyable experience, […]

There can be many reasons for running low on fuel sooner than expected: headwinds that prolong a flight, tailwinds that make you optimistically skip a planned stop, tanks not filled to the brim, too rich a mixture, a miscalculation in flight planning.

It was scary. We were more than a mile from the short runway, skimming the treetops in a Chinese-made Socata Trinidad look-alike. We were so low we couldn’t even see the runway. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on. This was the pilot’s idea of how to make a […]

Relevant Discussion: (FAR 71.41, 91.117, 91.126, 91.127, 91.129, 91.130, 91.131, 91.155, 91.215, AIM 3-2-1, 3-2-3) Class B Airspace: Surface to 7,000 feet msl (e.g., in Miami) or up to as high as 12,500 feet msl (e.g., Atlanta) surrounding the busiest airports. (The illustration above is an example only.) Individually tailored upside-down wedding cakes — and […]

Flying is the only magazine I subscribe to. I always make a point of reading each issue front to back, although sometimes out of order, and I’m always eager to read the stories in the I Learned about Flying from That column. Now I have my own story to tell of a recent adventure — […]

Instrument approach plates contain considerable amounts of valuable information. But that information only has value to a pilot who understands the symbology displayed on the chart and possesses a reasonable understanding of the ATC system and the procedures around which the approach was created. All too often, pilots expect air traffic control to simply use […]

There are three levels of WINGS: the Basic, Advanced, and Master phases. Each level has multiple phases. Unlike the previous program, multiple phases can be earned each year. To complete a phase, pilots must get three flight and three ground credits which can be chosen from a wide range of activities.