Pilot Proficiency

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“The entire normal operating checklist for the new Embraer Phenom 100 light business jet fits on both sides of a laminated card that you can slide into a shirt pocket,” former Flying editor Mac McClellan wrote approvingly in his 2009 report on the airplane. “The Phenom is designed to cut pilot workload to a minimum […]

Investigators also found that there was an absence of radar returns for the aircraft as it moved over the airfield, suggesting that it was below radar, which is only 500 feet AGL here. The wreckage imprint on the trees suggested a shallow descent angle. This suggested the pilot was hunting close to the ground trying to acquire the runway visually. Unfortunately, he was already past the airport.

Shakespeare wrote that “brevity is the soul of wit,” but apparently that memo never made it to 800 Independence Ave. Any pilot who has spent more than a few minutes doing battle with the 3-inch-thick book of federal aviation regulations knows the FAA specializes in long, complex rules that try to cover every possible scenario. […]

My wife was loading the Freedom Machine with luggage and our three young sons as I entered the Greater Cincinnati FBO to file IFR for the flight back to Cleveland. A TV with the Bengals-Browns game caught my attention. It was the close-up of a Browns lineman with a wet jersey filling the screen that […]

First developed in World War II, TKS systems were created for Royal Air Force bombers as an alternative to pneumatic boot deicing. Today, the technology continues to buy crucial time for pilots as they work to implement exit strategies when faced with dangerous icing conditions. How It Works TKS systems dispense an ethylene glycol-based fluid with a freezing […]

November in the U.S. means the risks from thunderstorms have disappeared everywhere except the Gulf Coast region as a new set of problems emerge, from icing to turbulence to low clouds, fog, and high winds. A breakdown of accident statistics helps tell us where to focus our attention first. Using a 2003-2007 study, we find that where weather was a cause or contributing factor, low ceilings and visibility were the #2 factors, involved in 18 percent of all weather-related accidents.

When the airplane entered the clouds, there was no turning back.

The migratory white stork has been a welcome visitor to Europe for centuries. It seems to display a peculiar affinity for human beings, building its huge stick nests on their rooftops and chimneys, foraging in their fields, and playing starring roles in their myths and legends. It eats mice and rats, is thought to bring […]

Piper PA-24 Sturgis, South Dakota / Injuries: 1 Serious, 1 Minor The pilot reported that he was conducting an instrument approach in instrument meteorological conditions. Upon reaching the decision altitude, the front-seat passenger reported the runway was in front of the airplane. The pilot looked up from the instruments, but could not see the runway […]