Pilot Proficiency

When inspectors met Orville and Wilbur for that first ramp check on the sands of Kitty Hawk, the brothers ran them off and then complained to the government because these inspector guys didn’t know much about flying machines. FAA management opened a file on the complaint, convened working groups, assigned committees, consulted with cost analysts, […]

My right-seat passenger has become quiet, so I ask how she is doing. From our Cirrus, the view of the Mojave Desert seems infinite, and my question has interrupted her contemplation. “I’m taking it all in,” she explains while pointing her camera lens out the window. “I’ve never seen the desert from this angle before. […]

The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the proposed revision of Part 23, published by the FAA in March, is a remarkable document. During an election campaign in which the inability of Washington to get anything done is a central theme, the NPRM is a libertarian’s fever dream of deregulation. It’s hard to imagine how […]

Certainly following the airways and the MEAs, and then descending over an initial approach fix or hold would be best. I was just thinking of a case when we werent on an airway, like between Keflavik, Iceland (BIKF) and Narsarsuaq, Greenland (BGBW). We wanted to make sure we were above the OROCA and MSAs for that area when we were descending. I guess we could have stayed at our filed FL170 until over the hold, but given that the airport is at sea level we wanted to start a prudently safe descent beforehand.

Pilots get a pass for confessing to the Aviation Safety Reporting System, while the private sector (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University), not the U.S. government, maintains one of the largest online repositories of NTSB accident documents. Theres no shortage of lessons to be learned and a great culture of diffusing this hard-won wisdom. So, lets delve into a few randomly selected NTSB accident reports, supplemented by any available press stories.

In August of last year, a 125-hour pilot rented a Piper Arrow in Palm Beach, Florida. The rental agreement the pilot signed included a proviso that “there are not to be any night flights to or from the Bahamas or Florida Keys before sunrise or after sunset.” Notwithstanding the advice of one’s parents, one may […]

After spending $20 on a Discovery flight, I knew without a doubt this is what I wanted to do with my life — fly! The only flight school in town paired me with George, the best flight instructor ever, in my opinion. My first flight with George was July 6, 1978, and it was evident […]

The pilots of a Learjet 36 cruising high over Cleveland Center’s airspace are fighting a desperate battle for survival — but they don’t realize it. Suffering the effects of extreme hypoxia in the thin air at 32,000 feet, the copilot is passed out. The captain in the left seat is barely hanging on. Most chilling […]

Flying is a tough enough way to make a living sometimes — but for real economic desperation, try starting and running an aviation business. It’s a costly, unstable industry in which margins tend to be razor thin in even the best of times. The difficulty of consistently squeezing a profit out of things that fly […]

The following is an excerpt from official NTSB summaries of general aviation accidents in the United States. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report. Cessna 421B Diboll, Texas/Injuries: 1 […]