Pilot Proficiency

Iliamna is a great fly-in fishing destination in southwestern Alaska. In early summer, however, it often has rain, with low ceilings and visibilities. The day of this flight was no exception. As we prepared for our IFR departure, the mountains all around were in the clouds. There is no radar at the airport, and missing […]

As a pilot you most certainly know that just about everything in aviation has a checklist. We controllers have our own checklists for a multitude of hazardous situations, unauthorized laser illumination included. I pulled up the appropriate checklist while the helo maneuvered.

Recently, a friend who flies out of Houston Hobby (KHOU) shared something thats bothered him for some time. Just seven miles east of Hobby is Ellington Field (KEFD), a joint-use military/civilian airport. Both airports issue TAFs. Hobbys TAFs come from the NWS and Ellingtons are issued by the military. Interestingly, sometimes there is a great disparity between the forecasts. Do they each have their own biases? Are they looking through different glasses? Its like asking two witnesses what they see in an accident that hasnt happened yet.

It’s easy to forget one of the reasons I became an airline pilot in this age of aviation technology that includes FMS, RVSM, ADS-B, RNAV/RNP, ACARS, VNAV and CAT III, plus the effects of 9/11, bankruptcy, retirement plan terminations, contentious contract negotiations and the normal stresses of a professional aviation career. Not that I completely […]

“This is 176, we’re coming in over Cape Cod descending, we have a magnetic chip detector light, we’d like to declare an emergency — and we’re heading for home plate.” It was August 1978. One seventy-six was a Grumman US-2B Tracker, a Navy utility plane nicknamed “Stoof” from the type designation of one common model, […]

As a relative newbie to flying in “weather,” I am impressed when I fly along VFR with more seasoned pilots in haze that would scare me if I were alone. “It’s just haze, with a good 5 miles of visibility,” I am often told. But looking straight ahead through 10 miles of mild haze is […]

When starting a rotation as a Part 135 pilot on the Cessna CJ3, I really have no idea what’s coming up. I might spend eight days shuttling around the Northeast or I might cross the country three or four times. A recent trip touched all the bases when it comes to the fanciful and the […]

I scanned the bid sheet, expecting to find the usual potpourri of trips. London. Rio. Buenos Aires. São Paulo. But wait, what’s this? Milan? Hmm … I could do for a change of scenery. In addition, a month of Milan trips would add a little extra in the paycheck because of the longer flying time […]

“You just flew through a military training route.” The controller was agitated. Since whatever had happened had happened, and we were already within 10 miles of Thermal’s nontowered airport, John told the controller we were leaving his frequency to get airport advisories. John then switched our transponder to 1200, the VFR squawk, and changed frequencies. […]

I kept reminding myself, late last summer, that I had to let the editor of Flying‘s back page, Bethany Whitfield, know that the first article I ever wrote for Flying had appeared in the December 1965 issue, and, therefore, would qualify for mention in the “50 Years Ago” slot in the December 2015 issue. Given […]