Pilot Proficiency

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was a popular book in the ’70s, and though I’ve tried several times, I’ve never been able to penetrate more than a few dozen pages. That said, I’ve always been a proponent of keeping my rolling stock (on the ground and in the air) in good working order. Maybe […]

We all know that unannounced, catastrophic, mechanically caused engine failures — loss of power with no previous warning — are so unlikely you’re better off worrying about meteor strikes or an outbreak of bubonic plague. But engines continue to quit because, as Yogi Berra put it, “We make too many wrong mistakes.” A commitment to […]

Upon my return home from a trip to London and back, I reflected on a series of trials and tribulations. When I put on the fourth stripe 25 years ago, I perceived my primary function simply as the boss on the flight deck. The responsibility for safely operating an airliner rested directly on my shoulders. The […]

It was a perfect early summer day in Minnesota, warm and clear with a wisp of breeze, the sort of day that we northern fliers will be dreaming of when the snow flies — right about the time you’re reading this. I relaxed on our back deck, savoring my morning coffee and watching our dog, […]

“You can’t teach judgment.” “I’m afraid no amount of ‘risk management’ training is going to change your attitude.” These comments were in response to John’s May column, “Double Trouble at Denver.” John had revealed our incredible series of risk-management failures on a trip in the early ’70s — getting caught in a snowstorm in two separate airplanes […]

Although the term “precision approach” merely means that vertical guidance is included, it seems to imply that the approach ought to be executed with precision by both pilots and controllers. On a December evening in 2013, a Cessna 310 carrying a pilot, 60, and his two daughters, 17 and 20, crashed while executing a missed […]

The occasional audible swoosh of ice departing the propellers and the bang of that ice hitting the fuselage provided the only comforting moments of this flight. How did I get here? Countless times when growing up I would look up from the ground at an airplane flying overhead and wish I were up there. This […]

When the Environmental Protection Agency began phasing out leaded gasoline in the 1970s with the passage of the Clean Air Act, aviation got a pass. Because lead was needed to boost octane levels and prevent detonation (also known as “knock”) in high-­compression piston aircraft engines, leaded avgas was exempted from the law. Lead is a […]

In more than 40 years of flying, Mary Schu says she has never been more frightened than the day she encountered extreme ­icing in flight. Schu flies in Oregon, one of the United States’ “iceboxes.” She’s the National Association of Flight Instructors’ 2015 Flight Instructor of the Year as well as an FAA-designated pilot ­examiner. […]

Winds aloft charts have long been a staple of flight planning, if at least just to figure wind correction angles and groundspeed. But in Wx Smarts, we try to help you more fully exploit weather products to think more like a forecaster than a person just checking off boxes during preflight.