Pilot Proficiency

Even if you’ve never flown a taildragger, you probably know what a “groundloop” is. If not, it’s a sudden loss of directional control on the ground that’s normally associated with taildraggers, which have their centers of gravity aft of the pivot point and so naturally want to swap ends on landing. But can you groundloop […]

The pilot, 73, had more than 18,000 hours and an ATP certificate. He and his wife, an instrument-rated private pilot with over 800 hours, kept several airplanes, all vintage or Experimental, on their private strip in northeastern Pennsylvania. One of these was a taxicab-yellow 1944 Cessna T-50 “Bamboo Bomber,” a five-seat steel-tube-and-fabric taildragger with two […]

It was late, the end of a long and trying day, and we hadn’t even left the state of Texas. I caught glimpses of muted scrubland far below as we flitted in and out of dusky cumulus. I shifted in the right seat and glanced over at Johnny in the dim red cockpit light. The […]

With the winter months upon us, you may not be able to fly as frequently as you did in the months when the northern hemisphere gets more light and warmer temperatures. While you are likely able to safely fly after not flying for a few weeks, you’ll be in much better shape if you take […]

Well, I did it again. No, not crash, just piss somebody off. An old flatbed trailer parked behind a fence and piled with remnants of a pranged flying machine caught my eye as I drove down Airport Road to pull ’72B out of the hangar and go flying. I’d seen the trailer before and assumed […]

If you’re flying in a part of the country where the TV weather personality uses terms like “wind chill,” “arctic blast” and “polar vortex” you’ll want to modify your winter checklist with a few common-sense items. Warm clothing is a must — you ought to be able to easily walk to safety in the event […]

It was a lousy day for a VFR trip — not unusual in coastal Southern California in the spring. We get stratus clouds that come in from the ocean and create low ceilings that last for days. On this particular day we needed to get a package up to Corona Airport, and I did not […]

It was a clear but chilly January morning when I arrived at Madison County Executive (MDQ) in Huntsville, Alabama, to return home after my first “real” cross-country flight. Three days earlier I had made the 462 nm journey from my home airport in Liberty, Missouri, to Huntsville. At this point I had roughly 95 hours […]

Certification for flight into known icing is expensive. Since most GA airplanes are Sunday drivers the benefit doesnt justify the cost. Instead, airplane manufactures and aftermarket providers may offer pieces of a full system. This piecemeal application of anti-icing or de-icing equipment circumvents the testing requirements while providing a pilot with some additional-if not certified-options. Four methods of anti/de-icing exist: hot air, electrical resistance, liquid and boots.

Growing up in the land of conquistadors and cowboys, my opportunities for IMC involved attacking thunderstorms or slipping into shallow ponds of fog. Neither was good for gaining instrument time or icing experience. My instructors and peers shared the same background.