Pilot Proficiency

Our flight from Potomac Airfield in Friendly, Md.. to Dublin, Va., (to pick up a new puppy) would take about an hour and a quarter, despite steady headwinds paralleling the Blue Ridge mountains. The only minor wrinkle came from two small cells approximately 10 miles north of our destination. The cells were staggered, traveling west to east across our route at 27 knots, with tops at 43,000 feet and 28,000 feet, respectively.

North Atlantic crossings to London have become such a frequent part of my repertoire that the ocean is now marked with a magenta line dotted with large directional arrows that say, “Les, this way!” Regardless of the routine, each trip has its own unique challenges. A trip this past January was no exception. It was […]

A highly critical report released yesterday by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General outlining serious shortcomings with the FAA’s progress on ADS-B is embarrassing for the agency, coming as it does on the heels of pronouncements that the $6.5 billion program is progressing just fine and the 2020 ADS-B mandate is a sure-fire, locked-and-loaded firm […]

As a pilot in the right seat, you can be an invaluable asset to the pilot flying. Whether you are a certified flight instructor or not, you can help the pilot in case of an emergency, or if a critical action or an ATC call is missed. You can step in and handle the issue […]

Let’s see; at 380 pounds an hour, we should land with 400 pounds total. This is my bingo fuel for our Cheyenne and is permissible only when our destination is VFR and no delays, holds, vectors or early descents are anticipated. I have a little hand calculator that I bought for three dollars at Staples […]

(August 2014) Time is running short, so I’m going to get straight to the point: If you’re a pilot or aviation enthusiast and you’ve never been to Oshkosh for EAA’s annual fly-in and shindig, you need to go. It runs July 28 through Aug. 3 this year, so depending on when the postman delivers this […]

On Sept. 29, 2013, a Cessna Citation CJ2 landing at Santa Monica Airport near Los Angeles suddenly veered off the runway and crashed through a hangar, bursting into flames and killing all aboard. Three months later, on Jan. 5, 2014, the pilots of a Challenger 601 landing with a strong, gusting tailwind in Aspen, Colorado, […]

What makes an airplane climb? The answer might seem obvious, until you consider all the factors that allow us to gain altitude. The addition of engine power is the answer that probably popped into your head first. Yet in light GA airplanes, altitude gain can also be achieved by taking advantage of thermal updrafts, reducing […]

Winter storms approach southern California from the Gulf of Alaska, the low center descending off the Pacific coast and then swinging inland to spend itself in Arizona and New Mexico. When the low is abeam Los Angeles southwest winds race across the coastal plain, leap over the San Gabriel Mountains and tumble head over heels, […]

Around 1950 the Air Force decided it needed a new trainer airplane. As you know, the Beech T-34 was the winner. My story comes from one of the airplanes that did not win. The Temco T-35 Buckaroo was a spinoff of the Globe Swift. Saudi Arabia ordered about 15 of the T-35As, armed, to be […]