Pilot Proficiency

The warm wind through the steel brace wires generated a distinct whistle over the rumble of the Stearman’s big radial engine as we followed our shadow up and over the rolling green hills. The prop churned the summer air and flung it across the open cockpit, beating it against my head in a steady, rhythmic […]

There’s been a lot of nervous hand wringing over the idea of letting more recreational pilots self-certify that they are fit for flight by forgoing the formal FAA medical process. Christopher Hart, the acting head of the National Transportation Safety Board, told lawmakers recently he is “very concerned about pilots flying without adequate medical standards,” […]

Here’s a story with an interesting twist. Flying reader Maurice Cabirac shares his run-in with an unexpected aircraft in the sky. For a midair collision, the incident had a rather unexpected ending. My student, a 70-year-old friend, and I were shooting touch-and-gos when on one of our takeoffs our airspeed indicator went completely to zero. […]

The “good ol’ days” of aviation often weren’t all that good. When I learned to fly instruments in 1970 in our Cherokee 140, we had a single navcom and no DME. Trying to determine my position by using cross-radials from nearby VORs often left my head, as well as the OBS, spinning. And in the […]

From my peripheral vision, I caught a glimpse of our flight engineer using his thumb repeatedly to push on an amber press-to-test light. I turned in my seat and looked directly at the engineer panel, taking note of the area causing concern. The area was the hydraulic system. One of the ­B-pumps appeared to be […]

This year’s Oshkosh Airshow will rank as one of the best of all time based on attendance figures, the number of airplanes that flew in for AirVenture and the mood of visitors and exhibitors, EAA chairman Jack Pelton proclaimed on Sunday as the big Wisconsin aviation extravaganza wrapped up. “Overall attendance was up,” he said. […]

You’re lined up on the runway, the pre-departure checklists complete, ready to blast off on another fun flying adventure. You’ve confirmed the runway is long enough, that you’ve got sufficient fuel, the weather is within your personal limits and all notams and TFRs have been checked. Is there anything you missed? What about the engine […]

ADS-B weather for the iPad has been around for a while, but this is the first year pilots get some real choices. Baron released its Mobile Link with XM weather for the iPad. SkyRadar, which puts ADS-B weather into WingX on the iPad, just released a new device. FreeFlight Systems is promising an in-panel, complete ADS-B solution (traffic and weather) that will wirelessly send data to the iPad.

Unless you are a weather geek, you probably have never heard of vertically integrated liquid (VIL). VIL is one of dozens of products generated by the same NWS radars that give us composite- and base-reflectivity images weve all come to know and love. Taking a peek at VIL wont revolutionize your use of NEXRAD, but it could warn you which cells are most likely to kick your butt.

My first winter of cargo flying meant dealing with ice every night. With spring came a sigh of relief that I could finally relax a bit. Boy was that wrong. Instead, I learned that although the temperatures may be warming up, the threat of icing remains throughout much of spring.