Pilot Proficiency

The inverted gull wing, bent downward to keep the gear legs short and the huge prop clear of the ground, made the F4U Corsair instantly recognizable. Other airplanes, however, had used this feature before the Corsair, particularly during the era of fixed gears enveloped in voluminous fairings or “pants.” An early example was the Ha […]

Flying with a friend from Oshkosh back to New Jersey, I called up clearance delivery at our first fuel stop, a leg from Muskegon County Airport on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan to Burke Lakefront Airport on the southern shore of Lake Erie — and was pleased to hear those magic words: “Cleared as […]

Ever wished you could rent your airplane to strangers? OpenAirplane, the creator of a Zipcar-style aircraft rental network, announced a new service called Collaborative Aircraft Rental that aims to let aircraft owners rent their personal airplanes to qualified OpenAirplane members. The idea is to broaden the OpenAirplane network of available aircraft while allowing owners to […]

There are many visual illusions that can present themselves during flight. One scenario that can mess with the normal cues during the approach and landing phases is a runway that is located on a hilltop. I recently flew into Catalina airport on Catalina Island to enjoy one of their fantastic buffalo burgers. While the airport […]

My friend Justin is a superb flight instructor with considerable experience in real-world flying and is charmingly full of himself. He amuses me by constantly working deals that involve flying really nice airplanes to major league games, rock concerts, ski resorts, airshows, Mardi Gras festivals, NASCAR races and weekends at somebody’s oceanfront condo. Last week, […]

Since 2009, 42 Air Force MC-12Ws have been deployed to war zones in the Middle East. The MC-12W is a modified Beech King Air 350, externally similar except for a plethora of antennas and several unsightly bulges, including a huge belly pack. Communications and surveillance equipment and stations for two technicians replace the usual executive […]

When I turned 15 and started taking flying lessons, my dad gave me a copy of one of the true bibles of piloting technique: “Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators.” First published in 1960, it remains the definitive text on applied aerodynamics for pilots — and at 15, I could barely understand a word of it. It […]

There’s quite the debate raging at the moment about whether it’s OK to bank steeply in the traffic pattern or, for safety reasons, if we should limit the steepness of turns when we’re low and slow. In a recent blog post over at AirFacts.com, former Flying editor Richard Collins had this to say: “The pilot […]

It’s probably not surprising that author Ernie Gann, a former captain for my airline, is one of my heroes. His poetic words epitomized the very beginning of commercial air travel — when it was romantic to fly. Captains were given the ultimate authority over nearly every aspect of their flights. But interestingly enough, he challenged […]

Driving from Tampa, Florida, to KPBI for class at JetSuite’s Palm Beach base, Phil Smith and I are reunited for one last time. Indoc and sim partners for almost a month, we are both about to fly as first officers for the first time; each of us has been assigned to a “B” captain for […]