Pilot Proficiency

Most before takeoff checklists in piston-powered airplanes include the item “Throttle – idle.” And while you may pull the throttle lever all the way back to the stop, you may not have a clear idea of what to look for. You may think the action is simply done to ensure that the engine keeps running […]

Illustrations by Luis Ruiz| The accident statistics don’t lie, and they are chilling. Since the FAA began collecting records in the early 1980s on the number of fatalities, the number of deaths in general aviation accidents has topped 400 every year. The good news is the number of accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities has dropped […]

The Air Line Pilots Association has come out and said what a lot of folks in aviation already suspected: The looming pilot shortage we’ve been hearing so much about lately is a myth, created by airlines unwilling to offer better pay. There is no pilot shortage, period. ALPA agrees that there may in fact be […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. This latest Spotlight is brought to you by Gabriel I. Peñagarícano, who has recently flown into Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport in Florida in a Cessna 414A. Here’s what he had to say about one of the […]

The FAA’s recent announcement that it is going to make the installation of angle-of-attack indicators in light general aviation airplanes as easy as possible is an incredible development. Why would the FAA reduce the certification barriers of a flight-critical instrumentation system? The answer is simple: AOA indicators are long overdue in general aviation airplanes, and […]

For many pilots, the thought of stepping out of the house, getting into an airplane and taxiing just a few hundred feet to the runway — all without ever touching a car door — is the ultimate fantasy. For the thousands who live in residential airparks around the country, that way of life isn’t just […]

Illustrations by Matthew Laznicka| Clayton, New Mexico — way east of the Rocky Mountains, out on the Great Plains. A humid June afternoon. We had finished up in court and were sitting around in the judge’s office. The phone rang. The judge handed it to me. My friend, the airport weather forecaster, spoke abruptly: “Margaret, […]

Every pilot knows that flying is an intense mixture of uncommon rewards offset with exposure to risk. After all, while airplanes provide some of the greatest pleasures in our lifetimes, they do have to reach a lethal speed just to get airborne and then fly at thousands of feet above the ground. Balancing the risk/reward […]

Flying with friends and fellow pilots can be the best times, but it also has the potential to turn into a nightmare. This can happen when the person beside or behind you becomes a backseat flier. While it is important to speak up in cases that could turn into safety or legal issues, constant reminders […]

We’ve recently had a Tanis engine preheater installed in our Diamond DA40 to deal with the ill effects of the arctic polar vortex blast — words that should never follow each other in a single sentence, in my opinion. The preheater is designed to keep the cylinders warmed to a temperature 70 degrees above ambient […]