Pilot Proficiency

Veteran combat airmen based in England during World War II understood the need to be prepared for the worst. Crash landing or bailing out over enemy territory meant a long hike home, at best. So they gave careful thought to carrying whatever it might take to find their way back to friendly territory. Without anyone […]

Each month, Flying answers questions about the new Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authority on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: Q: My wife and I both want to get Sport Pilot certificates and light-sport aircraft. Can we use our LSA aircraft […]

Of course, icing is possible year round — even at Bonanza altitudes. On an August flight from Quebec a couple of years ago, I did pick up some noticeable rime icing when passing through cloud tops at 9,000 feet. But as we get to the bottom quarter of the calendar, icing becomes more of a […]

After test deployments in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, Louisville and Philadelphia, the FAA announced last week it has approved full deployment of Automatic Dependent Surveillance — Broadcast (ADS-B) technology. The agency reported ADS-B will be fully operational by 2013. Tests of the combination satellite and ground-based hardware proved it would operate in the most […]

I was flying to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, for parking at the Dassault Falcon Jet flight ops department. When I was about two miles to the northeast of the field for Runway 24, the controller told me to do a 360 for jet traffic landing on Runway 19. Old Bonanzas are great short field […]

Once upon a time, the campfire story goes, when aviation was young and fliers were adventurers on the edge, pilots wanting to make a living in this new field couldn’t just sit around and wait for passengers and students to find them. They had to go to where the people were. And so they got […]

Driving a car is not that difficult. The instructor may have a few tense moments while teaching someone how to drive, but once you have a few miles under your tires, hopping in the car is not a stress-inducing event. Aside from a few people who are into off-road driving, most people never drive on […]

Last week, the FAA announced it was merging two safety programs for efficiency and to “help guide safety decisions” in the future. Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers have long been able to confess their gaffes in a “non-punitive environment” through the FAA’s Safety Action Programs — ASAP (Aviation Safety Action Program) for pilots and ATSAP […]

Each month, Flying answers questions about the new Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authority on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: Q: Can the owner of a light-sport airplane add new equipment such as avionics, instruments or additional lighting? A: New equipment […]

Several readers responded to my posting last week on the phrase “Over and Out.” Brian Long suggested that “Over and Out” could be appropriate, after all. For instance, Brian suggests, when the conversation is ready to end: “Both parties should sign off, so the first party provides ‘(callsign) over and out’ to indicate his/her signing […]