Pilot Proficiency

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 Robert Barbanes, who recently stopped by Landmark Aviation at Lakefront Airport in New Orleans. Here’s what he has to say about the experience. Landmark Aviation (KNEW) New Orleans, […]

In the old days — and I mean prior to last November — we flight instructors could observe a student make a minor mistake in the airplane, and then watch to see how he or she resolved it. That’s not the way it is after February 2012. The FAA has installed a web-based “occurrence tracking […]

When practicing 45-degree banked turns for your flight review or a practical test, where do you tend to focus most of your attention? On the attitude indicator? The altimeter? The vertical speed indicator? If you answered yes to any of these, you’re looking in the wrong place. Your primary attitude reference during steep turns (and […]

We all know what it’s like to stick a hand out of a window at 65 mph. Multiply that feeling by 144 (the pressure varies with the square of the speed), all over your body, and you’ll get the sense of what it’s like to exit an airplane past the speed of sound. It seems […]

Recently, a former private pilot student of mine revealed some information during his biennial flight review that made my heart skip a few beats and nearly get stuck in my throat. He said he enjoys flying through clouds. Had this been one of my instrument students, I would have been happy. But this man never […]

In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departed from St. Charles, Missouri, for a two-year exploration of America, inaugurating a grand American tradition that has persisted to this day — the road trip. Maybe it’s due to my airline pilot lifestyle, but I have never been a fan of travel for travel’s sake so my […]

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 John Carpenter, who recently stopped by Smyth Wythe Airport Commission at Mountain Empire Airport in a Cessna 172M. Here’s what he has to say about the experience. Smyth […]

This 1960s-vintage video shows the incredible performance capabilities of the C-130 Hercules. After some footage of C-130s landing on skis in Antarctica and conducting refueling missions, extensive coverage is shown from what the video claims to be the first carrier landings by a Hercules. Lt. James Flatley and his co-pilot Lt. Cmdr. W. Stovall conducted […]

The traffic pattern around an airport keeps the flight paths of airplanes in the vicinity predictable. By following the same track, it is easier for pilots to see other airplanes approaching to land. But the safety and efficiency of the traffic flow is dependent on the pilots in the pattern. It can become quite frustrating […]

If there’s anything that the FAA’s latest aviation industry forecast proves, it’s that you can make the numbers paint just about any picture you want them to, especially when you’re guessing using assumptions about what might happen 20 years from now. For instance, what if I told you that the number of student pilots in […]