Pilot Proficiency

Sun ‘n Fun 2012 is in full swing, with blue skies, spectacular aircraft and great performers attracting aviation enthusiasts from throughout the country. Here’s a look, provided by photographer Jim Koepnick, at the crowd pleasers at this year’s show: View the photo gallery here. Check out our full coverage of the show here.

When CAP Seminole Composite Squadron Deputy Cmdr. Kenny Eads asked a group of five Cadets to volunteer for a unique mission, it caught on like wildfire. The assignment: build the first ever Fire Hub on the Sun ‘n Fun campgrounds. Eads explained to the young men that it would be the first of 50 Fire […]

For those of you who are flying yourselves to the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In this week, the experience begins with carefully studying the fly-in notam. With the swarm of airplanes flying in to the show it’s critical that everyone is on the same page. A very specific route must be flown to enter the pattern […]

Sun ‘n Fun‘s organizers are hoping the 2012 edition of its annual International Fly-In and Expo, held in Lakeland, Florida, this week will be nothing like 2011’s tornado-plagued event, where multiple airplanes were destroyed and visitors ran for shelter from pelting rain and flying debris. While a repeat of last year’s storm is highly unlikely, […]

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 […]