Pilot Proficiency

I learned to fly at Santa Monica Airport (KSMO), which has one runway, 3-21. So, as a budding pilot, any time I would go to an airport with multiple runways such as Van Nuys (KVNY), which has two parallel runways or Long Beach (KLGB), which has five intersecting runways, there were some extra thinking and […]

It was cold at altitude: minus 39 degrees C. It was cold when we landed too: 9 degrees F. As I shut the Cheyenne down, I cautioned my wife, Cathy, to stay in the airplane until I could get the car and come get her and the dog, Corbett. She needed no persuading. Just then […]

“Don’t put the gear down just yet,” said the instructor, who also happened to be the owner of the flight school where I was getting my commercial multi training. I was in the midst of performing the requisite 10 night takeoffs and landings in a Piper Seneca and this was my third or maybe fourth […]

(February 2012) Books about airplane design often mention wing incidence as if it were a parameter of some importance. It isn’t. In fact, “wing incidence” is a misnomer. I propose — and fully expect my proposal to have no effect — that the term be abandoned, and that we speak of “fuselage incidence” instead. The […]

__Not too long ago, Skip called to see if I wanted to pull the 180 out and join a gaggle of RV-8s flying to Columbus, Indiana, for Sunday breakfast, but I had a test to give that morning. He said he had texted me earlier, but I don’t “do” texting, at least not yet. With […]

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 Bruce Dunbar, who recently stopped by Freedom Aviation in a Cirrus SR22. Here’s what he has to say about the experience. Freedom Aviation (KLYH) Lynchburg, Virginia “Great service […]

I’m of the school of thought that there is no such thing as too much training. And while you may think underwater emergency egress training may be superfluous if you stay within the confines of our borders, the day you end up upside down in an airplane in one of the Great Lakes, the Gulf […]

During our early training days the instructor drilled it into our heads that, absent any visual reference to the outside world, our inner ear would soon fool our minds into believing that the airplane was pointed one way when in truth something entirely different was occurring. In these instances, left could become right and up […]

(February 2012) This story is not only about an aviation experience, but it is also about a man who went out of his way to help a young pilot he didn’t even know. It is also a story about meeting some really great people in this country. It all happened back in 1964 when I […]

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 Tom Bressan, who recently stopped by Havasu Air Center in a Bonanza A36. Here’s what he has to say about the experience. Havasu Air Center (KHII) Lake Havasu […]