Pilot Proficiency

I just got back from a roundtrip flight to Central Florida for a speaking engagement, and even after all these years of flying 1,000-nm trips in light airplanes, I was still surprised by how starkly different the “out” and the “back” legs were. This is one important lesson about transportation flying that no one ever […]

These days, insurance companies have become savvy about the level of pilot experience that decreases the chances of an accident. They often require a minimum number of hours in a type of airplane before you can fly it solo and still be covered. But if you want to increase safety and ensure that you know […]

_Enola Gay. FIFI. The Great Artiste. Kee Bird. The Big Stink. _ It was an airplane dubbed “Superfortress.” Yet many of the most famous Boeing B-29 bombers that plied the skies during the latter days of World War II carried strangely meek-sounding individual names. Perhaps that’s of benefit to our collective psyche since the airplanes […]

(January 2012) The question that was being debated around the halls of NBAA 2011 the other week was about as technical and geeky as it gets: When flying a very low approach, lower even than a decision height of 200 feet, where is the proper place for your “head,” that is, your eyes and your […]

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 Jim Sankey, who has nothing but good things to say about Avflight at Harrisburg International Airport. Avflight (KMDT) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania “I fly for business. Avflight always treats me […]

(January 2012) Last month I reported the exciting news that the training required by the FAA SFAR issued in 2006 succeeded in turning the MU-2, an airplane that had been at the bottom of the accident statistics, into one of the safest turboprops in the air and, beyond that, into one of the safest airplanes […]

(January 2012) It has been a long first day as a first officer. We’re in Asheville (KAVL), North Carolina, about to airline back to Tampa, Florida, via Charlotte, North Carolina. My captain at Elite Air, Mike Bronisz, is on the phone with dispatch. I watch as the corners of his mouth turn up and his […]

Pilots longing to indulge their inner filmmaker must love the shorthand before-takeoff checklist “Lights – Camera – Action.” If you aren’t familiar with this handy mnemonic, it’s intended to be recited immediately after receiving takeoff clearance and rolling past the hold-short line onto the active runway (or making the call on the common traffic advisory […]

We asked, and you weighed in, on the best Flying cover of 2011. The winner? Our October 2011 cover, featuring FIFI, the only remaining Boeing B-29 Superfortress still flying today. FIFI graced our issue in celebration of this year’s AirVenture, at which she was undoubtedly the star of the show. Check out all of our […]

For those of you who’ve never stepped foot behind the controls of one of the big boys, ever wonder what it’d feel like to land one in some heavy crosswinds? Then check out this video, which captures a close-up shot of a Lufthansa Airbus A340-300 landing in Calgary, Alberta, last month in Chinook winds reportedly […]