Pilot Proficiency

Air traffic controllers are terrific people dedicated to helping pilots complete their flights smoothly and safely. That is a true statement until the smooth part, or maybe even the safe part, comes into conflict with the only absolute requirement in ATC, which is to separate airplanes under its control from one another by required minimum […]

From the ‘What were they thinking?’ department: the FAA’s Electronic Special Traffic Management Program (eSTMP) had announced it was updating its computers, beginning tomorrow and running through Monday (July 23-26). That’s the four days immediately before EAA AirVenture, the largest gathering of aircraft in the world. The eSTMP system coordinates IFR slot reservations at venues […]

As soon as this fall, owners could be required to re-register their aircraft with the FAA every three years. The current policy is a one-time registration with a five-dollar fee. The fee for re-registration, if any, has yet to be announced. The re-registration strategy was first proposed two years ago as a means of updating […]

One of the requirements for parking at Wittman Regional Airport during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (July 26 to Aug. 1) is tying down your airplane, using ropes and tiedown hardware that you bring with you. If you’re blessed with hangar space for your airplane the other 51 weeks of the year, maybe it’s been awhile since […]

During one of my Sport Pilot lessons with First Landings Aviation’s Chris Esposito, we had just finished up practicing stalls and steep turns off the north shore of Lake Apopka on yet another gorgeous morning. I had been wondering when we would be practicing engine-out scenarios and asked Chris out of curiosity if one of […]

When Flying Editor in Chief Mac McClellan read the headline and the short description of this week’s Tip, he was kind enough to share with me the text for his Left Seat column that will appear in the August issue. I interpreted this as his way of hinting at me to read it, and then […]

JUNE 2010 — THE SKY WAS CLOUDLESS and the air crisp as I drove to the Ann Arbor, Michigan, airport on a glorious spring morning. I’d flown almost 30 hours as a student pilot and had no idea I was about to experience my first spin while flying alone in my flight school’s aged Cessna […]

If you’re used to big, busy airports with full-service FBOs, it might be confusing to taxi onto a ramp at a smaller, sleepier airport. Without someone in an orange vest hustling out to wand you into place, figuring out where to park can be a bit baffling. You don’t want to block the right-of-way for […]

Lesson 3 with First Landings Aviation got cut short. My effort to miss a likely afternoon thunderstorm by scheduling an 8 a.m. lesson didn’t work this time. The clouds were already starting to build, but not enough so we couldn’t get into the air for at least a half-hour lesson (thanks again to the close […]

Pilots at my airport in New Jersey sometimes face a dilemma over whether or not to file IFR or go VFR. With the airport nestled just west of New York’s massive Class B airspace, the choreography we need to dance through on an IFR departure can be frustrating — especially when the weather is clear. […]