Pilot Proficiency

April 2010 Flying cross-country by visual flight rules is a far less precise endeavor than flying IFR (see Robert Goyer’s IFR Flight Prep: A Whole New Game April 2010 article for more info). As a former Navy fighter pilot turned GA pilot once put it, VFR flight consists of “sniff-checking your way through weather” –– […]

April 2010 LIKE A LOT OF PILOTS who learned instrument flying in the mid ’90s, I got my ticket as new technology was just beginning to show up in the cockpits of small airplanes. Not that it did me much good at the time. My instrument training at FlightSafety Academy, then in Lakeland, Florida, was […]

Each month, Flying answers questions about the Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authority on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: Q:Can an A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) mechanic sign off an annual condition inspection for an experimental light-sport aircraft or must it […]

When we talk about flight training safety, we usually refer to the steps an instructor can take to ensure a lesson is not marred by an incident or accident. However, there are also operational considerations that can contribute to flight training safety. I recently had a chance to talk with Dana Siewert, the director of […]

I’m a lucky guy. When I ask someone to fly along with me to hone my procedures, I can turn to Flying contributing editor Tom Benenson. Tom is one of the most experienced pilots you’ll find, and has made a career seeking out detailed strategies for flying in the IFR system, so his input is […]

One of my personal goals this year is to follow one of the directives issued at the recent Women in Aviation International Conference and promote general aviation in my local community. Lo and behold, as often happens when you put goals out into the universe, opportunities seem to appear. Last night I attended my first […]

I have no history with hot air balloons, but plenty with Wacos since my father was an avid restorer of the antique airplanes. And I even had hopes of learning to fly my dad’s mainstay, Big Red. That was before he and two others in the airplane went down into Lake Apopka (I have yet […]

My last day at Sun ‘n Fun was Saturday. And what a day it was. It might be that my colleagues here at Flying, who, between them, have thousands of hours logged in fancier airplanes, many type ratings under there belts and incredible wealth of knowledge about flying — heights, granted, that I will never […]

My morning began with a smile. Bonnier Staff Photographer Jon Whittle and I headed out to Fantasy of Flight (fantasyofflight.com) to get some shots of the Splash In for the Sun n Fun 2010 photo gallery we’ve been posting at flyingmag.com this week. We had been shooting the first two days of Sun ‘n Fun […]

There will be times in your IFR flying (or VFR with flight following) when you’re expecting some love from your controller, but you wind up feeling like a neglected child. Sometimes the frequency is busy; sometimes the controller is on another frequency or the land line setting up a handoff. Either way, you want to […]