Pilot Proficiency

YouTube is chock full of videos featuring airplanes landing with landing gear retracted or partially extended. One reason is that there is often plenty of time for news crews to arrive by helicopter as the pilot of the stricken airplane kills time to burn off fuel. If you are unlucky enough to experience a ‘gear […]

Back in 1989, businessman Wally David made an interesting observation: Computer graphics technology was improving so dramatically that a whole new realm of simulator training was about to become possible. With the new graphics technology, a non-moving Flight Training Device (FTD) might be able to provide a realistic sensation of movement simply by incorporating high-quality, […]

Whether it involves a national TV news reporter or simply a friend looking for fast answers, all of us pilots become designated experts when a high profile accident occurs. And we need to recognize some priorities. Today’s news “industry” is extremely competitive, and there is a strong motivation to seek out headlines and quotes that […]

My bags are packed. The venerable V-tail is perky and ready. Even the weather looks like it ought to cooperate for my trip to aviation’s equivalent of the Promised Land — Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and the annual EAA AirVenture. If you’re looking forward to the same pilgrimage next week, there might be a few checklist items […]

Vertigo, or spatial disorientation, is a tough concept to those who’ve never experienced it. Not the extreme dizziness you get when you spin around with your forehead on a mop handle and then try to walk a straight line. Rather, it’s the more subtle form that can be the most profound danger to new instrument […]

There are those who’ve been, and those who haven’t. And there are those who wouldn’t miss it for anything. The journey to EAA AirVenture at Wittman Field in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has been compared to the annual Hajj to Mecca. And for aviation zealots ranging from weekend ultralight aficionados to military or airline pilots, there is […]

I’m getting ready for my biennial flight review, and I’m incorporating an instrument proficiency check, even though I’m technically current. For someone like me who doesn’t fly real IFR often enough, one way to remain comfortable is to supplement experience with regular recurrent training. I really should do more. I admit that one of the […]

Though it has largely faded from the discussion, much was made of the conversation between the two pilots of Continental Express Flight 3407. Their de Havilland Dash 8 Q400 crashed on approach to Buffalo on February 12. Mostly, people remarked on the subject matter — for example, the copilot’s discussion on her inexperience with icing […]

Back in the 1980s when I worked in the Flying offices, I remember overhearing then-Editor in Chief Dick Collins talking with now-Editor in Chief Mac McClellan on the phone. “It’s time for the thunderstorm article again. Do you want to do it this year, or is it my turn?” Of course, given the lead time […]

I really hadn’t meant it as a test of the TSA’s latest security directive, but as it worked out, it couldn’t have been planned any better. Weeks ago, I had made a June 1 appointment with Sensenich Propeller Service at Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Airport. My home-airport shop had noticed some shifting on the backing plate of […]