Pilot Proficiency

NOTAM ignorance does not excuse you from being responsible for their contents.

The abstracts below derive from ASRS reports on Inflight Weather Encounters involving IFR. They illustrate a variety of real-world IFR weather problems and solutions. If Mother Nature throws you a curve, something you learn here might help someday. The Icicle Twin An ATC supervisor in Boston Center asked a controller/pilot to assist with an emergency […]

Chances are you’ve looked over weather charts, whether at a dispatch office or on the Internet, and wondered how that pile of spaghetti becomes a forecast. Granted, with all the flight planning tools available and 24/7 access to a flight weather briefer, this is not something pilots need to know. Indeed many pilots find themselves […]

A pilot regains his FAA medical following a harrowing experience with a brain tumor.

The growth of commercial and government space operations result in more frequent TFRs near launch areas. Here’s how they compare to traditional TFRs.

What do you say to air traffic control when you’re ready to go?

The naming convention for IFR fixes sometimes seems like the FAA’s version of Scrabble.

Airport windsocks aren’t there to make a fashion statement. Here’s why they’re different colors.

Airbus blames the accident on pilot error, while Air France argues the pilots became confused and overwhelmed by conflicting data and alarms in the cockpit.

Pilots must look for factors that could potentially turn VFR into IFR conditions.