Pilot Proficiency

Dick Karl had to go to Hamilton, Ontario, for a meeting recently. Turns out, he had no idea what he was signing up for.

Are you one of those pilots who opts to hang up their wings during the winter? While it is true that the shorter days, colder weather, ice, snow, and rain can make flying more of a challenge, there is no reason to slam on the brakes. With a little more planning you can make the […]

Editor’s note: FLYING staff writer and CFI Meg Godlewski is an expert on survival techniques for pilots. She wrote the survival chapter of AOPA’s ground school for CFIs. In this two-part series, she counsels pilots on how to avoid the potential disasters of an unscheduled, off-airport landing, as well as how you can survive if […]

Heading into another winter season, our thoughts begin shifting to cold-weather flying hazards—fog, icing, and widespread precipitation. Most pilot training considers each of these factors individually. But most of them share a common cause, and it’s rooted in the weather patterns. Because of that, most pilots will be ahead of the game if they can […]

Business aviation encompasses a broad range of operations—and has since the first Learjet took flight, and the Cessna 195 Businessliner was initially marketed to business owners flying themselves in search of opportunity. The National Business Aviation Association put the focus on owner-pilots this week at its Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition with a series of […]

Editor’s note: FLYING staff writer and CFI Meg Godlewski is an expert on survival techniques for pilots. She wrote the survival chapter of AOPA’s ground school for CFIs. In this two-part series, she instructs pilots on how to build a survival kit, as well as how you can survive if you’re forced to make an […]

The great American radio and television comedian George Burns emerged in America during the vaudeville era and became known as a king of the one-liners delivered in his uniquely subtle deadpan style—and always with an El Producto cigar between the fingers of his left hand. Before his death in 1996 at the age of 100, […]

Part of being able to forecast comes from reading the sky, because so much of what’s taking place in the atmosphere can be seen visually. When I worked the forecast counter in the Air Force, I occasionally stepped over to the window for a quick look while filling out the weather briefing forms. The pilots […]

The pilot, 40, was an instrument flight instructor and held a commercial certificate, with airplane single-engine and multiengine land ratings and an instrument rating. He had something over 1,400 hours and made his living giving flight instruction. His logbook displayed the required endorsement for “training stall awareness, spin entry, spins and spin-recovery procedures.” He mostly […]

It’s about mindset more than math.