Pilot Proficiency

With summer approaching, we often think about those hot temperatures, high density altitudes, and storms. But another factor enters the picture: moisture. High relative humidity brings foggy mornings, and with soaring dewpoints comes the prospect for storms and rain. With moisture having such a profound impact on flight operations, it’s time to take a closer […]

Three men chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza for a late-night flight between Mason City (KMCW), Iowa, and Fargo (KFAR), North Dakota, about 200 nautical miles. The 21-year-old charter pilot’s initial review of the forecast that chilly February evening called for VFR weather with bases along the route at 5,000 feet and visibility of 10 miles. The only […]

Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the old nursery rhyme goes like this: “There was a little girl, / who had a little curl, / right in the middle of her forehead. / When she was good, / she was very good indeed, / and when she was bad she was horrid.” This sums up three […]

Cruising among the flight levels in excess of Mach 0.82 most times, our weather radar typically remained in an active status. The Boeing 777′s system was sophisticated enough to adjust its sweep to the attitude of the airplane and turn itself on during takeoff for predictive wind-shear-detection warnings. It was the primary long-range tool for […]

It’s important to have one whether you’re a new pilot or an experienced one.

I recently selected 32 accident analyses, from the nearly 500 that I have written since I took over Flying’s Aftermath column in 1980, and assembled them into a book called Why? Thinking About Plane Crashes. It’s available from Amazon as a paperback or an e-book. I hope someone will buy it. I would pledge that […]

It speaks volumes about our industry that, even during economic downturns, aviation companies still find ways to innovate; indeed, one could argue that some of aviation’s greatest innovations have come when times were hardest. While new-airplane introductions in 2011 were rare, there were innovations galore in the fields of avionics, electronic flight bag technology (read […]

As is the case in aviation, each coming year brings technological advances and ­innovations that translate into aircraft and products that can do things we never before thought possible. This was just such a year, bringing to the fore an impressive array of new aircraft that can go faster, fly more smoothly and better engage […]

Another season of turbulent spring weather is just ahead, so it’s a good time to go over storm safety. We’ll do that once again by discussing a pertinent weather-related accident. Although at first glance the lessons might seem obvious, we’ll use this fateful ride-along to discuss some key concepts I’ve observed as a meteorologist, and […]

If you’re an active IFR pilot or training to become one in the US, you have a choice of two instrument approach-plate providers. One is Jeppesen (now within Boeing Global Services), and the other is the US government, which provides plates known as digital terminal procedure publications—and often known to pilots by two outdated terms: […]