Pilot Proficiency

It’s been said that there is no such thing as a perfect flight. I know I’ve never come close. On most flights I can admit to some minor imperfection even before engine start. Though I’d like to think that none of these common omissions or out of sequence commissions are dangerous, I can think of […]

I was doing a play in Chicago in the early 70s. Two of the cast members were William H. Macy and Mike Nussbaum. Macy’s dad, Bill Sr., had flown B-17s in World War II, 306th Bomb Group, 423rd Squadron. Thirty-five missions in Europe, recipient of the Silver Star. Bill Jr. inherited his dad’s flight jacket, […]

Without those tools its important to get on the ground or find a route out of the activity if buildups start growing around you, because air mass storms often grow as clusters and the open spaces will quickly close in. If you dont think air mass storms are a problem, check out our August 2018 issue that details two seemingly benign air mass storms: one that downed a Piper PA-23, and another that downed a Boeing 727.

Like many before me, as a child I wedged a baseball card (that’s what doubles were for) into the spokes on my bike to make it sound like a motorcycle. The result, from what I am told by those that had to listen to it, was expertly annoying. But it was an auspicious moment in […]

It’s a Tuesday morning in February, and I’m headed to work. Don’t cry too hard for me, dear reader; work in this case involves a round trip to Rio de Janiero and back in the 767. Today’s commute to my base airport is a rare two-legger, and on the first leg I’m traveling on an […]

One of the last weather-caused airline crashes in the United States was American Airlines Flight 1420 in Little Rock on June 1, 1999. As we mark its 20th anniversary, well tie together some of the radar and thunderstorm skills weve learned in previous articles. Youll also see brand-new radar scans of the storm from modern high-resolution display software-which is far more detailed than that in the NTSB report-and well contemplate what you might see if you encounter a similar storm on modern radar today.

Paul Holmes and I first met back in the late 1990s at Miami’s infamous Columbus Day Regatta in Biscayne Bay, a boating weekend of craziness. The regatta actually involves a sailboat race, but most are unaware because of their participation in the side event, which is a massive overnight rafting of boats in all sizes […]

The first free flight of a manned balloon took place, as is well known, in France. The king, who took an interest in the experiments of the Montgolfier brothers, suggested that the passengers on the first manned flight should be two convicts, whom he considered expendable. He was persuaded, however, that the honor of being […]

From the time I was a teenage recruit in the Navy I had always wanted to fly. Some five years later I had my opportunity to get my private pilot’s license. That wasn’t enough for me, so I applied for a G.I. Bill benefit and began working on advanced ratings, eventually earning my CFII, AMEL […]

The ILS 33L at Boston Logan Airport looked decidedly uninviting. The red echoes of rain straddled the approach course and the wind at 3,300 feet was close to 270 degrees at 39 knots, while the wind reported at the field was 350 degrees at 22 knots gusting to 30. The wind shift of 80 degrees […]