Pilot Proficiency

The RNAV GPS Z approach to Runway 3 at Santa Monica is so new (April 2017), many pilots might not yet even be aware of its existence. (Two additional approaches to SMO were commissioned at the same time.) This new approach comes with a handful of restrictions, many of which are significant enough to demand […]

Thump. Thump. Thump. The steady sound of the wheels ­hitting the expansion joints in the tarmac at the Reno-Stead Airport outside Reno, Nevada, only intensifies the butterflies flitting in my stomach as I taxi out to Runway 26 for my first solo run in a Lancair Legacy. This is no standard first solo, of course. The […]

For decades prior to the advent of electronic instrumentation, flight instructors regularly taught pilots not to trust fuel gauges lest a failure leave them unknowingly running on empty. Despite more accurate measurement systems, fuel mismanagement still ranks number six on the NTSB’s list of GA accident categories, accounting for roughly 50 accidents each year, some […]

1) RDQ Mach 1 (9/10) I’m going to get crucified for having this as my number one over the High Voltage TBS Unify Normal or Race editions, but it’s just a preference. I think they both put out very comparable video quality and would even pair well together in larger race heats. I would even […]

The voice of Red Bull Air Race director Jimmy DiMatteo over the loudspeakers entices the crowds to crane their necks skyward, their eyes tracking a small racing airplane pointing its nose toward the inflatable starting Air Gate. A white line of smoke appears behind the airplane, indicating its twisting track around the highly technical course. […]

There’s a line of weather, tops to Flight Level 450, directly in the path of the proposed flight. It extends a good 500 miles to the left of course and 300 to the right. The thunderstorms reach from Illinois to South Texas. I’m waiting for two people, whom I’ve never met, to join me in […]

Recently a friend sent me a blurb from another aviation magazine about the restoration of a Beech Staggerwing — arguably the ultimate classic airplane — by the Kansas Aviation Museum. He knew I’d be interested in this particular D17S because it belonged at one time to my ex- and late husband, Ebby Lunken. Unfortunately, when […]

I’ve been reading this magazine for two-thirds of my life, ever since I was an eager-eyed lad of 12. Back then, the arrival of Flying‘s newest issue was a highlight of my month. I’d read Len Morgan first, then Gordon Baxter, then Mac McClellan, Dick Collins and Peter Garrison, and then everything else. I had […]

In June 2010, a Cessna T310R crashed in fine weather while on final approach at Ruidoso, New Mexico. Five people perished, two survived. The survivors were 12 and 16 years old, and I suspect that they were probably in the aftmost seats. Another young person, an 11-year-old boy, was double-­belted in the right front seat […]

Over the course of your flying career you’ll likely experience several technological advances that will change the way you fly. In the early years of aviation, these came in the form of new airframe design and propulsion innovations, such as the transition from tailwheel to tricycle landing gear and turbojet engines. Next came the development […]