Search Results for: Cessna 172

I learned to fly about 25 years ago, and it’s no exaggeration to say it changed my life. I started flight training as a fairly immature teenager and ended it as a confident and independent young adult. I learned a lot about engines and weather, but much more important were the lessons on self-reliance, problem-solving […]

The smartest of smartphones these days can handle plenty of meaty chores like text, audio, photo and even video editing. When it comes to gaming though, most fall pretty short. Nowhere is this more apparent than when we airplane geeks try to recreate our flying with any of the flight simulator apps. Even Laminar Research’s […]

Thankfully, I have never had to respond to those foreboding words from ATC: …say souls on board. However, I do remember one flight, where I might have had trouble explaining myself if they had requested that information.

“Aviation was a career change for me,” says Scott Foppe. “I traveled a lot as kid and was always fascinated whenever I was able to look at the flight deck. I had always wanted to be a pilot, but never thought it was possible. It wasn’t until later in life that the industry changed and […]

My circuitous path to the left seat of a seven-seat, million-dollar-plus, jet-A-burning Diamond DA62 twin didn’t come to fruition overnight. In fact, it took several years for me to arrive at this point. It all started with a chance encounter back in the summer of 2011, before the DA62 even existed as a certified product. […]

An airborne human-factors experiment conducted by researchers from Oklahoma State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University concluded in a recent published study that certificated pilots failed to see a common type of quadcopter during approach to a runway, and in most cases, could never detect motionless drones. In the testing, skilled pilots usually could see small […]

At least in North America, that also can be the dead of winter for many locations, and the personal airplanes many of us fly just arent equipped to cope. For example, and other than a warm pitot tube, they generally lack anti-ice equipment. They likely may not have the range or endurance to reliably avoid weather, or retreat to solid-gold alternates. For non-instrument-rated pilots, the challenges can be even grimmer: Low ceilings and visibilities can wreck carefully made schedules by forcing us to stay on the ground.

After overflying the destination runway, the crew made a steeper-than-normal approach to the 3880-foot-long runway due to terrain. According to the captain, a bump was felt near the threshold during the landing but it was not extreme. As the propellers were reversed, the airplane veered to the right. The crew corrected and the airplane tracked straight for about 2000 feet before veering sharply right, exiting the runway and spinning 180 degrees. Inspection of the runway threshold revealed several four-foot-tall piles of rocks and dirt.

With a growing number of light aircraft taking on jet-A instead of avgas—from a diesel-powered Cessna 172 to the single-engine Cirrus VisionJet—a prudent pilot stays on guard to supervise fueling if at all possible. But anecdotally speaking, many of us have operated under the impression that misfuelling a piston airplane burning 100LL with jet fuel […]

“Today, I’m not only going to give you the problems, I’m going to give you the solutions.” When a pilot hears those words from an instructor before launching into a flight review—what can be a pedestrian exercise at best—that pilot knows this session will be different. Steve Thorne didn’t have to fly all the way […]