Search Results for: Cessna 172

Some things you just can’t understand unless you were there. So, it’s fitting that a pair of crash survivors are most responsible for one of the most notable and controversial recent aviation safety innovations. They were there. The first, Boris Popov, had his day of motorboat-towed hang gliding over Lake Owasso, Minnesota, go topsy-turvy after […]

If you haven’t noticed, general aviation is on the verge of a mini revolution — and it has nothing to do with jet-fuel-burning diesel engines, shiny new glass cockpits or multibillion-dollar NextGen modernization programs. Instead, the big change in aviation centers on the new millennium’s “sharing economy” and you, the pilot — or, more precisely, […]

The AOPA Air Safety Foundations annual Nall Report found an increase in accidents involving amateur-built aircraft. The statistics from 2008 showed the highest rate of fatal accidents and fatalities in 10 years. The 27-percent lethality rate in these accidents was 10 full percentage points higher than that for accidents in type-certificated airplanes, according to the report.

It was a lousy day for a VFR trip — not unusual in coastal Southern California in the spring. We get stratus clouds that come in from the ocean and create low ceilings that last for days. On this particular day we needed to get a package up to Corona Airport, and I did not […]

Turning cockpit technology into mission capability takes more than reading manuals. Meld the surfeit of data into your decision-making process to get more from your pixels.

ADS-B. It’s an acronym only an engineer’s mother could love. Three letters followed by a hyphen and another letter hanging off in la-la land. What does it stand for again? Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. What in the world does that mean? Not only is ADS-B confusing, but it’s expensive too. When all is said and done […]

Perhaps you are the type of person who likes to go on road trips while traveling within the protective confines of a car. Or maybe you prefer to experience the trip with all of your senses, on a motorcycle, where you can feel the speed, touch the elements of nature, and hear and smell the […]

The year 2014 had dizzying highs and terrible lows, including a tragic mystery that was on everyone’s minds for months. On the positive side, we saw the introduction of some spectacular new airplanes, the continued development of exciting new technologies, the beginnings of solutions to some of the most vexing problems facing general aviation and […]

I quickly found there are at least three ways visiting U.S. pilots can access general aviation aircraft in Europe. The main ways are through aero clubs and conventional rental arrangements. The latter includes both pilot training organizations and organizations analgous to small fixed base operators (FBOs) in the U.S.

Like the (un?)welcome holiday letter from distant edges of your family, its again time to see how the GA family has fared in our annual Safety-Takes-A-Holiday review. The rules are simple: Applicants need only do something stupid in an aircraft that results in financial harm but no loss of life. Qualifying lapses in aeronautical decision making (ADM) can occur in IMC or VMC, day or night, with or without a valid pilot certificate and in anything that flies-legally or not. Boneheaded stunts must be verified by the NTSB, so were using calamities from 2011, the most recent with NTSB-posted probable cause. No, we dont make this stuff up.