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In reference to A Better Mousetrap [Reality Check, November], logic fails to explain the complete prohibition on antidepressant medication for aviation. Depression is common, especially among middle-aged men and people who have given up smoking, which is why Zyban – an antidepressant – is often prescribed as an aid to smoking cessation.

Depression is treatable but, as with most mental illnesses, it is prone to widespread misconception. Prozac, for example, is widely equated with Thorazine – a tranquilizer that turns agitated people into placid, happy zombies.

Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, drugs that combat the most common forms of depression and anxiety disorder, are selective ser…

It was probably the most embarrassing experience I ever had as a CFI, and a good lesson I learned.

I had just sold my 1980 B55 Baron to a real pilot. He was an 8,000-hour, on-call charter pilot, current in G3s, G4s, Citations and Lears who wanted his own toy. Part of the deal, however, was that I had to teach him how to fly the Baron.

Is he kidding me, I wondered? My 1,500 hours are confined to this Baron, a Duchess and a smattering of hours in small Cessnas and Pipers. What could I possibly teach him? So, I laughed when he made that part of the deal and said, Sure, but you know more about flying than Ill ever know. Perhaps, he answered. I could teach you to fly the G4, but y…

I learned some lessons recently about what it really means to be pilot-in-command, crew resource management, takeoff planning and personal minimums. I hold a commercial helicopter rating with private ASEL privileges and an instrument rating (obtained seven months ago). Total time is about 230 hours, with eight hours in actual IMC.

It was a typical winter day in the South, 48 degrees with a forecast of 1800 overcast, with temporary periods of 400-800 broken. It seemed like a good day to schedule some dual in actual IMC to maintain my IFR currency. Arriving at the airport, the temporary lower ceilings seemed a little more persistent than the forecast would indicate. On the non-precision…

I flew from Ft. Worth to Denver shortly after getting my instrument ticket late last year and picked up more ice than I ever care to have on my aircraft again. Even with the prop heated on my Mooney 252, it was still shaking and shedding ice, signaling to me that it was time (a.k.a. past time) to descend to lose some ice. I remained over flat terrain in west Texas and eastern Colorado and managed to learn a lot about ice build-up and its impact on aircraft performance.

The guys on the glycol truck in Denver said theyd never seen so much ice on a small plane before – and I hope I never do again. Given the temperatures in Denver at the time, the ice remained in descent and even after sitti…

Remember that pilot personality self-survey, with the half-dozen psycho babble attitudes guaranteed to make a smoking hole? There was resigned, anti-authority, impulsive, macho and invulnerable.

We think a more accurate way to assess whether a pilot falls into one of these groups is to connect him to an EEG and see which button lights up following the words, Caution wake turbulence, departing 757.

Would your button be Resigned? Impulsive? Invulnerable? If you dont spend your spare time tearing up gyros for fun, the prospect of an uncommanded flight upset might make your blood run cold.

A better-than-average grasp of airmanship may cause you to understand that the instinct to p…

Take an 80-degree summer afternoon, clear skies, high pressure and light winds. Add an airplane, a friend or spouse, and pick a destination a few hours away. While youre at it, throw in the family dog.

This is a scenario many general aviation pilots would consider the ultimate in personal aviation – the perfect time to embark on what may be the perfect trip. For one Colorado pilot, however, the prognosis wasnt so sunny.

The pilot had accumulated more than 14,500 hours, many of them as a Part 135 helicopter pilot. He had single and multi ratings and instrument ratings for both airplanes and helicopters. He had once been a flight instructor. Even though he was retired, he still held a…

||| |—|—| | | | Pilots and controllers are doing a pretty good job of keeping airplanes apart on the runway. During the four-year period from 1997 to 2000 there were 266 million takeoff and landing operations at the country’s 459 tower-controlled airports, and only 1,369 of those operations involved a runway incursion. That means […]

||| |—|—| | | | | Advanced new models, like Dassault’s Falcon 2000EX, are expected to fuel future bizjet sales.| Honeywell intended to release its 10-year forecast of business jet aviation sales at the 2001 NBAA Convention in New Orleans. Shortly after the attacks on September 11th, the convention was postponed. Despite the shock waves […]

The natural evolution of airplanes is to increase the power, and that is just what Cirrus Design has done with its new SR22. Where the original production Cirrus, the SR20, flies with a 200-horsepower IO-360 six-cylinder Continental, the SR22 has an IO-550 Continental six that develops 310 horsepower. That is a big increase. Even though […]

The wreckage of a Grob G115D, a German-built, all-composite, aerobatic two-seat trainer, was spread out over an area nearly half a mile long and 400 feet wide-this despite the fact the airplane was sighted shortly before the accident by a witness on the ground who estimated its height, in level flight, as only 500 feet. […]