Search Results for: Citation X

I’m not proud to say it, but last winter got the best of this northern aviator. The face-numbing cold and monochromatic gloom wore at me until I just couldn’t take it anymore. The breaking point came on a brutally raw January morning as I attempted to preheat and start my Piper Pacer after it sat […]

IFR reader feedback from November’s issue. Covers instrument currency, TEC routes, and aircraft landing.

Anybody who follows general aviation knows that we’ve got our share of problems. The list goes on and on: New airplanes cost too much. FAA regulations and mandates are suffocating us. GA airports are under constant attack. The EPA wants to outlaw our 100LL avgas. Too few pilots are still flying. With so much to […]

NBAA 2015 is in the books after the doors closed for good yesterday on a show that featured an abundance of big news stories to go along with the big crowds. The National Business Aviation Association said more than 27,000 attendees visited the show, where 1,100 exhibitors occupied around a million square feet of space […]

A look into the past at some of the very first and oldest bizjets.

In the past month, Preston Allen, a 24-year-old pilot dreaming of a professional pilot career, has done something most people in the aviation would consider improbable. Atlanta-based flight instructor Dan Gryder found a way to get Allen a whole slew of ratings, including a Cessna Citation CE-550S second-in-command (SIC) type rating, all within the span […]

The Citation Jet Pilots association is offering a free six-month trial membership to operators of turbine-powered Textron Aviation aircraft, including Citations, Hawkers, King Airs, Caravans and Cessna turboprop twins. The membership includes CJP’s FuelAdvantage program, which offers lower pricing for jet A fuel at more than 100 airports around the world. “FuelAdvantage FBOs strive to […]

When I trained for my private pilot certificate, 91.103 was drilled into my head. Each pilot in command, it says, shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. The core of that is straight from the Boy Scouts: be prepared. Now, as an air traffic controller, it concerns me when pilots arent aware of major issues affecting their flight. Sometimes we controllers have to be the voice of reason, preventing a pilot from doing something that may not be in his best interest. Other times, we have to hold his hand and walk him through a new situation. Thankfully, the vast majority of our operations are routine. Its the remainder that can make things interesting. Facing an underprepared or overzealous pilot can test a controllers knowledge of his rules, his airspace, and his ability to think outside the box to find a safe, legal solution.

Ive not found any published data on the subject, but after years or reading accident reports Ive formed the opinion that pilots making takeoffs that will be followed by a flight on an IFR flight plan may unconsciously add a little more I gotta go come hell or high water attitude than their normal, Type A, mission-completion orientation to the decision-making process.

It’s every passenger’s worst nightmare. The flight is going smoothly and then, out of nowhere, the pilot convulses and passes out at the controls. Suddenly, the front-seat passenger is faced with the most daunting challenge he or she may likely ever face: to control the airplane and land it safely in more or less one […]