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Take a look at some of the more exciting airplanes and products on display this year at EBACE 2014.

I advance the power levers slowly. Once I am satisfied with our tracking on the runway centerline, I push them rapidly forward into the takeoff detent. With the acceleration sinking me back into my seat, I glance at the airspeed tape as it rolls past 70 knots. V1. VR. V2. I apply increasing back pressure […]

One of the keys to safe and successful instrument flight is paying attention to details. Often the difference between arriving at your destination uneventfully and not arriving there at all after diverting is hidden in the notes and symbols on an approach chart. What does it mean when a procedure is marked as “not authorized”? Doesn’t ATC protect you by refusing to clear you for an unauthorized procedure?

At the Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-In last week, the National Association of Flight Instructors inducted the latest flight instructor into the National Flight Instructor Hall of Fame at its annual members’ dinner on Thursday night. This year’s inductee is Kirby Ortega, who was previously honored as the NAFI Flight Instructor of the Year in […]

Cessna has announced its intent to upgrade two of its popular business jets: the CJ2+ and CJ3, which will now become the CJ3+. Both bizjets are replacing the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics with Garmin’s G3000 touch screen system. In addition to the new avionics suite, the two airplanes have received a new diagnostic […]

Driving from Tampa, Florida, to KPBI for class at JetSuite’s Palm Beach base, Phil Smith and I are reunited for one last time. Indoc and sim partners for almost a month, we are both about to fly as first officers for the first time; each of us has been assigned to a “B” captain for […]

We pilots love engines and with good reason. We rely on their continued trouble-free operation to keep us flying safely. Perhaps more to the point, without engines, flight would never have gone far, and it can be argued that every noteworthy advance in aircraft performance was preceded by a noteworthy advance in power-plant design. There […]

In his timeless classic Fate Is The Hunter, Ernest K. Gann regales readers with several tales of in-flight emergencies, hairy takeoffs and grateful landings. Perhaps the book’s most memorable takeoff involves a grossly overweight C-87 departing Agra, India, on a hot day, aimed directly at the nearby Taj Mahal mausoleum. Of course, Gann didn’t know the airplane was overweight before beginning the takeoff. How he and his crew flew it could be viewed as a clinic on how to handle an overweight airplane.

February 2, 2014, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Gates Learjet Corp. 35AAt about 2230 Eastern time, the airplane was involved in a ground crew injury during engine start and taxi in preparation for a Part 135 medical transport flight. The pilot, co-pilot and two cabin crewmembers were not injured, and the airplane was not damaged, but a ground […]

If you’re a private pilot or an airline transport pilot, it doesn’t take long to discover that the “small world” axiom is very true within the aviation community. A relationship developed years earlier can resurface in the most unlikely places. Because of that, I was given advice to never burn a bridge in my climb […]