Search Results for: DC-3

Japan has been a marginal, but potentially formidable, presence in American aviation since the late 1960s. Fuji Heavy Industries, which had previously manufactured both two- and four-seat versions of the Beech T-34 Mentor for domestic military forces, produced almost 300 of the FA200 Aero Subaru, which looked the way a 172 would if you replaced […]

Our fine friend and colleague Len Morgan died on March 11 after a long illness. He was 82. In his late teens, Len went off to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. The United States had not yet entered World War II and Len and 11 other Americans earned their RCAF wings on […]

This final maneuver of every flight can reveal the smallest flaws. But a little planning and lots of practice can make every landing a greaser.

Thats what a taildragger is like. Yet anyone can learn the deft use of rudder and brakes to keep it on the runway. Heres how.

We came from all corners of the country at our own expense to Galveston, Texas, for a 15-minute ride in an ancient airplane. Nobody came away disappointed. The money spent and the vacation days taken meant nothing, you see, because the airplane was a B-17, the Flying Fortress. This one is in the careful custody […]

Medications – whether over-the-counter, prescription or recreational – have found their place in the aviation accident record

The late September rain is pounding on the fuselage above me and coursing across the narrow, rectangular windscreen that sits less than a foot in front of my face. The frigid Alaskan ocean lies only 400 feet beneath us, but if we went any higher, we’d be in the clouds-clouds that are obscuring a line […]

Theres an old saying in aviation that youll hear throughout your flying career: Trust your instruments.

Anyone who has had instrument training has been beaten over the head by the instructor. The strategy is necessary in order to overcome your proprioceptive sensors – the so-called seat of the pants sensations – that you learned to rely on when flying VFR.

Yet, what may not have been emphasized is that your instruments can and occasionally will lie to you. Therefore a basic function of cockpit resource management requires a continuous cross-check of the engine, flight and navigation instruments. Its akin to the old saw, just because youre paranoid, dont think someones not ou…

Everyone knows that where theres smoke, theres fire. When most people think about smoke and fire in aviation, three things come to mind: engine fire, electrical fire, crash site. There is, however, another form of smoke that certainly demands respect, and thats the smoke created by wildfires.

Wildfires both large and small create a number of special hazards to general aviation that must be treated with caution. Though wildfires are most common in the western U.S., urban residents of Long Island, Florida, Malibu and Oakland have experienced the powerful ravage of wildfires recently in this decade. The power of wildfire and its hazards to aviators throughout the country should not be…

It was a flying day. The sky had not a single cloud, the temperature was 78 degrees. It was April 1st and I was an 18-year-old April fool with a freshly minted private pilot license.

I actually flew twice that day. The first flight of the day was just not enough, so I had to go for more. The afternoon sun was dipping to the west as I headed out in the 152 with my passenger, a friends roommate.

What a grand time we had zooming over the hills and valleys of the desert right out to a large lake north of town. Then, the foolishness began to kick in. Wanna get a closer look at that boat? I yelled above the roar of the engine. Sure! she hollered back.

So I dipped lower, getting us…