Search Results for: Lear 45

Like a good marriage, an abiding love for aviation grows and changes over the years. The emotion is always there, but the reason for the initial attraction isn’t always the same reason you stay committed. I was fortunate to fall in love with aviation as a kid while riding around in the back of my […]

ATC will often ask pilots if they can do something somewhat out of the ordinary for the purpose of granting a shortcut or maybe to gain that extra slice of airspace. This subtle word works on both sides of the coin. In the pattern, Tower might ask a pilot to fly a short approach that-if the pilot is unprepared and accepts it-requires a steep and fast dive. Perhaps youve been offered that so they can fit you inside of other traffic, to avoid vectoring you 10 miles out to get behind everyone. Or, perhaps they just need you to cross the approach end of the runway so they can start getting other airplanes out. Regardless, if you dont think you can safely and properly comply, bring on the PIC authority and just say it, Unable.

Upon raising the landing gear after takeoff, the gear motor continued to operate longer than normal, and the pilot heard an abnormal sound toward the end of the sequence. The right main gear was hanging at about a 45-degree angle, and the left main gear was not visible. The pilot completed the appropriate checklists, without change. The pilot declared an emergency and ATC confirmed during a fly-by that the main gear was not extended. During the landing, the nose gear remained extended and the two main gear were retracted. The airplane came to rest on the runway and the passengers egressed without further incident.

Convincing the airplane that youve changed your mind and now want to climb-at the best rate, by the way-requires adding power, arresting the descent and beginning a climb, reconfiguring the airplane and ensuring directional control. While the order in which we perform these tasks varies-check your POH/AFM for the details-we still have to fly the airplane as we accomplish them. That means we can be tempted to add full power when doing so is probably not what we want to do.

The airplane looked absolutely the same. It was the same Piper Arrow II with the blue-and-silver accent ribbon that flowed from the tail to the nose against a white background. It was the same airplane that was displayed on almost 200 hours of my logbook pages. I smiled knowing that my former career as an […]

The voice behind me was a familiar one: “You pilots love your toys, don’t you?” I turned around in the coffee shop to see my neighbor’s smiling face staring at the flight-simulation app I was playing on my iPhone. I smiled and nodded as the wave of his hand said, “Go back to your game.” […]

Each year the safety data for airline travel aboard commercial aircraft weighing more than 12,500 pounds just keeps getting better in the United States according to the International Air Transport Association. There hasn’t been a major U.S. airline accident in years. Worth noting is that last weekend’s AtlasAir Boeing 767 crash near Houston that claimed […]

vertical stabilizer

Much of the industry has been focused on the 206,000 pilots a recent Boeing report says will be needed in the U.S. over the next 25 years. Not nearly as well publicized, however, is that same study calls for 189,000 aircraft maintenance technicians by 2045. In a new white paper, AAR says the personnel shortage […]

After flying south through the Cajon Pass at 6500 feet msl, the airplane turned west and encountered what the commercial pilot presumed was leeside turbulence from the mountain range. She turned back south to find smoother air but the turbulence became more severe and the airplane began to descend rapidly. As the airline transport pilot struggled to change frequencies in the turbulence, the airplane descended to 2000 feet msl (about 500 feet agl). The commercial pilot applied full power but the engine did not respond. After the airline transport pilot enrichened the mixture and applied carburetor heat, the engine momentarily regained power. At about 2300 feet msl, the engine again lost power, and the ATP decided to land on the westbound lanes of a freeway. As he attempted to avoid a vehicle, the airplane landed hard.