Search Results for: Lear 45

(December 2011) Three and a half years ago I wrote about the Mitsubishi MU-2 controversy (“Dangerous Airplanes or Dangerous Pilots?” — May 2008). For much of its life, the MU-2 had the unenviable status of having one of the worst turboprop accident rates and fatal accident rates. People wrote articles questioning the sanity of anyone […]

Weather was not a factor in the recent high-profile crash that killed two Oklahoma State University women’s basketball coaches last week, according to NTSB investigators. Former Oklahoma state Senator Olin Branstetter was flying the Cherokee 180 carrying the coaches when it crashed nose-first into a wooded area in central Arkansas on Thursday. All four people […]

(November 2011) Alaska is a state with a few hundred runways, about 13,000 roads and more than 3 million lakes. With so many options for landing sites, it is no wonder that Alaskan summer skies are filled with all kinds of aerial watercraft with pilots on their way to visit neighbors, load up on groceries, […]

Airframe icing is one characteristic of flying I’ve learned to respect. Over the years, I picked up my share of it, once carrying at least a quarter-inch of the clear kind for another 500 nm or so before it melted on descent for my destination. In the winter, I pay particular attention to Airmets Zulu, along with temperature aloft and cloud forecasts. There have been many occasions when I simply cancelled or rescheduled a trip on learning the freezing level was at the surface or below my desired cruising altitude and visible moisture was about.

I stood the autothrottles of the Hawker 4000 up straight, and like magic they came right out of my hand and set their own power as though they knew just what I wanted. I kept my left hand on the tiller along the sidewall waiting for the 60-knot callout, at which point I knew the […]

Among the first things pilots learn is what to do if something goes wrong. Instrument pilots get to learn what to do when instruments or the systems powering them fail and how to get back on the ground with what’s left. Back in the days when each instrument was a separate, physical thing instead of a software construct presenting symbols or alphanumeric data, their presentation was relatively well known and predictable. These days, however, those same instruments often have been replaced with what is essentially a computer screen. What happens when it fails?

Flying New York’s Hudson Valley corridor in the fall is a scenic, almost breathtaking experience. The foliage displays a panoply of autumn of colors, temperatures are cool and crisp, skies are clear and the air is often smooth. Nothing epitomizes autumn in southern New England more than Dutchess County in southeastern New York State. Located […]

The Monday launch by Cessna of its Citation Latitude light-midsize jet threw the balance of power in the midsize market into a bit of a tizzy in a number of surprising ways. The airplane at first seems an odd way for Cessna to innovate to win back market share in the light to midsize bizjet […]

(October 2011) Those of us who have been around airplanes for any length of time understand the concept of stepping up, whereby a nonpilot becomes a pilot, learns to fly in a certain brand of airplane and then remains loyal to that brand while gaining experience and moving up through the model lineup to bigger, […]

(September 2011) It was the Friday before Christmas, and the pilot-owner of a Piper Saratoga was eager to get home for a party. At 2:30 in the afternoon he called Flight Service to brief a flight from College Park, Maryland, to Akron-Canton Airport (CAK) in Ohio, 240 nm distant. He said he hoped to take […]