Search Results for: general aviation inc

When FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told attendees at the agencys October 24, 2017, General Aviation Summit it looks like 2017 will end up being our safest year yet, he also took something of a victory lap. As Huertas five-year term nears its end in January, he and his team are taking some credit for what everyone hopes will be a distinct improvement in aviation safety. And since the airline accident rate essentially is zero, that…

In less than 25 years, the miracle of GPS has transformed how even the smallest and least expensive aircraft navigates. Thanks to the wide area augmentation system (WAAS) in the U.S. and similar technologies deployed in other countries, GPS is more accurate, more reliable and more repeatable than what came before. If you need proof, look no further than comparing the faithful instrument landing system (ILS) to its WAAS GPS-based equivalent, the LPV (localizer performance…

The FAAs BasicMed alternative to a traditional medical certificate is an attractive option for many pilots, especially those of us who are now senior citizens. However, we should recognize that medical issues are not the only factors affecting our ability to fly as we get older. Even in the absence of pathology, age alters our cognitive processes: how we recognize and interpret situations, decide on courses of actions, manage our workload, remember crucial information and skillfully execute our plans. We may joke about our senior moments, but many of us wonder if our ability to continue flying skillfully and safely is being undermined.

Clearly updating the technology to run the nation’s ATC system hasn’t been nearly as easy or as cheap as anyone expected. A new report from the Senate Republican Policy Committee says, in fact, that perhaps the original timeline to bring NextGen to fruition was unrealistic to begin with. Beyond that theory however, NextGen is Delayed, […]

In another forum, I recently complained that much of the technological advancement the general aviation industry has seen in my flying career manifests itself only in the instrument panel, not in the airframe or the powerplant. The evidence supporting my complaint is rather abundant, and my own airplane-manufactured in 1966-is something of a poster child.

Again we follow in the footsteps of the late crash investigator Macarthur Job and focus on aviation accidents. This time, instead of taking a look at forecast ingredients, well look at cases of where the pilots simply made the wrong decisions for the weather.

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) released its third quarterly shipment and billing report for 2017 this week, indicating a continuing trend in general aviation sales. While the overall number of aircraft shipped increased slightly, total billings decreased. The number of airplanes delivered to date adds up to 1,532, an increase of 1.7 percent over […]

Shortly after getting my Cessna 340, one afternoon I was flying an ILS into Modesto, CA, where wed found a temporary home for our airplane. Id recently achieved the heady milestone of 1000 hours total time and a whopping 100 hours of multi-engine time. Plus, Id just gotten all my Is (CFI, CFII, MEI), so, of course, I was truly a great pilot. Id then gotten my initial training (ground and sim) in the 340, finished off with 25 hours with an experienced Twin Cessna instructor pilot. Humility wasnt in my self-image that afternoon. By evening, it had returned with a vengeance.

The conventional wisdom about millennials goes something like this: They would rather sit inside and play Xbox all day than go to the airport and learn to fly airplanes. Mind you, nobody ever presents any evidence to show this is in fact true, but in our gut we all kind of understand there’s at least […]

An old TWA captain once told me that the definition of a successful aviation career is when the chief pilot meets your retirement flight and wonders aloud, “Who the heck are you?” There’s some good advice buried in that witticism, and I’ve tried to live by it over the course of my career. I had […]