Search Results for: general aviation inc

The NTSB closed out the old year with a quintet of Safety Alerts (SAs) covering issues it believes to be the top threats in general aviation operations based on recent accident history. The advisories are short documents outlining the areas of concern and citing accidents in which the advice could have prevented injury or death. […]

General aviation’s most iconic brands are poised to become one after Cessna parent company Textron confirmed it is buying Beechcraft for $1.4 billion. While the deal gives Beech a rock solid foundation for the future 10 months after emerging from bankruptcy, there are still many more questions than answers about what the merger means for […]

Since shortly after World War I, civilian pilots have longed to recreate the exploits of famous aviators. Heroes and villains of the Great War, from the Red Baron to Eddie Rickenbacker, inspired people to fly and, in some cases, to fly like fighter pilots in military-inspired racing planes. But it was in the three decades […]

For nervous passengers who stiffen the moment an airplane begins to move forward and do not relax until the grab-your-carry-ons chime has sounded, it must be hard to imagine that pilots could actually fall asleep while flying. No pilot would like to admit to doing so. Nevertheless, there have been instances of airline crews overshooting […]

Find out which of our flying tips were the most popular this year among readers.

National Business Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen welcomed a bipartisan budget agreement approved by the House and Senate this week that he said “appears to lessen the likelihood of another near-term government shutdown,” according to an NBAA statement. The measure sets funding for all federal agencies, including the FAA. When the government shut […]

In the first two parts of this series (Aviation Safety, September 2013 and November 2013), I related how I used practical risk management techniques to meet the challenges of using my Beech Bonanza on a typical (for me) multi-stop, multi-week business trip that took place in June 2013. Having been trained in an era before risk management was emphasized (which is still the case, although change is coming), I now recognize I was fortunate to have successfully addressed these hazards without incident. I’d like to say it was my superior piloting skill, but I’m afraid that chance also played a big role. I emphasize this background because, like much of the present general aviation community, I was trained in another era.

Engine out!” After climbing through 8400 feet msl, the engine’s hum became a sputter and I immediately set to work. I pulled back on the yoke until the sky filled the windscreen and danced on the rudder pedals to keep the wings level. The nose bobbed up and down as I fought for the highest […]

You are on approach in busy airspace with an even busier cockpit…you are changing frequencies, receiving vectors, looking for traffic. You are well into the descent phase. As you flip through your kneeboard to get ready for the final phases of flight, you instinctively start looking for the runway. You see one in front of you just as ATC asks, “Do you have the airport in site?”

Ice isn’t nice. And this time of year, it’s much easier to find when airborne in most places throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Thankfully, forecasting and reporting technologies have improved over the years to the point where, at least in our experience, it’s rare to find ice where it wasn’t in a forecast. At the same time, even piston singles can be equipped for flight in known icing conditions, albeit briefly. All that is to say icing shouldn’t be the problem it used to be. Unless, of course, you’re off your plan, or the forecasters blow it.