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_Enola Gay. FIFI. The Great Artiste. Kee Bird. The Big Stink. _ It was an airplane dubbed “Superfortress.” Yet many of the most famous Boeing B-29 bombers that plied the skies during the latter days of World War II carried strangely meek-sounding individual names. Perhaps that’s of benefit to our collective psyche since the airplanes […]

(January 2012) Sitting in the darkened area control center in Zurich, Switzerland, the air traffic controller on duty could scarcely believe what he was seeing on his radar screen: Somehow, two airliners in his sector cruising at precisely the same flight level were just miles apart on a collision course over southern Germany. Keying his […]

(January 2012) Last month I reported the exciting news that the training required by the FAA SFAR issued in 2006 succeeded in turning the MU-2, an airplane that had been at the bottom of the accident statistics, into one of the safest turboprops in the air and, beyond that, into one of the safest airplanes […]

(January 2012) It has been a long first day as a first officer. We’re in Asheville (KAVL), North Carolina, about to airline back to Tampa, Florida, via Charlotte, North Carolina. My captain at Elite Air, Mike Bronisz, is on the phone with dispatch. I watch as the corners of his mouth turn up and his […]

__Ever since major airplane manufacturers such as Cessna and Piper moved the third wheel from the rear of the fuselage to the front in the 1950s, most new single-engine airplanes have been delivered with tricycle gear. Some people question why anyone would fly a taildragger since the nosewheel-configured airplanes simply are easier to take off […]

The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE) has begun providing new and renewing members complimentary copies of a 37-minute CD aptly titled “Flying Tips.” Produced and donated to SAFE by GoldSealFlight.com, the CD includes audio tips recorded by SAFE member and Master Instructor Rich Stowell on subjects ranging from human factors and the fundamentals […]

(December 2011) “Anybody who learns to fly these days in an airplane without a Flight Simulator cockpit, an autopilot and a ballistic parachute is living in the last century,” went the opening gambit from a student pilot I flew with recently. Reasonably current and qualified in a variety of singles and light twins, I admit […]

With the year coming to an end, the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) has selected the “Class of 2012,” the new members which will be enshrined into the NAHF in a ceremony next fall. Like most years in the 50-year history of the NAHF, four aviation pioneers are being honored for their contributions to […]

There you are, droning along in the clag, watching the autopilot watch things for you, monitoring the frequency and marveling at how the IFR system’s various parts mesh together. But you haven’t been paying attention to the ammeter, which is showing a steep discharge. Suddenly, your autopilot’s control panel goes dark, along with your older number two nav/comm, and the stable airplane you’ve been monitoring—not flying—for the last hour and half wants to pitch up and bank right. Congratulations: You’re about 15 minutes from completely draining the ship’s battery and total electrical failure in IMC. You’re also about 20 minutes from the nearest suitable airport, one with services like a maintenance shop. Did we mention it’s well past sundown?

One complication with which we pilots must always contend is wind. It can complicate a takeoff or landing, force heading changes while en route, mandate a fuel stop when stronger than forecast and make an otherwise smooth ride uncomfortable when blowing over uneven terrain. Learning to deal with the wind is one of the major lessons of primary training, yet the accident record demonstrates many of us still haven’t mastered the challenge.