Search Results for: where there will there way

I have been thinking about some fascinating but challenging situations — events you hope never to encounter that involve decisions and require reactions to life-or-death consequences. “When to give up,” a decision not naturally part of most pilots’ DNA, has been rattling around in my brain for a long time, so here goes. Two events […]

Nothing ruins a pilot’s day more than landing on the wrong runway, or even worse, touching down on a taxiway the pilot mistakenly thought was the runway. While a slap to the head is certainly in order for anyone who falls prey to a case of mistaken runway identity, there’s also the potential for much […]

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve likely seen some type of anti-texting-while-driving campaign, even where it has not yet been outlawed. While it’s obvious that taking your eyes off the road while driving can lead to collisions, it’s also human nature to multitask — tune the radio, drink coffee or read that “urgent” […]

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association last week released a status update on a number of informal Part 13 complaints filed with the FAA against three U.S. airports, Chicago Waukegan (UGN), Florida’s Key West International (EYW) and Asheville Regional (AVL) in North Carolina. The association dropped its complaint against Chicago Waukegan Airport in late January […]

Ground collisions have thankfully been few and far between over the past few years. However, the FAA is taking no chances and continues to raise awareness of the risk of runway incursions between aircraft and vehicles operating on airports of all sizes. The agency said the majority of incursions occur in the first two-thirds of […]

With the agreement the City of Santa Monica made with the FAA earlier this year to shorten the runway at SMO and ultimately close the airport in 2028, the city is working quickly to shut out business jets from the embattled airport as soon as possible. This week, the city council approved a contract with […]

Air Canada Flight AC759 landed at San Francisco International Airport shortly after midnight on Saturday, July 8, approximately 54 minutes late on its journey from Toronto. While the passengers may have been a little irritated by the tardiness, they probably didn’t know at the time just how close they came to being involved in an […]

A Learjet 35A crashed at Teterboro Airport in northern New Jersey earlier this week and there has been lots of conjecture about what might have happened. Many of the comments have been made by far more knowledgeable pilots than I, but the accident reminded me vividly of a lesson I learned early on while flying […]

Growing up, I heard people say, “Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.” We learn many valuable lessons in life this way after realizing that our decisions and actions (or lack thereof) lead to undesirable outcomes. For some situations, this is the only impactful way to affect a change in behavior — an […]

It is always hard to know about dogs and airplanes. I know how I feel about both — I like them — but will a dog like flying in an airplane? This is a chronicle of one airplane and three dogs. Ubu was a Lab-shepherd mix, not known for loyalty or obedience. I attributed his […]