IFR

It’s a change that has been a long time in coming, and thanks to the proliferation of flight-planning apps it won’t have much of a practical impact, but the FAA confirms that starting at the end of next month pilots must file IFR flight plans using the international ICAO format. The new format appears on […]

Like many aviation enthusiasts, my introduction to general aviation and piston airplanes was Flying magazine. As a kid in the 1990s, I always looked forward to heading to the barbershop with my dad where I could read the latest copy of Flying while waiting my turn for a haircut. I hoped to see a full […]

The 2019 edition of Sporty’s instrument rating course is now available, and it’s a major update incorporating hours of all-new HD video content, “smart” study tools and the ability to switch among multiple viewing formats (Web, Android, iPhone/iPad and Apple TV). Best of all, the course includes all of this for one price. Price for […]

The past few years have been the most exciting and dynamic stretch of time for me since I started flying 20 years ago. Much of it has been driven by the changes and benefits resulting from the implementation of the FAA’s NextGen plan, as the national airspace system transitions from 1950s-era ground-based radar and VHF […]

An amendment to 14 CFR 61.57, the area of the Federal Aviation Regulations that handles recent flight experience requirements for pilots in command, came into effect this week allowing instrument rated pilots to maintain currency in the comfort of their own homes. And adding to the ease of which pilots can keep legal, those pilots […]

People like to ask, “What was your favorite flight?” There are so many, I wouldn’t know how to choose. But ask me to choose my least favorite flight, and I can tell you in a heartbeat. It started on a beautiful February day. My buddy Shaun decided to join me. We made a lot of […]

Many instrument procedures, such as ILS approaches, allow you to fly your airplane very close to the ground while in clouds. When the decision altitude or decision height is as low as 100 to 200 feet above the ground, it is particularly critical to know the approach procedure and make sure that your altimeter is […]

Cirrus SR22T Xenia, Ohio / Injuries: 1 Fatal The airline transport pilot was repositioning the airplane to its home base after maintenance was completed at a repair station. The pilot filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan with a cruise altitude of 9,000 feet mean sea level (msl). The en route portion of the […]

“The entire normal operating checklist for the new Embraer Phenom 100 light business jet fits on both sides of a laminated card that you can slide into a shirt pocket,” former Flying editor Mac McClellan wrote approvingly in his 2009 report on the airplane. “The Phenom is designed to cut pilot workload to a minimum […]

My wife was loading the Freedom Machine with luggage and our three young sons as I entered the Greater Cincinnati FBO to file IFR for the flight back to Cleveland. A TV with the Bengals-Browns game caught my attention. It was the close-up of a Browns lineman with a wet jersey filling the screen that […]