Pilot Proficiency

There can be many reasons for running low on fuel sooner than expected: headwinds that prolong a flight, tailwinds that make you optimistically skip a planned stop, tanks not filled to the brim, too rich a mixture, a miscalculation in flight planning.

It was scary. We were more than a mile from the short runway, skimming the treetops in a Chinese-made Socata Trinidad look-alike. We were so low we couldn’t even see the runway. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on. This was the pilot’s idea of how to make a […]

Relevant Discussion: (FAR 71.41, 91.117, 91.126, 91.127, 91.129, 91.130, 91.131, 91.155, 91.215, AIM 3-2-1, 3-2-3) Class B Airspace: Surface to 7,000 feet msl (e.g., in Miami) or up to as high as 12,500 feet msl (e.g., Atlanta) surrounding the busiest airports. (The illustration above is an example only.) Individually tailored upside-down wedding cakes — and […]

Flying is the only magazine I subscribe to. I always make a point of reading each issue front to back, although sometimes out of order, and I’m always eager to read the stories in the I Learned about Flying from That column. Now I have my own story to tell of a recent adventure — […]

Closely following the National Transportation Safety Board’s March release of an investigative report into deficiencies in the pilot weather reporting system, the Board yesterday published a three-page safety alert – SA 064 – designed to remind aviators of the identified weaknesses in the current Pirep system while encouraging them to help create better reports because […]

The National Association of Flight Instructors launches its new professional development program, a cooperative effort between NAFI and the aviation industry, tomorrow night via live streaming on FAASTeamTV. The new PDP segment begins at 8 p.m. EST. The program is the culmination of years of effort to give NAFI members a way to share instructional […]

Instrument approach plates contain considerable amounts of valuable information. But that information only has value to a pilot who understands the symbology displayed on the chart and possesses a reasonable understanding of the ATC system and the procedures around which the approach was created. All too often, pilots expect air traffic control to simply use […]

Embed from Getty Images With loss of control still the primary cause of aircraft fatalities, the FAA last year released the new Airmen Certification Standards, some aspects of it controversial, to replace the practical test standards for pilots seeking a private or an instrument rating. The goal was to create a better-trained pilot before they […]

Thunderstorm Avoidance without Onboard Radar: Maintain VFR conditions on top as long as possible to observe and avoid buildups. If getting on top is impossible or becomes impossible to maintain, the best option is to descend as low as possible to what may be VFR conditions below the clouds. Maintain VFR conditions below the bases […]

After 14 years of flying my second homebuilt, preceded by nine years in my first, I wish I could say that most things that can go wrong already have, but the gods might think me insolent. By now, however, I can at least say with some confidence what has worked and what has not. My […]