Pilot Proficiency

As the Boeing 737 descends through 25,000 feet, we break through a thin overcast layer over the Columbia River and a stunning Cascades panorama appears before our eyes. It’s an unusually clear day for early spring, and from my jumpseat perch there are incredible views from Glacier Peak all the way south to the Three […]

I now have thousands of hours in my logbooks, but despite my best efforts, none represent a perfect flight. Many come close, but there was always something I could have done just a little bit better. So I reflected on the opposite type of flight entry: Which one represented my worst flight? That would be […]

One of the most valued intrinsic benefits to having contributed to this publication for almost 15 years has been the opportunity to interact with some special and unique people. Individuals that were the subject matter of this column have remained a fond and integral part of my writing. On most occasions, we part ways with […]

Josephine Marie was supposed to be born in mid-May, but she got into an argument with her mother long before then. As January ice-walked into February during a cold Boston winter, the argument grew testy and then became life threatening. Kelly, her mother, reluctantly took to bed and soon thereafter submitted to hospitalization at Brigham […]

After my purgatory in West Chicago and three mostly great years in the Indianapolis FSDO, the FAA offered a transfer to Cincinnati. It was a bittersweet decision, and my boss, Jay Peterson, rather obliquely suggested I might want to stay put. He understood I was anxious to get back home, but he also knew the […]

When you took the exam to get your pilot certificate, you were asked questions that perhaps did not relate to the realities of everyday flying. You got the written test out of the way and promptly forgot the stuff that didn’t seem important. Now, with new test standards due out soon, there’s a solid link […]

According to BRS, tests have shown that its parachutes can be pulled and still fully inflate at altitudes as low as 260 feet and speeds as high as 187 knots. Individual pilots have testified that they successfully deployed their chutes ­below 100 feet. BRS does not provide a specific minimum-altitude limitation (Cirrus recommends a minimum […]

It’s a basic fact of aviation: Airplanes love to be flown. When they sit, bad things happen. Engines corrode, critters set up residence and basic maintenance gets neglected until the airplane finally flies, at which point expensive stuff breaks. Hourly costs skyrocket, and the crestfallen owner flies even less. When I bought my 1953 Piper […]

(function(d, s, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) return; var js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘//cdn4.wibbitz.com/static.js’; d.getElementsByTagName(‘body’)[0].appendChild(js); }(document, ‘script’, ‘wibbitz-static-embed’)); Cirrus Aircraft has taken a drastically new apporoach to transition training. The results speak for themselves. Today Cirrus’ fatal accident rate, less than one fatal accident per 100,000 flight hours, is just half the […]

Specialized flight training has long been part of the typical transition process for pilots moving up to ever-faster and more capable airplanes. A rash of fatal SR22 crashes in 2012, however, forced Cirrus Aircraft to go back to the drawing board and completely rethink its approach to training. Nothing was out of bounds, from the […]