Pilot Proficiency

As a relative newbie to flying in “weather,” I am impressed when I head off VFR with more-seasoned pilots in haze that would scare me if I was alone. “It’s just haze, with a good 5 miles of visibility,” I am often told. But looking straight ahead through 5 miles of mild haze is indistinguishable […]

Charlotte, North Carolina-based FlyRight, a training provider for the Beechcraft King Air, has announced that it will expand its facilities and add seven full-motion simulators next year, an expansion that will allow the company to also include more airplane types to its training program. In addition to the new simulators, FlyRight will add additional training […]

Slow leaks can be tough to catch during a preflight inspection. Most liquid filled containers are hidden behind the engine cowl or wheel wells. But if you pay attention to changes on the ground you can catch small leaks before they become major trouble. When you walk around the airplane, look at the ground underneath. […]

Anybody who follows general aviation knows that we’ve got our share of problems. The list goes on and on: New airplanes cost too much. FAA regulations and mandates are suffocating us. GA airports are under constant attack. The EPA wants to outlaw our 100LL avgas. Too few pilots are still flying. With so much to […]

FlightSafety is expanding its eLearning offerings by adding a NextGen communications and navigation course in order to familiarize flight departments with the future of technology. The two-hour course will cover all the bases, including key events in the history of air traffic management, transponder and radar theory basics, identification of NextGen air transportation systems and […]

The Air Force Materiel Command has publicly admitted to a mishap in which an Air Force test pilot crew got the ride of their life in April of this year. An AC-130J Ghostrider, an airplane weighing as much as 164,000 pounds, went inverted during a test flight and was severely damaged, a mistake that is […]

When did the world shrink? When did the vast distances between continents fall away like sheer cliffs, leaving behind a much smaller planet? The aviation-savvy reader might choose a specific date, Dec. 17, 1903, on the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk with the Wright brothers — the dawn of the age of the airplane. Today, […]

My best friend, Mike,­ and I woke to the subtle muttering of raindrops and realized that beyond the curtains of our Ketchikan, Alaska, motel room there was only gray, dismal sky. Damn. At that moment a scenario began that could have ended up as an NTSB accident report, starting with unquantifiable indicators and an irrational […]

As details of a tragic crash of a Hawker business jet emerge, it has been confirmed that nine people lost their lives when the airplane crashed into an apartment building in Ellet, a neighborhood in Akron, Ohio, on Tuesday. While the apartment building and an adjacent home were destroyed in the post crash fire, it […]

Taking a careful look at the pressure in each of the tires before taking off is standard for any good preflight. But do you just take a glance at the wheels to see if they appear to be inflated? Using a pressure gauge once in a while to make sure your tires are inflated to […]