Pilot Proficiency

Air traffic controller Ray Smid watched the yellow blips slide across his radar screen. The circles moved in silence, but Smid never forgot that they embodied real aircraft. It didn’t matter if the traffic was big or small. Lives were lost if the blips merged. The eraser-shaped images toted “data blocks” displaying flight number, destination, […]

It’s every passenger’s worst nightmare. The flight is going smoothly and then, out of nowhere, the pilot convulses and passes out at the controls. Suddenly, the front-seat passenger is faced with the most daunting challenge he or she may likely ever face: to control the airplane and land it safely in more or less one […]

Tuesday’s deadly midair collision of an F-16 and Cessna 150 in South Carolina was the first in the United States between a military and civilian airplane in a decade, highlighting how rare such tragedies are while also pointing to the need to remain especially vigilant when airplanes of vastly different performance capabilities mix in the […]

An Air Force F-16 fighter jet and a Cessna 150 collided over South Carolina this morning, scattering debris from the airplanes over a wide area. The collision occurred about 11 miles north of Charleston near the uncontrolled Moncks Corner Airport in the vicinity of a number of military jet routes. The F-16 pilot safely ejected. […]

After making a few circuits in the pattern in a Legend Cub at the Sentimental Journey Fly-in in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania — the site of the original Piper Cub factory — I stuck around to watch the other taildragger pilots do their thing. I was heartened that every single one of the Cub drivers made […]

While the United States gets ready to celebrate for the Fourth of July holiday, here is a look at some the most unique ways to watch fireworks. Whether you get to look down from an airplane or look up from the ground, these two videos shot with GoPro cameras offer some stunning up-close views of […]

Representatives from the FAA and general aviation community gathered this week in Washington for a GA Safety Summit aimed at developing strategies to reduce the risks of personal flying for business and pleasure. The FAA noted that last year 434 people were killed in 251 general aviation accidents, a trend that has remained stubbornly flat […]

WSI has developed and installed a system that allows airplanes to collect weather data that is difficult to predict or measure by other means, namely turbulence. Called Total Turbulence, the software has been integrated into several commercial airliners, which are automatically distributing the data to provide information to other aircraft. The software has the potential […]

This video definitely fits into the “don’t try this at home” category, unless, of course, you are a highly experienced bush pilot. The pilot managed to land and take off from a postage stamp gravel island in the middle of a river in Alaska, using water assisted landing technique. The airplane touched down in the […]

An Indonesian air force C-130 transport plane carrying military personnel crashed into a residential neighborhood in the country’s third-largest city of Medan shortly after takeoff on Tuesday, killing all aboard the airplane and scores more on the ground. An Indonesian air force spokesman told reporters the death toll in the crash was confirmed as 74 […]