Pilot Proficiency

What’s more harrowing than a tough crosswind landing? Well, a crosswind landing at night. As we’ve seen, the Birmingham Airport in the UK provides endless challenges day and night for pilots taking off and landing at the windy airport. But as daunting as the shaky ascents and descents can be, there’s no doubt that the […]

Sonex CEO Jeremy Monnett and a company mechanic were killed on Tuesday in the crash of an experimental Sonex Sport Acro at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where the company is based. The two-seat single-engine taildragger crashed into a row of Oshkosh trucks near the east end of Runway 9 for undetermined reasons. Nobody […]

It was cold. That isn’t always a bad thing. Engines have more power; wings produce greater lift (more or less). But there was also moisture. Quite a bit of it in fact. And that is just no fun when it’s below freezing. Throw in the fact that I was at the end of a long […]

If you’ve been flying for a while, you probably know of at least one person in your circle of friends who has made a very expensive mistake — starting up the engine with the towbar attached. It is a simple error but one that could cost you a new propeller and an engine overhaul. There […]

Wheels Up, the membership-based private aviation firm formed nearly two years ago by former NetJets vice chairman Kenny Dichter, is aiming to expand the private aviation customer base in the United States by millions of travelers with introduction of the industry’s first bizplane ride-sharing app. Dichter says the app will let Wheels Up members share […]

What’s the secret to making the world’s best paper airplane? Who better to ask than paper airplane world record holder John Collins, who in 2012 designed a paper airplane that flew a whopping 226 feet 10 inches. Our friends at PopSci recently caught up with Collins at the Bay Area Maker Faire, where he revealed […]

We tend to think of a sudden feeling of unease or apprehension as a bad thing, a foreboding sign that something is amiss. But as pilots, not only should we heed these uneasy feelings, we should consciously decide to welcome them as a way of eliminating risk and breaking potential links in the accident chain. […]

“I’m going to ask for 380 and another shortcut,” says Greg, sitting to my right and pointing to the CJ3’s MFD, which shows an arrival time of 16:19 Zulu. We are about three-quarters of the way down the East Coast en route from White Plains, New York, to Boca Raton, Florida, and we have a […]

The VE-Day Arsenal of Democracy celebration over Washington, D.C., may have appeared to go off without a hitch. But what most people didn’t realize is that one pilot experienced what he thought was an inflight fire during the stellar flyover. Smoke in the cockpit appeared as the TBM Avenger pilot was flying in formation with […]

Once in a while we hear of pilots making a mistake that has devastating consequences, such as forgetting to remove the control wheel lock prior to takeoff or landing with the landing gear retracted. It is easy to make a mistake and that’s why we use checklists. But in addition to using a printed or […]