Pilot Proficiency

Airlines and aviation safety regulators around the world are considering a range of measures intended to prevent another tragedy like the one witnessed in the French Alps last week when a packed Germanwings jetliner crashed with its copilot at the controls. German prosecutors say the 28-year-old pilot Andreas Lubitz apparently crashed the Airbus A320 intentionally […]

The pilot, 58, was a hotel owner in the northwest England town of Chester. Although he did not fly professionally, he held commercial licenses for both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. In 2002 he had replaced his first airplane, a 160 hp fixed-gear Socata Tampico, with a 1970 Cessna 310, which he flew for 300 hours […]

Two hundred airplanes were planning to depart from a small airport at the exact same time: midnight. Most were jets. There was one ground power unit available for the entire lot. One of the field’s two runways was closed. This gave us something to think about. In fact, we had all day to contemplate the […]

I reached over to the left of my seat and squeezed the red tabs of the oxygen mask. The mask hissed as the inflatable straps began to fill with air. I pulled the device out of its holder and placed it over my face. Immediately after I released the red tabs, the cup and goggle […]

The maintenance delay in Baltimore, the frenetic jostle of Atlanta’s crowded ramps, the low drizzly ceiling in Minneapolis, the myriad little challenges and rewards of the day — all these things have faded with last light, and only the dusky shadows of the day remain. The flickering gas flares of the Bakken Oilfield fade astern […]

Many questions still remain about Tuesday’s horrifying crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps, but the lead prosecutor handling the investigation said today new information suggests the A320’s copilot locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately initiated the fateful descent. Still unclear, however, is what specific information investigators have uncovered to […]

Are you one of many pilots intimidated by the invisible voices behind the avionics panel? Well, if you are, there is a magic action you can take to overcome your fear. It is as simple as scheduling a visit to a local air traffic control tower or Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility. By meeting […]

Are you intimidated by crosswinds? Do you want to learn more about how to master them without having to pay an instructor? While we always advocate learning with the safety of an instructor in the right seat, you now have an opportunity to get some free tips and gain a better understanding of crosswind landing […]

Imagine scrambling across the ceiling of your Airbus A330’s cockpit during a terrifying negative-G dive to reach your pilot seat and avert disaster in the nick of time. That’s just what happened after the captain of a UK military transport plane nearly caused a crash when his personal digital SLR camera became wedged between the […]

Investigators have begun the painstaking process of trying to determine why an Airbus A320 carrying 144 passengers and six crew members on a scheduled flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf suddenly started descending over the south of France before crashing in the French Alps. The French civil aviation authority confirmed there was no distress call from […]