Pilot Proficiency

It was a growing cumulus cloud, cauliflower-shaped with distinct edges. Our IFR route was taking us right through it. “You’re not going to fly through that, are you? That’s a thunderstorm,” said Martha, clearly alarmed. “Well, yeah. But that’s not a thunderstorm. It’s not tall enough. We’re only at 17,000 feet. Besides, it’s right in […]

One Friday morning, Brennan Parrish and his girlfriend, Ann Elizabeth, flew out of Savannah-Hardin County Airport in Savannah, Tennessee, in a 1967 Piper Cherokee Six. What looked like a quick loop in the pattern suddenly turned into a diversion to a nearby pasture. Painted in all caps were the words, “Marry me.” The 15-foot-high by […]

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter assigned to the Army National Guard in Hammond, Louisiana, crashed near Eglin Air Force Base, about 40 miles east of Pensacola, Florida, during a routine training mission on Tuesday evening. Seven marines and four crewmembers from the Marine Special Operations Regiment from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were on board the helicopter […]

In the increasingly sophisticated field of computer-generated imagery (CGI), even an aircraft in the earliest stages of development can take shape with a likeness that will be almost indis­tin­guishable from the first prototype that will eventually roll out of the production facility. So advanced are today’s digital images that, even for some with the most […]

Three French sports stars were among 10 people killed on Monday when two helicopters collided in northwest Argentina during filming for a reality TV show. The sports stars, all well-known in their home country, included Florence Arthaud, who in 1990 set a record for sailing across the Atlantic alone; champion swimmer Camille Muffat, who won […]

Harrison Ford is expected to remain in the hospital for at least another week after reportedly suffering a broken pelvis, broken ankle and gashes on his face following last Thursday’s forced landing of the Ryan PT-22 he was piloting onto a golf course near Santa Monica Airport in southern California. According to an ATC audio […]

Exactly one year after Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappeared with 239 people aboard, sparking worldwide speculation about what happened to the Boeing 777, Malaysian investigators have released their first comprehensive report on the flight. The 585-page report provides little new insight into the circumstances behind the disappearance but offers extensive details depicting the mass confusion and […]

For many parts of the country, spring is here or at least it’s getting close. But winter conditions still prevail in some areas. The northeast got hit hard last week, resulting in a Delta Airlines MD-88 ending up on the side of the runway. Water and snow have a great impact on landing performance. Here […]

Harrison Ford made a successful emergency landing this afternoon at the Penmar Golf Course just off the departure end of Santa Monica Airport’s Runway 21. Ford was flying his Ryan PT-22 and from the crash footage it appears that he did a terrific job of making the forced landing as safely as he could, targeting […]

Around 11 a.m. this morning, Delta Flight 1086 skidded off Runway 13 at the LaGuardia Airport in New York. The area is in the middle of a winter storm with heavy snow and poor visibility. The airplane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88, was on its way from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, carrying 131 passengers […]