Pilot Proficiency

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 […]

When taking off from your home airport, what’s your preferred departure technique? Do you choose to climb at Vx (best angle-of-climb airspeed), Vy (best rate-of-climb airspeed) or perhaps some other speed? In high-performance piston singles especially, max performance takeoffs at Vx or Vy may not be the smartest idea. Sure, you’ll gain extra altitude climbing […]

An emergency landing nearly ended in tragedy last week when an airplane was forced down on a ski slope in the French ski resort Avoriaz, the French news outlet Agence France-Presse reports. During the forced landing, the airplane managed to avoid most of the people on the busy ski hill but hit a Polish skier […]

We’ve seen cliff diving in airplanes, gliders and wingsuits, but how about in a snowmobile? In this epic video, a stunt team from Finland has modified a snowmobile and actually made it fly. Driving straight off a cliff, parachute attached, they glide down a mountain in Riksgränsen, Sweden, soaring at the same level as a […]

Dramatic video captured the collision of a pair of Indonesian military trainers as the pilots practiced their routine for an airshow in Malaysia on Sunday. The pilots of both airplanes safely ejected after clipping each other during a head-on pass that led to the fiery crashes of the KT-1B turboprops, single-engine training airplanes built by […]

During homecoming weekend at The Citadel, the past came alive for hundreds of Citadel grads from around the nation and, in a few cases, the globe. Old times, old tales, old pains and old pleasures — one way that time effects us all is that good times get better and bad times lose their sting. […]

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 […]