Pilot Proficiency

Tragedy struck the otherwise successful and upbeat U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida, last week when two people were killed in the crash of an Aero Adventure amphibious LSA near the main runway at Sebring Regional Airport. Officials identified the victims as pilot Dennis Day of Groveland, Florida, and Jason Sponks of Orlando. The […]

The pilot, 73, had more than 18,000 hours and an ATP certificate. He and his wife, an instrument-rated private pilot with over 800 hours, kept several airplanes, all vintage or Experimental, on their private strip in northeastern Pennsylvania. One of these was a taxicab-yellow 1944 Cessna T-50 “Bamboo Bomber,” a five-seat steel-tube-and-fabric taildragger with two […]

Remember when we made a big deal last month about the FAA permitting more training time in flight simulators to count toward the instrument rating? Well forget about it. The FAA formally withdrew that policy today, and then reinstated the mind-boggling requirement that instrument students wear Foggles or other view-limiting devices while flying on instruments […]

You know that New York City is home to some of the busiest airspace anywhere, and here’s the video that proves it. Created by Keith Smith, founder and CEO of PilotEdge, the live ATC service for flight simulators, the YouTube video depicts 24 hours of New York-area traffic condensed into 24 action-packed minutes. The screen […]

Some things you just can’t understand unless you were there. So, it’s fitting that a pair of crash survivors are most responsible for one of the most notable and controversial recent aviation safety innovations. They were there. The first, Boris Popov, had his day of motorboat-towed hang gliding over Lake Owasso, Minnesota, go topsy-turvy after […]

It was late, the end of a long and trying day, and we hadn’t even left the state of Texas. I caught glimpses of muted scrubland far below as we flitted in and out of dusky cumulus. I shifted in the right seat and glanced over at Johnny in the dim red cockpit light. The […]

An experimental Lancair 320 crashed around 1:15 p.m. on Friday shortly after departing from Van Nuys Airport in Southern California, an FAA spokesman said. The Lancair ended its short journey at the busy intersection of Hayvenhurst Ave. and Vanowen St., at the departure end of Runway 16R. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the […]

With the winter months upon us, you may not be able to fly as frequently as you did in the months when the northern hemisphere gets more light and warmer temperatures. While you are likely able to safely fly after not flying for a few weeks, you’ll be in much better shape if you take […]

The National Transportation Safety Board today released its 2015 list of “Most Wanted” transportation safety improvements, and at the top of the list cited loss of control in general aviation as among the most pressing dangers demanding urgent attention. “While airline accidents have become relatively rare in the U.S., pilots and passengers involved in general […]

The massive search in the Java Sea for AirAsia flight QZ8501 has at last borne fruit that takes the investigation a large step closer to solving the questions behind the crash of the Airbus A320-200 on December 28. The cockpit voice recorder, which contains the last two hours of conversation between the pilot and copilot, […]