Pilot Proficiency

Many lives and limbs have been lost as a result of spinning propellers, either by someone walking into their revolving paths or by someone inadvertently starting an engine by moving a propeller. I recently spoke with a gentleman who was fortunate to walk away from an incident in which his airplane started up briefly as […]

There are many pilots who take a hiatus from flying for years, focusing their time and disposable income on their families and other activities rather than their flying hobbies. Others may stop flying after losing their aviation jobs and getting into new careers. Many of those who stop flying unfortunately never have an opportunity to […]

Last week, after enjoying one flyable day in between snowstorms, I gave up on aviating and took myself to the movies. The flick had great reviews and an impressive cast, but it was as gloomy as the weather. I sat for a couple hours and watched a totally dysfunctional family implode — the mother dying […]

The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan continues to fascinate people as the search goes on to find the remains of the Lockheed Electra that took them on their final journey in 1937. There has never been a credible artifact recovered from the flight, though it hasn’t been for lack of […]

It looks as though Flying’s stick-and-rudder skills competition will be fiercely contested as Redbird Flight Simulations reports that more than 1,400 pilots and non-pilots have registered to compete for a free trip to Oshkosh 2014. So far three contest modules have been released for the Flying Challenge Cup, including Lazy 8s, Precision Landings and Steep […]

Got weather? Really? Well, is it the type of weather information you need to make a truly informed go, no-go decision? Maybe not, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is recommending that the FAA and the National Weather Service work together to put better weather information in pilots’ hands. The NTSB action comes […]

The FAA’s draconian blanket ban on “commercial” UAV flying is a joke. An NTSB judge said as much in March by **tossing out a $10,000 FAA fine **against a videographer who made a promotional film for the University of Virginia using a small quadracopter. Others regularly fly similar remote-controlled craft to shoot videos or take […]

When you are at a gathering of pilots, you are surrounded by remarkable people — people just like you. In the United States, less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the population has made the substantial personal commitment of time, effort, money and stress required to learn to fly. To learn to fly, you have […]

A Spanish group of airplane enthusiasts called Foundation Valencia (Fundación Aérea de la Comunidad Valenciana – FACV) have successfully flown a historically accurate replica of a 1909 Blériot XI. Being such an early design, the Blériot is not an easily flown airplane, and only a handful are still in flyable condition. The Spanish appear to […]

About 400 people, including several astronauts and other aviation celebrities, were seated underneath the recently retired Endeavor space shuttle at the California Science Center in Los Angeles for the inaugural Endeavor Awards honoring pilots volunteering their services for public benefit flights. The event was spearheaded by Angel Flight West, a charitable organization whose volunteer pilots […]