Pilot Proficiency

There are many visual illusions that can present themselves during flight. One scenario that can mess with the normal cues during the approach and landing phases is a runway that is located on a hilltop. I recently flew into Catalina airport on Catalina Island to enjoy one of their fantastic buffalo burgers. While the airport […]

My friend Justin is a superb flight instructor with considerable experience in real-world flying and is charmingly full of himself. He amuses me by constantly working deals that involve flying really nice airplanes to major league games, rock concerts, ski resorts, airshows, Mardi Gras festivals, NASCAR races and weekends at somebody’s oceanfront condo. Last week, […]

Since 2009, 42 Air Force MC-12Ws have been deployed to war zones in the Middle East. The MC-12W is a modified Beech King Air 350, externally similar except for a plethora of antennas and several unsightly bulges, including a huge belly pack. Communications and surveillance equipment and stations for two technicians replace the usual executive […]

When I turned 15 and started taking flying lessons, my dad gave me a copy of one of the true bibles of piloting technique: “Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators.” First published in 1960, it remains the definitive text on applied aerodynamics for pilots — and at 15, I could barely understand a word of it. It […]

There’s quite the debate raging at the moment about whether it’s OK to bank steeply in the traffic pattern or, for safety reasons, if we should limit the steepness of turns when we’re low and slow. In a recent blog post over at AirFacts.com, former Flying editor Richard Collins had this to say: “The pilot […]

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been halted by rough weather in the southern Indian Ocean, where investigators now say they are certain the Boeing 777 with 239 people on board went down. Malaysian officials said yesterday that satellite data examined by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Inmarsat had led them […]

Witnesses told the Outer Banks News that the Allegro 2000 light sport aircraft (LSA) appeared to be on approach to land at First Flight Airport at the Wright Brothers National Memorial when it crashed into trees. The pilot and passenger were able to walk away, though the pilot suffered a head injury and was airlifted […]

FAA records show that the 1996 Socata TBM 700 was registered just nine days before it left Gadsden, Alabama, on a flight to Montrose, Colorado, on Saturday. It crashed into a reservoir about 25 miles from the destination airport. The turboprop single was registered to an Alabama LLC, and made a fuel stop in Bartlesville, […]

Aviationweather.gov is getting a whole new look and feel today, but don’t worry, the National Weather Service promises that all of the content previously available on the site will still be there — just with updated page layouts and menus. The site underwent a makeover to bring its look in line with sister site weather.gov, […]

A closer examination of satellite data confirms that missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, ending a baffling weeks-long mystery and focusing the search for the Boeing 777’s black boxes in the area off the southwest coast of Australia. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said at a press conference this morning […]