Pilot Proficiency

I adjusted the captain’s seat a final time and exhaled a hushed whistle. My eyes darted across the DC-9’s cluttered instrument panel. Endless dials and knobs were embedded in the gray metal. A seasoned DC-9 pilot would view the layout as a smile from an old friend. I felt like I was shaking hands with […]

If you’re headed to Oshkosh or Reno in 2015 you’re in luck. Watchmaker Breitling announced that the Breitling Jet Team will kick off its first-ever U.S. tour during the 2015 airshow season, including stops at EAA AirVenture and the Reno Air Races. The team has performed together in their black-and-yellow L-39 Albatros twinjets for nearly […]

As the days pass, the likelihood of ever finding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370‘s black boxes grow dimmer. Searchers initially began looking for the jet in the Gulf of Thailand, the location of the Boeing 777’s last reported position. They then fanned out to the west, believing that the jetliner may have veered off course with […]

We’ve all cursed the guy prattling on for what seems like forever over the Unicom frequency as he supplies us with every last detail of what he’s flying, what he’s doing and what he plans to do next. Meanwhile, we can’t get a word in edgewise to let other pilots know we’ve just entered the […]

The winds have been downright nasty across the UK this winter, giving one local plane watcher the chance to put together an incredible YouTube video of harrowing crosswind takeoffs and landings. We don’t know what the metars reported for these challenging operations, but suffice it to say the winds in all case were strong with […]

What if you could live inside an airplane? Well, one aviation enthusiast has actually made that possible. About four years ago, engineer Toshikazu Tsukii (or Ski as he is commonly known) took on the enormous project of building a guesthouse using parts of retired Boeing 707, 727, 737, 747 jets and military airplanes. Living in […]

Flying editor-in-chief Robert Goyer appeared during South by Southwest, the Austin, Texas, music, technology, film and interactive festival. Goyer took part in the culminating session of Waggener Edstrom’s Connected Car Pavillion panel discussions, which in all featured more than two dozen automobile industry experts weighing in on the future of the automobile in terms of […]

The tragic presumed crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Saturday that apparently claimed the lives of 239 people remains a mystery, but it is a mystery that can be solved if searchers find the wreckage, which is still a big “if” at this point. The Boeing 777-200ER that presumably crashed into the ocean was […]

An incredible series of photos dramatically illustrate the progression of a collision that happened over the weekend at the South Lakeland Airport — a grass field in Mulberry, Florida, southwest of Lakeland. The Tampa Bay Times reported that the pilot, Sharon Trembley, was practicing takeoffs and landings in a Cessna taildragger when the skydiver, reported […]

On Feb. 12, 2009, 50 people lost their lives as Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed while on an instrument approach into Buffalo Niagara International Airport. As is the case with many accidents, several causes contributed to the crash, including icing conditions and fatigue. However, what may have saved the lives of the people on board […]