Pilot Proficiency

Most lessons learned in this column arise from personal experiences in airplanes weighing less than 12,500 pounds. But every once in a while, pilots flying big airplanes weighing 870,000 pounds or more have embarrassing moments that are worth sharing too. My two first officers and I were flying a routine leg in a Boeing 747-400 […]

There’s usually not much time to react before a bird strike, as was vividly demonstrated in the dramatic video of a bird crashing the through the windshield of a Piper Saratoga last week. But the pilot in this incident reacted just as all pilots should, by maintaining control of the airplane, assessing the damage and […]

Like so many of us who love aviation, I was lucky enough to have someone in my life who introduced me to the thrill of flight at a young age — in my case, my father. As a fighter pilot in the Air Force for 21 years, first flying F-4s and then F-15s, and then […]

Pilot Rob Weber of Fort Myers, Florida, says he always wondered what it would be like to have a bird strike take out the windshield of his airplane. Now he knows. And he got it on video. Weber was piloting his Piper Saratoga last week when a direct hit by a bird shattered the left […]

Legendary fighter pilot, test pilot and airshow pilot R.A. Bob Hoover was honored last week in an extravagant event at the entrance to the Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood, California, where a fiberglass replica of Hoover’s P-51 “Ole Yeller” acted as the centerpiece. Nearly 500 people, including many aviation executives and celebrities, had a chance […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. This latest Spotlight is brought to you by Mike Pratt, who has recently flown into Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field in Louisville, Kentucky in a Cessna 195. Here’s what he had to say about one of the […]

Streetlights are twinkling to life as I turn onto the field, and the airport beacon is already sweeping through the afternoon gloom. Minnesota winters are as dark as they are cold, and in January, both features are particularly oppressive. I park by the hangar and step out of the car, pulling my coat tight against […]

The businessman-pilot took off at 3:15 in the afternoon from St. Petersburg, Florida, in his company’s A36 Bonanza, bound for Norman, Oklahoma. He filed IFR, with a cruising altitude of 10,000 feet and a speed of 185 knots. The 900 nm trip would have been at the very limit of the airplane’s range, but he […]

Most before takeoff checklists in piston-powered airplanes include the item “Throttle – idle.” And while you may pull the throttle lever all the way back to the stop, you may not have a clear idea of what to look for. You may think the action is simply done to ensure that the engine keeps running […]

Illustrations by Luis Ruiz| The accident statistics don’t lie, and they are chilling. Since the FAA began collecting records in the early 1980s on the number of fatalities, the number of deaths in general aviation accidents has topped 400 every year. The good news is the number of accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities has dropped […]