Pilot Proficiency

Aluminum lasts a long time. It’s why airplanes are not subject to the same planned obsolescence that allows the automotive industry to continually generate repeat customers. Though the last combat mission over Vietnam was flown almost four decades ago, the remnants of the air war are still visible in the Southeast Asian country. Blogger David […]

A U.S. Navy F/A-18E crashed about 45 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach on Wednesday during a routine training mission. The pilot ejected before the Super Hornet went down and is in critical condition after being rescued by a fishing vessel, according to a statement by the Navy. He had deployed his life raft […]

The animal world continues to inspire aircraft designers. A couple of years ago we published a story about how the fins of humpback whales are helping scientists develop new main rotor blade designs. Now a story is emerging about how a team of scientists from New York University used the motion of swimming jellyfish to […]

Here’s an inflight service that is clearly not for the pilots. A London-based gourmet catering company called AP on Air has launched a series of cocktails to quench the thirst of high fliers. And these are not any old screwdrivers or rum and cokes. With names like sora, gotham, autumn and zephyr, the cocktails, which […]

I spent some time this week with Kenny Dichter, the founder of Wheels Up, a startup private aviation company that is rolling the dice with a fleet of brand new King Air 350i turboprops. The New York-based firm has taken delivery of its first nine King Airs as part of a massive deal with Beechcraft […]

A variety of factors contributed to the tragic crash of a Twin Commander into an Arizona mountain that killed a father and his three young children just before Thanksgiving two years ago. Linking them all, however, was a culture of “complacency” that existed among the co-owners of the company that operated the airplane, according to […]

The National Transportation Safety Board’s 2014 “Most Wanted” list of transportation safety concerns includes, “General Aviation: Identify and Communicate Hazardous Weather,” and “Address Unique Characteristics of Helicopter Operations,” as two of 10 issues the Board says deserve increased focus in the coming year. In the 2014 Most Wanted list released today, the NTSB stated: “The […]

Budget cuts have hit the FAA hard again this year, with the agency continuing to charge hefty user fees for temporary air traffic control services at airshows. One of the first airshows of the year, the Cable Air Show at the Cable Airport near Upland, California, took place over the weekend. The owner of the […]

We recently heard a story involving a student pilot who headed out to the airport for some night solo time and ended up facing his first real emergency. According to his instructor, the student performed a preflight inspection in the winter chill with a flashlight before climbing aboard and heading out to the active. When […]

Long Island, New York-based Hopscotch Air celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. Hopscotch Air flies seven Cirrus SR22s as air taxis, an idea that was supposed to explode with the advent of glass cockpits, NextGen and very light jets. Hopscotch partners with Linear Air, a similarly configured air taxi operation flying Eclipse VLJs. Together, the […]