Pilot Proficiency

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 […]

If you’ve ever wondered just how violent a bird strike really is, check out this harrowing cockpit video shot from the inside of a Cessna 210 a few weeks ago. The two men shown in the footage took off from Brookeridge Airpark in Downers Grove, Illinois, on December 28 and struck a Canadian goose just […]

A passenger aboard a Cessna Grand Caravan that crashed into the Pacific Ocean last month, killing another passenger, has released dramatic video he shot from inside the cabin as the airplane went down. The passenger, 39-year-old Ferdinand Puentes, was one of nine people on the flight that originated in Molokai, Hawaii, on December 11. The […]

It is very likely — I hope — that this slightly edited version of a 709 re-examination letter is the only one you’ll ever see. The FAA can legally demand a retest of your qualifications any time it chooses, but in practice, this happens only on the heels of some event — an accident or […]