Pilot Proficiency

The crash of a Learjet 25 that killed famed Latin singer Jenni Rivera was caused by a “series of factors,” according to a report released this week by Mexico’s General Civil Aviation Administration. The report comes just a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of the accident, which fatally injured all seven occupants on […]

Passengers who survived the crash of a Cessna 208 Caravan near St. Mary’s, Alaska, over the weekend have told investigators the airplane “dropped out of the sky” without warning during the flight in conditions described as low ceilings and freezing rain. The pilot and three passengers, one of them a five-month-old baby, were killed in […]

The operator of the police helicopter that crashed through the roof of a Glasgow pub last Friday grounded its entire fleet of Eurocopter EC135s for a time last year amid serious concerns about rotor hub shaft cracks, according to public records. Accident investigators in the U.K. haven’t indicated that the grounding played a role in […]

The trend among aviation educators to ingrain in students the importance of keeping their eyes looking outside the cockpit is excellent counsel in an increasingly digital world. But an equally important piece of the safety puzzle is to use everything in our arsenal, from our eyes to our ears to the avionics in the panel, […]

Four people died over the weekend near St Mary’s, Alaska, after a Cessna 208 Caravan crashed in conditions described by local news outlets as freezing rain and low ceilings. According to the Anchorage Daily News, the passengers killed include a retired couple, a five-month-old baby and the pilot. Six additional passengers survived with injuries and […]

The investigation into the crash of a police helicopter through the roof of a packed Glasgow pub on Friday night continues as emergency workers sift through the rubble in search of more bodies. At least nine people died and 30 were hospitalized when the Eurocopter EC135T2 went down at about 10:30 p.m. local time straight […]

In 1973, the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War signaled the end of the draft. A few months prior to leaving for college in 1975, the Selective Service System no longer required me to register. It wasn’t long thereafter that the Air Force dramatically reduced its demand for pilots. My secondary alternate status […]

To say that electrical systems are not my strong point is something of an understatement. The reality is I don’t actually believe in electricity, and although I’ve spent a lifetime regurgitating answers to questions on oral and written tests about amps and volts and ohms and AC and DC current and inverters and buses and […]

Spoiler alert: The following story reveals one of the top ten airplanes in our Top 100 Airplanes: Platinum Edition list. As the kids sing on Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the others,” a number of readers have been taken aback by the inclusion of an odd bird in Flying Magazine’s Top […]

As 40 million Americans prepare to visit relatives and friends this Thanksgiving week, Mother Nature has decided to add a twist with a massive winter storm that is delaying airline flights and grounding many GA pilots. To help travelers keep tabs on airline flight delays, FlightAware.com has created the Misery Map, a real-time weather and […]