Pilot Proficiency

In those kinder and gentler days (which may be more legend than fact), an FAA inspector who learned that your Mooney was sitting on its belly might have taken down the details over the phone, filed a brief report and even offered sympathy for your embarrassment and the cost of the repairs. General aviation activity […]

The 2014 edition of the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, which took place just before the 100th Rose Bowl football game, had a special aviation-themed float this year. A T-6 Texan replica soared above eight original members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots riding along on the WASP Rose Parade float. The 20-ton float […]

It was a spectacularly clear spring day in Lakeland, Florida. My wife, Cathy, and I were sauntering from exhibit to exhibit with four friends at Sun ’n Fun. The airshow had just begun. A fleet of Pitts Specials screamed by. We were just talking to Darryl Taylor of Van Bortel Aircraft in Texas about the […]

Pilots who transition from flying strictly for pleasure to a combination of pleasure and utility face a whole new set of challenges. For instance, weather conditions that might have kept a pilot on the ground if he had no place in particular to be suddenly present a conundrum for the same pilot who has made […]

On New Year’s Day 1914, pilot Tony Jannus took off from St. Petersburg, Florida, on a scheduled passenger flight to Tampa. On the centennial of that flight, the departure city held a ceremony marking what was the first airline flight in the U.S., and it was planned that a historically accurate replica of Jannus’s Benoist […]

The NTSB closed out the old year with a quintet of Safety Alerts (SAs) covering issues it believes to be the top threats in general aviation operations based on recent accident history. The advisories are short documents outlining the areas of concern and citing accidents in which the advice could have prevented injury or death. […]

The National Championship Air Races, the annual pylon race outside Reno, Nevada, continues to show distress as a result of the tragic Galloping Ghost accident in 2011. The Reno Air Race Association, which organizes the daredevil show, has ousted its long-time president and CEO Mike Houghton, who has led the organization for more than 15 […]

For nervous passengers who stiffen the moment an airplane begins to move forward and do not relax until the grab-your-carry-ons chime has sounded, it must be hard to imagine that pilots could actually fall asleep while flying. No pilot would like to admit to doing so. Nevertheless, there have been instances of airline crews overshooting […]

Ever wonder how your Christmas tree made it from the farm to the store front? In the case of the trees in the videos below, the process involved some pretty intense helicopter work. In the first video, pilot Dan Clark uses a Bell 2063B JetRanger to get the job done rather swiftly — to say […]

During the holiday season, there can often be pressure to be in a place at a specific time. You may have a big family gathering planned, possibly at several distant locations within a span of a couple of days. Get-There-Itis becomes a reality. Making the choice to stay on the ground or turn around if […]