Pilot Proficiency

Once upon a time, I lusted after owning a jet. I played the lottery in the hopes of winning enough money to own and support one. One time, I even put a down payment on a Cessna Citation Mustang. This was before I checked my net worth or calculated any realistic hopes for my net […]

A majority of pilots today have strayed from paper charts, making approach chart updates a breeze compared with the tedious paper chart replacement, which could take hours if you fly regularly in multiple states. While electronic data is much easier to update, you have to be vigilant to ensure that you have the most current […]

Every pilot knows (or should know) that New Zealand is one of the most, if not the most, beautiful places to fly on the planet. But is it really fair that even their instrument approaches, which in our neck of the woods are typically grey and dismal affairs, should be spectacularly beautiful as well? We […]

Security camera video shows a Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 descending nearly vertically at a Russian airport on Sunday before exploding in a massive fireball. All 44 passengers and six crew members were killed in the crash after the jetliner aborted one landing attempt and was attempting another. Weather does not appear to have been a […]

Miami-Dade homicide detectives have opened an investigation into the case of a passenger who apparently fell to his death into a mangrove forest from the open rear door of a Piper Malibu last Thursday. The pilot called for help, radioing “mayday, mayday, mayday” and telling air traffic controllers that a door was open and a […]

We approach the takeoff end of the runway. I go through the preflight checks — ailerons go up and down, rudder moves freely, elevators the same. It’s 7:30 a.m. as we depart St. John’s Airport in Reserve, Louisiana. I have seven hours in the airplane. I am 68 years old and a beginner at ultralight […]

(Photos courtesy of Hoot Gibson)| For the millions who drive to work every day, the mindless process of traveling endless highways and negotiating bumper-to-bumper traffic is typically something to be endured and rarely something to enjoy. Studies show that lengthy car commutes subtract from an individual’s overall sense of happiness more than just about any […]

As the airplane rose to prominence as a viable means of transportation in the early 1900s, so too did the idea of a future where individuals would commute everywhere via personal aircraft. But a century later, the lack of the necessary infrastructure and the high cost of flying continue to make commuting by airplane an […]

Sam Weigel| Life takes some pretty interesting turns now and then. Most of us have at least some idea of what we want and how to get there, but it’s not always where we end up, and the path is seldom straight. The choices we make, the people we meet, forces out of our control […]

Hartzell this week announced that it has become the propeller technical partner for the Red Bull Air Races. The partnership means that the propeller maker will provide technical support and maintenance services to the race participants in the Red Bull Air Race World Championships. Each team will also receive carbon-fiber spinners, lightweight governors and “The […]