Pilot Proficiency

Now that the world knows the story of the Boeing 747 Dreamlifter that landed at the wrong Wichita-area airport on Wednesday night, everybody is asking the same question: how could it have happened? That is, how could a professional crew of a large cargo airliner get it so wrong? The answer is, it’s all too […]

A medevac Learjet bound for Mexico crashed in the ocean about a mile offshore minutes after departing Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Tuesday night. Officials said two people on board have been confirmed killed and a Coast Guard search continues for two others. An airport spokesman told media outlets that the Learjet 35 was returning […]

The odd case of a Boeing 747 Dreamlifter mistakenly landing at Wichita’s Jabara Airport instead of its intended destination, McConnell Air Force Base about 7 miles to the south, wasn’t the first time the crew of a mammoth jet made such a colossal positional error. You might remember our story last year about a C-17 […]

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 […]