Pilot Proficiency

I had just finished packing my suitcase and refueling my rental car, ready to depart L’Agulhas, a sleepy fishing village built on the soft green hills and limestone rocks of Africa’s southernmost point. My last two days in South Africa were spent soaking up the sunlit serenity of this surfside enclave where the Atlantic and […]

Climbing over large boulders blocking the mouth of a narrow, sandy canyon near Joshua Tree, California, I stopped to catch my breath. Somewhere on the steep, rock-strewn hills just ahead, the remains of a TA-4F Skyhawk lay undisturbed. At 3:07 p.m. on Oct. 23, 1969, the ill-fated jet on a training flight originating in Yuma, […]

Engines, aircraft, and the rules and certification standards and procedures that govern them have evolved together since the 1930s on the seemingly firm foundation of leaded avgas, which forms part of the operating limitations on which the type certificates of aircraft and engines are based. Fuels and fuel systems have come to be perfectly matched […]

A pilot out of Jacksonville, Florida, is lucky to be alive after surviving two unusual inflight accidents in one year. According to First Coast News, Graham Hill and his passenger walked away from a plane crash after the Cessna 172 from which Hill was towing a banner over a Florida Gators football game reportedly lost […]

No wonder the White House believes it’s winning the 10-day-old standoff with Republicans over the government shutdown. With the power he has American businesses, including much of the aviation industry, the president holds what might be an unbeatable hand. If Republicans didn’t know it before, they do now. With one phone call to Transportation Secretary […]

When the pilot of a Cessna 172 lost consciousness over northern England on Tuesday, his passenger, 77-year-old John Wildey, knew enough to make a Mayday call. That initiated a flurry of rescue activity that resulted in a successful emergency landing, though the unidentified pilot later died after being taken to a hospital. Wildey and the […]

AOPA’s initiative to promote flying clubs around the country, which was announced at last year’s AOPA Summit in Palm Springs, California, has inspired Sporty’s to launch a program to aid clubs as well. Sporty’s is offering 5 percent rebates on all purchases from customers who are members of a registered flying club. “We are in […]

If you thought Redbird’s $1 a gallon gasoline promotion for the month of October sounded too good to be true, well, you were right. Citing overwhelming demand and the toll it has taken on the Skyport FBO staff in San Marcos, Texas — not to mention the company’s bank account — Redbird has decided to […]

Fiscal year 2013 was less unlucky than 2012 for fatal accidents among the experimental category. There were 55 accidents involving fatalities this year, compared with 73 last year, a 25 percent decrease. The accidents resulted in 70 deaths, down 18 percent from the 85 who lost their lives in 2012. EAA also reports that the […]

If the registration for your airplane is expiring at the end of this month and the government shutdown continues past October 31, you could face a thorny proposition: Should you consider your airplane grounded or keep flying as though nothing has happened? Based on an unscientific survey of pilots on online message boards, most appear […]