Pilot Proficiency

In March 2012 in southern Georgia, a hot-air balloon was sucked into a thunderstorm. Carried to 17,000 feet in an updraft, battered by 1-inch hail, its fabric envelope tore open and collapsed. Only four days later did searchers finally locate it in a forested area miles from the launch point. Large clumps of compacted hail […]

A Colorado sheriff’s officer recently ticketed a Blackhawk helicopter blocking one lane of a deserted road after the pilot landed in support of National Guard troops called in to rescue victims stranded by flooding. The Boulder Sheriff’s officer wrote the $150 ticket for the dubious offenses of “Parking in no parking zone” and “Parked facing […]

If you’re headed to San Marcos, Texas, next month for the dollar-a-gallon gasoline, you might consider using some of the money you saved for a weekend-long pilot proficiency forum series and hour-long session in a Redbird motion simulator. The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE) will be holding its first ever regional Pilot Proficiency […]

It was five years ago this week that the wheels came off the global economy. As we all vividly remember, the U.S. government bailout of AIG and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 sent the Dow into a tailspin unlike anything we had seen in decades. The historic Great Recession was officially under […]

Here is your chance to get a good deal if you need some pilot supplies. Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Company is hosting its annual customer appreciation day on Saturday October 5 with booths from several major players. The open house will take place in three locations simultaneously: Corona, California; Peachtree City, Georgia; and Brantford, Ontario, […]

Burr’s Berry Farm is well known for its famous strawberry milkshakes. Tourists and locals line up around the small berry stand where Mrs. Burr keeps the tradition of the farm alive. In back of the stand are rows of hydroponically grown strawberry plants elevated so that customers can pick their own strawberries without even having […]

Pilots who’ve been flying for many years or decades rarely spend much of their time in the air practicing takeoffs and landings. By simply making a half dozen or so trips around the pattern in between planning those trips to distant airports we can knock off the rust the best way possible. Think about it: […]

They say very few aviation records are left to be broken, but here’s one that’s never been tried before, at least as far as we know. Wakeboarding world champion Bernhard Hinterberger recently became the first person ever to skim across the water while being towed by an airplane in flight. Hinterberger and his team accomplished […]

Here’s a video that’s just too good not to share. An intrepid aviator in his Super Cub lands atop a mountain in central Nevada, the oddly named Bunker Hill, at an altitude of around 11,000 feet. The approach and landing are worth a watch, but the subsequent takeoff is absolutely spectacular. After stopping for a […]

The body of David Riggs has been recovered from the lake near Shenyang, China, where his Lancair 320 crashed last week. Unfortunately the story hit close to home for me. I hate to admit it, but I flew with Riggs a few years ago. It is an understatement to say that the flight left a […]