Pilot Proficiency

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 […]

It’s back! The Red Bull Air Race World Championship will return to the skies starting next year with a seven-race circuit across six countries. Two of the world championship races will take place in the United States — first at the Texas Motor Speedway near Dallas next September 6-7 followed by a race October 11-12 […]

Ever since Tom Poberezny suddenly left the Experimental Aircraft Association in 2011, his presence has been lacking at EAA’s annual AirVenture. Now there are rumors that Poberezny will return to next year’s aviation extravaganza in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. A sizable group of high profile EAA members, including Bob Hoover, Dick VanGrunsven, Frank Christensen and Burt Rutan, […]

Hearing about John and Martha King’s encounter with law enforcement and reading about similar horror stories, I adjusted my eye patch and was about to swing through the rigging, knife in teeth, in defense of pilots’ rights. Like Clark Kent, I would use my journalistic skills to battle the forces of evil — menacing cops […]

There has been considerable consternation in the aviation media recently about the lack of progress in improving the general aviation accident rate. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman recently expressed her frustration that the general aviation accident rate in the United States has essentially plateaued at around 1,500 accidents every year, emphasizing that the […]

At the Monaco yacht expo last week, one of the attention grabbers was Graham Hawkes’s DeepFlight Super Falcon two-man submarine. What makes the craft interesting for pilots is the control method. The Super Falcon is buoyant, and relies on forward motion and negative “lift” from its 8.8-foot wingspan to keep it from rising to the […]

Southwest Airlines said it has fired the captain who landed a Boeing 737-700 nose wheel first at New York LaGuardia Airport in July. The airline determined that the captain, who had flown for Southwest for 13 years, took control of the airplane from the first officer at about 400 feet on the approach in violation […]

Pilots who’ve made the trip to the Redbird Skyport in San Marcos, Texas, for the $1 a gallon gasoline are raving about their experiences. Despite sky high demand since the promotion started on October 1, lines have moved quickly and the FBO has handled the influx of pilots beautifully, we are being told. As the […]