Pilot Proficiency

Talk about a deal that’s too good to miss. For the month of October, Redbird Skyport in San Marcos, Texas, will be selling avgas for the bargain price of $1 per gallon. There are no strings attached as long as you fly in and fill up at the FBO, which currently charges around $6 a […]

It’s too early to say how the forced landing of Cessna’s diesel 182 JT-A test airplane after an apparent engine failure will impact the certification program. Cessna and French engine maker SMA are now working to determine what went wrong last Wednesday. The test pilot of the experimental 182 JT-A, N9008H, reported to ATC that […]

Passengers of a Douglas DC-3 belonging to Yellowknife, Canada-based Buffalo Airways got a wild ride after one of the two big radial engines caught fire shortly after takeoff from the Yellowknife Airport, Canadian news network CBC reported. The pilot of the heavy taildragger circled back to the airport, but didn’t quite make it to the […]

The Experimental Aircraft Association has added three new members to its board of directors, members who add a broad base of experience to the organization. “Each of these three EAA members has a diverse aviation background and, more importantly, a longtime connection with our organization in multiple areas,” said EAA’s chairman of the board, Jack […]

They tell us that weather forecasting is seeing dramatic improvements thanks to new supercomputers capable of making hundreds of trillions of calculations per second. The latest computers in the arsenal of the National Weather Service are now more than twice as fast as they were just a few years ago, enabling far more accurate forecasts […]

I once watched a pilot perform a quickie preflight inspection of a Skyhawk at a flight school and then hop in the airplane and try to taxi out — with the tail still tied down. The red-faced pilot shut down and untied the rope as those of us on the ramp offered words of encouragement. […]

The FAA’s insistence on charging airshows for ATC services has caused the organizers at the Copperstate Fly-In, set to take place October 24-26 in Casa Grande, Arizona, to make a tough decision. The airplanes flying in for the show will have to fend for themselves. With approximately 500 aircraft attending the three-day show, this could […]

NTSB investigators say the crash of an Aeronca Champ at Taunton Municipal Airport in Massachusetts over the weekend may have been caused by the pilot’s failure to remove the rudder gust lock before trying to take off. The 1946 Aeronca 7AC reached an altitude of around 50 to 100 feet seconds after taking off on […]

It is not often that I am able to accept an invitation from a reader, but when 27-year-old First Officer Will Romualdo offered me a jumpseat view with Avianca Brazil, I could not refuse. For the last two months, I had been flying the daytime trip to São Paulo. The layover would afford me the […]

One of the great heroes of general aviation, Paul Poberezny, died today at the age of 91. Poberezny inspired thousands of people to build and fly their own airplanes by sharing his own experience as a homebuilder. He founded the Experimental Aircraft Association in 1953, where he served as president until 1989 when his son, […]