Pilot Proficiency

| There’s only one foolproof way to ensure you don’t end up as an accident statistic in yet another stall/spin fatal crash: Avoid stalling in the first place. Yet if the goal is to avoid stalling, why do we spend so much time practicing stalls? After all, 97 percent of stall/spin accidents that start at […]

It’s been nearly three decades since William Suitor, aka Rocketman, wowed about 2.5 billion viewers around the world when he took off with his rocket belt over the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. And it was around the same time that inventor Glenn Martin, the founder of Martin Aircraft Company […]

The pilot of a Bradley BA100 light sport aircraft carefully checked the GoPro cameras mounted on the exterior of his airplane. With video rolling, he took off from Skylark Airport in Killeen, Texas, but shortly after passing the departure end of the 5,495-foot runway, his engine lost power. The video shows a slight right turn […]

Airtime on aviation frequencies, whether you are communicating on a clearance, ground, tower, departure, en route, arrival or CTAF frequency, should be kept to a minimum. You need to make yourself understood in a quick, concise manner. You do this by using certain wording that all pilots should be accustomed with. But if you speak […]

An Air Force B-1 bomber crashed in a remote area of southeastern Montana on Monday moments after its four crew members safely ejected, officials said. Two pilots and two weapons system officers were aboard the B-1 before it crashed at about 9:30 a.m. near Broadus, Montana. All four were transported to two South Dakota hospitals, […]

Raising questions about what role automation may have played in the August 14 UPS crash at Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport, the NTSB revealed that the Airbus A300’s autopilot and autothrottles were engaged all the way to the point of impact about three quarters of a mile short of the runway. According to the NTSB, the […]

Throughout its history, aviation has generated some of the most remarkable figures that ever lived, including those brave pilots who made the first forays into the air and who courageously pushed the bounds of flight in ways previously unimaginable. At the same time, aviation has produced a number of people whose heroism rises above the […]

When Bob Hoff asked me to speak at the Idaho Aviation Expo, my first reaction (after “Wow, I’ve almost never been to Idaho”) was “What will I say to these Idaho aviators who already take off at 5,000 feet msl, fly through rugged terrain into steep, high canyons and land airplanes with huge tires on […]

It was a normal Saturday morning. I had just left the bank and pulled up to the busy street to wait for a break in traffic so I could make a right turn. I had quickly checked to the right when I first stopped at the sidewalk, and then focused on the traffic approaching from […]

The magic of flight has captured 19-month-old Noah as he stares up at the giant nose of a Douglas DC-7 on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Do we have a future pilot in the making? While it’s too early to say whether Noah will develop a passion for aviation, he looks […]