Pilot Proficiency

After questions arose during the Pilot Racing Seminar in June as to whether there would be a future for Unlimited racers at Reno, there is no longer any doubt. With the Unlimited racers the top draw, Reno needed a big name, and it got it, with one of the most storied racers to ply the […]

Everyone agrees that diesel makes a lot of sense for light GA, but so far there have only been lower- to mid-power options, including models from Thielert, Austro and SMA. One company, Engineered Propulsion Systems (EPS), of New Richmond, Wisconsin, is doing something about this state of affairs by developing an aero diesel, the Vision […]

The National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday revealed that the Asiana pilot at the controls of the Boeing 777 that crashed at San Francisco International Airport over the weekend has told investigators that he was temporarily blinded by a “bright light” on the approach while passing through 500 feet. NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said it […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. This latest Spotlight is brought to you by John Moffitt, who recently flew into Salt Lake City International Airport in a Cessna 182. Here’s what he had to say about the airport’s FBO, TAC Air: “Although […]

Illustrations by Chris Gall| “Why don’t you just go to the airport and go flying?” Those were my lovely wife’s exact words. I should have them memorized; I’ve heard her say them, oh, 5,000 times over the past 12 years. Not that she’s nagging in any way (all pilot husbands should be so lucky). She […]

The crash of Asiana 214, a Boeing 777, at SFO brought to the world’s attention a number of issues that pilots have been talking about for years, most notably the role of automation in safety and its potential unintended negative consequences if pilots become too reliant on it and lose critical hand-flying skills. What issue […]

When flying in busy airspace, frequency changes can happen often, sometimes every few minutes. It is good practice to write down each frequency in case you need to reference it later. The past frequencies may be helpful if for some reason you can’t reach the next controller or, more importantly, if you have a comm […]

The Asiana Boeing 777 that crashed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday was flying in an unusually nose-high attitude on approach and “significantly below” its target airspeed, investigators said yesterday. The NTSB has confirmed that the jetliner had its gear down, flaps set to 30 degrees and the engines were at idle power — […]

The owner of the float-equipped Maule saw it crash. He was there to watch as his friend and a passenger arrived in the airplane. “I witnessed the airplane fly over the field,” he wrote, “and enter a downwind for a landing on Runway 4. As the plane turned from base to final, it banked at […]

With apologies to our vegan readers, we present the most delicious flight plan ever, with waypoints carefully chosen not necessarily to give the best routing but to offer the best life advice, in our humble opinions, that is. The picture was snapped in flight by Cirrus rep Ivy McIvers, who presumably hadn’t had any part […]