Pilot Proficiency

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 Gary Peek, who recently flew into St. Charles County Smartt Airport in St. Charles, Missouri, in a Cessna 182. Here’s what he had to say about one of […]

Eugene Corbett Patterson died last January. You may have a flicker of name recognition, as his obituary was in almost every newspaper in the country. The New York Times announced his death on the front page and devoted considerable space to this farm boy, soldier, scholar, journalist and editor. To me, he was the best […]

Recently I received notification of an event I couldn’t pass up — a “General Aviation Accident Reduction and Mitigation Symposium,” sponsored by the Arizona Pilot’s Association (APA) and the Arizona Safety Advisory Group (ASAG), which links many of the aviation groups in Arizona in the quest to reduce accidents, and especially fatal accidents, in the […]

The mnemonic lights, camera, action reminds pilots to turn the transponder to ALT before lifting off in controlled airspace. But did you know that the FAA recommends activating the transponder while on the ground? You may have been trained to put the transponder in STBY mode while taxiing. But this practice no longer satisfies the […]

This video is almost sure to start a lively debate on safety. A flight instructor and student in a Robinson R22 with an onboard video camera are shown flying over a group of RC modelers, and one of the men notes that a P-51 scale model has crashed into the treetops. They decide to descend […]

“You should have seen it before we started,” said Taigh Ramey of Vintage Aircraft and Stockton Field Aviation Museum in Stockton, California. He was talking about the ultra-rare Lockheed PV-2D long-range patrol bomber restored at the museum over the past three years. And with the series of before-and-after photos on the museum website, you can. […]

It’s the scenario all airline pilots prepare for but hope they never experience: an engine failure on takeoff. In this case, the right engine of a Thomas Cook Airbus A330 exploded on Monday afternoon during the takeoff run from Manchester Airport in England. The crew’s quick reaction keeps the airliner more or less in the […]

The FAA and NTSB are investigating a crash in San Luis Obispo, California, on Monday afternoon in which the pilot, whose name has not been released, was killed. Local news outlets reported that the airplane was a twin-engine Cessna 337 Skymaster. The pilot reportedly made a mayday call to the tower controllers just after taking […]

A vintage Stearman crashed and exploded into flames on Saturday at an Ohio airshow, killing pilot Charlie Schwenker and wingwalker Jane Wicker. The pair were killed instantly while performing at around 12:45 p.m. at the Vectren Air Show at the Dayton International Airport as thousands of spectators watched. Amateur video of the crash shows Wicker […]

The following article is from the January 2013 print issue. Way back in the early ’70s, an old friend of my husband’s, Harry Combs, invited us to join him and his wife at the National Aviation Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony and dinner in Dayton, Ohio. Serving as master of ceremonies that year, Combs was […]