Pilot Proficiency

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 […]

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 Mitch Wohl, who recently flew into Centennial Airport in Denver in a Cessna 170. Here’s what he had to say about one of the airport’s FBOs, Denver Jet […]

Normally if I heard about a documentary that purported to uncover “new” evidence about the TWA Flight 800 disaster, I would roll my eyes. But I’m actually quite interested to see the film and am approaching it with an open mind. Here’s why. The crash of Flight 800 into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast […]

The opportunity for me to touch and feel the inner workings of the machinery providing the thrust that keeps me airborne had always seemed an interesting proposition. With Pratt & Whitney (P&W) practically in my backyard, that possibility became a reality. On the aviation-is-a-small-world front, I was fortunate to have established a relationship with a […]

As you might guess, Martha and I are interested in the balance between aviation liberty and national law enforcement, and we would like to pass on some thoughts. It appears that government agencies are using their ability to monitor general aviation flights to select aircraft to intercept on landing based on what they consider to […]