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 Phil Rutherford, who recently flew into Front Range Airport in Denver in a Cessna 140. Here’s what he had to say about the airport’s FBO: “[Front Range provides] […]

The 30-year-old pilot of a Robinson R22 said she was surprised when the engine quit at 3,000 feet above a crowded section of Honolulu. But her training took over and she executed a successful autorotation onto Fort Street, lined with apartments and located near a college campus. Pilot Julia Link told reporters, “First I thought […]

The FAA’s handling of a variety of prickly issues from the planned closures of scores of contract control towers to the hotly anticipated Part 23 rewrite to the up-in-the-air fate of leaded aviation gasoline will affect general aviation in important ways for years to come. Get the Part 23 rewrite right, and we could witness […]

A Learjet 60 crashed into an apartment building in Valencia, Venezuela, on Sunday, killing the two pilots on board. According to local media reports, no one was injured inside the residential building or on the ground. The crash occurred about two miles from Valencia’s main international airport. Local officials said the Learjet was flying from […]

An incensed reader, reacting to my parenthetical remark “Making Range,” Technicalities, August 2012 that, contrary to widespread belief, a leaner-than-peak-EGT mixture reduces cylinder head temperatures, wrote: _Maybe I am missing something, but it is against the laws of physics that a leaner mixture can run cooler, as the more dense the mixture, the cooler the […]

If you fly IFR in busy parts of the country where direct routings are rare, knowing what routes ATC is likely to give you can be a big time saver. You can look up the preferred ATC routings between airport pairs online to get a good idea of what you should file. My favorite site […]

A Red Bull Bede BD-5J single-seater microjet crashed during an attempted forced landing near Innsbruck, Austria, on May 1, killing Flying Bulls pilot Guido Gehrmann. According to a team statement, Gehrmann suffered an engine failure while returning from an airshow performance in Tyrol, Italy. The Flying Bulls are based in Salzberg, Austria. In the statement […]

A 1950s-era vintage Spanish jet trainer crashed into a hangar and exploded in a fireball at an airshow in Spain on Sunday, killing its 35-year-old pilot. Around 3,000 spectators witnessed the crash at Cuatro Vientos Airport when the historic Hispano HA-200 Saeta went out of control and crashed, sending a fireball and thick black smoke […]

The Swiss all-electric, solar-powered Solar Impulse has completed the first leg on its 2013 Across America mission. Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse’s initiator and chairman, landed on Saturday at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, 18 hours and 18 minutes after he departed from Moffett Airfield (KNUQ) near San Francisco, California. The 650 nm flight averaged about […]

All pilots must eat. Learjet pilots on an overnight have to eat. Due to unusual circumstances, I’ve participated in a variety of eating experiences while flying trips as a backup first officer in a Lear 31A for Elite Air of St. Petersburg, Florida. I say unusual because I am not your usual first officer. My […]