Pilot Proficiency

Some people believe in the misconception that aviation accidents are largely caused by inexperience. But as pilots become more comfortable inside the skin of the fuselage that surrounds them, they can become more of a hazard. You may be surprised to learn that an NTSB study of general aviation accidents between 2007 through 2009 concluded […]

The computers driving modern avionics systems are capable of serving as flight data recorders, and in this case, they reveal the final moments that lead to the death of two pilots in a Cirrus SR22 crash. A video account of the accident is available on YouTube (see below). The cousins, aged 23 and 34, died […]

Bravo Kilo Echo enters the pattern to circumnavigate Victoria Falls. (Photos by Mike Venturino and Michelle Carter)| At 6,500 feet, we could see the spray of Victoria Falls billowing above the Zimbabwe flatland 70 miles out. No GPS necessary, just head for the cloud of mist and keep the roiling Zambezi River below you. Strung […]

A number of years ago, I attended an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association flight-instructor refresher class as a newly licensed CFI-I. The instructor asked a roomful of about 60 CFIs if anyone had lost an engine and made a forced landing. I have never forgotten that day, when almost half the people in the room […]

| The forest below was thick and rolling, with leafy hilltops set ablaze by the setting sun and brooding valleys already lost to deepening shadows. A few lights twinkled to life through the canopy, but there was little other evidence of the hamlets and roads that my atlas showed sprinkled through these foothills of eastern […]

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 Mike Berman, who recently flew into Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, in a Lear 55. Here’s what he had to say about one of the airport’s […]

A close call between a drone and an airliner nine years ago is getting renewed attention thanks to an online video showing the near collision. The footage, taken by the EMT Luna X-2000 drone, shows the unmanned aerial vehicle passing just meters beneath the wing of an Ariana Afghan Airlines Airbus A300 in Afghanistan. The […]

A California startup is testing a new way of luring passengers with an “all you can fly” model that lets members travel between select city pairs aboard a Pilatus PC-12 for a flat monthly fee of $1,650. Surf Air plans to link four California cities starting on June 12 as service between San Francisco, Monterey, […]

By now you’ve probably heard that the FAA wants the Experimental Aircraft Association to foot the cost for air traffic controllers at this summer’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin – to the tune of about $500,000. Not surprisingly, EAA is hopping mad. In a normal year this request would be ludicrous. After all, pilots who […]

We’ve all trained for emergencies that we think of as unlikely but know can happen. In singles, one of the most feared and often discussed is an engine failure, especially in the moments after takeoff with the runway inconveniently behind us. During engine-out practice, we climb to a safe altitude, pull the power to idle, […]