Pilot Proficiency

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 […]

Divers resumed their search for a Grumman G44 amphibian that crashed into the Hudson River Thursday evening after finding no survivors at the scene the night of the accident. The crash happened around 4:30 p.m. in Germantown, New York. Witnesses reported seeing an explosion shortly after the twin-engine amphibian plunged into the Hudson, with several […]

It seems simple enough: a small taildragger — a Stinson, it looks like — lined up for takeoff on a nice but shortish downhill sloped grass strip. Then something goes terribly wrong: The pilot actually tries to take off. The resultant takeoff is the most harrowing I’ve ever seen that doesn’t end in a flaming […]

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 C.K. Bondar, who recently flew into Witham Field Airport in Stuart, Florida in a PA-28-181. Here’s what he had to say about one of the airport’s FBOs, Stuart […]