Pilot Proficiency

The FAA this week sent out a general aviation safety “fact sheet” identifying several technologies the agency says can help significantly curb the fatal accident rate. While the list includes several of the typical technologies we think of as promoting safety such as Nexrad weather receivers, traffic and terrain awareness systems and ballistic parachutes, the […]

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 Scott Sedam, who recently flew into Sawyer International Airport in Marquette, Michigan, in a Commander 114. Here’s what he had to say about the airport’s FBO, Boreal Aviation: […]

Ensuring that you are carrying enough fuel to complete your planned flight is not the only fuel-related concern that you should keep in mind as you fly. While a fuel imbalance may not cause you to make an emergency landing, it could mean the difference between having a nice smooth touchdown and potentially causing some […]

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 […]