Pilot Proficiency

Renowned aerobatic champion Kirby Chambliss walked away from the crash of his Red Bull Zivko Edge 540 on Wednesday after suffering an engine failure while practicing for an airshow in El Salvador. Preparing for the upcoming Ilopango Air Show scheduled for this weekend, Chambliss was in formation with fellow airshow pilot Skip Stewart when the […]

A Cirrus SR20 crashed approximately two miles from Danbury Airport in Central Connecticut last night, and all three occupants walked away, though their airplane was held up for a while. (Initial reports had reported that it was an SR22, but those reports turned out to be inaccurate.) According to reports in the local papers, the […]

Most all of us keep detailed logbooks recording the numbers of hours we’ve flown as PIC in the various aircraft types we frequent. Another type of record you might consider keeping is a “lessons learned” log that includes not just the basics of how long you flew and where you went but also a detailed […]

More than two weeks after a large team of researchers, archeologists and photographers arrived in Yangon, Myanmar, the search for a collection of Spitfires, which British farmer and warbird researcher David Cundall claims were buried there after World War II, has been unfruitful. Wargaming.net, which funded the expedition, reported bringing more than 1,300 pounds of […]

The NTSB has released the probable cause for the July 2011 crash of a Wright “B” Flyer replica in which two people died during a test flight in Springfield, Ohio. After examining the wreck of the experimental airplane, investigators found a crack in a weld on the left propeller shaft, which, according to the NTSB […]

An AgustaWestland AW109 crashed in thick fog into a construction crane atop a London residential high-rise on Wednesday morning, killing the pilot and one person on the ground and sparking a fire when the helicopter plunged to the ground. According to news reports from London, 13 others were injured in the crash near a busy […]

Aerobatic pilot Fred Cabañas and Mexican television reporter Jorge Lopez Vives died when Cabañas’ airplane crashed on Tuesday afternoon. The crash happened at the Caribbean island of Cozumel while Cabañas and Vives were working on footage for a Mexican TV network program whose title translates as “Extreme Adrenaline,” the Associated Press reported. Cabañas, who had […]

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 Eddie Kirkland, who recently flew into Jack Edwards Airport in a King Air 200. Here’s what he has to say about one of the airport’s FBOs, Ferguson Air […]

The plight of the glider pilot who was arrested for overflying a nuclear powerplant in violation of zero federal or local laws reminds me of another instance in which overzealous police overstepped their bounds after a pilot did exactly what he was supposed to be doing. It happened on New Year’s Eve in 2003. My […]

Recognizing that pilots’ stick-and-rudder skills may be atrophying in an increasingly high-tech world, the FAA has issued a new safety alert for operators (SAFO) reminding crew members to continuously maintain and improve their hand-flying skills by switching off the autopilot every once in awhile. An analysis of flight operations data including several incidents and accidents […]