Pilot Proficiency

On October 14, Brigadier General Charles “Chuck” Yeager completed a celebratory flight to mark the anniversary of his historic first supersonic flight. In pure Air Force fashion, Yeager, now 89, broke the sound barrier 45,000 feet over the Edwards Air Force Base at 10:24 a.m., 65 years to the minute after his original flight. But […]

On Sunday morning, the 65th anniversary of Chuck Yeager’s historic supersonic flight in the Bell X-1, Austrian base jumper Felix Baumgartner became the first person to ever go faster than the speed of sound without the benefit of a craft. The record came after Baumgartner leapt from an altitude of 128,000 feet from the gondola […]

October 14 was no ordinary day for Drew Gryder of Hampton, Georgia. It was the day of his 16th birthday. And Gryder spent this milestone birthday doing something not many, if any, teenagers had done before. He completed triple solo flights – taking to the skies in a glider, a single-engine airplane and a multi-engine […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews. This latest Spotlight is brought to you by Allan Cobb, who has nothing but good things to say about the service at Piper Memorial Airport. “I fly into LHV on a regular basis to visit my daughter who’s attending […]

“The Ultimate Fighter” television star Stephan Bonnar tangles with UFC (Ultimate Fighter Championship) middleweight Anderson Silva this Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But at least Bonnar won’t have to worry about one thing. His wife is expecting their child back home in Las Vegas, and the Bonnars were concerned he might miss the […]

I attended a forum last weekend at the Museum of Flying adjacent to Santa Monica Airport in which the Friends of Santa Monica Airport (FOSMO) presented questions to potential Santa Monica City Council members. I was shocked at the lack of factual information with which some of the potential council members are basing their decisions […]

I wrote recently in Going Direct about interpreting Nexrad images and the NTSB’s alert about image latency, that is the difference between published image age and its actual age. I got a lot of responses from folks who were concerned about trusting Nexrad images at all. It’s an understandable concern, but if we place zero […]

I was checking out an online preview of a video series by a flight instructor who, for a small charge, promised to teach you to be a better pilot. So, of course, I couldn’t resist critiquing this instructor’s web lesson. He made a lot of little mistakes, mostly having to do with his use of […]

Seven decades after flying the Convair-built OY-1 Sentinal (the Naval version of the Stinson L-5) over Iwo Jima, 91-year-old veteran Mert P. Hansen got another ride in his exact WWII aircraft thanks to a unique twist of fate, as well as one man’s commitment to restoring the warbird. While bringing the aircraft back to life, […]

Thousands tuned in online Tuesday morning as Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner prepared to attempt what would be a record-breaking freefall jump from a lofty altitude of 120,000 feet. Strong winds aloft, however, delayed the attempt, in which Baumgartner seeks to become the first person ever to break the sound barrier while in freefall. To complete […]