Pilot Proficiency

“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 […]

I was on a flight to Brazil as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney squared off in their first presidential debate in Denver last week, and so I missed the live airing of the event. But as soon as I arrived in Sao Jose dos Campos to meet with executives at Embraer (mostly to talk about […]

Some events in flying aren’t covered by our instruction, the reading of popular or safety-specific magazines, or the emergency checklists. During these events, the pilot is left to his or her own devices, perhaps assisted by controllers and even passengers. But in the end, the pilot in command has the ultimate authority. I was presented […]

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 Roy Erb, who recently flew into Heber City Municipal Airport – Russ McDonald Field in a Cessna 182. Here’s what he has to say about one of the airport’s FBOs, OK3 […]

We thought we’d share with you some more photos of that supposed midair collision between a Syrian Airways Airbus A320 and a Syrian military helicopter, possibly a Russian-built Mi-8, near Damascus last month. The accident reportedly happened on September 20 near an altitude of 12,000 feet – but that’s about all that’s been reported so […]