Pilot Proficiency

When First Landings, the flight school where I did my Sport Pilot training, announced it was organizing a North Carolina “adventure flight,” I was intrigued. The plan was for a group of us to depart early one Friday morning in April from Apopka, Florida’s X04 for a long weekend of hiking and whitewater rafting in […]

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that crosswind technique begins on the ground. Taxiing can definitely be a challenge in itself. If you’re taxiing into a quartering headwind, turn the controls into the wind for full aileron deflection. Conversely, with a quartering tailwind, you’ll want to turn away from the direction the wind is coming […]

As we all know, general aviation covers a wide range of aircraft types, from Cessna Skycatchers and Robinson R22s to Gulfstream G650s and Sikorsky S92s and everything in between. Whether it’s a vintage Cherokee flying 40 hours a year or a shiny new King Air flying 400, if it’s privately owned and flown for business […]

I have before me a bound volume containing a year’s worth of Flying, a gift from an old friend and collaborator, pilot and photographer Baron Wolman, who picked it up at a swap meet for $4. The year, 1916, will surprise anyone who knows that our esteemed publication first appeared, under the name of Popular […]

Paul Redlich dead-sticked a newly restored P-40 into Ohio’s Clermont County Airport (I69) from 6,500 feet this winter. The Allison engine suddenly blew on a test flight of the rare and iconic World War II fighter about six miles east of I69, and Paul found himself flying a glider with the sink rate of a […]

Learning how to land in a crosswind is one of those skills that’s hard to teach on a schedule, since you never know when the sideways winds will blow. With Redbird Flight Simulation‘s XWind ($27,900) and XWind SE ($29,900) crosswind trainers, however, instructors can schedule crosswind training to fit the student’s schedule. The two trainers […]

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 Jared Heiner, who recently visited Kemp Jet Services at Ogden-Hinckley Airport in a Cessna Cardinal 177RG. Here’s what he has to say about the experience. Kemp Jet Services […]

Air race lovers can now get an up close and personal look at the Reno Air Races in Air Racers 3D, which premieres today in select IMAX theatres. The movie is sprinkled with historical footage, providing background information on the history of air racing and some of the airplanes that participate in the Unlimited race […]

It takes years to build a successful brand, but only a few bad decisions, or in some cases a run of bad luck, to ruin one. That’s what makes the planned revitalization of the storied Bendix/King brand name so intriguing. For the past 15 years, Bendix/King has more or less been a victim of neglect […]

The value of regular crosswind takeoff and landing practice becomes evident when you get caught with no choices. I learned this lesson on a flight in my Cessna 170 to the Baja California peninsula a few years back. On my way to Laguna San Ignacio, Mexico, to watch whales, I had planned to stop in […]