Pilot Proficiency

(October 2011) Air France 447 went down in the mid-Atlantic in 2009 because all three of its pitot tubes iced up. Well, not exactly. It wasn’t the loss of functioning pitot tubes that doomed the airplane; it was what the A330’s autopilot, and human pilots, did next. The autopilot — but it would be more […]

(October 2011) We are all familiar with the adage “To err is human.” This means that if you are human, you should accept the fact that from time to time you will make errors. Left unabated, many of these errors will be trivial and the outcomes insignificant. But in the operation of an aircraft, the […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. The latest Spotlight is brought to you by Don C. Van Cura, Sr., who has nothing but good things to say about the folks at Wisconsin Aviation in the Southeastern region of the state. Wisconsin Aviation […]

In an effort to combat the growing problem of lasers being pointed at aircraft, where they can affect the pilots’ vision, the FAA has created a new website to make it easier for aviators and the public to report laser incidents. The website includes links for reporting laser incidents as well as a database of […]

(October 2011) Signature Engines president Bill Schmidt and the company’s chief security officer, Boo Radley, strolled across the ramp to my hangar last week as I was debugging the 180. Boo is actually a spoiled but lovable mutt rescued by Bill and named for the lonely character in To Kill a Mockingbird. Summer flying in […]

(October 2011) The concept of staying current always seemed an intellectual one to me. While I still had my Cessna Cardinal, I tried to fly it every week or so to keep its fluids — and mine — flowing. As a result, I was able to routinely check off most of the currency boxes without […]

One of the few advantages of aging (or becoming “seasoned,” as my wife calls it) is gaining better perspective of our lives and careers. For me, a constant over the past 40 years has been watching the tragic consistency of the rate and reasons for General Aviation aircraft accidents. On a personal level, I‘ve lost […]

Rescue crews of two airplanes, one a military Hercules, the other a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, went on a search for a downed airplane near Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada last week that is sure to stay in their memories for a while and will also serve as a good lesson in ELT operations. The airplanes were dispatched […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. The latest Spotlight is brought to you by Leonard Ellis, who recently flew into KMEM in a Cessna Centurion and paid a visit to Wilson Air Center. Here’s why he thinks the service at this Tennessee […]

What do airplanes and sharks have in common? Maybe not a whole lot at the moment, but that could change – radically so – if aerodynamics research just getting under way at the University of Alabama pays off. Dr. Amy Lang, endowed with a Lindbergh Foundation grant, has launched a study aimed at determining how […]