Pilot Proficiency

(June 2011) In the February issue, Robert Goyer reported on a project to convert Cessna Skyhawks to electric power. Many Skyhawks are used as trainers, and training flights seldom last more than 90 minutes; so batteries, though notoriously lacking in stamina, might be an adequate power source for this application. Parenthetically, Robert mentioned that wingtip […]

Most airplanes don’t have rear view mirrors. But that doesn’t mean that you should forget what’s behind you. It’s always worth taking a second to consider where the rear of the airplane is pointed. This applies not only when the propeller is spinning and the airplane is static, but also when you’re taxiing around the […]

Like a lot of pilots who’ve daydreamed about building airplanes or thought about their idea of the perfect general aviation piston single, I used to doodle pictures of aircraft that I hoped I’d design and fly when I got older. If memory serves, most of my efforts looked a lot like Lancair kitplanes: sleek, low […]

(May 2011) I HAD COMMUTED INTO JFK from my home in Florida with plenty of time to spare before my late evening trip to São Paulo. As I opened the door to Operations and walked past the revision room, Rocco Zavaglia was engaged in the mundane chore of wrestling Jeppesen paper in and out of […]

(May 2011) DID THE EARTH MOVE for you? Good. Me too. After 28 years of taxiing out to runway 36R at Tampa International Airport, where I have based an airplane since moving here, I am now instructed to taxi out to 01R. After all those years of thinking of my home airport as an elegant […]

(May 2011) SEVERAL YEARS AGO I WAS flying with the family back to Westchester County Airport (KHPN) from Syracuse, New York, where we’d spent the Thanksgiving holiday with family. The forecast wasn’t great, but it was easy IFR, if indeed there is such a thing. White Plains was forecast to be 800 feet and 1½ […]

Many VFR pilots are apprehensive about requesting transitions through Class B airspace, figuring it’s less of a hassle (for them and frenzied controllers) to simply dive down under, climb over or skirt around these busy swaths of sky surrounding the nation’s biggest airports. But a fear of keying the microphone and talking to a controller […]

Unlike many aviation enthusiasts, flying is not in my blood. It was a passion sparked while visiting a military field with a classmate when I was about eight years old. But, through the years, my love for flying has kept growing. I can rightfully be classified as an aviation nut. And now that I have […]

(May 2011) I remember early in my training for my Private certificate, Jack Secor, my instructor, suggested that, while I was out doing my solo flights, rather than just flying around enjoying myself, I could use the time more productively to do some slow flight and practice stall recoveries. That practice and subsequent frequent refresher […]

When I was getting ready for a check ride the other day, I mentioned to my primary instructor, Bill Ball, that I’d been nervous about it for the past day and a half. He nodded. After all, he’s a pilot too. It’s too easy to forget that that the person with the clipboard has to […]