Pilot Proficiency

Who’s psyched for Oshkosh? I know I am. This will be my first trip back to EAA AirVenture since 2004 after making many such pilgrimages with my dad as a kid. At my last job I was lucky enough to get to cover the Paris Air Show, Farnborough Air Show, Asian Aerospace in Singapore, EBACE […]

(July 2011) When the carepages e-mail arrived among other messages, I wasn’t quite ready to open it. The last communication that I had received regarding John’s condition was through a phone conversation via his wife. With stoic control over the tone of her voice, Pam had discussed the involvement of hospice care. I clutched my […]

(July 2011) “Hey, Tom, ride up the road with me, would you?” Beer in hand, Tom looked up from the picnic table in surprise. I explained that I wanted to talk to the pilot of a Sundowner that had just landed and was parked on the ramp at Hangar Two. “This is, well, a little […]

I recently got the chance to spend a couple of weeks doing some training at SimCom‘s Lee Vista training center (one of two such SimCom facilities in Orlando alone), and I had a great time. The great time was no coincidence: it’s part of SimCom’s business plan. No lie. SimCom got started as a pure […]

Just like boaters can be perceived as rank amateurs if they make the rookie mistake of leaving their bumpers and lines hanging in the water after they’ve pulled away from the dock, pilots can assume that same aura of cluelessness if they turn off the runway after landing and then taxi all the way to […]

The lure of a jet is strong. Not only are they fast and high-flying but they’re undeniably cool. Who wouldn’t want to take that next step and lose the props? Truth is, a lot of pilots out there have the money to move up to the jet world but just don’t do it, and the […]

For pilots, altitude is like friends. The more you have, the happier you should be. More altitude equals more options if you’re faced with a forced landing. You’ll also be able to see your destination easier as you approach an unfamiliar area. But too much of a good thing can also become an issue. There […]

My goodness, it’s black out there. “Better tighten your turn,” my copilot says. “Those mountains are close.” Yeah, but how close? I wonder. Checking the Cessna Citation Mustang’s terrain awareness and warning system provides cold comfort: The entire display is awash in red. The synthetic-vision system software update for this airplane, unfortunately, hasn’t yet been […]

I was reviewing last week’s spate of accidents and ran into another handful that fall clearly in the category of VFR accidents that would not have happened had the pilot been operating under instrument flight rules. A couple of these accidents happened when the pilot flew into power lines while en route, something that, obviously, […]

The FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) have announced an agreement on new guidelines intended to combat fatigue.** ** The agreement is the latest in a series of attempts by the FAA to restore confidence in America’s air traffic control system, which came under heavy fire earlier this year with a barrage […]