Pilot Proficiency

(April 2011) REMEMBER THE RIDE BOARDS at school? Students with cars would post notices of where they were headed during school breaks and invite other students to ride along. At the same time students looking for rides would post their trip requests. The system, with the notices thumbtacked to a bulletin board, worked well, and […]

We’ve all seen the images from last week’s Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In. Broken wings, crunched elevators and rudders, and crushed windshields resulted from an EF-1 tornado that hit the Lakeland Linder Airport on Thursday, March 31. Nothing can prevent an airplane from being damaged from the force of a tornado, but there are ways to […]

Like a lot of people with a love for aviation, I’d definitely say I’m an adventure seeker. Mind you, that doesn’t mean I fit the daredevil mold. For instance, while I’d be the first person to join a group traveling to see the Inca ruins in Machu Picchu, I’d probably be one of the last […]

I had the opportunity to ride along with Tecnam demo pilot Andrew Jones in the P92 Eaglet out of Winter Haven (KGIF), where it was based, during one of the company’s Showcase Fly-Bys at Sun ‘n Fun last week. If the term Showcase Fly-By is unfamiliar, I’m certain that if you’ve ever been at the […]

(March 2011) — PAYING HEED TO THE Scottish poet Robert Burns, who said: “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew,” I counsel those who come to me for flight training not to think in terms of “if,” but rather “when,” so that they are prepared for that moment when things go […]

(March 2011) TOSSING OBJECTS FROM flying machines, stuff like flour bombs, candy, inflated balloons, the ashes of friends, rolls of toilet paper and Tootsie Pop wrappers (yeah, I know that’s tacky), an art reserved to pilots of relatively simple, unpressurized airplanes, is surely one of flying’s greatest joys. C’mon, what kind of fun can you […]

(March 2011) ON OCCASION, I AM ASKED if we airline types actually monitor guard frequency — 121.5. My stock answer is “Of course.” And for the most part, I’m telling the truth. However, in some circumstances it’s not practical. What are those circumstances? I don’t want to speak for all my colleagues, but below 10,000 […]

(March 2011) I TRY TO BE TOLERANT OF OTHERS, but sometimes it’s hard, especially when it comes to people who are envious. As all you fans of medieval thought are aware, envy is No. 6 with a bullet on the list of the Seven Deadly Sins. And the idea of envy being a bad thing […]

1. Know the Notam! Know the Frequencies, the route, the altitudes and the procedures for after you land. Sun ‘n Fun opens this week, and if you’re flying in, you’d better expect not to be alone in the pattern. The Sun ‘n Fun arrival notam is up and ready to print out, so don’t launch […]

It made me simultaneously giggle and wince when I read that a bio-fuel study conducted by NASA is testing chicken fat as an alternative renewable jet fuel source. Researchers are using a NASA DC-8 to test what they call “Hydrotreated Renewable Jet Fuel.” “It’s made out of chicken fat, actually,” said Bruce Anderson, AAFEX II […]