Pilot Proficiency

Once upon a time, the campfire story goes, when aviation was young and fliers were adventurers on the edge, pilots wanting to make a living in this new field couldn’t just sit around and wait for passengers and students to find them. They had to go to where the people were. And so they got […]

Driving a car is not that difficult. The instructor may have a few tense moments while teaching someone how to drive, but once you have a few miles under your tires, hopping in the car is not a stress-inducing event. Aside from a few people who are into off-road driving, most people never drive on […]

Last week, the FAA announced it was merging two safety programs for efficiency and to “help guide safety decisions” in the future. Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers have long been able to confess their gaffes in a “non-punitive environment” through the FAA’s Safety Action Programs — ASAP (Aviation Safety Action Program) for pilots and ATSAP […]

Each month, Flying answers questions about the new Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft rule with assistance from the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the authority on the opportunities available within the category commonly known as “Sport Pilot”: Q: Can the owner of a light-sport airplane add new equipment such as avionics, instruments or additional lighting? A: New equipment […]

Several readers responded to my posting last week on the phrase “Over and Out.” Brian Long suggested that “Over and Out” could be appropriate, after all. For instance, Brian suggests, when the conversation is ready to end: “Both parties should sign off, so the first party provides ‘(callsign) over and out’ to indicate his/her signing […]

When I became a first lieutenant aircraft commander in the B-47 Strato-Jet, the most beautiful airplane ever built, I had many lessons to be learned. As to emergency situations, our instructors always advised us to maintain control of the airplane and then handle the emergency. I, however, had another type of control to learn. In […]

The month of May was my first full schedule as the new kid on the 777. Priorities dictated that I have specific days off. My wife and I would be celebrating our anniversary. The seniority cards dealt a five-day trip to São Paulo, Brazil. I’ve never been overjoyed with the idea of flying all night […]

IT HAPPENED LAST MAY, DURING an air race in South Africa. An airplane was descending toward a turn point in a valley when the pilot of a following airplane saw what appeared to be paper scattering behind it. An instant later, a shattered wing separated from the fuselage, falling to earth a hundred yards from […]

There are some A-B-Cs of radio procedure and technique that might have gotten lost in the cobwebs of your memory. It could be that you’ve picked up some bad habits; or lost touch with some of your better ones. If a little brush-up is in order, try whipping out the Aeronautical Information Manual — aka […]

My balloon career launched modestly (sort of) when a delightful, brilliant, eccentric friend named Frank Wood decided he had to have a balloon for fun and to promote his rather outrageous WEBN radio station in Cincinnati. He built it and aired a classical music format until son Beau convinced him that wouldn’t “fly” and they […]