Pilot Proficiency

Vertigo, or spatial disorientation, is a tough concept to those who’ve never experienced it. Not the extreme dizziness you get when you spin around with your forehead on a mop handle and then try to walk a straight line. Rather, it’s the more subtle form that can be the most profound danger to new instrument […]

There are those who’ve been, and those who haven’t. And there are those who wouldn’t miss it for anything. The journey to EAA AirVenture at Wittman Field in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has been compared to the annual Hajj to Mecca. And for aviation zealots ranging from weekend ultralight aficionados to military or airline pilots, there is […]

I’m getting ready for my biennial flight review, and I’m incorporating an instrument proficiency check, even though I’m technically current. For someone like me who doesn’t fly real IFR often enough, one way to remain comfortable is to supplement experience with regular recurrent training. I really should do more. I admit that one of the […]

Though it has largely faded from the discussion, much was made of the conversation between the two pilots of Continental Express Flight 3407. Their de Havilland Dash 8 Q400 crashed on approach to Buffalo on February 12. Mostly, people remarked on the subject matter — for example, the copilot’s discussion on her inexperience with icing […]

There’s plenty of information on the operating limitations of an airplane. A VG diagram (in some applications called a VN diagram) shows many things including stalling speed, maneuvering speed, maximum allowable speed, maximum indicated airspeed in rough air and maximum allowable G loading, both positive and negative. Operate within the parameters of the VG diagram […]

Back in the 1980s when I worked in the Flying offices, I remember overhearing then-Editor in Chief Dick Collins talking with now-Editor in Chief Mac McClellan on the phone. “It’s time for the thunderstorm article again. Do you want to do it this year, or is it my turn?” Of course, given the lead time […]

I really hadn’t meant it as a test of the TSA’s latest security directive, but as it worked out, it couldn’t have been planned any better. Weeks ago, I had made a June 1 appointment with Sensenich Propeller Service at Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Airport. My home-airport shop had noticed some shifting on the backing plate of […]

As we enter the summer fun flying season, there might be a time when someone suggests you try some spur-of-the-moment formation flying. On a VFR trip, flying within loose sight range of a friend or two can be fun. But any closer than that isn’t smart without formal training and practice — for all the […]

It was a routine flight in every way. A University of North Dakota flight instructor took off from Grand Forks, North Dakota, at 5:45 p.m. with a private pilot who was in the university’s commercial/instrument flight program, for a three-leg, cross-country night flight in a twin-engine Piper PA-44-180 Seminole. It was a clear night with […]

Chances are, much of your winter flying involved relatively short flights. For many pilots, winter missions are kept on a short leash in deference to ice, earlier sunsets and just plain comfort during pre- and post-flight chores. That makes spring a good time to plan longer trips — and reminds us of the greater joys […]