Pilot Proficiency

Every spring the FAA accident records are littered with a few reports of runaway aircraft — the result of hand propping gone awry. Usually, no one is injured. But innocent aircraft parked nearby are often victimized. In some cases, the errant aircraft will actually take off and fly around until it runs out of fuel […]

The safety level for professional flight operations goes up several notches with a two-pilot crew. I don’t think that’s just because the workload is so great that two are needed. But rather, I believe the second person in the pointy end serves as a second pair of eyes — not just to watch for traffic, […]

Gordon Baxter — ‘Bax’ to just about everyone — remains one of Flying‘s most loved and revered columnists. His Bax Seat essays graced the last page of the magazine for decades, with tales of monster-size 450 hp Stearman cropdusters, open-door Piper J-3 Cubs and everything in between. Bax, a Texan who made his ‘final flight’ […]

If the most dangerous words in aviation are “Watch this,” then the second most dangerous could be, “Show us how it’s done.” I heard those exact words on the frequency last week. The wind was the worst I had ever seen it in these parts, blowing 90 degrees directly across the only runway in operation […]

My personal experience with bird strikes came during a night instrument training flight in a Mooney. I caught a glimpse of a feathered wing in the landing light beam, felt a slight bump, and that was it. When we landed, there were a few splotches of blood and feathers on the tail. Sorry. Not nearly […]

With lots of negative press in hard economic times, anyone who uses a “private” airplane (I guess we view the airlines as public transportation) is in the crosshairs. Now is the time for all segments of general aviation to support each other and find the common ground, rather than seek out differences. It’s true, most […]

It’s been a cold winter for much of the United States, and it stands to reason that many pilots don’t get out flying as much. When the days are short and the underwear is long, motivation for those regular “tune-up” flights sometimes falls victim to inertia. When you do get back in the saddle, there […]

When I put out a request several months ago for responses from pilots on what they would like controllers to know, along with the responses I received from pilots I also received messages from several controllers. Dan Mason said when he saw the title of the previous article (“Working With Controllers,” August 2008), he thought, […]

Have you ever noticed that for every cliché, there seems to be another one that directly contradicts the first one? “Out of sight, out of mind” vs. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Or more to my point; “Haste makes waste” vs. “He who hesitates is lost.” Of the last two, pilots are often told […]

This month’s issue of the American Bonanza Association magazine has some salient tips on night flying, courtesy of John Andrick of Nashua, New Hampshire (where winter nights are long — and cold). John is a flight instructor and an air traffic controller, as well as an adjunct professor at Daniel Webster College, the campus of […]