Pilot Proficiency

The old axiom for the self-employed is to “pay yourself first.” The same spirit could apply to flying airplanes. Do your best to take care of yourself before and during the flight, and you maximize your chances for a good return on your investment — in this case, a safe landing. It starts with flight […]

I once asked a pilot I know whether he considers using oxygen as a precautionary measure; say on a night approach after a long day’s flying. “That’s for [derogatory feline reference],” he said. I like to think he was joking, at least a little. The USAF requires pilots to use oxygen when flying above 5,000 […]

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my car alongside the north end of Teterboro Airport in New Jersey listening in on the tower frequency. Several of the pilots on the ILS to Runway 19 were asking for wind checks, and the tower’s answer was consistent — 240 degrees at seven knots. No big […]

I realized I was taking a risk when I put out the request for feedback from pilots on what they want controllers to know. This would be a good opportunity to “rant” about controllers, and I was afraid I might get quite a few pilots who only wanted to complain. I didn’t need to worry. […]

The recent episode of a Cessna 337 ditching in the North Atlantic captured the attention of a lot of pilots. The fortunate survival of the crew — hopping from ice floe to ice floe for 18 hours until rescued by a fishing boat — ought to be a conversation starter, even though most of us […]

This time, you did all your homework. You got a good night’s sleep. And maybe all your biorhythms were synched up just right. For whatever combination of reasons, you just cleaned your plate — completed your entire training syllabus with half an hour left on your simulator punch card. What would you do? This question […]

Approach Control had vectored me onto what seemed like a wide downwind leg to Washington Dulles International. My problem was he still had me at 5,000 feet. When I was abeam the numbers, waiting for an answer to the mystery, he turned me over to the tower controller who said, “cleared to land.” I replied, […]

In early June all members of the Civil Air Patrol in the Southwest Region, which includes the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, received the following message from the Southwest Region Commander, Col. Joseph Jensen: “I am sorry to report that we have recently had two hard landings in the Southwest […]

Flying our airplanes on holiday trips can be one of life’s great stress relievers. It subtracts hours, if not days, of travel time, eliminates the worst that airline airports have to offer and permits us, as pilots, to glow in the admiration of our families and other loved ones. But I need not tell you […]

With the holidays coming up, I hope you’ll be flying someplace interesting. If not, you can relieve some of the boredom at home by taking an online mini-course, or reviewing some of your old DVD courses left over from training days — just be sure they’re not too out of date as to airspace changes […]