Pilot Proficiency

Authorities from Sweden and the United Kingdom wanted more emphasis on crew mistakes.

How can you prepare for the mindset of the pilot in the other seat?

(July 2011) It was a silence I wasn’t used to. Actually, it wasn’t all that quiet what with the whirr of hummingbirds’ wings, the braying of burros and the cooing of doves. But what I wasn’t hearing was the sound of airplanes. For the two months I spent in Oaxaca, Mexico, last winter, the skies […]

As the days get shorter and shorter, CFI Michael Wildes gives you ways to make flying at night easier—and safer.

Cessna’s Citation Special Olympics Airlift is set to take off this weekend, the latest in a long series of such airlifts started by Cessna back in 1987. This year the big change is that many of the athletes will be flying in airplanes built by Beechcraft, Cessna’s new sister company under the Textron Aviation banner. […]

An unusual pilot’s dramatic crash in the Sunshine State still has investigators wondering what happened many years later.

We taxied up in front of the line of four police cars as we were directed by ground control, instead of to the FBO where our friends were waiting. Martha said, “This is going to be interesting.” As we shut down the engine, we heard the bullhorn aimed at us and a voice: “Pilot, very […]

When most people think of Holland, wooden shoes, canals, windmills and tulips are often top of mind. But that’s the Holland on the east side of the Atlantic actually known as the Netherlands. The subject of this month’s Chart Wise, Holland in the western part of Michigan, does bear some similarity to the European country […]

Teaching people to fly should incorporate risk management, yet currently the test standards for CFIs do not contain a mechanism for evaluating the applicant’s judgement toward risk. This will change with the release of the airman certification standards for CFIs, a document currently in development. The date for the release has not been set; however, […]

It wasn’t a hung start, exactly, but it wasn’t a normal start either. The N2 spun up smartly and fuel flow was normal. The engine began to accelerate, but then it hesitated. The interstage turbine temperature, which had been rising normally, had a sinking spell. Before I could think to do anything about shutting off […]