Pilot Proficiency

Should pilots be napping in the cockpit? Safety experts say maybe yes, but the FAA isn’t so sure it’s a good idea. The Flight Safety Foundation has published a guide developed with an industry “fatigue countermeasures” working group that details the “best practices for implementation of a policy allowing for controlled rest (CR) on the […]

With winter nearly in full swing north of the equator, it’s only a matter of time before instrument-rated pilots will need to make decisions about how to escape from icing situations, whether that be before takeoff or while en route. Ice adds weight and acts as a lift spoiler across wings and tail surfaces. Ice […]

The old man was seduced. There is no other way to put it. He was intrigued at first, then tempted, then smitten, and finally, all in. Against all rational thought, he was totally taken by the sexy 18-year-old. That old man was me. “She” was a 2000 Beechcraft Premier 1. In these days of carefulness […]

Just as learning doesn’t stop with earning your license, debriefing doesn’t have to stop when there’s no instructor around. Seasoned pilots wanting to increase their proficiency can review and debrief their own flights, thanks to data conversion software such as CloudAhoy. Developed by instrument-rated pilot and software engineer Chuck Shavit, CloudAhoy allows pilots to replay […]

The only IFR approach to Auburn, Washington (S50), is hardly a procedure anyone would consider straightforward, despite the airport’s 63-foot field elevation. Also known as Dick Scobee Field, named for the late Challenger shuttle commander, Auburn sits just a few miles southeast of the busy Sea-Tac Class B, while farther southeast the terrain rises to […]

It’s the final Gold race for the Sport Class at the Stihl National Championship Air Races outside Reno, Nevada. I’m in an Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros, making circles at 8,500 feet above the Reno-Stead Airport, watching as a group of eight Lancair Legacies, Super Glasairs and Thunder Mustangs battles it out at high speeds around […]

It’s a warm, sticky August morning in Florida, and even the stiff breeze swirling in through the Cub’s open door fails to refresh. I wipe my brow and adjust my ball cap, then peer intently at the lake we’re approaching. It’s not just the climate making me sweat; I’ve been working hard, and things just […]

For tens of thousands of aircraft owners, the deadline has been looming. ADS-B will be required on January 1, 2020, in airspace that now requires a transponder. It was clear to John and me that we wanted to meet the requirement before the deadline — because without ADS-B our old jet would become useless. And […]

An instrument landing system (ILS) uses two separate ground-based radio transmitters to provide both lateral and vertical guidance to pilots during an instrument approach procedure that normally includes the lowest landing minimums. A Category I ILS approach, for example, typically offers a 200-foot decision height above the ground. ILS approach visibility minimums are measured either […]

Around here, we call it the “trip of a lifetime,” though that hardly does it justice. You might remember last month’s column that left off at an improbably tasty restaurant in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, after just the first day of a 23-day private jet tour of Europe. Air Journey organized the trip, and it featured three […]