Pilot Proficiency

CloudAhoy is used by pilots at all levels for post-flight debrief. CloudAhoy provides “Flight Debrief in the Age of Technology“. It is data-driven and incorporates artificial intelligence technology, advanced analysis, state of the art visualization, integration of video, and automatic scoring of flights (currently in beta). The ability to relive the flight, to quickly identify […]

It doesn’t much matter whether Boeing intended to set off a revolution in cockpit instrumentation when it delivered the first 767 in the early 1980s. That, of course, was the result when the new jetliner unleashed the first computerized cockpit displays destined to forever change the way pilots control and navigate aircraft. The new instrumentation […]

Here’s an emerging safety story that hasn’t received much attention: Fatal accidents caused by weather are declining. Nobody should be popping Champagne bottles just yet, but there is enough data to suggest a steady downward trend over the past few years. What’s the cause of this encouraging course reversal? There are probably many, but the […]

Recently, an iconic figure in the flying world celebrated his 80th birthday by soloing an Aeronca Champ — the very same Champ he first soloed on his 16th birthday in 1954. How sweet is that? This career airline pilot, author of numerous books, narrator of aviation programs and videos and, for 55-plus years, writer and […]

Some cravings are easily sated. A waffle cone of soft-serve ice cream, for example, or a hot greasy Big Mac (with a supersize side order of regret). Other, more deep-seated desires, however, seem only to intensify once indulged. Wanderlust is that way for me: The more that I see, the more I’m compelled to roam […]

The NTSB included among factors related to the accident the pilot’s overconfidence in himself—and the airplane.

Who would have thought that a 600-foot alteration of the departure track out of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., could make the difference in almost completely eliminating accidental incursions of the infamous P-56, the prohibited airspace over the White House? As an added layer of prevention, pilots are also provided with better visual awareness […]

What would you call a trip to Quebec City; Bluie West Eight, Greenland; Reykjavik, Iceland; Stravanger, Norway; Amsterdam; Cannes on the French Riviera; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Salzburg, Austria; Lucerne, Switzerland; Tallinn, Estonia; Stockholm; and Edinburgh, Scotland? A trip of a lifetime? What if it were in a private jet? How about if you were the copilot, […]

Mention Morristown to an active pilot, and they’ll probably be quick to pinpoint it as a busy New Jersey airport 20 or so miles west of downtown Manhattan. This month’s Chart Wise, however, focuses on another Morristown, population 29,000, this one in Tennessee, a half-hour northeast of Knoxville. For readers wondering what kind of educational […]

It wasn’t long after takeoff that I noticed that my ammeter showed a steady discharge of 3 or 4 amps. The ammeter reads charging current going to the battery, and so it ought to show 10 or 15 amps at first, gradually diminishing as the battery regains the energy it expended during start-up and taxi. […]