Pilot Proficiency

General aviation pilots are having problems landing their airplanes. According to the insurance industry, landing losses – accidents and incidents in which aircraft are damaged during the landing phase – continue to be a persistent issue. What’s going on here? Hang out at your local airport on a windy day and it won’t take long […]

As a newly minted flight instructor in 2002, I thought I knew it all. I could recite regulations from Part 61 and 91 from memory and anticipate my students’ mistakes before they happened. I felt like my stick-and-rudder skills were at their peak, having just wrapped up the maneuvers training for the commercial pilot certificate […]

Last Thanksgiving, instead of wrestling with turkeys and relatives (not necessarily in that order or degree of difficulty), I fibbed and told my family I’d be out of town. Actually, I’d accepted an invitation from friends who always throw a splendid “do” with a large and eclectic collection of family, friends and assorted “homeless” souls […]

A go-around from a full-flap approach is a delicate maneuver that pilots are seldom called upon to perform.

My mother, who fortified herself for any aerial voyage with either Miltown or Chivas Regal, would later revisit with perverse relish each “air pocket” the plane had encountered. I’m not sure what she believed an air pocket consisted of, but I suppose it was something like the “region of low pressure causing an aircraft to […]

“You OK, Honey?” I asked immediately after the 172 had taken a respectable shot of turbulence. The Cessna responded with a quick 30-degree roll to the right before I could correct. After a second or two of silence, my wife replied over the intercom, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Even though she was seated directly behind me, […]

There’s something to be said for simplicity when teaching people to fly or merely checking out in a new aircraft. Simplicity was Cirrus’ motivation behind this month’s feature, the combined throttle and propeller control that’s standard on both the Cirrus SR20 and SR22. In complex aircraft, a throttle controls engine acceleration, while a separate blue […]

In July 1999, we departed Norfolk, Virginia (KORF) and headed northeast out over the Chesapeake Bay. It was a hazy day. The sky and the water were the same washed-out blue gray; there was no discernible horizon. I was flying our Cessna 340, my first twin. I’m guessing by that time I had about 2,500 […]

The sun is shining and the fish are calling, but it’s online catch-up day on Windbird. We spent the past week at beautiful, isolated Conception Island, Bahamas: No people, no internet — it was heaven on earth. The news headlines that greeted Dawn and me upon our return made us wish we’d stayed a little […]

1. Satcom Satellite communication system — Aeronautical mobile satellite service developed as a primary communications link for remote areas and oceanic airspace. Satcom supports voice and data transmissions but is sometimes prone to long transfer delays. 2. ACARS Airborne communications addressing and reporting system — Air/ground datalink is the standard for ACARS, which has been […]