Pilot Proficiency

For his first video of 2018, Flight Chops (AKA Steve Thorne) is conducting a sort of victory lap for what he says is probably his best accomplishment of 2017. The feat? “Actually starting and finishing something.” We all know how good that can feel. More specifically, he earned his multi engine rating, and now his […]

Since the introduction of the internal combustion engine, engineers and entrepreneurs alike have searched for ways to squeeze more horsepower from each gallon of fuel. Despite those efforts, the traditional two-magneto system that provides the spark for combustion in an aircraft piston engine has remained essentially unchanged since World War II. In pairs, magnetos have proved […]

Private and recreational pilots can now access the new online Mayo Clinic BasicMed Course, a free education program for pilots pursuing medical qualification through FAA BasicMed that is an alternative to completing the course on AOPA’s website. “We’re pleased to be able to provide this new option for pilots,” said Clayton Cowl, director of the […]

When I was a child there was an apple tree in our front yard. It was a joy. In the summertime you could walk up to that tree, shake it and feast on those delicious loose apples that were just about ready to fall to the ground on their own but hadn’t yet. Sometimes, if […]

Ground collisions have thankfully been few and far between over the past few years. However, the FAA is taking no chances and continues to raise awareness of the risk of runway incursions between aircraft and vehicles operating on airports of all sizes. The agency said the majority of incursions occur in the first two-thirds of […]

I was surprised when Flying celebrated its 90th birthday last August. Could the magazine really be that old? Heck, am I really this old? And then I realized that dare­devil aviators — followed by legions of prudent and prosaic corporate airplane drivers — have been launching themselves into the air from the Turkey Bottoms, aka […]

In May 2016, I met a woman named Susan Mozena. When she learned that I fly, she told me her father, Charles d’Olive, had been an ace with five victories in World War I. My first thought was that my friend Javier Arango would have gotten a kick out of my having had a close […]

My infatuation with Stearmans began at 7 years old, when, while piled into the back of our Oldsmobile Cutlass station wagon on a family road trip to Florida, I spied a barnstormer in a brilliant blue-and-yellow airplane plying his trade from a nearby airstrip. I pleaded for my parents to let me take a ride, […]

A Missouri businessman, 54, and his dog, who accompanied him everywhere, died when his Piper Cherokee Six broke up in flight over Cuba, Missouri, in 2015. The 1,200-hour pilot had filed an instrument flight plan from Branson, Missouri, where he had a vacation home, northeastward to St. Louis. He was cruising at 5,000 feet. When […]

“There can be no compromise with safety.” “Safety is our No. 1 priority.” You hear these kinds of quotes all the time from well-meaning people — very often people like the secretary of transportation or the administrator of the FAA. The assertions are meant to be comforting, and they are — especially after a crash. […]