Pilots

All pilots must eat. Learjet pilots on an overnight have to eat. Due to unusual circumstances, I’ve participated in a variety of eating experiences while flying trips as a backup first officer in a Lear 31A for Elite Air of St. Petersburg, Florida. I say unusual because I am not your usual first officer. My […]

It seems simple enough: a small taildragger — a Stinson, it looks like — lined up for takeoff on a nice but shortish downhill sloped grass strip. Then something goes terribly wrong: The pilot actually tries to take off. The resultant takeoff is the most harrowing I’ve ever seen that doesn’t end in a flaming […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. This latest Spotlight is brought to you by C.K. Bondar, who recently flew into Witham Field Airport in Stuart, Florida in a PA-28-181. Here’s what he had to say about one of the airport’s FBOs, Stuart […]

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Learjet brand, Flexjet partnered with Jet Art’s Princess Tarinan von Anhalt to create one-of-a-kind modern art pieces at West Palm Beach Airport yesterday using the powerful jet blast from a Learjet 45XR as an $11 million dollar “paintbrush.” Von Anhalt hurled paint into the force of the Learjet’s […]

A group of Bonanza owners share the love for their airplanes at an American Bonanza Society convention. (Photo by American Bonanza Society)| Around the beginning of factory production of airplanes, which happened a mere handful of years after the dawn of powered flight, it occurred to aviators that it was in their strong interest to […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. This latest Spotlight is brought to you by Ron Sterba, who recently flew into McNary Field Airport in Salem, Oregon in a Cessna 172. Here’s what he had to say about the airport’s FBO, Salem Aviation […]

Admit it. Airline pilot or not, when you read the title of this month’s column, you smirked. It’s OK. I get it. That’s why I decided it was high time to approach the issue head on. What am I really talking about? It’s no secret that general aviation pilots, and I include the corporate world, […]

If cool videos of people flying real airplanes in amazing locales inspires you to go flying, then the video you’re about to see might have the opposite effect. It shows wingsuit thrillseeker Alexander Polli flying his… err… body at speeds that defy common or any other kind of sense through a rock arch barely bigger […]

In our FBO Spotlight series, we’re highlighting FBOs around the country that have received rave reviews from our readers. This latest Spotlight is brought to you by Jim Sankey, who recently flew into Portsmouth International Airport at Pease in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in a Piper Archer III. Here’s what he had to say about one […]

Sun ‘n Fun closed in style over the weekend with a reported 5 percent uptick in traffic compared to last year’s show, according to organizers. Reports from companies attending the show varied. While all reported a drop-off in overall foot traffic, a number of them told Flying that the quality of the folks who stopped […]