Pilots

Mission controllers for Inspiration4 have updated the launch window for SpaceX’s next crewed mission to Earth orbit, launching from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. A new five-hour launch window begins at 8:02 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to a statement. The window is based on an updated weather forecast for the launch site and possible landing […]

Captain Beverley Bass will never forget that moment, 20 years ago. She was piloting American Airlines Flight 49 from Paris to Dallas over the North Atlantic when the news came across an air-to-air frequency: Airplanes had hit each of twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City in a terrorist attack. Soon […]

This story originally published in the September 2004 issue of Flying Magazine. It is about six o’clock in the morning. I am witnessing a brilliant golden sunrise; a few layers of thin clouds accent the picturesque view. The New York City skyline begins to appear as a faint silhouette on the horizon. I am seated […]

If you didn’t fly into KDCA—now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport—before September 11, 2001, you’re still out of luck as a general aviation pilot. You’ll need to be crew on an airline flight, or obtain a special clearance, in order to land at the nation’s iconic airport on the banks of the Potomac River. That’s […]

Fellow aviators, I’m truly honored to have this opportunity to write about finances for Flying—things like retirement, taxes, and ways that you can keep more of your money. But before we dive in, I want you to know where I’m coming from. I started flying in Cessna 172s and Piper Cherokees out of Loveland, Colorado […]

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: I was born without arms. I live my life by using my feet as my hands, and that’s precisely how I fly my Ercoupe. But I’m just one person with a disability who’s flown or aspired to be a pilot. Using my feet is natural to me. […]

The silence on the Potomac Approach frequency was stark. It was September 17, 2001, and I was flying a Piper Archer from KFDK in Frederick, Maryland, down to Newport News (KPHF), Virginia, logging two hours down and 1.7 on the return. I filed IFR on a day of shockingly blue skies because that was the […]

SkyWest Airlines has announced that it is reinstating their rotor transition program, aimed at military aviators. The program, paused by COVID-19, provides military rotary wing pilots a direct path to become a SkyWest Pilot. SkyWest offers up to $17,500 in tuition reimbursement for fixed-wing transition training and a $7,500 bonus for military aviators. Pilots can […]

For most people, a 100th birthday celebration might include a gathering of friends and family, some music, and maybe a slice or two of cake. Tom Rice took things a little further. Rice, who served as a paratrooper in World War II, celebrated passing the century mark by jumping from the Commemorative Air Force’s C-53D […]

As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United States Air Force’s most senior uniformed officer, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is responsible for the organization, training and equipping of 689,000 active-duty National Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the US and overseas. A military adviser to the secretary of defense, […]