Weather

Weather is one of the biggest variables in general aviation flight and a contributing cause of many accidents. While there is no way for us pilots to control the weather, we can modify our flight paths to prevent unplanned encounters with Mother Nature. Fortunately, doing so has become a lot easier in the past few […]

Pilots flying during the COVID-19 pandemic have an added layer of complexity to consider in their initial flight planning. This planning now needs to include the various travel restrictions on where to go and if to stay. Summer 2020 included much of this consideration when planning where to visit with my Piper Cherokee PA-28-180. If […]

Sam Taylor, ForeFlight’s senior video marketing specialist, on April 14 hosted a virtual update at Sun ‘n Fun of new features added to the company’s software in the first quarter of 2021. At the top of Taylor’s list was mention of changes to ForeFlight’s efforts to learn from the successes inherent in the original traffic collision avoidance […]

Dr. Scott Dennstaedt says, “General aviation has been plagued with a deadly virus for many decades called VFR into IMC. Flying visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) continues to be the leading cause of fatal weather-related accidents.” Dennstaedt says his new product EZWxBrief is a cure for this virus. “Many general aviation […]

Three men chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza for a late-night flight between Mason City (KMCW), Iowa, and Fargo (KFAR), North Dakota, about 200 nautical miles. The 21-year-old charter pilot’s initial review of the forecast that chilly February evening called for VFR weather with bases along the route at 5,000 feet and visibility of 10 miles. The only […]

Cruising among the flight levels in excess of Mach 0.82 most times, our weather radar typically remained in an active status. The Boeing 777′s system was sophisticated enough to adjust its sweep to the attitude of the airplane and turn itself on during takeoff for predictive wind-shear-detection warnings. It was the primary long-range tool for […]

I have to confess that I have a very love-hate relationship with the state of Florida. On one hand, this upper-Midwestern country boy has come to crave white sand, salt water and warm winter sunshine, all of which Florida is blessed with in great abundance. On the other hand, I am decidedly not a fan […]

It is 9 a.m. on a gray Tuesday. I am standing on our dock at City Island in the Bronx, New York, surveying my handiwork, sipping hot coffee to assuage the gnawing tension. I have just finished preparing my sturdy boat and home, Windbird, to ride out a hurricane on a 40-year-old dock in an […]

On a singular night in 1994, I learned that while there are many risks in flying, like in most other activities, succumbing to fear and panic is the worst possible way to deal with those risks. Flight training, while continuing to place the emphasis on risk avoidance, should highlight rationality in dealing with those risks, […]

Some accidents arrive entirely without warning, and it is hard to know what or whom to blame.