Pilot Stories
Enjoy pilot stories? Our Pilot Talk section is full of informative and entertaining flying tales from accomplished pilot authors.
From The Editor: Solo But Not Alone: “2’s In!”
 As is the case for many pilots, my student solo had been my most memorable flight, ever. What could be more exciting than the first opportunity as pilot-in-command to return an aircraft safely to earth? |
A Flight I'll Never Forget: Flying The Goodyear Blimp
Join Plane & Pilot on a night sign tour over the Los Angeles Basin.
 The airship—named, “Spirit of America,” and based in Carson, Calif.—continues a Goodyear tradition that began in 1925 with the company’s first helium blimp. |
Remembering Aviation
We often have to see through the eyes of an outsider to appreciate what we have
 It’s interesting how we can become so close to aviation that, even though it’s fueled by passion, it takes a “civilian” to point out what a great privilege and joy it is to fly. A lot of us instructor types spend four or more hours a day in a cockpit, but we really don’t do much flying—mostly we’re riding and talking. |
Bringing The “Sport” Back To Flying (Kirk Hawkins)
Appealing to the emotional rather than the practical may be the key to revitalizing GA
 In 2004, the FAA passed what has been called the “biggest change in aviation in 50 years”—it created the LSA category and sport pilot license. “So what?” you ask. You’ve already got your private, commercial, instrument, CFI and MEI ratings, and your Eagle Scout Badge. |
Light Sport Chronicles: Ghost Wings
Remembrance of flights past and lessons learned
 Every flight has ghosts, if you’ll see them. Mine come in those times when I need a little help to get me through a tough spot, or raise my perspective above ground level to reconsider the depth and breadth of the singular, incomparable joy we call flight. |
|
The Pilot Decides
Controllers offer assistance, but it’s the pilot’s responsibility to manage the flight
 Each year, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing FAA controllers, honors members who’ve helped save pilots from dangerous situations that might have resulted in accidents. |
Flight I'll Never Forget: Stick Time In An F-4 Sim
Taming the Phantom
 As a twenty something, I figured that the only chance I would ever have of getting into an F-4 Phantom cockpit would involve a successful run for Congress, followed by finagling a seat on the Armed Services Committee. |
From The Editor: When You Least Expect It
 You never know when your skills might be put to the test. For Doug White, who recently had to land a King Air when his pilot suffered a sudden and fatal medical problem, it was a matter of life and death.
|
|
Weather-Smart With Scenario-Based Training
Improving the learning process
 Recently, a VFR pilot flying a Cessna 172 departed after dark in VMC and flew into IMC. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot reported an electrical failure to ATC, but continued into a thickening blanket of fog. |
|
Get 11 Issues of Plane & Pilot for only $14.97! That's 77% off the cover price!
|
In 2007, my team, Aerophile Air Racing, returned from a very difficult trip to the Reno Air Races.
