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Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: The Rashomon Effect

This time of year, we winter-bound types shiver our timbers and wistfully harken back to the glory days of summer.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, LSAs, Pilot Talk

Article: From The Editor: Homecoming

Ron Mohrhoff speaks about his Bonanza the way most people might speak about their children. “Wow!” he proudly beams on each flight. “This airplane is the best!” ...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: For The Birds

I’ve been an accidental student of ornithology for as long as I’ve been alive—and that’s a long time.

Also labeled: Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Pilot In Command

Being a professional aerobatic and race pilot for the past several years has given me the opportunity to meet many civilian, military, helicopter, fixed-wing, professional and recreational pilots.

Also labeled: Aviation Personalities, Careers, Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Learning Center, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk

Article: Open-Cockpit Chills

It was discovered last September that my open-cockpit biplane, a Starduster Too, needed an engine overhaul.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk

Article: Hazards Of Extreme Flying

Ensuring that there’s a safety margin in everything we do is fundamental to aviation accident avoidance.

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, NTSB Reports, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk, Proficiency

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: The Time Traveller

Writing for a major aviation publication like Plane & Pilot feels sometimes like being a time traveller.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, LSAs, Pilot Talk

Article: Managing Risk: VFR Versus VMC

It has been a long day on a long cross-country flight. The weather forecasts have not been very accurate—you’re reminded of a quote from an anonymous wag: "Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers."

Also labeled: Decision Making, Emergency Situations, Flight Hazards, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills

Article: From The Editor: No Go-Around

When the space shuttle reenters the earth’s atmosphere, it becomes nothing more than a huge glider—with a pretty awful glide ratio—and the shuttle commander gets just one chance to land.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Artificial Speed

It’s probably the most common question I hear at air shows and conventions such as Sun ’n Fun, AirVenture, AOPA, NBAA and Reno.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: The Heavy Glider

I’m one fortunate aviator. My professional career has coincided with the 30-year flight history of the Space Shuttle program.

Also labeled: Aviation Personalities, Careers, Columns, Features, Learning Center, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills

Article: We Fly The Space Shuttle (Simulator, That Is)

I always seem to be in the wrong time warp. I was born too late to fly fighters in WWII and too late for the space program.

Also labeled: Adventure Flying, Aviation Careers, Adventure Aircraft, Journeys, Learning Center, Navigation, Aviation Personalities, Pilot Skills

Article: Taking Command Of Your First Plane

It started at Disneyland, holding my daughter Elena’s hand, when my cell phone rang.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Flight I'll Never Forget, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk

Article: Buyer Beware

You might think that FAA airworthiness, inspection and record-keeping requirements virtually guarantee that any airplane you buy is going to be in superb condition. ...

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, NTSB Reports, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk, Proficiency

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Little Airports

Behold the home of the $100 hamburger, the remnants of a life gone by, when linen-covered, nitrate-doped biplanes landed in potato fields and took small-town kids for rides on balmy summer days.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, LSAs, Pilot Talk

Article: Demystifying ATC

It seems we all have a story, some event in our lives that brought us into the aviation trade.

Also labeled: ATC, Emergency Situations, Flight Hazards, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills

Article: From The Editor: Make Your Own Runway

I’ve always admired—and envied—bush pilots.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Memories Of The Swift

Okay, right up front, in an attempt to stop short any angry letters from Swift owners, I loved my little Swift.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: The Power Of Electric Flight

What’s the next big leap in aviation? I think about this stuff all the time.

Also labeled: Careers, Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk

Article: Lessons Learned Part 2

After earning my private pilot’s license in Alaska in 1980, I wasn’t sure what was next. I loved to fly.

Also labeled: Adventure Flying, Aerobatics, Aviation Careers, Backcountry Flying, Bush Flying, Getting Your License, Journeys, Learn To Fly, Learning Center, Navigation, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk, Travel, Weather Flying, Winter Weather

Article: Canyonlands By Cherokee

In 2007 I had been going to Moab, Utah, for four years—hiking, running and sightseeing—and I was 20 years a pilot with my own Cherokee 140.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk

Article: Great Places Not To Have An Accident

One of the truly wondrous things about general aviation is the ease with which you can reach vacation sites that would be a hassle via road, ferry or airline transportation.

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Staying The Course

Recently, a gentleman e-mailed me who had invested a ways back in an LSA company, not because he expected to become the next Piper, Flight Design, Rans or Legend Cub, but because, in his own words, "I just love airplanes." A lifelong...

Also labeled: Features, Journeys, LSAs, Pilot Talk

Article: From The Editor: The Athlete Pilot

“Athlete” isn’t a word that’s often equated with pilots, but Red Bull Air Race pilots are athletes in every way.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Redline!

I was flying home to California from Florida in my Mooney Executive a few years ago following what amounted to a medium makeover of the airplane’s aerodynamic drag signature.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Really Low On Fuel

Early in September of 1977, a fellow Alaska registered guide asked me to fly some avgas to a hunting camp he operated on the west side of the Alaska Range. ...

Also labeled: Adventure Flying, Backcountry Flying, Bush Flying, Bush Pilots, Bush Planes, Careers, Columns, Emergency Situations, Features, Guest Speaker, Learning Center, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk

Article: Lessons Learned Part 1

My first flight lessons might have been different than yours, but as with all pilots, those early experiences are still tattooed in my mind. ...

Also labeled: Adventure Flying, Aerobatics, Aviation Careers, Backcountry Flying, Bush Flying, Getting Your License, Journeys, Learn To Fly, Learning Center, Navigation, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk, Travel, Weather Flying, Winter Weather

Article: Airpark Living: Waking Up To Your Dream

If you’re serious about flying, at some point your dreams have wandered to airparks.

Also labeled: Aviation Resources, Best Buys, Buyer's Guide, Buying A Plane, Decision Making, Features, Journeys, Learning Center, Ownership, Travel

Article: From Russia With Love

The Yak 50 is a single-engine, single-seat, low-wing, semi-retractable, conventional-gear aerobatic aircraft designed in 1973 by the Yakovlev Design Bureau in Russia. It’s an honest, friendly airplane—if somewhat extraordinary because of its country of...

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, NTSB Reports, Pilot Talk, Safety, Weather Flying, Weather Skills

Article: The Light-Sport Safety Record

While the NTSB’s preliminary statistics show that the number of general aviation accidents dropped again last year, as did the number of people killed, the estimated number of hours flown also dropped, resulting in a slight increase in both the o...

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, NTSB Reports, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Pilot Talk, Proficiency