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Article: Splash In

For two days each September, the shores and skies of the quaint Central California town of Lakeport are taken over by the Clear Lake Splash-In. ...

Also labeled: Adventure Flying, Air Shows, Features, Floatplanes, Seaplanes, Shows and Fly-Ins

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Profiles In Vision: Boris Popov

A few weeks ago, I came within a second or two of a head-on mid-air collision. A few weeks ago, I came within a second or two of a head-on...

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, Journeys, LSAs, Ownership, Pilot Talk, Shared Ownership

Article: From The Editor: Music To Fly By

First Titanic, then Avatar. Now the Horsemen. Renowned composer James Horner has taken his musical talents from Hollywood’s big screen to the world of aviation.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Zen & The Art Of Airplane Flying

I’m one of those apparently strange folks who believe that flying is an easy skill to learn. No, that’s not because I do it so well.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Sharing The Passion

Aviation and flying have been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. Aviation and flying have been an...

Also labeled: Air Races, Air Shows, Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Learning Center, Pilot Talk, Shows and Fly-Ins

Article: Mustang Mystique

As I lower myself into the rear cockpit, I pinch myself. No, I’m not dreaming. I really am in a WWII P-51D Mustang, about to ride with the Horsemen, the world’s only P-51 aerobatic team, known for their hyperprecise formation aerobatics.

Also labeled: Flight Training, Adventure Flying, Aerobatics, Air Shows, Aviation Personalities, Features, Flying Skills, Pilot Skills, Shows and Fly-Ins, Warbirds

Article: An Aviator’s Best Friend

Fifty years ago, I stood at the edge of space and jumped. This year, Felix Baumgartner of Austria plans to make a jump from the edge of space, but from a height that’s 20,000 feet higher—an altitude from which no human has ever successfully completed a...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Journeys, Pilot Talk, Safety, Travel, Adventure Flying

Article: A Pure Form Of Flying

It was a beautiful spring day, and I was a newly minted CFI full of confidence and enthusiasm.

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

Article: Monitoring What’s Going On

Individuals who have passed their FAA written exams and practical tests don’t necessarily have the knowledge and skills to become trustworthy pilots. ...

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

Article: Water, Wind & Floats

Be prepared to have fun,” Frances Brown told me. That was one of those phrases I had heard before with little payoff.

Also labeled: Flying Skills, Learn To Fly, Learning Center, Proficiency

Article: From The Editor: Contrails & Cubs, Gear & Gators

The last time we visited with John and Martha King, they were flying the new Cessna Skycatcher for a series of light-sport instructional DVDs. Recently, we caught up with them in something on the other end of the speed spectrum—their Dassault Falcon 1...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk, Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Ownership, Fractional Ownership, Journeys, LSAs, Ownership, Shared Ownership

Article: Of Baby Girls & Aeroplanes­

Does your mind ever wander, unable to think about any one thing in particular? Instead, your thoughts are unfocused, and your mind is mentally channel-surfing, leafing through memories, lingering for a few seconds and then flipping to a new memory, a...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, Pilot Talk

Article: Memories Of Alaska

Once or twice each summer, I slip into the right seat of an airplane and help a pilot fly to an exotic destination, most often across the Atlantic from North America to Europe.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, Pilot Talk

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Gold Stars & Black Stars

About a year ago, I asked Mike Adams, Avemco Insurance Company’s VP of underwriting, to use his crystal ball (FAA and Avemco accident and claim statistics) to divine trends in LSA flying.

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, Journeys, LSAs, Ownership, Pilot Talk, Shared Ownership

Article: Analyzing Pilot Performance

NTSB investigators were able to assemble plenty of data to reconstruct what happened on board the Colgan Air Bombardier DHC-8-400 that crashed at Clarence Center, N.Y., on February 12, 2009.

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, Flight Hazards, In-Flight Emergencies, NTSB Reports, Safety, Weather Flying, Weather Skills

Article: From The Editor: Choose Your Own Adventure

I loved Choose Your Own Adventure “gamebooks” when I was young.

Also labeled: Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Reading The Tea Leaves

Partway through the year, as the economy continues to show signs of recovery, I wanted to look down the road and ask someone who keeps a keen eye on the LSA industry if there were significant trends to track for the rest of 2010.

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, Journeys, LSAs, Ownership, Partnership, Pilot Talk, Shared Ownership

Article: Plastic Pilot License

My new plastic pilot license showed up in the mail the other day, and this is what I think: I don’t like it.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, Pilot Talk

Article: Cowboys & Angels

As we approach from the north, over the deep lapis Caribbean Sea that surrounds a crescent shore, Haiti suddenly appears. At 4:53 p.m.

Also labeled: Features, Flying Skills, Journeys, Learning Center, Pilot Skills

Article: Stamp Out CFIT

It was mid-1977, and I had been assigned a story on the first production model of a new twin.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, Pilot Talk

Article: Thar She Blows!

Nonpilots often ask me why I spend a good portion of my hard-earned income on flying. Nonpilots often ask me why I spend a good portion of my hard-earned...

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

Article: Recognizing You’re In Trouble

One of the most important skills for pilots to possess is the ability to recognize when they’re falling behind in an unfolding scenario. Frequently, pilots who fall too far behind experience accidents and are immortalized in NTSB accident reports.

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, Flight Hazards, In-Flight Emergencies, NTSB Reports, Pilot Talk, Proficiency, Safety, Weather Flying, Weather Skills

Article: Dream Makers: Everyday Pilots Reaching For The Sky

Dreams of flight are special. They beckon you from your earliest memories, and they’re insistent—always calling you to look up at the sky when an airplane passes overhead, or crane your neck at the nearest airport.

Also labeled: Advanced Ratings, Aviation Careers, Features, Flight Training, Flying Skills, Getting Your License, Jobs and Schools, Learn To Fly, Learning Center, Pilot Safety, Pilot Skills, Proficiency

Article: Favorite Aviation Moments

The other day, I made one of those “out in the morning/back in the afternoon drives” to Los Angeles for lunch with my daughter.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, Pilot Talk

Article: From The Editor: Just Because

"Why would anyone want to go there?” is what a few pilots on the ramp asked when we told them where we were off to. "Why would anyone want t...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Pilot Talk

Article: Nonflying Aerospace Careers

In past years, we’ve called this section “Nonflying Aviation Careers,” recognizing that not everyone interested in aviation wants to be a pilot. ...

Also labeled: Aviation Careers, Features, Flying Skills, Jobs and Schools, Learn To Fly, Learning Center, Pilot Skills

Article: What’s Up With WAAS?

I was fortunate to discover GPS early on. I was on my way to the 1991 Paris Air Show in the one and only prototype Swearingen SJ30 business jet, and had stopped for fuel in Greenland.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, Pilot Talk

Article: 24 Hours: Death Valley

Humans need adventure, stories and new experiences. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard friends talk about the millionth approach to the same old runway, but I still listen because I love to fly.

Also labeled: Features, Flying Skills, Journeys, Learning Center, Pilot Skills

Article: Helping Haiti

It started with an e-mail sent to my partner, Brian Reiff. Bahamas Habitat was looking for pilots with high-performance singles or twins to fly earthquake relief supplies to rural Haiti.

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

Article: Safety’s Ideal World

In an ideal world, once the probable cause of an accident is identified, there never will be an accident like it again.

Also labeled: Accident Statistics, Columns, FAA Regulations, Features, Flight Hazards, In-Flight Emergencies, NTSB Reports, Pilot Talk, Proficiency, Safety, Weather Flying, Weather Skills