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Pilot Skills

Article: Training With A Passion

Aerobatic champion, air show superstar, Red Bull racer—Michael Goulian is all of these. But in his day job, if you will, he’s president of Executive Flyers Aviation, a second-generation flight school founded by his father, Myron, in 1964.

Also labeled: Aviation Careers, Aviation Personalities, Aviation Resources, Careers, Features, Flight Schools, Flight Training, Jobs and Schools, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Resources

Article: Aerial Phobias

All of us have things in our lives that make us uncomfortable, sometimes to the point of terrorizing us. As kids, it’s what’s hiding under the bed. ...

Also labeled: Decision Making, Pilot Resources, Pilot Safety, Safety

Article: I Did It!

On a cool, crisp and calm October morning, I finally took my first solo flight. It was amazing! My journey to this point started almost three years before, in early 2007. ...

Also labeled: Aviation Personalities, Careers, Columns, Features, Guest Speaker, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Safety

Article: Puerto Rico To Provo

At age 34, I added a flying trip to my dream list. It was a fly-in of 20 planes to Providenciales (nicknamed “Provo”) in the Turks and Caicos, an archipelago of nearly 49 islands and desert cays just 35 miles southeast of the Bahamas.

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: Stop Squeezing Them In

Remember the circus act in which a dozen clowns get out of the smallest car you’ve ever seen drive into the center ring?

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

Article: Still Relentless

I can tell you that for one lap prior, the plane never ran so well.

Also labeled: Aviation Personalities, Careers, Columns, Features, Learning Center, People and Places, Pilot Safety

Article: Where General Aviation Shines

Shortly after getting my pilot’s license in 1992, I took all of my family members up, one at a time, for an aerial tour of Jacksonville, Fla. ...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places, Pilot Talk

Article: The Crosswind Component

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 Talk, Safety

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, People and Places, Pilot Safety, Pilot Talk

Article: Advanced-Degree Autopilot

We familiarly call them “George” or “Otto.” But Avidyne’s DFC90 autopilot makes a strong case for being called “Doctor” George or “Professor” Otto.

Also labeled: Avionics, Features, Flying Skills, Learning Center, Pilot Gear, Pilot Safety, Pilot Supplies

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, People and Places, 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, People and Places, Pilot Safety, Pilot Talk, Proficiency

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, People and Places, Pilot Safety

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, People and Places, Pilot Safety

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, People and Places, Aviation Personalities

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, People and Places, 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, People and Places, Pilot Safety, Pilot Talk, Proficiency

Article: Pilot Careers 2010: A Brave New World

It probably seems extraordinary to be discussing pilot careers at a time when the worst economic turmoil in 60 years has dragged the airline industry to near-collapse and an insatiable media has spotlighted every ugly aspect of the profession.

Also labeled: Careers, Jobs and Schools, Learn To Fly, Learning Center, Pilot Resources

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, People and Places, Pilot Safety

Article: Rookies of Reno

The Reno Air Races are unlike any other contest in the world.

Also labeled: Air Races, Air Shows, Aviation Careers, Aviation Personalities, Careers, Flight Hazards, Pilot Safety

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, People and Places, Pilot Safety, 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, People and Places, 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, People and Places, 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, People and Places, Pilot Safety, Pilot Talk

Article: Beyond Today’s Transponder

Autonomous Dependant Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) has to be one of the most misunderstood technologies of the 21st century.

Also labeled: Flight Hazards, Pilot Safety

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, People and Places, Pilot Safety, 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, People and Places, Pilot Talk, Travel, Weather Flying, Winter Weather

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, People and Places, Pilot Safety, Pilot Talk, Proficiency

Article: Is Glass Safer?

Earlier this year, the NTSB released the findings of a special study that they conducted comparing glass-cockpit aircraft and similar conventional, or “round dial,”-equipped aircraft.

Also labeled: Flight Hazards, In-Flight Emergencies, Pilot Safety

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, People and Places, Shows and Fly-Ins, Warbirds