Home : Tags :

Pilot Talk

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, People and Places

Article: The Courtesy Attitude

I don’t normally rant. But this might be an exception. Or at least I’ll clamber onto my ever-present soapbox to make a point.

Also labeled: Columns, Features

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, People and Places

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, People and Places, Shows and Fly-Ins

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, People and Places, 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, People and Places, 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, People and Places

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, People and Places, 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, People and Places

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, People and Places

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, People and Places, Shared Ownership

Article: The Chicago Air & Water Show

As a lifelong Chicago-area resident, I’ve had the pleasure of attending the Chicago Air & Water Show several times.

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

Article: From The Editor: Choose Your Own Adventure

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

Also labeled: Features, People and Places

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, People and Places, 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, People and Places

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, People and Places

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: The Long View

"This is a very dynamic time for the industry, and for Remos,” Ken Weaver, VP of marketing for Remos Aircraft, told me the other day.

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

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, People and Places, 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, People and Places, Proficiency, Safety, Weather Flying, Weather Skills

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, People and Places

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, People and Places

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, People and Places

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, People and Places, 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, People and Places, Proficiency, Safety, Weather Flying, Weather Skills

Article: From The Editor: Where GA Shines

Since the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in January, general aviation pilots have been making an increasingly positive impact in the troubled country; in some regions, GA relief flights are the only way aid is getting through....

Also labeled: Columns, Features, People and Places

Article: Light-Sport Chronicles: Befriending The Enemy

“Minute Man traffic, light-sport one three four X-ray entering downwind for runway three, Minute Man.” “Minute Man traff...

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, Journeys, LSAs, Ownership, Partnership, People and Places, Shared Ownership

Article: Fear & Preparedness

As he sat in my office and we prepared to leave for the airport after three hours of ground school, he hesitated for a moment, locked eyes with me and said, “Look, I have to tell you something.”

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, People and Places

Article: To Korea, With Luck

My buddy Jeff Kopps of the National Weather Service in Monterey, Calif., had predicted headwinds out of Santa Barbara, and as usual, he was right. ...

Also labeled: Columns, Features, Journeys, People and Places

Article: SolidFX FX10

For years, U.S. instrument pilots have had a choice between charts from the FAA’s National Aeronautical Charting Office (NACO) and from Jeppesen, the overwhelming choice among commercial pilots.

Also labeled: Avionics, Best Buys, Buyer's Guide, Cockpit Gadgets, Columns, Handheld Gadgets, Navigation, New Products, Pilot Gear, Pilot Supplies, Safety

Article: Profiles In Vision: Larry Burke

Ever had a neighbor who watered your roses if you forgot to? Or loaned you his tools, though you didn’t know him very well?

Also labeled: Aircraft Bargains, Aircraft Partnership, Columns, Features, Fractional Ownership, Journeys, LSAs, Ownership, Partnership, People and Places