Safety
Article: Don't Be Dense About Density Altitude
It can prevent you from taking off from the same runway you did the day before. It will sap power...
Article: A Needle In A Haystack
Sometime in 2009, the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system will no longer be receiving distress signals on today’s common distress frequencies, 121.5 MHz and 243.0 MHz. Instead, the satellites will...
Article: The Stigma Of Mayday
Face it, no one likes to admit mistakes. Probably because of the Superman syndrome, pilots are...
Article: 12 Tips To Beat The Heat
Most new-production and many high-performance aircraft have fuel-injected engines....
Article: Control The Crosswind!
There are several ways to start an argument. They range from the old favorites, politics...
Article: Fill ’Er Up
Running out of fuel and crashing is something you might expect from an inexperienced private pilot, but not from a crew of professional pilots or even experienced pilots. Yet that was exactly...
Article: Moving On Up
Is there life after the check ride? The obvious answer is a re-sounding yes, there is definitely life...
Article: Safety In Numbers
This past March, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released preliminary accident statistics for 2004. The numbers show a welcome overall safety trend for general aviation (GA),...
Article: Top 10 Pilot Errors
One of the most disturbing statistics about general-aviation accidents is that more than 75% of them are made...
Article: Avoiding Midair Collisions
It was over so fast, it was almost as if it hadn’t h...
Article: Turbulent Times
A few weeks ago, New York was experiencing an extended period of rainy weather, accompanied by what seemed like constant low overcasts, reduced visibility and winds that were...
Article: Thunderstorms: Managing The Risk
It was June 1977, and I had climbed out of Reading, Pa., in a new Rockwell...
Article: The Need For Speed!
Go ahead, admit it. When you read all of those pilot reports, you skim them, looking for the...
Article: Weather-Avoidance Assistance
While the primary duty of controllers is to separate and direct traffic, they also have a duty to help pilots avoid weather hazards. The FAA’s handbook for controllers requires them to issue pertinent information on observed and reported weather, p...
Article: The Go/No-Go Decision
Every pilot has his own tolerance for risk, but most of us who fly ferry across the oceans on a semi-regular basis have developed our own set of guidelines for when we will or won’t fly. We l...
Article: Busting TFRs
Once upon a time, you could pull the airplane out of the hangar, fire up the engine, point it into the wind and fly....
Article: The Touchdown Set-Up
One of the really great things about most light general aviation airplanes is that they generally are highly responsive to control and power inputs, and touchdown speeds are comparatively...
Article: Back In The Saddle
The first thing I did was introduce myself to her. I...
Article: Deciphering Accident Statistics
The aviation industry sure loves its statistics—there’s an X% chance of this, and one aircraft is Y...
Article: Flight Level Fliers
We live in the best of times and the worst of times. Imagine flying with glass panels that allow you to...
Article: Test Yourself
There’s a wonderful line in a Toby Keith song that...
Article: Box Canyon Hazards
The visibility isn’t the best going up the mountain pass. On the far side lies better weather and home. Behind are a...
Article: Winter Flying
Winter—it’s cold, it’s dark and sometimes it seems like spring will never come. But, lots of pilots live in cold count...
Article: Face Weather With More Confidence
The trip was to be a long one: Watsonville, Calif., to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was supposed to take...
Article: The Go/No-Go Decision
It’s probably the toughest ...
Article: Upset Recovery Training
I hate roller coasters. Little tykes...
Article: The Littlest Emergency
Picture this: You’re cruising straight and l...
Article: Is 35 Hours Enough
The world’s flying community looks at the 35-hour yearly average for U.S. pilots and shakes its collective head. They bemoan what they perceive as a general lack of proficiency and place blame on the pilots, as though they’re doing it on pur...
Article: How To Keep Older Aircraft Flying
Article: ADS-B: The FAA’s Bold New Bid To Change The Way We Fly
Aircraft owners usually cast a wary eye when the FAA introduces a new technology. With each announcement, owners are concerned about paying a price to retain their rights to use the country’s...
