10 Flying Techniques From Great Aviators

One of the great joys of this job is that I’ve been allowed to interview and get to know some of the most interesting pilots in aviation.
Our flight-training articles can help you become a better pilot. From getting a license in two weeks to advance flying techniques, our pilot training for general aviators cover all the information you need.
One of the great joys of this job is that I’ve been allowed to interview and get to know some of the most interesting pilots in aviation.
How risky is your next flight?
The big secret in aviation is that just about everybody goes into it because it’s more fun than should be legally allowed, and not because it’s practical.
While many private pilots dream about someday flying a light jet, the reality for most of us goes no further than a “high-performance” retractable single or light twin.
I just completed a trip from a coastal town in northern California, to Erie, Penn., and back in a Columbia 400.
I’m one of the world’s luckiest pilots. On occasion, I’m allowed to fly some of the best new airplanes in general aviation.
I first fell in love with the Cessna 340 when my dad and I stopped at Harris Ranch for a steak salad on our way home from the Bay Area one day.
It’s a notorious section of the North Atlantic known for high waves and vicious winds. It runs 600 miles from the coast of Iceland southeast past the Faroes and Orkney Islands to Northern Scotland.
So much of aviation education is built around doing things right.
It was the Christmas holiday, and I was on my way back from the Bahamas to Venice, Fla.
It was a particular flight in December of 2011 that really stands out in my mind.
It was late summer, and I nursed the old Bellanca Cruisemaster higher as we passed over Blue Mesa Reservoir near Gunnison, Colo.
Yeah, I got my license, but then I got married, had a couple of kids and got engrossed in building my career, so I didn’t fly for a long time.
To that end, I studied with one of Hollywood’s hardest-working studio lead trumpet players, Bud Brisbois.
Precision and approximation: These are contradictory terms that, when applied to flying, have more to do with the pilot’s mind-set than they do with skill.
Like so many aeronautical adventures, this was a quest for a signature.
Making the transition from a fixed- gear piston into a turbine isn’t easy, cheap or quick, but it’s possible.
The indiscretions of youth. It’s all too easy to examine stupid pilot tricks and dismiss them as functions of immaturity.