New Pilot, Tough Call

Faced with a tough judgement call, a new Private Pilot found himself in a tight spot.
Enjoy pilot stories? Our Pilot Talk section is full of informative and entertaining flying tales from accomplished pilot authors.
Faced with a tough judgement call, a new Private Pilot found himself in a tight spot.
Pilots can learn important lessons from a recent accident that claimed the lives of several “Instagram stars.”
All seemed fine with the the Cheyenne II on a medical transportation flight…until it wasn’t.
The answer key to the crossword puzzle in the September 2018 issue of Plane & Pilot.
Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? Sign up for our newsletter, full of tips, reviews and more! Back in the early ‘90s, shortly after Mooney introduced the world-beater, 270 hp, M20M Bravo, I came up with a story idea I was positive couldn’t miss. The Bravo was an outstanding design, but it was basically a more »
Subscribe today to Plane & Pilot magazine for industry news, reviews and much more delivered straight to you! The Mystery? Was Chuck Yeager the first to break the so-called “sound barrier?” Or did someone, or multiple people, beat him to the sonic boom? Well, this one isn’t so much a mystery as a debate. The Backstory more »
Cool and interesting facts about planes, aviation, and life in the 1970s.
Getting the hot seat in a front line fighter.
There’s more than one kind of runway when it comes to high style.
Subscribe today to Plane & Pilot magazine for industry news, reviews and much more! The water below was on fire. Thick billowing clouds of black smoke rose up from the surface, blocking the sun. Our aircraft was in a left bank, directing surface units 1,500 feet below, the aircraft buffeted with turbulence as we dodged fiery more »
The most useless warning is one that never gets made.
Subscribe today to Plane & Pilot magazine for industry news, reviews and much more delivered straight to you! Most of us are familiar with that bromide about life in the cockpit: “Hours of sheer boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer horror.” Like many declamations about flying, that’s quite an exaggeration. Most pilots I know, myself included, more »
Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? Sign up for our newsletter, full of tips, reviews and more! “Rules are made for people who aren’t willing to make up their own.”—Chuck Yeager You’re a good stick. But your decision-making sucks. That’s what the instructor is likely thinking during your flight review. He’s probably not as worried more »
Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? Sign up for our newsletter, full of tips, reviews and more! Aviation may have come close to having a disaster on October 26, 2016, when an American Airlines Boeing 767-323 experienced an uncontained engine failure and fire during its takeoff roll at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. There were 170 more »
Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? Sign up for our newsletter, full of tips, reviews and more! It happened 20 years ago on one of those chamber of commerce New Year’s mornings in Southern California, the kind that everyone watching the Rose Parade back East likes to hate us for. Visibility was probably 60 miles, more »
Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? Sign up for our newsletter! Some bucket list items are ones you check off intentionally. You go to Jack Brown’s to get your seaplane rating. You get with a local tailwheel guru to get that endorsement in your logbook. You head off to a sim center to get your more »
Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? Sign up for our newsletter, full of tips, reviews and more! The Theory The purported hazard of the downwind turn is one of the most controversial topics in all of aviation. Despite it being widely debated for many decades, it maintains a hold on the popular pilot imagination because more »
Are you an aviation enthusiast or pilot? Sign up for our newsletter, full of tips, reviews and much more! Oldest flyable aircraft: Two Blériot XIs Year built: 1909 Located at: The Shuttleworth Collection (UK) and the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (U.S.) Oldest person to get a pilot’s license: Lt. Col. (ret.) James Collins Warren Age at which more »