Search Results for: vfr

This story originally appeared in KITPLANES. Despite appearances, and what you might logically conclude, the uAvionix AV-30-E (E for Experimental) is not intended to be a head-on competitor for the Garmin G5. Even though you might assume differently from the basic feature sets and price point, the companies have come at developing a small EFIS to […]

By Russ Erb This story originally appeared in KITPLANES. After telling the following story to many other pilots, I came to a conclusion that my flight instructor never told me. For that matter, I’ve never read or heard about it in KITPLANES, EAA, AOPA, AVweb or anywhere else in the aviation press. I know a […]

An airport hath no soul without a pilot lounge … or pilots/pilot’s lounge, depending on possessive plurality issues unspecified in the AIM’s social amenities supplement. Lounge accessories should include: A coffee pot, a bulletin board papered with FAA notices no one reads, a faded copy of Magee’s High Flight (genuflect), and ads for aircraft sold years […]

Some mentor, long ago, explained aviation weather to me: “There are two kinds of weather you never want to fly in no matter the aircraft,” he said. “Icing and thunderstorms.” He wasn’t wrong. But until we gain some experience, sometimes it’s hard to tell when we’ve gotten too close to either weather situation. Put another […]

“Unusual” is a subjective,‭ ‬time-sensitive evaluation inspired by something that is rare or exceptional‭, ‬something not common or usual‭. ‬This certainly describes the maroon two-seat biplane tied down in front of Homebuilt Headquarters at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019‭. ‬With its negatively staggered wings‭, ‬it was equally exceptional when its designer‭, ‬72-year-old Miles Westfall‭, ‬flew the […]

The first thing that might be on your mind is; “Aren’t there fewer rules if you are IFR?” Well, kind of. The main example is if you are IFR, you need not worry about weather requirements for entering certain airspaces. An IFR clearance in itself provides separation from other aircraft and obstacle clearance in all […]

Nearly two years have passed since Aviation Safety magazine introduced the concept of gadget flight rules (GFR) in the December 2013 issue. The original article examined using non-certified gadgets-personal electronic devices running appropriate software-to salvage a flight when your certified instruments fail. The conclusion was, yes, gadgets can provide backup, but the user must understand the […]

Dynon’s STC’d version of the SkyView HDX system was introduced a couple of years ago, but it hasn’t been retrofitted in large numbers. Part of that is because the STC has been limited to Cessna Skyhawk models (at press time Dynon earned an STC for some Beech Bonanza models), plus Dynon hasn’t established a large […]

When Garmin introduced the GPS 175 (and ADS-B transponder-equipped GNX 375) budget IFR navigator earlier this year, we wondered why it didn’t have a comm radio. Then a couple months later, Garmin tossed the $6995 GNC 355 in the mix with, you guessed it, a built-in comm. That leaves no fewer than a half-dozen choices […]

Editor’s note: Following is a first-person account of an in-flight emergency, namely smoke in the cockpit, aboard a civilian Beechcraft King Air 300 over Afghanistan in February 2019. This account preserves the operation’s security, its exact location and identities of the crewmembers. It’s the sole opinion of the author, who was the flight’s pilot-in-command, and […]