Search Results for: vfr

A pilot friend who knows more than I do about everything once said, “All air traffic controllers should first be pilots.” He was buying the beer, so I agreed. At the time I was both a pilot and a controller. Today, I still fly but haven’t said “Cleared to land” with any authority in years. […]

There are many considerations to work through before your first purchase. Indeed, for the most economically efficient path to the best simulator for your purposes, you should work through all those considerations before making any purchases. Parts of a Sim Want a home flight simulator? You’ll need a chair to sit on and a table […]

I had to fly a go-around the other day. My instructor and I were landing in my Debonair at a familiar airport on a gusty day after 1.5 hours of instrument work. Although I was accustomed to the airport and the visual approach, I had forgotten how windy conditions at this particular runway could wreak […]

Garmin today introduced a larger-screen version of its aera navigator. The aera 760 boasts a 7-inch screen, which is 2 inches larger than the current aera 660, and packs all the expected features, including onboard GPS/GLONASS receiver, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, and VFR and IFR flight charts. It’ll be available in May for $1,599. It […]

FAA Approves Seatless Airliners For Freight Reminds me of the QC 727’s of the early 70’s. Slide out the seats and slide in containers. It’s gonna be a while before these airplanes will have paying passengers on board. Instead, keep them flying with paying boxes instead of paying passengers. It could lead to a new […]

One would think that a fairly simple recurrent training requirement established by the FAA over 40 years ago would be a ho-hum thing by now. One would be wrong. The FAR Part 61.56 requirement to fly with an instructor biennially (every two years) and receive an endorsement of a pilot’s basic fitness for flight is […]

Citizens aren’t the only ones isolated these days and a New Jersey pilot took advantage of the empty skies in what is normally the world’s busiest airspace with a video tour of the big three New York airports in his RV-8 last week. “I flew my RV-8 from Caldwell, NJ to EWR>LGA>JFK the other day […]

While pilots in many places are taking advantage of the COVID-19 downtime and getting some flying done, the U.K. is strongly suggesting that recreational pilots hang up their headsets until physical distancing measures are relaxed. The government has not prohibited recreational flying but it has suggested that those who don’t fly to provide essential services […]

This story originally ran in KITPLANES. By Dave Prizio Randy Schlitter, owner of RANS Designs, Inc., has been working on an all-metal utility airplane kit for going on three years now. Subscribers to his newsletters have tracked the progress of this plane since August 2016, and orders have been pouring in for several months now. […]

How quickly life can change was brought home not by a glitzy virus that resembles Mardi Gras decorations in a New Orleans cat house … not that I’ve ever been in New Orleans or a cat house. Although, I do have a cat named for Harriet Quimby, first woman to fly the English Channel in […]