Search Results for: vfr

I was flying with a student in SoCal. Before taxi, she got an appropriate VFR clearance as required per ATIS. However, she was a little confused and despite talking to approach with a distinct transponder code, was unsure if we had flight following. She asked me if she could confirm with ATC and against my […]

Gettysburg, Penn., has a nice little municipal airport (W05). Its lone runway, oriented 06/24, is 3100 x 60 feet of well-paved asphalt and located just a couple of miles northwest of the historic town’s tourist attractions, and one of the most important battlegrounds in American history. Wyoming’s Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport (48U) is a […]

ATDs (Aviation Training Devices) can serve a variety of purposes. Whether it’s initial flight training for VFR, IFR currency—thanks to new FAA regs—and even for avionics training, simulator tech for the flight school and for the home has never been better, thanks in part to touchscreen and big-screen monitors. For this field report for sister […]

If you’ve been flying for very long, it’s likely there’s a route you frequently use. It could be a quick out-and-back to the nearest $100 hamburger or cheapest avgas, or an hours-long trek to Grandma’s house. It’s something you’ve flown often and know well enough to almost do it without a chart. You understand the […]

Sports coaches, music teachers, and creative writing instructors all encounter people who just enjoy practicing—sometimes more than they want to play, perform or publish. If you’re one of those folks who find joy in doing turns around a point or steep spirals, more power to you. Go forth, have fun and don’t feel obliged to […]

EASA has published its opinion on proposed regulatory easements that will help EASA-rated private pilots gain their instrument rating faster, cheaper and more easily. By clearing the path for the “Basic Instrument Rating,” EASA is combining various regulatory frameworks, allowing private pilots to gain access to instrument flying directly upon passing their EASA private pilot […]

Blame it on YouTube. Sailors have an affliction they call “bigger boat disease” or “one-foot-itis,” and I was starting to feel the rumblings of the aviator’s version. I had been flying and enjoying my Fisher FP-404 biplane for the past three years but was starting to bump into its limitations: low speed, modest climb rate, […]

Bye Aerospace’s Sun Flyer 2 electric Part 23 airplane took flight for the first time with its intended production configuration on Feb. 8 and President George Bye said all went well. The two-seat aircraft, which Bye intends to be fully certified, flew with the Siemens-built SP70D motor with a maximum of 120 horsepower and maximum […]

My brother, J.R., and I have made a number of flights to the Bahamas in one of our two airplanes. Once we had a crowd, so we took both airplanes. He was in his Cessna 182 and I was in my Cessna 206. On the return trip while crossing central Florida, near Orlando, on a […]

It was my Sunday morning to pick up the doughnuts on the way to the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport, so I wanted to get there early. If it’s your doughnut day and you show up after the regulars are already ensconced in the ratty old recliners, swilling coffee and telling flying lies, you’re […]