Search Results for: vfr

The FAA has issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) warning pilots of potential display resets in Aspen Evolution EFD1000 Primary Flight Display (PFD), EFD1000 Multi-Function Display (MFD) and EFD500 MFD units. According to the SAIB, affected systems will repeatedly reset themselves at five- to ten-minute intervals, resulting in the temporary loss of all flight […]

Advancing age has its benefits when it comes to flying—wisdom and experience are two, and perhaps greater financial security to allow us to indulge our aviation passion. But despite increasing longevity, much as we fancy achieving the ripe age of 969 years as Methuselah, we’re a long way from that (50 is the new 70). […]

Most pilots have heard warnings about the timeliness (or lack thereof) of Nexrad radar. Better expressed as latency, the weather you see on your tablet, smartphone or multi-function display from providers like SXM or the FAA’s ADS-B could already be 15-20 minutes out of date. It can’t be said enough: What you see on your […]

When discussing preflight inspections, I sometimes hear pilots remark, “I don’t know what I am looking for.” That’s unfortunate, because the pilot is the final authority regarding the aircraft’s airworthiness. As a pilot, you have the responsibility to accept the aircraft as-is and be on your merry way or reject it as unsuitable if something […]

ADS-B Apocalypse As an owner, it’s hard to justify spending $2-6K on something we DON’t NEED to fly. It’s no benefit since we already have an IFR system that functions without it and a VFR system with the lowest accident rate in history. This is a made up, government mandate where some office bureaucrat made […]

Many VFR, and inexperienced IFR, pilots mistakenly believe that an instrument rating allows you to launch into “weather.” After all, instrument pilots have been trained to fly on the gages, so making the decision to fly into the clouds shouldn’t be difficult. Veteran IFR pilots understand the complexity of the go/no-go decision. There are weather […]

Thanks to the contents of the FAA’s new airman certification standards (ACS), which are replacing the practical test standards (PTS), most applicants for pilot certificates and ratings must now demonstrate that they can identify, assess and mitigate risk. Although the FAA and industry organizations have developed flight risk assessment tools (FRATs) to help pilots identify […]

In the late 1970s I began my checkered ATC career at Oakland Center, which I was disappointed to learn was not located at Oakland, California, or even at an airport but, instead, in not-so-nearby Fremont. The next letdown was the facility itself, which resembled a federal penitentiary, complete with barbed wire and security guards to […]

Flying Into OSH I lived in Oshkosh for 14 years up until 2003. My hangar was adjacent to the self-serve. Our pre-Air Venture entertainment was to sit by the hangar and watch the incoming. Saw some accidents, some close calls, but mostly good. Watched the incoming and this past event, 2018, looked to have some […]

Possible LSA Weight Limit Increase I’ve heard reference to four seats, 3600lb, and 150mph. Now, I won’t complain about the weight number… but honestly I’d rather trade some of that weight increase for a further speed increase. How many four-seaters out there weigh 3600lb and only top out at 150? Maybe if they could make […]