Search Results for: vfr

PilotWorkshops has released “IFR Communications,” the companion to their recently released, “VFR Communications” manual, and the latest in their Pilot-Friendly Manual series. “Many instrument pilots feel intimidated talking on the radio, especially with complex or lesser-used instrument procedures,” stated PilotWorkshops founder Mark Robidoux. “It happens to both newly minted instrument pilots, and veterans who don’t […]

Aviation has never lacked for dumb ideas. It’s what drives innovation. “Hey, Orville, wanna jump off a sand dune strapped to these really cool wings I made in the bike shop?” What seemed stupid in 1903 is recognized as pioneering genius today. Likewise, countless other notions such as flying inside clouds without reference to the […]

Back to Part 1 There are certainly worse places to be stuck than Punta Arenas. It’s quite a pleasant city with friendly folks, good food, and lots to see. After the requisite 72 hours and a lot of work on the part of the ground crew, the permit to fly to Tahiti is in hand. […]

AVweb’sGeneral Aviation Accident Bulletinis taken from the pages of our sister publication,Aviation Safetymagazine, and is published twice a month. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause in the NTSB’s website atwww.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after […]

Let’s call him Peter. I was his fifth flight instructor since he started learning to fly nine months earlier. He was attempting to obtain his private license within the 365-day period allowed for registered aliens living in the U.S. When we met, my first question was, “How did you go through so many instructors?” Some […]

The Sun Flyer 2, an electric two-seat trainer in development by Bye Aerospace in Denver, will be powered by a Siemens SP70D motor, Bye announced on Tuesday. “The Siemens motor provides great performance and all of the propulsion energy required for normal flight training profiles,” CEO George Bye told AVweb in an email.”The batteries give […]

Fourteen aviation organizations including AOPA, EAA and GAMA are asking the FAA to reconsider its position on not allowing pilots access to weather data from hundreds of non-federal weather stations. Currently, non-federal weather stations must be equipped with AWOS-III or better to be included in the FAA’s Weather Message Switching Center Replacement (WMSCR), which collects, […]

Several readers took exception to my comment in the Vashon Ranger review advising pilots to fly these airplanes beyond the 1320-pound limit. Said one message forwarded to me: “I just don’t think it’s right for someone who does so many reviews of so many aircraft to basically wink and nod and tell people it’s OK […]

You’ve had your instrument rating for a couple of years by now. The first year you didn’t have any trouble keeping current to fly IFR—you were out there just about every week “flying in the system” as you called it. The new hadn’t worn off your rating; you knew that you were just a baby […]

I’ve amended the details a bit to preserve anonymity. The pilot and his family came to grief on a flight that was forecast to be VFR. There was a slow-moving warm front approaching, but it appeared the 150-nm trip could be completed before conditions worsened. Friends of the pilot indicated he had intended to launch […]