Search Results for: vfr

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, June 2006. There’s something about the typical experienced-pilot’s personality that is antithetical to safety. I’m not an expert in analyzing personalities — though I know what I like — but it seems the very traits that make someone a “good stick” also make that same skilled pilot a […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” Palm Beach, Florida approach was busy, as usual. My experience is that they’re always 100% business and 0% humor. They must have had a new controller at the mic: Approach:“Mooney Three Four November, squawk VFR; frequency change approved.” Mooney 34N:“Approach, uh, roger – and I want to report […]

The principals behind the revival of Symphony Aircraft claim that production of the two-seat high wing will resume in June of 2009. Trois Rivieres, Quebec, will remain its home for manufacturing. An initial production of 15 planes is the target for the end of next year, with annual volumes increasing to between 50 and 80 […]

Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich says his Transition flying car — which he prefers to call a “roadable aircraft” — will fly by the end of this year, and customer deliveries will start by the end of 2009. Dietrich brought his proof-of-concept prototype to EAA AirVenture this week, and says it will be certified as a […]

EASA Eases Up Flight Crew Licensing Regulations The British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA) has highlighted the fact that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is creating three Notices of Proposed Amendment (NPA) covering the introduction of EASA flight crew licensing (FCL) and flight operations. These are staggered, so that the first appeared in […]

It was a weekday evening and I’d just finished flying with a relatively new instrument student who was proving to be competent, determined to learn, and overall a genuine pleasure from an instructor’s point of view. I’d stopped into the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport out of habit and ran into Old Hack, Sandy […]

When two GA pilots, one flying a Pilatus PC-12 and the other in a Beechcraft Premier jet, encountered an F-16 in a Military Operations Area used by Luke Air Force Base in Arizona last March, they had to take abrupt, evasive maneuvers to avoid the military jet. The incident, after it was first reported in […]

The NTSB said on Tuesday it is investigating a near midair collision at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Saturday in which two airliners flew in close proximity to one another — but the FAA says no such incident took place. The NTSB, citing “initial reports,” said that at 8:36 p.m. local […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, Sept. 2007. Another pilot once told me he had been caught on top of cloud layers several times during his flying career but always escaped safely by simply calling ATC for an IFR clearance to get below the cloud decks and fly on VFR to his destinations. What […]

Overheard in IFR Magazine‘s “On the Air” I was departing Terre Haute, Indiana. The ATIS said clear below 12,000, but I could see a scattered layer of clouds to the south with tops around 4,500 feet. After tower switched me to departure, there was this exchange: Cessna 123 (me):“Approach, Cessna 123. Request VFR-on-top 5,500.” Controller […]