Search Results for: vfr

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Feb. 2006. It’s often easy to forego obtaining a full weather briefing before a flight. Looking at the weather as we drive to the airport, we assess the local conditions, noting the cloud cover and bases, check visibility by seeking out distant landmarks and note if any other […]

The families of nine young skydivers who died last October when a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan crashed in Washington state have sued Cessna, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on Monday. “They [Cessna] had the numbers of each plane that had a miscalibrated warning system on it and did not contact the owners of those planes,” lawyer […]

Cessna’s new Model 162 SkyCatcher prototype flew for the first time on Saturday morning, the company announced on Monday. Test pilot Dale Bleakney flew the airplane out of Cessna Aircraft Field Airport in Wichita and evaluated its controllability and stability. He then landed at Mid-Continent Airport, also in Wichita, where development testing will continue. “The […]

ADS-B and Privacy Regarding ADS-B (AVwebFlash, Feb. 27):Am I missing something here? I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t fully understand ADS-B, but some parts of the program make me really nervous. Not just because of the cost to a GA pilot, but because of the extraordinary surveillance capabilities it gives the government. […]

A shift of airspace responsibilities from Chicago Center to Milwaukee should have little impact on the annual migration to EAA AirVenture, EAA’s Dick Knapinski told AVweb Monday. “A review of the situation indicate[s] that this particular issue involves IFR operations,” Knapinski said in an e-mail. “The vast majority of AirVenture operations are VFR, and we […]

This article originally appeared in IFR magazine, Jul. 2005. It was late in 1981 or maybe early in 1982, because that’s the only time in the history of O’Hare that the draconian departure restrictions in this tale were used. To understand how those departure restrictions fit into our story, you need to know a little […]

Overheard on a recent trip from Cross City to DeLand (Fla.), with flight following provided by Orlando Approach: Orlando Approach:“Cardinal 12345, destination is 12 o’clock 10 miles. Advise you have destination in sight.” Cardinal 345:“Approach, 345 has destination in sight.” Orlando Approach:“Cardinal 345, Squawk VFR, frequency change approved, no traffic observed between you and your […]

Winter in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport can be pretty slow, with days of low overcast and generally lousy flying weather. Either no one comes out to the airport and our flight-school owner starts to panic over whether last summer’s revenues can be stretched through the winter, or a lot of people come […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Dec. 2005. In aviation, perhaps more than with any other activity, there is really very little that’s new and different when it comes to accident causes. If we fly only on calm, VFR days, pay excruciating attention to our training and proficiency, and operate only new airplanes with […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, Feb. 2007. Every one of us remembers the old phrase, “Fly the airplane first.” The reference is to our first job as pilots, which is to maintain safety of flight and/or operation any time we are sitting in the left seat and the engine is turning. It means […]