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Letter of the Week:Airline Pilot Training Regarding the new flight training regulations: I flew for the airlines most of my life (retired now) have more than 23,000 hours and several type ratings. When an airline I worked for first got the Canadair CL-65 regional jet, the failure rate for upgrade was more than 70 percent. […]

I was flying from EWR-DFW the week after the Texas-Oklahoma University football game (won by Texas this year). On the center frequency, an aircraft with the call sign “Oklahoma One” checked in, and after each conversation with center, they responded “Oklahoma One.” Finally, someone keyed the mic and said, “No, Texas won.” The silence was […]

Recently I flew from Northern California to an airport Id never been to in the Los Angeles area. The flight was uneventful until about 35 minutes from the destination when Ireceived an amendment to my clearance. Amendments arent unusual in or around congested Class B airspace, but with modern electronic navigators, dealing with route changes […]

Pilots decide to buy their own airplane for a variety of reasons. It could be a business decision, helping ensure cover-age of a relatively wide sales area, or perhaps an aerial photography business. Specialized flight training-like acro, or a quicky instrument rating-also can be a reason. Recreation or personal transportation is yet another. One of […]

Letter of the Week:Undetected Crashes Noting the incident at Nashville Airport, I, too, once had an undetected crash on what is now Runway 20C — it was runway 20L at the time — in the early 1970s. I was the non-flying pilot in a Cessna 195 during the attempted landing. During the rollout, the FP […]

Brainteaser 188’s Question 11 was a bonus survey poll that asked if flying was a right or a privilege. Reader responses played out this way: More than half said that flying was a privilege, while less than half felt it was a right. A third-party minority rambled on about unrelated topics, including one reader who […]

While flying in the “northwest practice area” about 10 miles northwest of Columbus, Georgia listening to Atlanta Approach, I heard this exchange: ATL:“Piper 123, we have you as a PA-28, but your airspeed suggests otherwise.” Piper 123:“No, we are a PA-34.” ATL:“O.K. I’ll update your plan to show you have an extra engine today.” Chris […]

With its advanced systems, modern ergonomics and luxurious-yet sporty-cabin design, it may be easy to sell pilots on the Cirrus SR22s capabilities. But it might also be an easy aircraft to sell to paying passengers. You might assume that commercial travelers accustomed to larger jet aircraft might view the Cirrus as another one of those […]

Legally, 14 CFR 91.123 says, When a pilot is uncertain of an ATC clearance, that pilot shall immediately request clarification from ATC. Seems easy enough, but under pressure of time, heavy weather and busy controllers we are tempted to assume that ATC knows its intentions and to accept a clearance as given. Egregious errors appear […]

The fragile relationship between avionics shops and aircraft owners is sometimes stressed at the end of a project. Thats partly because some owners have unrealisticexpectations, assuming the aircraft will be released right after a flight test. On the other hand, shops create stress for themselves when they overpromiseand offer the impression that work on the […]