Features

EAA Launches Turn-Back Study Many variables. Only way to tell it to go up and practice it yourself in your plane and see what happens in different situations. Lower weight, stronger takeoff headwind, DA and many other things matter. My Maule can make it back under some circumstances but only if conditions are right and […]

On average, aviators know what a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is. However, do they know that depending on the TFR, there are exceptions to the “No Fly” edict? But wait. “Depending on the TFR?” Okay, so there is obviously more than one type, but just how many different TFRs are there? Enough for you to […]

There are many stories about the horrible freeze we had in Texas this year, but I think this one of the funniest. I planned a flight to McAllen, TX, from the Lago Vista Rusty Allen Airport in the Austin area, and the runway was frozen over and covered with snow. Having grown up in North […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

Why Diamond’s Electric DA40 Could Be A Corner Turner Going the STC route is certainly an interesting approach. It’s inevitable that in the not-too-distant future (20, 50 years?) we will see a majority of new vehicles and light GA aircraft powered by something other than just an internal combustion engine, whether we like it or […]

Where I come from, we call it a “Discovery Flight.” It’s a short flight that gives a non-pilot an introduction to the flight school and flying in general. “You’ll take the controls!” is a time-honored way for flight schools to market the flights, which I really enjoy doing. Some of the customers have never been […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

Glider Rating Add-On: Upping Your Game As a glider instructor and tow pilot—DURDEN NAILED not only the essence of flying gliders (pure fun—no pretense of business related aeronautical travel) but HOW to learn! Yes, “racing glider” pilots can get caught up in aeronautical esoterica—but for most of us—it’s just FUN FLYING! You’ll be a better […]

You took advantage of some free time to go flying over the weekend. It had been almost two months since your last flight, so you took the rental 172 around the pattern nearly a dozen times and got the rust off of your crosswind landings. On the drive home you replayed the flight in your […]

We were flying into Watsonville, a non‑towered airport on California’s Monterey Bay coast recently, on an unexpectedly clear summer evening. When we tuned into the common traffic advisory frequency, we heard a Citation announce, “Clearing the active.” Wanting to know which runway was being used at Watsonville, I asked, “Watsonville traffic, Citation clearing the active, […]