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A good copilot is a good copilot, no matter what the aircraft. I fancied myself a good copilot back when I was a first officer on various airliners. I considered myself better than the average bear when it came to flight engineering, as well. Being a good copilot is harder, in my estimation, than being […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Consumer magazine, Nov. 2006. It’s never a good time for an inflight fire. Stoked by fuel or an electrical short, this nasty brand of emergency is near the top of most pilots’ list of nightmares. But a cabin fire’s consequences can be mitigated by using a smoke hood, which […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, June 2007. Professional pilots have been hounding the FAA for years to increase their maximum retirement age past 60 for a number of reasons. [And the increase finally happened, although after this article was originally written.] One reason is financial: More time on the job translates into larger […]

[AVweb’s reprint of A Pilot’s History began with Chapter 1.] It was not very long after the contact with the Air Force [at the end of Chapter 7] that I was holding a piece of paper saying, “You have been called to active duty.” I took the notice to the airline president. “Don’t worry about […]

Synthetic Vision In last week’s AVmail, Phil Seizinger wrote, “I’m concerned about SV creating a possible situation where VFR pilots will scud-run in marginal or IFR conditions simply because now they can see the terrain, which — as you can imagine — creates a hazard for IFR flights.” Excuse me … Isn’t synthetic vision a […]

You heard it in the Sun-N-Fun 2008 LSA Mall. Whether you were talking to pilots of Cubs, Luscombes, Bellancas, Cessnas or Beechcraft, it echoed strong in the Type Club tent. It was the talk of manufacturer’s displays and the exhibition hangars. It was even touted by purveyors of very light jets. It seems like the […]

RIP JAA Europe’s Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) umbrella is no more. As of April 8 the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) officially took over the operations and licensing responsibilities formerly conducted by the authorities. For the time being, EASA will regulate using the Joint Aviation Requirements (JARs), but these will be absorbed into EU law […]

Fenway Flyby AVweb wrote (On the Fly, Apr. 14), “A blown flypast by National Guard F-16s at Fenway Park in Boston has resulted in the grounding of the out-of-position pilot. The maneuver he chose to remedy his error busted an altitude limit, but having video of the maneuver distributed on YouTube likely added to the […]

I‘ve always found it amazing when, in midst of the noisy confusion of a crowded room, someone can say something that triggers such a powerful recollection of an event that suddenly I am isolated from the hubbub, aware only of the intensity of my thoughts. It recently happened to me in the Pilot’s Lounge at […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, Nov. 2005. Things have progressed quite a bit since Garmin International first released its certificated version of the G1000 in the Cessna C182T Skylane. Garmin was certainly not the first to come up with a glass-cockpit display for general aviation — Avidyne’s Entegra/Flightmax EX5000 holds that distinction — […]