FBOs

The pilot’s lounge relocated a bit to the south, while I spent some time doing volunteer flying in a Cessna 206 for LightHawk, the airborne conservation organization. LightHawk does most of its work in the U.S., but assists in efforts in Central America during the winter. My rotation was in the country of Belize. I’ve […]

Robert L. Buck was born January29, 1914, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. At age 15 — inspired by Lindbergh’strans-Atlantic flight — he and a friend built a glider and Bob taught himselfto fly — sort of. His first flight in the glider ended shortly after takeoffwhen he mushed into the ground from 50 feet. He refreshed […]

Some time ago I wrote a column in which I stated that I’d rather be lucky than skillful any day, but in reality the skillful pilot makes his or her own luck. In all the years I’ve been flying I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been lucky – I’m no great shakes as […]

Let me make this clear right up front. I hate thunderstorms. I loathe them. I despise them. I’d rather work 10 years of wintertime IFR- icing, bad rides and all – than work one more season of thunderstorms in Atlanta Center. I’d rather take a beating and get it over with. After a day of […]

No, I’m not telling you where to go. Or perhaps I am, you figure it out. “SIAP” is FAA-speak for “Standard Instrument Approach Procedure,” and frankly, they’re not very well understood. I don’t profess to understand them fully, myself. Yeah, you heard that right. I certainly don’t begin to understand all the “stuff” that makes […]

A while ago one of my instrument students and I flew nearly six hours in a day. Not surprisingly, his last landing was probably measurable on the Richter scale. Earning our eternal enmity, someone then made a crude, derogatory remark about the landing over the CTAF/Unicom frequency. Neither of us responded, but over the next […]

John L. Baker was born July 8, 1928, in O’Neil, Neb. He started flying at 15 and went into the Air Force five years later. He flew fighters in Korea then taught fighter gunnery at Nellis, Pine Castle and Luke. After his military career, Baker went to law school in Omaha, and graduated with honors. […]

We’ve all heard the expression “staying ahead of the airplane” but what does it really mean to each of us? To different people it may well mean different things. Rod Machado advocates that, when in IMC (instrument meteorological conditions – in cloud), a pilot should at all times have determined what are the next two […]

Welcome back, class. For those that cut the last session, you can review it here. For the rest of you, here’s a quick review of the highlights from the last session. We covered beacon code assignments, handoffs, initial callups and student pilots using ATC services. In this session we’ll build upon those subjects, explore some […]

My two previous columns about CAF’s “new” C-131 and the development of our normal-procedures checklist for it drew such a phenomenal response, and I got so many excellent suggestions by email, it appears to be in my own best interest to put the emergency stuff up here for comment and critique. Keep those cards and […]