Flight Planning

I was flying from Jacksonville, North Carolina, to College Park, Maryland, on an IFR flight plan to go to a Redskins game. It was a CAVU day. The following exchange took place somewhere southeast of Richmond: Washington Center: “Skyhawk 68E, traffic two o’clock, 10 miles, westbound, 500 feet above.” Skyhawk 68E: “Negative contact, but I’m […]

Most aircraft owners and operators are keenly aware of the rapidly approaching deadline to comply with the federal mandate on ADS-B installations. However, there is an additional aircraft technology wave upon us that also offers potentially significant advancements in aviation safety. This involves new digital 406 MHz emergency locator transmitters and since this new technology […]

ForeFlight has announced that it is now providing mobile Pre-Departure Clearance (PDC) and Digital Automated Terminal Information Service (D-ATIS) at approximately 75 airports across the United States. To get PDC and D-ATIS via ForeFlight, owners need to register each of their aircraft specifically for the service through the ForeFlight app. Once an aircraft is registered […]

The virtual airport and its pilot’s lounge came into being when I started writing this column almost exactly 20 years ago. (There’s a partial index of the columns hereand here.) The airport, the lounge and the characters who brought their wisdom to the discussions reported in the columns were, and are, an amalgam of airports […]

Pilots in the busy Florida airspace are now working with a new tower that was officially dedicated this week at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. “The new facility will provide our controllers with greater visibility of the airfield, and our investment in technology will enhance their ability to provide safe and efficient air traffic services […]

Officials in South Sudan say an overloaded aircraft (type unknown) crashed into a river in the central part of the country, killing 19 of the 23 aboard. The aircraft was described by officials as having 19 passenger seats and said it crashed while on approach to the airport in Yirol. Among the four survivors are […]

In partnership with Alaska Airlines, NASA is testing cockpit-based flight planning software that is designed to save time and fuel using real-time flight data. Developed by NASA, the Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software optimizes routes using factors like real-time weather, winds, air traffic and aircraft fuel burn, including associated weight and performance changes. The tablet-based […]