Flight Planning

NASA has developed a new technology to help deliver information to pilots flying in remote areas of Alaska without access to navigation aids and communications. The project, called Traffic and Atmospheric Information for General Aviation (TAIGA), can provide a pilot with customized data sets that can be downloaded quickly via satellite and plugged into a […]

As the season changes, the fly-in circuit shows no sign of slowing down-our review of all things SocialFlight uncovered everything from an air race for everyone through an historic airport appreciation day to a fly-in for omelets. The Cleveland Air Races are being revived-a bit more than 1000 miles away and using airplanes that mere […]

While flying back to Arkansas from eastern Tennessee, we stopped at McKeller-Sipes Regional Airport (in Jackson, Tennessee) to take advantage of their $4.75-per-gallon low lead. Being a slow day at the field, after clearing the active, the tower told us to stay on tower frequency and gave us taxi instructions to the FBO. As we […]

Flying IFR under Part 91 gives us pilots an incredible amount of freedom. Yet, it is this relative freedom from heavy regulation which is largely responsible for general aviation’s safety record, and it, frankly, is not all that great. No, flying little airplanes is not as safe as flying the airlines. Nor is it as […]

I was arriving in the Washington, D.C., area with a destination of Manassas Regional in Virginia. There was a mid-morning thunderstorm that was causing aircraft, including Air Force One, to request deviations when I heard the following. After being denied a 20-degree deviation to the right to avoid weather and given an alternative of 30 […]

Capacity is steadily increasing at airports affected by the sabotage of critical communications equipment at Chicago Center on Friday. As of late Sunday (PDF), the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said 72 flights per hour were getting into O’Hare International Airport and departure delays of 15 minutes in the afternoon were expected to increase to […]

It’s getting to be that time of year-the leaf-peeping flights are beginning in the far north and the high country, as are associated fly-ins and poker runs. Thanks to SocialFlight, we found out about the first of the fall color fly-ins, two poker runs and a fly-in dedicated to the “Grasshoppers” of World War II. […]

Doing my run-up and getting ready to depart for my first cross-country as a student, the tower instructed me to hold short. Over the radio, in a frantic voice, I heard:“Help me. Help me. I’m a student pilot on my first cross-country, and I’m lost. I’ve been flying around and around, and I don’t know […]

While traversing New York/Washington Center air space, we received a frequency change. However, when trying to check in, the frequency was congested with multiple aircraft being worked. This went on for a while. Finally there was a break, and the PM was able to check in:“Good afternoon, New York. NXXXXX — long-time listener, first-time caller; […]

Lockheed Martin Flight Services is introducing a variety of new features that make use of satellite datalink, including a new electronic PIREP and search-and-rescue capability that uses the Iridium communications network. In this video, Aviation Consumer‘s Larry Anglisano gets a tour of the new features from Lockheed’s Jim Derr while at AirVenture 2014 in Oshkosh, […]