Flight Planning

A few days ago, we emerged from a polar vortex that drifted south – a textbook example of what those things do from time to time. The associated cold managed to get the media into full cry and revived all of the how cold is it? jokes. Judging from Internet aviation forums, it also got […]

A New Zealand pilot and his passenger are nursing bruised egos after two strokes of bad luck became after-the-weather fodder for news programs all over the world. Peter Horn and his passenger were on a sightseeing flight in Horn’s Jabiru light single over Martin’s Bay, just north of Auckland, on Friday, when the engine quit. […]

The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE) has criticized the FAAs Jan. 2 Notice Of Policy Change that restricts the use of flight simulators as an action that will adversely affect flight safety. As of Jan. 1, 2015, a maximum of 10 hours of simulator time will be allowed toward an instrument rating. Currently, […]

One day when I was working the south arrival sector at Denver TRACON, traffic was getting backed up, and I had to start issuing speed reductions to the arrivals on initial contact. One United pilot took exception to being slowed so far from the airport and asked:“Approach, just how far out do you show us, […]

This afternoon, my six-year-old son and I went out to the airport to check on things at the hangar. The weather was rainy and IMC. We watched a Cherokee land after shooting an instrument approach. I made some comment about being able to fly instruments soon, when I finish my instrument rating. My son turned […]

The Super Bowl is always a big event for general aviation operations, and this year, with the game set for Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, weather could potentially become a major factor. The FAA said it expects an additional 1,200 GA flights to the New York/New Jersey metro airports during Super Bowl […]

The FAA and NORAD both are doing their part to keep an eye on Santa’s Christmas deliveries this week. NORAD’s site features games, movies, music, and of course, on Christmas Eve, live tracking of Santa’s route around the globe. The FAA is promoting NextGen at its Christmas site, saying the system “helps Santa deliver presents […]

For the round-the-world flight planned for Solar Impulse in 2015, a solo pilot will have to fly legs of up to 72 hours, so last week the team staged a simulation at their base in Switzerland. Bertrand Piccard, the leader of the nonprofit group and one of the two pilots for the solar-powered electric airplane, […]

First night XC with instructor. The route was going to take us over my home at 11:00pm, so I turned on my aviation scanner in my home for my wife so I could tell her goodnight. As we passed over my home at 6,500′, I had failed to push the flip-flop to the air-to-air frequency […]

Southwest has installed water-vapor sensors on 87 of its 737s, and is sharing the data with the National Weather Service. “We have seen improvements in the capabilities for forecasting severe thunderstorms, and also the forecast of whether the storm is going to produce rain, snow, freezing rain, or sleet,” said Carl Weiss, an aviation meteorologist […]