Flight Training

All student pilots practice off-airport landings but a 36-year-old beginner was in the left seat for a freeway landing that looked pretty textbook on Friday. The student was on final for Gillespie Field in El Cajon, California, when the Cherokee he and his instructor were in went quiet. The instructor managed to tuck the aircraft […]

The other evening I headed into the pilot’s lounge at the virtual airport as the sun was approaching the horizon. I wanted to sit in one of the, um, experienced, OK, beat up, recliners, look out the windows at the runway and experience the quiet magic as dusk settled in. Once in the room, I […]

Airshow legend Sean D. Tucker is the recipient of this year’s Al Ueltschi Award for Humanitarian Leadership for his work with at-risk youth in the Bob Hoover Academy. Tucker accepted the award at the opening session of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA-BACE) convention in Orlando on Tuesday. Tucker and his son Eric co-founded the […]

EAA has announced it will fund up to $10,000 each toward the cost of flight training for up to 100 young people, thanks to a $1 million grant from the Ray Foundation. The foundation, based in Naples, Florida, aims to help boost the flight-training success rate from the current 20 percent to 80 percent. The […]

The Commonwealth of Virginia requires motor vehicles to undergo annual safety inspections. An authorized mechanic checks the lights, horn, brakes, tires, steering, suspension, etc., to make sure they’re within service limits (sound familiar?). In neighboring Maryland, on the other hand, just one safety inspection is required, when a vehicle is initially registered. After that, it’s […]

This week, AVweb‘s news roundup found reports of a new sim lab, a second chance to catch a weather tool webinar and a change in leadership at Pro Star Aviation. In partnership with Cirrus Aviation, Alsim has opened a demonstration center and simulation lab at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) in Sarasota, Florida. The facility […]

I’ve been wrong about so many things, so I’m announcing that I’ve seen the flashing lights at the bottleneck in the tunnel-of-irony and am changing my ways. Everything I thought I knew about leading a healthy pilot’s life is, apparently, wrong. This occurred to me while staring up at the ER’s fluorescent lights—one was flickering; […]

The FAA’s just-revealed report that it would consider raising the light sport aircraft limit from 1320 pounds to 3600 pounds is just a proposed talking point and any rule is at least a year and a half away, according to EAA. And no, the 3600-pound figure isn’t a typo nor confusion over kilogram conversion, as […]

Most pilots venture into windy conditions with enough skills and smarts to know how to either avoid or cope with them. But wind-related accidents are still commonplace, so clearly we don’t always get it right. One reason for this may be fairly simple: With the exception of blowing snow, tornadoes, dust devils and some cloud […]

Is the FAA about to go all-in and all but remove the weight restriction on light sport aircraft? Here, key the ecclesiastical music, insert the visual of the clouds parting and Jack Pelton descending the mount with the stone tablets, or at least a USB drive announcing something intriguing. But let’s tap the brakes and […]