Flight Training

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 […]

Santa Claus wears captain’s bars in the e-commerce economy but it’s some of the pilots who are getting gifts this holiday season. FedEx is offering its retirement-age captains as much as $110,000 in retention bonuses to keep working through this year’s busy time. Last year, FedEx and its competitor UPS had record years thanks to […]

FAA Approves Ultralight VTOL First of all, the FAA does NOT “approve” ultralight vehicles. The letter shown only states that in the FAA’s opinion, the craft appears to meet part 103 requirements. It either meets part 103 or it doesn’t. If it does, then the FAA is out of the picture. Mel Asberry Motorcycle gear […]

Transponders have been with us since the 1950s. They have improved greatly over the years such as the addition of providing pressure altitude in 100-foot increments and other aircraft information but essentially perform the same basic function, aiding in the positive identification of a radar contact. This is accomplished by two means. First, through the […]

It’s been hard to miss that things are changing in our industry and that pilot training is much a part of that shift. I escaped my office long enough to attend the University Aviation Association’s (UAA) 71st annual Collegiate Aviation Conference last week and talking with representatives from schools both large and small helped verify […]

While getting ready for my commercial checkride I was practicing intensively with daily flights of at least a couple of hours. Due to the time constraints and availability of school aircraft, I was flying during the same hours of the day so I got to work with the same Boston approach controller. Once on a […]