Flight Training

Pilot, mechanic and air traffic controller may be the most high-profile jobs in aviation, but career tracks in engineering and management are also crucial to aviation’s future. This week, Boeing and the National Science Foundation announced a $21 million investment to accelerate training and diversity in those critical areas. “The initiatives will help develop more […]

On my way home from Oshkosh Air Venture last August, I observed the billowing anvils of thunderstorms south of my flight path. Both the radar and satellite pictures showed buildups advancing northward, which would cut directly through my route. So, I took the safe option and landed at Dalhart, Texas for the night. The ability […]

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has announced that it is now offering an interactive online version of its Rusty Pilots Program. The two-hour course is based on the in-person Rusty Pilots seminars that AOPA has been giving at venues such as fly-ins, airshows, schools and flight clubs since 2014. As the name implies, […]

From the curious headline file: Crash Pilot Had Certificate Revoked. We published that last week atop a story describing the fatal crash of a Cessna 335 in which it was revealed that the owner/pilot had apparently been flying without a pilot certificate for 21 years, having lost it by revocation. A curious headline generated an […]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Gaetz Aerospace Institute will be expanding its concurrent enrollment program offering accelerated science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses for high school students to schools in Ohio and Louisiana this year. The program allows students to get both high school and college credit for successfully completed classes. Available courses include aeronautical science, […]

Flight simulator manufacturer Frasca International announced that it has been named subcontractor for the Navy TH-57 Aircrew Training Services Contract on Monday. Frasca says it will be providing ten Flight Simulation Training Devices (FTDs) as part of the ground-based training systems for the TH-57 helicopter. According to the company, the FTDs will be used for […]

I was thinking about taking a pass on my FAA Third Class medical, which was expiring at the end of May. I always dread this process (the paperwork, the physical), as do most pilots who have lived longer than five or six decades. But I decided to take the chance once more, and postpone a […]

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 […]

If you’re lucky, you’ve gotten some of your aviation education from an instructor with extensive real-world experience. One CFI who fits that description—having flown freight, charter, airline and corporate without ever giving up teaching in the 35 years he’s had his certificate—likes to remind students of the difference between procedure and technique. The former is […]

No matter how much we who carp continue to carp, certain aviation themes will never change. It’s karma—what happens to pilots happens because we made it so. An unchangeable percentage of aircraft will run out of gas or slide sideways off runways in the mildest of crosswinds, and—unrelated to safety but irksome—82 percent of our […]