Flight Training

As an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE), I’ve felt like my pass rate on practical tests has been declining over the last couple of years. It started as a gut feeling, but then I compared my recent numbers with my pass rate from a few years ago and found it was also statistically true. It […]

Although the pilot shortage has mainly manifested in regional flight cancellations in the U.S., the largest Persian Gulf carrier, Emirates, is reportedly ready to park 18 percent of its fleet. Airline Geeks says Emirates will also reduce pilot staffing on long-haul flights and that its deployment of pilots might be part of the reason it’s […]

It’s arguably the best time in history to begin a flying career. Never before could a pilot expect to become a jet first officer so rapidly. Sure, it’s a challenge to log the time needed to earn the ATP that’s now required. But demand is so great that as soon as a pilot meets that […]

Nearly 20 years ago I began writing a column—The Pilot’s Lounge—for AVweb. It eventually evolved into the position of Features Editor and writing two or three feature articles each month. As a result of my association with AVweb, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many of the fascinating and delightful people that characterize aviation, learn […]

The face of aviation training is changing and one of the places where the effects can be seen is in how many and what kinds of new aircraft are entering the aviation training fleet. There are a lot of factors driving the shift—a more globalized economy, new investors, training costs and developing technologies, to name […]

In this installation of AVweb’s series on flight simulators we’re going to take a look at a company that uses an innovative program to bring access to sophisticated—and expensive—flight simulators to users who otherwise could not afford them. Started in 2010 by Xylon Saltzman, a flight instructor and charter pilot who was unhappy with the […]

Flight schools are finding it hard to retain their instructor ranks because airlines are hiring away their staff, a government study reported this week. At the same time, flight schools find it challenging to recruit new students, due to the high cost of training, which can often exceed $50,000, on top of tuition. The U.S. […]

As I was putting a sharp pencil on last week’s GA production numbers from GAMA, I couldn’t decide if I was looking at a flat calm mill pond or the dead quiet before some kind of storm. So I graphed out a decade worth of production numbers and I’m going with a pond that could […]

On a strong domestic economy, sales of general aviation aircraft rose during the first quarter of 2018 over the same period last year, the General Aviation Manufactures Association said on Thursday. The rosy sales picture was largely driven by increased turboprop and piston helicopter sales, GAMA said. And while both unit volume and sales revenue […]

A new program that launched this week in Wichita, Kansas, will provide technical training for high-school students to prepare them to step directly into jobs in the aviation industry. Aviation Pathway is a joint effort involving Textron Aviation, Wichita Public Schools and WSU Tech, a technical college based in Wichita. Staff at Textron approached public-school […]