Flight Training

AOPA has developed a curriculum for ninth-grade students that uses aviation to teach science, technology, engineering and math, and is offering it free to schoolteachers. Teachers will be introduced to the program through a professional development workshop offered June 26 to 28, which can be attended at AOPA headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, or taken online. […]

ADS-B and Privacy We are not properly addressing the privacy (in personal transportation) issues that are created by this system. Part of that discussion has to be the growing network of at-home computer users that are tracking private aircraft with FlightAware devices that are being pushed on the techie community by the flight tracking websites […]

Santa Barbara Municipal Airport has intersecting runways. Runway 7/25 handles all of the airlines and most private jets while the parallel 15/33 pair is for private piston aircraft—long as the normal westerly winds cooperate. Juggling the vast differences in approach speeds and timing on the intersecting runways requires a lot of skill and experience on […]

In my recent wanderings in the online aviation world, I came across this question in a few different places … if pilots are so scarce, why do airlines still require pilot applicants to have a four-year college degree? Especially since they often don’t seem to care what the degree is in … forestry or engineering […]

AOPA is accepting applications for three scholarship programs that will help fund flight training. Two of the scholarships help student pilots earn their private pilot certificate, and the third program helps current pilots who are working toward an advanced certificate or rating. The deadline is May 2 for all of the programs. Twenty scholarships of […]

As Women of Aviation Week begins this week, the country with the highest ratio of femaleairline pilots may come as a surprise to some. India has the most female pilots per capita as a little more than 12 percent of Indian airline pilots are women. Finland is neck and neck with India but most other […]

European homebuilders and classic aircraft groups are mounting opposition to a rule proposed by the European Aviation Safety Agency that would invalidate flying hours on so-called Annex II aircraft from counting toward EASA ratings and even renewal of existing licenses. The proposed rule would affect thousands of pilots in Europe, according to Pilot Magazine. In […]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is offering a free, two-week online class focusing on aircraft maintenance, running from Feb. 26 to March 11. The course, which is open to the public, will be taught by ERAU faculty as well as experts from the aviation industry. “Our students will get a real-world look at the industry, from multiple […]

By normal aviation standards, seaplanes are boring as hell. They’re slow, tend to be fuel hogs, often don’t carry much because they’re hauling around a boat or two and, like boats, they have to be pumped out and they rust. Who would want one? Yet, in the dedicated community of pilots who fly these things, […]