Flight Training

You’d think a flight instructor would limit stupidity. You’d be wrong, as many accidents involved CFIs reacting too slowly to student silliness. Then there’s the Kentucky instructor whose student wouldn’t do anything dumb, so he intervened, setting the Cessna 172’s fuel selector to OFF within, he thought, gliding distance of the runway. Only the instructor […]

It almost invariably starts out simply. A half dozen or so pilots who are connected in some fashion—work, school, neighborhood, FBO customers—get to talking, and complaining, about their desire to fly more and the barriers to doing so. Most often the barrier is cost, sometimes it’s difficulty scheduling at the local flight school, others it’s […]

Ed. Note: Each Friday we will be offering glimpses from the training world. CFIs are welcome to add their stories to the never-ending lexicon of student miscues. Send to newsteam@avweb.com. Mismanaging fuel—as in managing to miss fueling—is a perennial favorite as pilots try to go the extra mile without the extra juice. Consider a California […]

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has received a $1 million federal grant to establish a new aviation and engineering research center in Florida, the school announced this week. The money will help to build the Applied Aviation and Engineering Research Hangar, in Volusia County. The hangar will serve as the new home for ERAU’s Eagle Flight Research […]

Only a week after the FAA and EASA issued type certificate approvals for the Pilatus PC-24, FlightSafety has received FAA interim approval for its FS1000 Level C simulator for the new “super versatile jet.” Andre Zimmerman, VP for the PC-24 program at Pilatus, said, “We are excited to see the training device getting ready on […]

After looking to the airlines, the recently retired and just about anywhere else it could to fill a growing shortage of pilots, the Air Force is now looking at its own ranks, its enlisted ranks, to fill the void. The Air Force Times reports the Air Force is testing the concept by including five enlisted […]

The Regional Airline Association, which represents 22 North American regional airlines, asked the FAA this week to approve additional “structured training pathways” for Part 121 first officers. The RAA says its data show that applicants for pilot jobs tend to do better if they are from “structured training backgrounds” with less than four years since […]

Eight general aviation advocacy groups signed onto a letter this week protesting a bill now in the House that would put a cap on payments to veterans in flight-training programs. Other education tracks are not subject to caps, the advocates said. “Capping funds available for flight-training degree programs virtually guarantees that veterans seeking to use […]

I’ve been privileged to fly the mountains of the southwest for more than 40 years—with many thousands of hours and more than 10,000 landings. But I’m not an expert, and I would be cautious of anyone who claims to be (Sparky Imeson comes to mind). I have become reasonably proficient at understanding the risks of […]

Three Britons and a man from Vietnam were killed in the midair collision of a small helicopter and a Cessna 152 on Friday. Authorities haven’t officially released any names but well-known helicopter instructor Capt. Mike Green was with a student aboard the Guimbal Cabri training helicopter when it and the 152 collided in Buckinghamshire. Both […]