Flight Training

Today’s blog was going to be a PSA to set straight the horrible thrashing general aviation took at the hands of yet another misguided network news feature. But, damn it, foiled again. The piece in question ran Sunday night on NBC’s Dateline and chronicled the story of McKenzie Morgan, a plucky 17-year-old student pilot who […]

The U.S.’s busiest FAA flight examiner was remembered as a generous, humble man whose love of aviation knew no bounds. Services were held last week at Madison County Executive Airport near Huntsville, Alabama, for Clyde Harold Shelton, who died after a brief illness at the age of 86. He stopped flying last Nov. 30, having […]

I just got home after delivering a brand-new American Champion Denali Scout from the factory to a dealer in Boise. One of the integral parts of any ferry flight is a careful preflight inspection—both for the pilot’s safety but also to assure that any little thing that is wrong is fixed at the factory before […]

The Navy says problems with the oxygen generation and pressurization systems on T-45 and F-18 series aircraft have been a factor in the deaths of at least four of its pilots in the last 10 years and it’s now made fixing the problem a top priority. The announcement came out of a report that was […]

Lufthansa Airlines has chosen the SR20 for its primary training airplane, Cirrus announced on Tuesday. Lufthansa Aviation Training has ordered 25 airplanes to lead its ab initio, multi-crew pilot certificate, and other flight-training programs in Goodyear, Arizona. The SR20s will be used to train pilots from many airlines besides Lufthansa, including Swiss Air, Austrian Airlines, […]

The task definition for slow flight in the Airmen Certification Standards (ACS) is changing, again. When the private pilot ACS were finalized in June 2016, the FAA changed the definition of slow flight to maintenance of “an airspeed, approximately 5-10 knots above the 1G stall speed, at which the airplane is capable of maintaining controlled […]

The instrument rating is probably the most challenging step-up in aviation—and this is coming from an ATP with a couple of jet type ratings. With the rating in your pocket, how can you make flying easier and more satisfying? How to stay proficient? Chances are your CFII started you out with most of the following […]

There are three ways to arrive at an airport when operating under IFR: a standard instrument approach procedure (IAP), a visual approach and a contact approach. A great way to bring hangar flying to a screeching halt is to ask about a contact approach. A lot of IFR pilots know that it is some sort […]

I suppose it was just a matter of time before Dunning-Kruger popped up in an aviation reference and let me proudly say one of our aviation publications made the pioneering leap. The recent reference was a throwaway in an article about accidents used to explain why some pilots take on more weather than they can […]

Aviation weather columns typically talk about hazards in terms of elements: “Watch the 0 to -20 degrees C layer for icing.” “Be cautious of wet, clear nights because of fog,” etc. We can always learn more from a change in perspective, and we can do so using surface charts from the Aviation Weather Center website. […]