Flight Training

A new nonprofit group based in southern New England aims to address the deterioration of basic stick-and-rudder skills among pilots, and is starting out with a focus on CFIs, says Bob Berlyn, the group’s executive director. Berlyn, a former airline pilot and CFI, is an FAA safety inspector in Norwood, Massachusetts. “Everywhere I go, I […]

The late and much-celebrated fighter pilot General Robin Olds delighted in telling the story of sitting in the front seat of an F-4 headed into visual-range combat in Vietnam and telling his younger backseater that he had it on good authority that what they were seeing wasn’t actually happening. That is, the F-4 design brief […]

AirVenture is about airplanes, but it’s also about people and in this video commentary, AVweb’s Jeff Van West reveals that to attract young people to aviation, we need to show them what they’re interested in. view on YouTube

For at least the last 40 years, the precautionary, off-airport landing has rarely been taught. It’s certainly not required on a checkride and pilots who have a mechanical or weather problem are taught to go to the nearest airport and only attempt to land “out” (as glider pilots say) when the engine actually quits. Pilots […]

Last month’s AirVenture broke the decade mark for me. It was my eleventh show. Perhaps my perspective is unusual because I’ve done all those shows as a journalist. This year was different because I brought my 13-year-old son with me. He’s aposter child for next-generation aviators: He’s a fanatic about all craft that fly, has […]

How many of us are interested in fun flying? We occasionally use our airplanes for transportation, but for the most part, don’t we fly for fun? Have you attended a grass-roots fly-in and done some fun flying? If not, you should. Here’s why. Get any group of pilots together and the topic invariably turns to […]

The FAA has established 12 Centers of Excellence to pursue research into safety, alternative fuels, airport operations and other aviation topics, and now the agency has announced its next COE will focus on training the next generation of aviation professionals. Teams from the University of Oklahoma and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will lead the new Air […]

EAA’s 2 millionth Young Eagle, plus three others in the count around the milestone, received their memorable airplane rides at Oshkosh Thursday with prominent EAA pilots. Actor Harrison Ford, a former Young Eagles chairman, flew Jodie Gawthrop, 16, of Illinois in his de Havilland Beaver. She described the flight in an EAA interview as “amazing.” […]

AOPA’s Air Safety Institute has created a new annual safety award named in honor of Joseph T. Nall, and this week named Cirrus Aircraft as the first recipient. “Over the past decade, Cirrus has earned one of the best safety records in the industry, and we are proud to acknowledge their work,” said George Perry, […]

Before you can fly an F-35, you’re going to spend time in the T50a simulator. At AirVenture 2016, Jeff and Baxter Van West got a crack at the sim and shot this AVweb video detailing it. view on YouTube