Flight Training

I have always been baffled by the psychology of paying a company a tidy of sum of money to assure that I get one of the first new-and-improved widgets it proposes to make: the pre-production deposit or, as it’s popularly known, a “position.” This is quite common in the aircraft business as most recently demonstrated […]

The FAA today published a final rule that allows student pilots to log up to 20 hours in flight simulators, finally reaching the end of a long and twisted regulatory path. The current rules allow only 10 hours to be logged, although many flight schools had permission from the FAA to log up to 20. […]

Twelve rescue dogs from the United Kingdom were used for an experiment to see if they could be taught to fly a Cessna 182, and after 10 weeks of training on simulators — detailed on a reality-TV show — three of the dogs went aloft with their humans to show off their skills. During the […]

It’s convenient for the media narrative to look at events like Sun ‘n Fun as barometers for the overall health of GA. If that were ever accurate, I’m not sure it still is. Attendance and exhibitor numbers spike up and sag down from year to year, seemingly not connected to anything to do with the […]

ICON Aircraft CEO Kirk Hawkins says the company is open to changing its controversial buyer’s agreement based on the feedback it’s receiving on the document and “doing what is ultimately right for our owners, the industry and the company.” What exactly that means isn’t clear in the open letter (PDF) sent to aviation media on […]

New flying clubs in the U.S. could get their first airplane for free under a new programfrom AOPA. President Mark Baker said AOPA will provide the winning club with a “Reimagined” Cessna 150 that it has built by Aviat Aircraft. “Flying clubs and Reimagined aircraft are great options to bring down costs and get pilots […]

When I was writing a news brief about Garmin’s new experimental-only G5 self-contained gyro last week, I was thinking, boy, how cool would it be to find a way to stick this in the panel of a certified airplane? When I was shooting this video of Dynon’s new Skyview SE system, I thought the same […]

Starting May 1, anyone who wants to take part in an EAA-sanctioned Young Eagles event will have to take an online training course and undergo a standard background check before interacting with the young participants. EAA introduced its Youth Protection Policy earlier this year and got an earful from some volunteers who objected to what […]

EAA Young Eagles pilots fly up to 70,000 boys and girls every year, but until this year there has been no training or formal policy on keeping the events safe for all involved. EAA’s Rick Larsen spoke with AVweb’s Russ Niles about the new policy and the controversy it’s caused with some volunteers. Duration: 11:00 […]

When the vast majority of American pilots want to go flying they rent an airplane from their local FBO, flight school or flying club. That means they have to go through some sort of a checkout with the aircraft provider before they can take the aircraft on their own. Whether the checkout is in a […]