Flight Training

Keeping your holding skills up to date these days feels like keeping a working fax machine around; well, I suppose this might come in handy. Someday. Maybe. Holds are rare, and the most common ones for the fat middle of GA are holds published on instrument approach charts where you have to make a few […]

Pilots now can log more simulator time toward an instrument rating, under a new rule published by the FAA on Wednesday. A rule issued in 2009 had placed a 10-hour limit on the training devices, but the FAA said since technology has advanced and simulators are more realistic, pilots now can log up to 20 […]

Transport Canada just released some proposed guidance on the commercial operation of light unmanned aerial systems. Drones. If you haven’t had a chance to look it over, here’s the link (PDF). I suggest at least skimming it. (I’ll wait while you do that.) Clearly, our friends north of the border have come adrift from reality […]

GAMA and Build A Plane have opened up their 2015 design competition, and high-school teams are invited to apply before the Feb. 13 deadline. The call for entries may close earlier if the limit of 100 entries is reached. Each school will receive a free “Fly To Learn” curriculum that includes flight simulation software from […]

Late last month, I spent a day over in Miami at a company called Africair, checking out some of the company’s sales programs. They happen to have the Cessna territory for Africa and the Caribbean and they’ve established a steady trickle of business in converting Skyhawks to diesel propulsion. “Trickle” means about six to eight […]

I am a 68 year-old Baby Boomer who got his private certificate in 1975 with the University of Michigan Flyers at the Ann Arbor, Michigan Airport. At that time, the Flyers had five Cessna 150s, a Skyhawk, a Piper Arrow, and a Citabria. Within a few months, a twin was added to the fleet-which continued […]

Isaac Wilson made history in his home state of New Mexico on Tuesday when he flew his first solo in a helicopter at age 16. The flight over Double Eagle II Airport in Albuquerque was the first of its kind there. It also was a unique milestone for Wilson’s instructor, Douglas Christian of Vertical Limit […]

Were flying blissfully along enjoying the smooth night flight conditions and the panorama of lights below. The engine is purring smoothly, and, for once, we have caught a tailwind. We think to ourselves, this is why we became pilots and then we proudly wonder out loud what the ground-bound populace below is doing on such […]

I can’t put a date on it exactly, but about 15 years ago I decided it was neither productive nor professional to get into snippy arguments and wise-ass comments on the Unicom frequency. Nothing useful ever comes of it and after the frequency quiets down, you feel like you need a shower. Over the weekend, […]

The first Zulu Flight Training office in Europe is now up and running in Geneva, Switzerland, Continental Motors Group announced this week. Like the original site for the project, in Spanish Fort, Alabama, the new office offers a simulator-based curriculum based in a convenient, urban location. The goal is to retain students who might otherwise […]