Flight Training

Letter of the Week:Flying to St. Barths I watched with great interest your video with the Aztec landing in St. Barths and finishing on the beach. I happened to be in St. Barths recently. I fly there regularly in my Cirrus SR-22 but was there most recently flying an airliner. Here are a few words […]

For most of us tooling around the airstrip and to the occasional pancake breakfast, the size of our fuel tanks doesnt matter. But when youre planning a longer flight, your aircrafts range becomes a consideration. Put another way, if you want to travel more than 500 nm, tank-size matters, and not all of us are […]

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University is offering a free massive open online course, or MOOC, at its website starting April 7. The five-week course, “The Human Factor in Aviation,” is only the second such course to be offered by the school. The course will be taught by Asst. Prof. Dennis Vincenzi, of the Department of Aeronautics […]

I never thought Id say this, but I think Im becoming more sympathetic to people who dont like airplane noise. And Im not talking about fly-over noise-thats transient and it at least affords the option of momentarily looking up to see whats making it. I like that kind. Im talking about airport ground noise; the […]

Garmin International Inc. announced new capabilities for G1000-equipped King Air 200/250/300/350 series aircraft. These enhancements provide a number of new features and optional equipment upgrades that offer King Air owners and operators more capability. These new upgrades include several key NextGen components like Automatic Dependence Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B) compliance, as well as customer-requested capabilities such […]

Probably the most difficult task on the Instrument Rating (IR) practical test is Area VII, Task D: Approach with Loss of Primary Flight Instrument Indicators. But why is the FAA so interested in this? In their own words from the IR Practical Test Standards (PTS): The FA A is concerned about numerous fatal aircraft accidents […]

A new report released this week by the Government Accountability Office offers a mixed view of whether the much-discussed airline pilot shortage actually exists, but it does confirm that regional airlines are having trouble finding qualified pilots. The GAO report (PDF), which was done at the behest of Congress, found that the projected need for […]

I can rightly-but not necessarily proudly-claim dual citizenship in two Villages of the Damned: journalism and aviation. Journalism, that noble guardian of the public trust and traveler of the moral high road, has been utterly disrupted by the rise of countless internet news services and a young generation that doesnt read. In aviation, an asymptotic […]

During March, the NTSB will offer two courses related to accident investigation and one on accident response and victim family support at its training center in Auburn, Va. The Aircraft Accident Investigation course will run from March 31 through April 11 and is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the procedures and […]

Maintaining your IFR currency isnt that hard. Just fly and log in actual or simulated conditions six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks and intercepting and tracking electronic courses within the preceding six months, and youre golden. Even if you find yourself slightly out of currency in the 11th month, you can go out with […]