Flight Training

Five years ago, or maybe 10, stem was something usually used in the same sentence with seeds, but lately, you cant hardly open a Cessna door without hitting uppercase STEM. This, of course, refers to teaching science, technology, engineering and math courses and if you subscribe to mass-media wisdom, the U.S. is the laughingstock of […]

Aviation lore is full of heroes like Chuck Yeager, who saved the day while calmly muttering on the radio something about some little fire going in them engines or such. The quiet, unflappable, laid-back flyer has been the role model for young pilots since the days of the Lone Eagle. But, is there such a […]

As part its international youth program encouraging Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, the Think Global Flight (TGF) LiveTV team is presenting a Jan. 27 broadcastshowing how aviation uses STEM in the real world. The broadcast is one of several LiveTV events leading up to Think Global Flights scheduled April circumnavigation of the world […]

The stick-and-rudder component of flying airplanes, while challenge enough, is the lesser difficulty compared to learning to makedecisions that wont kill you or at least rend metal. Teaching it or learning this has everything to do with recognizing risk and hazards for what they are and preparing accordingly. In fairness, I think most pilots do […]

The Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance said this week it has several scholarships available for anyone interested in careers in aircraft maintenance. The opportunities include free tuition for a Learjet 45 maintenance course, sponsored by Bombardier; a scholarship for attaining inspection authorization from the Baker School of Aeronautics, including hotel and exam fees; and […]

On Jan. 16 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its annual Most Wanted list of needed improvements in transportation safety. The aviation-related items are a need to identify and communicate hazardous weather conditions to pilots, address the unique characteristics of helicopter operations, strengthen occupant protection, improve fire safety and eliminate pilot distractions. At a […]

With all the literal and figurative bells and whistles in todays cockpits, something as mundane as losing communications with ATC is rare. One reason is the stuff we have in the panel these days is a couple of light years ahead of even two decades ago in reliability. But loss of communications-going no radio, or […]

The smog in some Chinese cities is too severe to fly these days, but two new general aviation policies recently coming into play may hopefully clear the forward vision a little for the market players in China. First, the Chinese regulator Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) loosened licensing requirements for private pilot licenses (PPL). […]

Letter of the Week:Affordable Avionics Garmin’s comments are just silly. They don’t want to use open standards because then they would have to admit there are things that might be better than what they have. A bunch of years ago, some large computer manufacturer said, “Don’t get locked into open systems,” and that large computer […]

A few days ago, we emerged from a polar vortex that drifted south – a textbook example of what those things do from time to time. The associated cold managed to get the media into full cry and revived all of the how cold is it? jokes. Judging from Internet aviation forums, it also got […]