Flight Training

Pan Am International Flight Academy, based in Miami, Fla., has been bought by ANA Holdings, the parent company of All Nippon Airways, the companies announced last week. All Nippon Airways said it plans to expand Pan Am into Asia, providing training to other Asian airlines, partner firms and subsidiaries. “With air travel expected to double […]

Why hasnt some simulation enthusiast created a simulator to teach a child how to ride a two-wheeled bicycle? Imagine all the advantages of a simulator like that. You could teach in any weather, day or night, with no more skinned knees or jogging to keep up as they figure it out. And just think of […]

Some Chinese airlines, reacting to rapid industry growth, are seeking to attract experienced pilots by offering salaries and benefits roughly double that of the average U.S. airline captain, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Top salaries offered by some Chinese airlines exceed $225,000, and the country’s current pay leader, Hainan Airlines, is advertising pay packages […]

Seventeen-year-old student pilot McKenzie Morgan, while flying part of a long cross country Tuesday, crashed the Cessna 172 she was flying in mountains near Meeteetse, Wyo., not far from a cabin once owned by Amelia Earhart and, fortunately, within sight of two hunters. Morgan told reporters she had become disoriented, flying in nearly the opposite […]

It’s one thing to get people in the flight school door; it’s another challenge to bring them through to the check ride and beyond. This week, Bob Meder, president of the National Association of Flight Instructors, hosted a webinar to discuss those issues and develop an action plan. He spoke with AVweb’s Mary Grady about […]

The National Association of Flight Instructors will hold a one-hour webinar tonight (Aug. 21) at 7 p.m. Central on the topic of attracting new students. The webinar will be hosted by NAFI Chairman Bob Meder and it’s a continuation of the series of monthly webinars held by NAFI on topics of concern to those in […]

No one needs to tell you that air traffic congestion can delay issuance of your IFR clearance or cause you to suffer the dreaded Hold for IFR Release call with an indefinite departure time while the Hobbs goes tick, tick, tick. NextGen, the FAAs wide ranging overhaul of the Air Traffic Control System, is supposed […]

The annual adventure trip to Arizona with my buddies would have been better if we could fly around the desert in a rented Cessna as we planned. An important part of that plan included my checkout and endorsement to rent the FBOs Skyhawk. Unfortunately, scheduling the checkout turned out to be more difficult than I […]

Following last weekends debut of Planes and my conversation with some kids who had just seen it, I was vicariously imagining what it would take to inspire them to become pilots by remembering what inspired me. This isnt difficult, because I can pin it down to about the year, if not the day. It wasnt […]

On Interstate 4, southwest of Orlando, is a conspicuous power pole consisting of one large circle topped by two smaller ones, the lines tacked to their arcs. Its a major power feed into Orlandos Disney World. And the fact that theres not a four-year-old alive whod miss the reference to Mickey Mouse makes it a […]