Learn to Fly

Further apropos of our slow flight yammering of last week, I put the skill to use on Thursday. After 119 days or so of not flying as I recover from an injury, I took the Cub up to knock off the rust. I flew down to a nice little county grass strip south of Venice […]

You have to hand it to the FAA. This is a government agency that’s gifted in its ability to tweak the rules in a way that makes we, the regulated, twist, dance, squirm and shimmy in the most creative ways. The latest example came last week when the FAA revised its standards for teaching that […]

Every primary student who’s at least been ready to solo has experienced a few stalls and recoveries. If they’re lucky, they also are introduced to different kinds of stalls, and how the ways we enter them can help determine their characteristics. Along the way, we learn ways to recover from them. We learn these maneuvers […]

The late and much-celebrated fighter pilot General Robin Olds delighted in telling the story of sitting in the front seat of an F-4 headed into visual-range combat in Vietnam and telling his younger backseater that he had it on good authority that what they were seeing wasn’t actually happening. That is, the F-4 design brief […]

AirVenture is about airplanes, but it’s also about people and in this video commentary, AVweb’s Jeff Van West reveals that to attract young people to aviation, we need to show them what they’re interested in. view on YouTube

How many of us are interested in fun flying? We occasionally use our airplanes for transportation, but for the most part, don’t we fly for fun? Have you attended a grass-roots fly-in and done some fun flying? If not, you should. Here’s why. Get any group of pilots together and the topic invariably turns to […]

EAA’s 2 millionth Young Eagle, plus three others in the count around the milestone, received their memorable airplane rides at Oshkosh Thursday with prominent EAA pilots. Actor Harrison Ford, a former Young Eagles chairman, flew Jodie Gawthrop, 16, of Illinois in his de Havilland Beaver. She described the flight in an EAA interview as “amazing.” […]

At AirVenture 2016, EAA has improved the popular Pilot Proficiency Center where you can attend forums, fly simulator problems and generally knock the rust off your flying skills. AVweb’s Jeff Van West prepared this video report. view on YouTube

The just-introduced CubCrafter’s XCub has enjoyed strong initial sales success, with the first 20 aircraft already sold, the company said this week at AirVenture 2016. It also announced a new factory training program for buyers that will allow them to get the most of their new airplanes, especially if they’re coming from nosegear aircraft. “CubCrafters […]

This week’s AVweb video by Rick Durden offers a design overview of the Icon A5, a light sport amphibian with key safety features such as strong spin and stall resistance and an built-in angle of attack indicator. view on YouTube