Learn to Fly

Back when I was actively flight instructing and overseeing a small FBO flightschool in Connecticut, I used to think that how a CFI dressed mattered a lot. I still think that, but perhaps deleting a lot. This came to mind with this weeks news report that one Mitchell Casado, the plaid-wearing sim instructor CNN used […]

People who think flying airplanes is expensive havent tried flying helicopters, which is one reason not many people try rotor-wing flying. Building on its experience with fixed-wing motion-based simulators, Redbird is aiming to push reset on helo training with a new motion simulator called the VTO. The company was showing the machine at Sun n […]

Ive attended enough shows like Sun n Fun and AirVenture to have to have inoculated myself against reading too much into trends and events that occur over the course of a week. And were but one day into Sun n Fun, with another five to go. Nonetheless, as far as new developments are concerned, I […]

According to the poem, when you choose between two roads in the woods, you choose the road less taken. Sometimes its the wrong one. In my opinion, general aviation chose the wrong road when we started walking toward Light Sport Aircraft. A little over a decade ago, our industry and the aviation community got behind […]

At least weeks Aircraft Electronics Association show, famed aerobatic pilot Sean D. Tucker was the keynote speaker. The connection? Hes head of the EAAs Young Eagles program and a perfect choice for recruiting pilots. Hes enthusiastic, animated and knowledgeable. Im not sure AEA was the right audience for the pitch, but it was interesting to […]

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 […]

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 […]

About five years ago, when I was doing some research on used airplane prices, I had a disquieting revelation. When late-model Cessna 172s were listed, they were inevitably described as G1000 Skyhawks. It was as though we had crossed some invisible divide and the venerable old Hawk–really not much changed from the original collection of […]

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 […]

St. Barts, in the eastern Caribbean, is famous for having a short, narrow runway with a tall hill off one end. It’s tricky to get into, and more than one pilot has come to grief in trying. In this video, AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli reviews a landing that went wrong and why. view on YouTube