Flight Safety

Keeping your holding skills up to date these days feels like keeping a working fax machine around; well, I suppose this might come in handy. Someday. Maybe. Holds are rare, and the most common ones for the fat middle of GA are holds published on instrument approach charts where you have to make a few […]

Pilots now can log more simulator time toward an instrument rating, under a new rule published by the FAA on Wednesday. A rule issued in 2009 had placed a 10-hour limit on the training devices, but the FAA said since technology has advanced and simulators are more realistic, pilots now can log up to 20 […]

Two men were killed Tuesday afternoon when the light helicopter they were flying in crashed into the roof of a building in North Salt Lake, Utah, authorities reported on Tuesday afternoon. Debris from the crash — the helo’s tail rotor — was found up to a half mile away, suggesting the aircraft may have broken […]

Shortcomings in design and certification ultimately led to the fire in a lithium-ion battery installed on a Boeing 787 in January 2013, the NTSB said on Monday. In the board’s final report on the incident, investigators said Boeing’s safety assessment of the battery, which was part of the data used to demonstrate FAA compliance, was […]

The FAA has rolled out a new online search tool that will help make it easier for pilots to find Notices to Airmen relevant to their planned flight. The tool “means that the days of rooting around trying to find applicable Notams while planning for a flight are just about over,” says NBAA. The new […]

Transport Canada just released some proposed guidance on the commercial operation of light unmanned aerial systems. Drones. If you haven’t had a chance to look it over, here’s the link (PDF). I suggest at least skimming it. (I’ll wait while you do that.) Clearly, our friends north of the border have come adrift from reality […]

GAMA and Build A Plane have opened up their 2015 design competition, and high-school teams are invited to apply before the Feb. 13 deadline. The call for entries may close earlier if the limit of 100 entries is reached. Each school will receive a free “Fly To Learn” curriculum that includes flight simulation software from […]

We did not have digital radar in the TRACON 25 years ago when I was an air traffic controller. With our analog radar, spring and fall waterfowl migrations of ducks, geese, and cranes always created a cluster of raw radar returns on the scope. It was one of those days when the scope was almost […]

Late last month, I spent a day over in Miami at a company called Africair, checking out some of the company’s sales programs. They happen to have the Cessna territory for Africa and the Caribbean and they’ve established a steady trickle of business in converting Skyhawks to diesel propulsion. “Trickle” means about six to eight […]

I am a 68 year-old Baby Boomer who got his private certificate in 1975 with the University of Michigan Flyers at the Ann Arbor, Michigan Airport. At that time, the Flyers had five Cessna 150s, a Skyhawk, a Piper Arrow, and a Citabria. Within a few months, a twin was added to the fleet-which continued […]