Flight Safety

I‘d driven out to the virtual airport before dawn on a Saturday morning. It only took moments to slip into the Pilot’s Lounge, load the coffee machine and push the start button, leave the box of fresh doughnuts I’d brought next to it and hurry out to where the Great Lakes was tied down. I […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb’s “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to Elliott Aviation at KMLI in Moline, Ill. AVweb reader Jim Grady likes how they treat the “liitle guy.” “Our Sunday evening arrival was literally as the staff was out the door and off duty. They returned, parked us, took […]

This article originally appeared in Aviation Safety, May 2005. Taking risks is something we do every day; in the shower, on the Interstate or on an approach to minimums. The ways in which we manage those risks often determine whether we’ll be around to take them again, or if some other outcome will intervene. Astronauts, […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb’s “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to Atlantic Aviation at KISM in Kissimmee, Florida. AVweb readers (and Cessna Pilot Society members) Dave Kalwishky, Greg Wright, Gene Cartier, Gilberto Velez-Domenech, Ray Mozingo and Keith Dorken said the facility’s staff rose to the occasion during a fly-in for […]

Our airline had come out of bankruptcy and all of us were still alive. Poorer financially, yes, but wiser to the ways of the world and just how much credence to give to the promises of politicians and managers from both sides of the labor/management divide.With any reorganization, changes are bound to come. Our pilot […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb’s “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to Jackson Jet Center at KBOI in Boise, Idaho. AVweb reader Fred Herzner said the FBO offered great service and fair prices. “I flew into Boise with our Bonanza on the way home from Seattle and happened to chose Jackson […]

This article originally appeared in IFR Refresher, May 2006. If your flying is limited to Part 91, you may not realize that operators who fly for hire, like Part 135 and Part 121 carriers, must follow different rules when it comes to flying approaches.One of those is that a pilot flying an aircraft for hire […]

In my last column we covered where I think pilots of light piston aircraft should be looking during takeoff and the initial-climb phases of flight, say to 1,000 feet AGL. In my opinion, virtually all attention should be outside the cockpit unless there are no outside references available to keep the airplane upright, climbing, and […]

Flight instruction is considered to be one of the safest categories of general aviation. AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s 2006 Nall Report (3 MB Adobe PDF file) calls flight instruction “… relatively safe … result[ing] in just 13.2 percent of all [NTSB-reported] accidents and only 6.5 percent of fatal accidents.” AOPA attributes this to “… the […]

Nominate an FBO |Rules |Tips |Questions |Winning FBOs AVweb’s “FBO of the Week” ribbon goes to Great Lakes Air at K83D in St. Ignace, Mich. AVweb readers Andrea and Tim Olson said the FBO’s staff and service were outstanding. “We had just touched down and were still rolling out down the runway when we were […]