Flight Safety

It was a normal weekend morning in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport; students were either exulting or bemoaning flights they had just completed, a few pilots were debating where they should go for their high-dollar hamburgers and a couple of airplane owners were deep in discussion over the operating costs of their steeds. […]

This is the eighth and last in a series of excerpts that began with Chapter One. Chapter Sixteen: Circuits Very much on my mind lately has been the fact that I am approaching the point where I may be turned loose at last for a solo flight. The landings have been reasonably well executed; to […]

Retirement parties, like funerals, get more plentiful as your life and career nears their respective ends. Much like funerals, these retirement fetes are sometimes the last opportunity to pay last respects to old friends.Leaving the airline almost always means literally leaving your flying friends. This is because a major airline’s flight crews are usually made […]

Cessna one two three four five, what’s your on-course heading?” How many times have you heard that little piece of phraseology lately? If you’ve flown out of a place where the controllers routinely assign you “Runway heading” (and who doesn’t), I bet you’ve heard it a lot. So what does the phraseology mean?Right now, dozens […]

Cessna Twins Spar Corporation36 Columbia Street, Farmingdale, NY 11735-2606 Tel: 516-847-0002 February 23, 2005 Ms.Mary GradyEditorAVWeb Dear Ms. Grady, Per your request, the following are CTScs comments regarding the spar cracks discovered in two Cessna 402C aircraft. The recently discovered spar problems on two extremely high-time Cessna 402C aircraft used in commuter service indicate that […]

Much of aviation involves black and white decision-making; we have to do many of the tasks we do in a closely prescribed way or risk dying. There is no appeal or plea bargain for violation of a law of aerodynamics. If we are in a single-engine airplane and the engine quits under about 500 feet […]

After a tremendously successful Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) Assisted Special Issuance (AASI) program for Third-Class medical certificates, the FAA’s chief physician, Federal Air Surgeon Jon Jordan, M.D., recently decided to expand the program to include Second- and First-Class medicals. This is great news, both for AMEs who have spent a lot of time with their […]

I spend an awful lot of time trying to explain how the system is supposed to work. Those explanations are often at odds with what people have experienced first-hand. This leaves a lot of people confused. It just leaves me frustrated.But no matter how conscientious we are, things can and do go wrong. As a […]

This is the seventh in a series of excerpts that began with Chapter One. Chapter Thirteen: Crosswind Circuits A very stiff breeze was blowing as I drove out to Dairy Flat, but I have given up hope of finding an ideal piece of weather for a lesson. I try to hold on to the thought […]

No one wants to fail when taking an exam, least of all a checkride for a pilot certificate. But there are some easy-to-learn ways of making sure that you pass your test on the first try, including how you train, what you study, whether your paperwork is in order and finally whether you can actually […]