Flight Safety

I just had a colonoscopy, my fourth.Folks, if you have read and enjoyed any of my writings, I would beg you to read this column. Even if you haven’t. For some of you, it may the most important column I’ve ever written, or that you’ll ever read.I have a very personal interest in this, for […]

This article originally appeared in the October 2002 issue of IFR Refresher and is reprinted here by permission. The most serious mistake that I ever made in an airplane would not have happened without GPS.I was an enthusiastic instrument student with 15 hours of instrument flight under my belt. I had 30 hours of experience […]

The first terrorist attack on a national landmark after September 11, 2001, has occurred. Fortunately, no one was injured or killed, but the callousness of the act, perpetrated in the dark of night, by a ruthless, calculating, cold-blooded thug, was made more horrible by its far-reaching implications. The act, an assault on a place held […]

Charlie Summers jokes that it takes two medical examiners for his exam — each looks into one of his ears and if they can see one another he passes. Charlie flies a one-of-a-kind armor-plated T-28 into thunderstorms — on purpose, for a living — for the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Institute of […]

We were preparing to push back in Kansas City and we were heavy. The hot weather wasn’t helping the takeoff figures much either.Full up on passengers, cargo and fuel, the gate agent was in the passenger cabin counting babies. Your average passenger is calculated at about 170 pounds (if I remember my ATP written questions […]

This article originally appeared in the September 2002 issue of IFR Refresher and is reprinted here by permission. The traditional approach to unusual attitude recovery training has become more of a drill than a lesson. Basically, instructors ask students to close their eyes, take their feet and hands off of the controls and put their […]

This article appeared in the January 2002 edition of Aviation Safety and is reprinted here by permission. Aircraft components are tested and retested. Manufacturers are subjected to inspection, airplanes are inspected, mechanics are inspected. The goal: Nothing mechanical should go wrong without plenty of warning.There is one part that bucks that trend. When called on, […]

“I dare you,” Jim said. How many crazy ideas have started with that line? “And I double-dare you to mention Delta chop.” I feel like I’m in the movie “The Christmas Story.” What’s next Jim? Are you going to triple-dead-dog-dare me?Jim is a friend of mine and fellow controller. He reads my column every month […]

No doubt about it, pilots are a special breed.And after a day of reading accident reports — which I do without fail at least once a month — I sometimes suffer from the impression that they’re highly motivated, well-trained, steely-eyed idiots. I’ll concede that this is a cynical, over-the-top generalization but when you read about […]

I am really excited about our newfound capability to record extensive data from real, live, running engines in real airplanes. We’ve been doing this for several years, but the data is getting more and more sophisticated, and we’re learning to make better use of it. We can now take this recorded data, quickly plot it […]