Flight Safety

No, I’m not telling you where to go. Or perhaps I am, you figure it out. “SIAP” is FAA-speak for “Standard Instrument Approach Procedure,” and frankly, they’re not very well understood. I don’t profess to understand them fully, myself. Yeah, you heard that right. I certainly don’t begin to understand all the “stuff” that makes […]

What would you do if you thought that you had an electrical system failure and a vacuum system failure at the same time in a single-engine airplane? The chances of that happening are pretty slim, but the pilot of a Cessna T210 was convinced that he had both failures at the same time while flying […]

A while ago one of my instrument students and I flew nearly six hours in a day. Not surprisingly, his last landing was probably measurable on the Richter scale. Earning our eternal enmity, someone then made a crude, derogatory remark about the landing over the CTAF/Unicom frequency. Neither of us responded, but over the next […]

John L. Baker was born July 8, 1928, in O’Neil, Neb. He started flying at 15 and went into the Air Force five years later. He flew fighters in Korea then taught fighter gunnery at Nellis, Pine Castle and Luke. After his military career, Baker went to law school in Omaha, and graduated with honors. […]

We’ve all heard the expression “staying ahead of the airplane” but what does it really mean to each of us? To different people it may well mean different things. Rod Machado advocates that, when in IMC (instrument meteorological conditions – in cloud), a pilot should at all times have determined what are the next two […]

Part of the initial improvements to airline security following September 11 was to upgrade cockpit doors. Ultimately, cockpits will have Kevlar reinforced bulkheads, doors and reinforced door jambs, hinges and locks. However, as an interim measure and to comply with FAA directives, airlines fitted a variety of deadbolts and reinforcing panels to their cockpit doors. […]

Welcome back, class. For those that cut the last session, you can review it here. For the rest of you, here’s a quick review of the highlights from the last session. We covered beacon code assignments, handoffs, initial callups and student pilots using ATC services. In this session we’ll build upon those subjects, explore some […]

My two previous columns about CAF’s “new” C-131 and the development of our normal-procedures checklist for it drew such a phenomenal response, and I got so many excellent suggestions by email, it appears to be in my own best interest to put the emergency stuff up here for comment and critique. Keep those cards and […]

After flying for a few years, many pilots come to feel that airports, just like airplanes, have personalities. Here in the Pilot’s Lounge at the virtual airport there seems to be a pretty universal opinion that while each airport is a gateway to the world aloft, some are warm, friendly haunts, as comfortable as an […]

First, some old business … I’m pleased to report that my previous column has had a good response, almost entirely by private email. There are now about 25 people signed up for the C-131 ground school. Many are “crew chiefs” and non-pilot volunteers, some are obviously well-qualified to be SICs, and several are qualified to […]