Technique

The parallel runway configuration—which may have staggered or offset thresholds, as well as intersections with other runways—can allow simultaneous takeoffs and landings under most conditions. Such runway configurations are found at airports in all airspace classes, B through G, and they may include turf surfaces, too. They offer operational flexibility a system of intersecting runways […]

One of the most important bits of information pilots can glean from our instrument panels is airspeed. It’s used on takeoff to gauge when to apply backpressure for liftoff, it’s used when landing to ensure we’re neither too slow or too fast, and we use it in cruise to help verify performance (and establish bragging […]

If you studied aviation accident reports as much as we do, one of the many phrases you’d often see is “failure to control airspeed.” It crops up in runway overruns a lot, but primarily appears when discussing in-flight loss of control accidents, of which there are enough the probable cause has earned its own acronym: […]

The FAA’s Airplane Flying Handbook (AFH, FAA-H-8083-3C) describes energy management as “the process of planning, monitoring, and controlling altitude and airspeed,” which seems straightforward enough. Using the available tools, primarily pitch and power, we’re expected to attain and maintain “desired vertical flightpath-airspeed profiles, detect, correct and prevent “unintentional altitude-airspeed deviations” and prevent “irreversible deceleration and/or sink rate” […]

Don’t you hate it when this happens? “November 12345, I have an amendment to your clearance…advise when ready to copy.” Then ATC gives you the barely pronounceable name of a waypoint you never heard of. You’re given a re-route around restricted airspace or a military operations area (MOA) that just went hot. Or you’re making […]

Remember when you first picked up the mic in an airplane, either to ATC or at a non-towered field? Most of us were probably as tentative as a boy trying to get his first date. Even if you’re good at public speaking, few of us gain the comfort without first practicing with prepared remarks. But, […]

Believe it or not, air traffic controllers don’t issue radar vectors for amusement. I know it might seem like it when you’re getting strung out for a sequence or for traffic, watching the time-equals-money clock ticking away, increasing the costs of your flight. My goal as a controller is to get you on your own […]

In the March 2021 issue of Aviation Safety magazine, I discussed the need to restructure the way we teach flying, to focus ab initio training on developing habits that don’t have to be unlearned as one progresses through flight training and into advanced ratings and operations. The classic example is developing in students the habit of using […]

We’ve all been trained to deploy full flaps when executing normal landings and flying airplanes that have them. The reason is fairly simple: the full-flap setting provides the most lift at low speeds, which is desirable when landing. “Normal” is doing a lot of work here, since what might be a normal landing to you […]

Being both a pilot and air traffic controller, I enjoy learning the dos and don’ts from both sides of the mic. We’re all human and everybody makes mistakes—yes, even controllers as I’ve observed from the pilot seat. But, I’m hoping you’ll ride along with me as I share some observations from the tower cab about […]