Technique

It’s been stormy in Europe this week and that, of course, has sent planespotters to runways all over the continent looking for gear-punishing landings and they found a couple. The bounce on the 747 landing at Schiphol in Amsterdam is cringeworthy while the A380 arrival at Frankfurt reminds us the wind demands respect, no matter […]

When I was a baby flight instructor I, as with most instructors, rapidly learned a great deal about airplanes and the humans who fly them. Despite being a slow learner, some of those lessons stuck with me. Whenever I get into a discussion of the value of training for stalls, stall avoidance, spin avoidance and […]

Following hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the general aviation community distinguished itself by mobilizing to fly disaster-relief supplies and personnel into the affected areas and people and pets out. Being one of the fraction of one percent of our nation’s population that is a pilot, I watched news coverage of my sister and brother aviators who […]

The IFR environment is different from most any other human experience—voluntarily strapped into a seat, within a cocoon of aluminum and a maze of wires, flying miles above the Earth. Without any visual reference, this event can be both stimulating and stressful. Of the three phases of IFR flight; departure, en route and approach, we […]

At Reno 2013, Andy Chiavetta asked me if I would be available in the coming months to help him with a bunch of work he was hoping to finish. During the winter and spring of 2014, Andy would be delivering two Lancair Super Legacys—both clones of Darryl Greenamyer’s champion aircraft. These fire-breathing monsters would need […]

Face it: We love our GPS. Many of us fly with two of ’em installed, plus a portable for good measure. It’s arguably the most revolutionary advance in navigation, automation and IFR capabilities. Satellites now allow the most basic aircraft to navigate with amazing precision. However, there are caveats for modern RNAV pilots. We’ve become […]

I’ve not found any published data on the subject, but after years or reading accident reports I’ve formed the opinion that pilots making takeoffs that will be followed by a flight on an IFR flight plan may unconsciously add a little more “I gotta go come hell or high water” attitude than their normal, Type […]

About a year ago I began working for a company that does aerial survey (patrol) of pipelines. My job is to fly a Cessna 172 parallel to petroleum-carrying underground pipes while looking for what is euphemistically referred to as conflicts. Conflicts can be a wide variety of issues—leaks, damaged pipe above ground, equipment on top […]

Savvy pilots know how to get the most out of the resources at their command. They demonstrate this by having the airplane and its systems do as much of the effort as possible. In all phases of flight, their knowledge is brought to bear on each task to reduce the workload. This trait helps ensure […]

The EAA Pilot Proficiency Center (PPC) is now a regular feature of AirVenture, with presentations and simulators available for an hour of free, loggable dual instruction. The 23 different scenarios are posted on eaapilotproficiency.com, with all the briefing materials, so pilots at the show can arrive prepared. Pilots not at the show can download basic […]