Technique

Most everyone appreciates pilot reports. Two of the most important are turbulence and icing. But both require a degree of judgment with respect to the severity. It’s great to hear from a pilot 50 miles ahead of you that the ride is “smooth.” But what if he says that it’s moderate chop? Is his “moderate” […]

I had to fly a go-around the other day. My instructor and I were landing in my Debonair at a familiar airport on a gusty day after 1.5 hours of instrument work. Although I was accustomed to the airport and the visual approach, I had forgotten how windy conditions at this particular runway could wreak […]

Pilots are taught to take off and land into the wind, and avoid landing or departing with a tailwind. There is a reason: The performance penalty of a tailwind is much greater than the benefit of a headwind. How big a penalty? Go to your POH and calculate it. The most common figure is to […]

I’m not proud. I’ve done a lot of go-arounds in my career, and I’ll do one on my next flight if the occasion warrants. A lot of busted airplanes have resulted from trying to make a landing work, regardless of the situation. Back during my Army Aviation affiliations, our unit was equipped with Cessna O-1As […]

Flight planning invariably includes choosing an expected altitude for the trip and varying it as necessary for anticipated terrain encounters and ATC requirements. The question at the outset will often be, shall I go as high as practical, or as low as I can? Many factors enter into the decision, with each trip having du […]

There’s an amusing quip from award‑winning author Robert McCloskey that says, “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” This double speak serves to illustrate the importance of clear communication. There are few places in human […]

St. Barts, in the eastern Caribbean, is famous for having a short, narrow runway with a tall hill off one end. It’s tricky to get into and more than one pilot has come to grief in trying. In this video, AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli reviews a landing that went wrong and why.

One of the oldest jokes in aviation holds that the big fan is there to cool the cockpit: Whenever it stops unexpectedly, the pilot starts to sweat. Every aviator who’s had that experience can probably confirm a significant uptick in pulse and respiration. In the best case, that’s accompanied by a corresponding intensification of focus, […]

The turn needle was probably the earliest attitude reference for instrument flying. It dates back about a hundred years and it provides an indirect indication of bank, which made it possible for pilots to control an airplane by reference to “needle, ball and airspeed.” We’ve come a long way since then. The instrument platform I […]

Iowa … you know, fly-over country, as in Minnesota pilots fly over us on their way to Sun ‘n Fun, and Sou’westerners cross when heading to Oshkosh. Unless you’re running for president—and who isn’t?—it’s perceived that there’s little reason to land in Iowa. But skip us at the risk of losing New Hampshire and, more […]