Flight Training

For today’s blog, I was about to write that hardly a week goes by that we don’t report on some new electric aircraft initiative. Then I was suddenly seized by the impulse to, you know, actually check to see if that statement is correct. As is so often true of generalities, it’s not correct. Actually, […]

I had an instructor who had a teaching technique unlike any other instructor I’ve flown with. Let’s call it teaching by ambush. On this particular flight, we were in a non-pressurized twin, repositioning it to pick up our passengers. It was a cold morning, and I was a complete newbie to the multi-engine training. My […]

This week, AVweb’s news roundup found reports of a new aerobatics show at Oshkosh, the purchase of four simulators by Kent State University, a facility upgrade for Pro Star Aviation and new authorized dealers for Whelen Engineering aircraft lighting products. With AirVenture 2018 right around the corner, Aero Sport Power has announced that aerobatic performer […]

Virtual reality systems for flight simulation now include “haptic” capabilities, simulating a sense of touch when interacting with the virtual environment. The U.S. company FlyInside partnered with the Go Touch VR startup, based in France, to develop the system for the market, and introduced it last month at a trade show in France. “This haptic […]

Mixed News On Refurb Trainers I think the key issue is what you said in your next to last paragraph: The cost of replacement parts is out of control. I can’t speak for Piper, but Cessna parts have skyrocketed in the past 5-6 years, making a full 172 refurb prohibitively expensive. Add to that, the […]

The fly (Musca domestica) appeared inside the Citabria’s cockpit ten minutes into what would be a 25-hour round-trip from Iowa to New York. I greeted the visitor the way Jimmy Stewart, as Charles Lindbergh, did in the 1953 film Spirit of St. Louis. And there the analogy to Lindy flying 3000 miles non-stop from a […]

Women in Aviation International (WAI) has announced that it is now accepting applications for scholarships to be awarded in 2019. At least 108 scholarships and internships are available for a wide array of aviation-oriented pursuits, including flight, maintenance, aerospace engineering, dispatch and aviation management. The organizations says it has awarded a total of $11,495,581 in […]

American Airlines subsidiary Envoy Air has announced the signing of an agreement with ATP Flight School to make ATP an official Envoy Cadet partner. The Envoy Cadet Program is designed to funnel qualified graduates of partner schools into pilot positions with Envoy and later American Airlines. “This is a great opportunity for students that want […]

In August, the inaugural GA Spark conference will kick off in San Carlos, California, with two days of seminars and events designed for the people who run flight schools and flying clubs. “The purpose is to bring great minds together to share ideas on how to build energy in general aviation,” says the project’s website.”If […]

Back in the days when Pueblo, Colorado, still had a TRACAB (terminal radar in the tower cab), I was visiting with the controllers when the following took place. A Cessna pilot, who hopefully was a student, was on a flight from Colorado Springs, field elevation of 6,172 feet MSL, to Pueblo, elevation 4,725 feet MSL. […]