Flight Training

A group that promotes aviation training for women says focusing outreach on teenagers is a less productive way of correcting the gender imbalance in the cockpit. The Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW) said in a news release that statistics show that most people start flying as adults. “Most outreach initiatives are restricted to […]

Our blog earlier this week about the UK’s easyJet’s plan to hire more women pilots ignited plenty of comments.I couldn’t help but think that anyone who wants to see women make up more than 12 percent of the pilot population — even more than 30 percent — must accept the idea that targeted hiring and […]

Letter of the Week:Correcting the Imbalance Regarding Paul Bertorelli’s blog about gender imbalance: Aviation, as a profession, seems to have set the modern standard on “imbalance,” an ironic fact given the physical principles on which it is based. Does it make sense to address the subject of gender imbalance without including wage imbalance, race imbalance, […]

Rich Stowell spoke at the NTSB’s recent Loss Of Control forum, proposing that the flight training industry needs to change its culture to help reduce loss-of-control accidents. He discussed the LOC issues facing general aviation and his new “Learn to Turn” initiative with AVweb’s Elaine Kauh. Stowell, a Master Instructor, 2014 National FAASTeam Rep of […]

Watching the progress of this week’s Question of the Week, I was reminded that my attitude toward women in the workplace was pretty much crystalized all at once at 5:30 a.m. on February 10th,1969. Standing in the induction line at Fort Holabird, it occurred to me that if women were eligible for the then draft, […]

Last month’s feature on the frustrating persistence of engine operating superstitions generated a number of comments from readers, most appreciating the ammunition to fire back at the Old Wives’ Tale-spouting “experts” at their local airport. Several referenced other operating superstitions—engine and airplane—regularly being passed off as time-honored aviation truths and asked if they could be […]

A young pilot took some major steps toward his dream of flying for a living by earning three individual pilot certificates and two type ratings, all in a 48 hour period. But before Preston Allen, a 24-year-old private pilot with 1,200 hours, could earn each piece of paper, he had to crack the books. “He’s […]

The 88Charlies, an organization named after its home airport in Palmyra, Wisconsin, shows how a grassroots approach to teaching kids about airplanes can grow into an organization that makes aviation fun for all. view on YouTube

Every pilot is inspired to fly for different reasons—personal and technical challenge, freedom and new perspectives, civilian or military professional career paths. But the obstacles that arise between us and that goal are just as varied. Medical problems, family priorities, geographic inconvenience and financial obligations can all get in the way. The latter is what […]

AOPA has launched a new program, the High School Aviation Initiative, to encourage students to enter aviation careers. As part of this effort, the newly formed Aviation Education Leadership Alliance will hold its first gathering Nov. 9 in Lakeland, Florida, home of the Central Florida Aerospace Academy. The organization invites new members to join and […]