Flight Training

AOPA has launched an initiative to help pilots who have stepped away from flying return to the sky. “Get back in the left seat” is the motto of the Rusty Pilots initiative, a free nationwide program to reactivate lapsed pilots. The initiative draws on a notably successful local effort at Aviation Adventures flight school in […]

According to the poem, when you choose between two roads in the woods, you choose the road less taken. Sometimes its the wrong one. In my opinion, general aviation chose the wrong road when we started walking toward Light Sport Aircraft. A little over a decade ago, our industry and the aviation community got behind […]

At least weeks Aircraft Electronics Association show, famed aerobatic pilot Sean D. Tucker was the keynote speaker. The connection? Hes head of the EAAs Young Eagles program and a perfect choice for recruiting pilots. Hes enthusiastic, animated and knowledgeable. Im not sure AEA was the right audience for the pitch, but it was interesting to […]

Letter of the Week:Flying to St. Barths I watched with great interest your video with the Aztec landing in St. Barths and finishing on the beach. I happened to be in St. Barths recently. I fly there regularly in my Cirrus SR-22 but was there most recently flying an airliner. Here are a few words […]

For most of us tooling around the airstrip and to the occasional pancake breakfast, the size of our fuel tanks doesnt matter. But when youre planning a longer flight, your aircrafts range becomes a consideration. Put another way, if you want to travel more than 500 nm, tank-size matters, and not all of us are […]

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University is offering a free massive open online course, or MOOC, at its website starting April 7. The five-week course, “The Human Factor in Aviation,” is only the second such course to be offered by the school. The course will be taught by Asst. Prof. Dennis Vincenzi, of the Department of Aeronautics […]

I never thought Id say this, but I think Im becoming more sympathetic to people who dont like airplane noise. And Im not talking about fly-over noise-thats transient and it at least affords the option of momentarily looking up to see whats making it. I like that kind. Im talking about airport ground noise; the […]

Garmin International Inc. announced new capabilities for G1000-equipped King Air 200/250/300/350 series aircraft. These enhancements provide a number of new features and optional equipment upgrades that offer King Air owners and operators more capability. These new upgrades include several key NextGen components like Automatic Dependence Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B) compliance, as well as customer-requested capabilities such […]

Probably the most difficult task on the Instrument Rating (IR) practical test is Area VII, Task D: Approach with Loss of Primary Flight Instrument Indicators. But why is the FAA so interested in this? In their own words from the IR Practical Test Standards (PTS): The FA A is concerned about numerous fatal aircraft accidents […]

A new report released this week by the Government Accountability Office offers a mixed view of whether the much-discussed airline pilot shortage actually exists, but it does confirm that regional airlines are having trouble finding qualified pilots. The GAO report (PDF), which was done at the behest of Congress, found that the projected need for […]