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Air Facts was first published in 1938 by Leighton Collins, dedicated to “the development of private air transportation.” It’s a different world now, and it’s a different Air Facts. Relaunched in 2011 as an online journal, Air Facts still champions, educates, informs and entertains pilots worldwide with real-world flying experiences. More…
My adventure: a long day of flying in a 172
My AdventureDawn lit the eastern sky as the Skyhawk’s engine came to life. I was about to begin a journey that would be as epic for me as the flight across the Atlantic had been for Lindbergh. At age 61, I was flying from Galion, Ohio (GQQ) to Winter Haven, Florida (GIF).
The saddest flight I ever made
I was thereThe story begins about 6 am on a Monday in San Francisco in the late 1990s. This morning I saw a number of flyers posted asking for help locating a lost windsurfer. The previous weekend had been exceptionally windy and if a windsurfer was lost, his prospects weren't good.
I Can’t Believe I Did That – Angel knows best
I Can't Believe I Did ThatThe Angel on my right shoulder whispers, “This is not the time for you to be doing this, look at those clouds!” but the Devil on my left shoulder says, “Aw c’mon! You’re only going for a short flight, you’ve got to be able to fly in this, what’s stopping you?”
Remote ATC towers – coming to an airport near you?
John's blogThe concept of remote towers, once the stuff of research papers and futurists, is now a reality--and it might be coming to the US sooner than you think. Is that a bad thing?
The descent: enjoying the ride down
I was thereMy pilot buddies and much of what I read tell of the virtues of the more dramatic times: thundering takeoffs, a perfectly executed crosswind landing, the intense concentration requirements of low approaches. While I admit that each of those aspects have their charms, I am smitten beyond relief to the time when the altimeter is slowing unwinding.
John’s Blog
What a difference a decade makes: the GA boom in statistics
John's blogGeneral aviation is growing. That simple statement would have been unremarkable to a pilot in the 1960s or 1970s, as surprising as saying the sun rose in the east that day. But for anyone who learned to fly after about 1990, and especially between 2008 and 2016, it’s a shocking thing to admit. Yet that is exactly what is happening right now, as data from a wide variety of sources show.
What matters for IFR proficiency? The answer is quite simple.
John's blogAssuming you are busy and have to make hard choices about what to focus on, I think there’s a strong case to be made for spending your precious flying time on basic attitude instrument skills. Flying approaches to minimums or practicing emergencies may be more fun, but those procedures are not where pilots make the most fatal mistakes.
Pilots need to be generalists, not specialists
John's blogAmerican education has been obsessed with STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) for at least a decade, and the aviation industry has eagerly jumped on the bandwagon. The FAA is leading the charge to fit our square peg into this round hole, declaring aviation to be the ultimate STEM career path. I’m in favor of anything that attracts a new generation of pilots, but this framing is a radical oversimplification—and it sets up some pilots for failure.
I Can’t Believe I Did That
Quick land to Quicksand
I Can't Believe I Did ThatThe landing went smoothly. As I taxied the Cub toward where I wanted to park, we hit a patch of quicksand that I hadn’t spotted from the air. Within the blink of an eye, the bushwheels sank, bringing the plane to an abrupt stop and sending its propeller into the sand and tail into the air.
Lessons learned from a sloppy IFR/VFR approach
I Can't Believe I Did ThatLowering the Mooney’s nose for descent enabled me to finally see the runway. However, when my bird’s nose is lowered, she is so slippery I accelerate quickly at the very time I need to be slowing. I intercepted the approach course and then flew through it.
Watch out for TFRs
I Can't Believe I Did ThatSuddenly, my peripheral vision picked up something to my left and the serenity of the morning was shattered. A Black Hawk helicopter was a few feet off my wing! As I stared at it in disbelief, the door slid open and a soldier in fatigues held up a large 121.5 sign. My shaking fingers stabbed at the radio 'emerg' button and I managed a feeble “hello?
Opinion
Rubber bands – the reason I quit
OpinionMy landings were getting worse and worse. Probably depth perception changes, but extremely frustrating. I was mentoring two young people who were vitally interested in flying by letting them fly from the right seat. How embarrassing that I couldn’t score a 9 or 10 on each landing. As we know, landing is a combination of hand/eye coordination and muscle memory. One of those was slipping away.
The Zen of IFR
OpinionHow can an average GA pilot like me who flies around a hundred hours a year stay proficient? The answer is quite simple (well, maybe): I incorporate some aspect of IFR flying into every single flight. Every single one. That means hand flying to within or better ACS standards.
Diversity: The Double-Edged Sword of General Aviation
OpinionIt turns out that there is no legal requirement for the instructor to be familiar with the avionics being presented for the IPC. Beyond flight time in the make and model of aircraft flown, it's entirely up to you, the pilot, to be able to manipulate the panel to accomplish the tasks required to complete the flight(s).
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Did you know that most of the articles at Air Facts are written by readers like you? You do not have to be Richard Collins or Ernest Gann – simply a GA pilot with a story you’d share with friends sitting in the hangar.