How I failed my IFR Practical Test Twice

I decided after two attempts to not take the Instrument practical again. The examiner was gracious and realized that, being over 55, I did not have plans for commercial flying and certainly not airlines (ATP). He reminded me it is not easy to stay current with an Instrument Rating and flying IFR by yourself can be challenging even for the most proficient pilot, especially if you do not have an autopilot. 

A Night Flying Experience I’ll Never Forget

We were monitoring the tower frequency at Erie, and we could hear a disturbing dialogue. A pilot was lost in the dark, in and out of the clouds. His voice sounded on the verge of panic. The controller calmed him, vectoring him out of the clouds and on to a heading for the airport. Soon his anxiety changed to immense relief as he found himself rolling out on short final at his home airport.

Ask Mr. Pilot

This informative little column answers questions from non-pilots, and helps them understand the strange world of the “aileron,” the “empennage,” NOTAMs and even the word “niner.”

Announcing the 2025 Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots

The Richard Collins family has once again partnered with Sporty’s to offer The Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots. To qualify, the writer must be a pilot (including student pilot) who is 24 years of age or younger. The article must be original, not previously published, and no longer than 1,500 words. The topic should be "my most memorable flight."

The pros and the cons: Cirrus SR22

Cirrus had a controversial reputation early on, and to this day it’s the butt of some jokes. But it’s also the best selling piston airplane in the world for 20 years straight, a lone bright spot among small airplane companies who otherwise seem to be surviving on a few big flight school orders. And as I’ve repeatedly observed, the most vocal Cirrus critics are usually the ones who have never flown one.
douglas a-4 skyhawk

Friday Photo: A-4 from a TA-4

It was an 'exchange' tour where the Navy flew a a two-ship to NKP with one of the aircraft a two-seat TA-4 and the pilot in that back seat would stay in my 'rack' at NKP.  The two A-4s would return to the Hancock with me occupying that back seat and I would stay in his 'rack' aboard the carrier.  It was supposed to be a three-day exchange with each of us getting to experience several missions in the other's airplane.

Understanding TEC routes in busy IFR airspace — Advanced IFR, by Pilot Workshops

follow along on this scenario-based IFR flight from Riverside, CA (KRAL) to Long Beach, CA (KLGB). The short, 20-minute flight presents immediate challenges as the workload is high from start to finish in the busy southern California airspace. The flight will utilize and explain a Tower Enroute Control (TEC) route which is an FAA program of standard routes that keep a flight solely within approach control airspace.

An Icy Saab Story

Every flight behind us was now diverting and the controller was busy shipping them off frequency towards their diversions. The FO and I quickly agreed that we would leave the flaps as they were and fly it onto the runway as it was. While I can’t recall the speed, it was well over the normal range (160 kts perhaps). I asked the FO how it was flying, as he had turned off the autopilot shortly after entering the freezing rain.

A Case of Stay-Here-Itis

I read every NWS Forecast discussion in the southeastern US, and looked at every weather app I could.  No one could agree on the storm track, and even how much of a threat the storm still presented. One thing was consistent, the storms intensity was going to weaken considerably, and really the main threat was going to be rain and occasional thunderstorms in the remnant bands around the low. There was just no agreement on where that low-pressure center would be positioned.

Flying a Skylane From Canada to Belize

I was two months into my first pilot job flying skydivers in the C182 at a small Canadian drop zone, when my boss approached me about ferrying our Cessna 182 to Central America for the winter. I was eager and a bit nervous in anticipation of this daunting task. The final route flown took me 3,600 nautical miles from Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada across mountains, desert, ocean and coastal jungles to Belize City, Belize!
favorite photos 2024

Favorite Friday Photos of 2024

Air Facts popular "Friday photo" features some spectacular views and amazing memories to share with the aviation community. Thank you for those photos and we're sure the best is yet to come. Enjoy these 10 most popular photos from 2024.

Air Facts Top Articles of 2024

Sporty's Air Facts was proud to have published nearly 160 articles in 2024, written by more than 100 writers. Many of these writers were first time contributors with a compelling story to tell, strong opinion, or a lesson learned. Please enjoy these 10 most popular posts from 2024.

From the Archive: Operation Santa Claus

There’s something especially enchanting about blending the wonder of aviation with the spirit of the holidays. In this nostalgic tale from December 1955, the author, a devoted aviator, shares the heartwarming story of delaying his shopping for a special Christmas mission: delivering Santa Claus himself to a group of wide-eyed children in his Piper Clipper.

High-Tech One Upmanship

But transitioning from the airlines to a civilian pilot on long range flights in a turbine powered airplane was a shock! Now, instead of showing up in flight ops and finding my flight planning had all been done for me by my dispatcher, I was now the dispatcher. My learning curve was not steep, it was vertical!
gear up landing

Do Crash Videos Make Us Safer Pilots?

Do you really need a YouTube expert to remind you of the dangers of flying into known icing conditions? How about thunderstorms? Flying at night over mountainous terrain in hard IMC? Yeah, I didn’t think so. In fact, if you read the comments section of a lot of these videos (please don’t read the comments section), you’ll find that there are more non-pilots than real ones. They either found the video out of morbid curiosity, or they just got lost (hey, it happens).
lower manhattan

Friday Photo: Lower Manhattan on Halloween

My instructor Justin and I flew the Hudson VFR corridor on Halloween night 2024. Justin taught me the tricks of night flying, while we treated ourselves to a magnificent view of NYC skyline. The stiff 25 knots headwind on the downriver leg provided us with the perfect pace to fully appreciate the majestic Manhattan skyscrapers.

Anticipation

There are many riddles to the human brain, and they are mostly borne from experience. It is more the Lamarckian trait rather than the Darwinian trait. Nothing is baked in except when it is through experience. We address life through the lens of our living. We catalogue our experiences inside the small molecules of proteins in our brain. Some from our childhood stick permanently, albeit with embellishments.

Checkrides gone wrong: rope-a-dope

One of Gene’s pet maneuvers was to demonstrate to the student pilot that his senses would lie to him while flying in the clouds on instruments, or at night. The ultimate lesson objective was to trust your flight instruments, and not your senses. He would have the student put the instrument flying hood on, then do a couple of routine flight maneuvers by reference to the flight instruments, then “the show” would begin.

Christmas reading list: 24 books for pilots to read in 2024

Six years after my last list, I still hate social media and I still love books, so I’m back with more recommendations—24 good aviation books for 2024. This is an eclectic mix, so I don’t expect readers to love every suggestion, but I believe there’s something for pilots to learn from almost any book, even if it doesn’t relate to aviation directly.

Checking off a bucket list item

Still wearing my flight suit as I walked about, I happened upon a large-scale model of a P-47 set in a WWII diorama.  I instantly recognized it as Francis Stanley ‘Gabby’ Gabreski’s P-47 from when he commanded the 61st Fighter Squadron (the ‘Top Dawgs’).  Gabby was the leading ace in the European Theater during WWII and is credited with destroying 34½ aircraft in aerial combat which made him one of only seven US combat pilots to become an ace in two wars.