Video tip: your deceptive flying mind

We celebrate the great stick and rudder pilots of aviation history, but in reality, flying is mostly a mental game. Sometimes it can even feel like your mind is working against you in the cockpit. In this month's video tip, learn about four mental traps that can cause anxiety and even an accident if you're not careful.

Go or No Go: a gap in the weather?

You bought your Cirrus SR22 for business, but today's mission is strictly personal. You flew from your home near Chicago (DPA) to Rochester, Minnesota (RST), to visit your father, who is recovering after major surgery. He's doing great, and through the magic of general aviation you can get home the same day. That is, if the weather cooperates. Check the weather brief below and tell us what you would do.

Friday Photo: Manhattan from a Cessna

It's one of the great joys of being a general aviation pilot - the ability to fly almost anywhere you want, anytime you want. Chris Powell shows off that freedom in this week's Friday Photo, with a beautiful shot of Manhattan from the cockpit of his Cessna 182RG. When the weather cooperates, the view from up high is absolutely stunning.
Cessna control check

The devil is in the deadly details

Careful pilots use checklists. One item on all checklists calls for the controls to be free. After studying two accidents, one in a new production twin on a first flight and one in an experimental jet, because the ailerons were reversed, I paid extra attention to controls free and correct. I looked at the ailerons when I deflected them, every time, and made sure they moved correctly.
AT-401 airplane

Ferrying a crop duster to South America

It was getting late in the day and the tropical weather was closing in behind me. I felt trapped. Weather was all around and nothing but dense jungle below. I started to get frustrated and really worried. An hour and a half had passed and I was no closer to Panama City. My only alternate airfield was back across the mountains. The last thing I wanted to do was climb back up to 15,000 feet, but I had no choice.
Scud over airport

I am lucky to be a pilot, and I am a lucky pilot as well

It was a humid early September evening after a hot day. In Minnesota, that means when it cools off in the evening, the clouds come up, and the thunderstorms start. I hadn't considered what would be happening later in the evening.

Friday Photo: Beaver sunset

Scott Magie loves flying his 1950 Beaver on floats, and with pictures like this it's easy to see why. He shares this week's Friday Photo from shore, looking at the big seaplane at rest in the water in Minnesota. The moon is rising above the wings, the water is calm Scott says, "Time for another cocktail." We agree.
Arnie with instructor

A city boy learns to fly in the country

With only a few instructional hours logged, I had virtually no flying instincts. Mac, my instructor, called “power” and simultaneously shoved the throttle forward. It was all that kept us from cutting a swath through a cornfield bordering the runway’s approach end. The Cub wallowed ahead, barely above a stall, bouncing down on the grass just yards beyond the stalks.
Surface analysis chart

Weather forecasts – there’s more to it than just charts

On two recent occasions, I have spent my day staring down FAR 121.613. Both cases required a more in-depth study of the day’s weather than a simple scan of the TAF. Regardless of which part of the FARs you are operating under, the area forecast discussions put out by local forecasters are incredibly valuable when preparing for a day’s flying. They will give you the feel of a personal briefing.

Announcing the Young Pilots Writers’ Challenge

Attention all pilots under 23 years of age. Your voice needs to be heard as part of the general aviation community. It’s not just multi-thousand hour pilots who have wisdom to share and stories to tell. You are the next generation of pilots. For you, the good old days are right now! Air Facts is sponsoring a Young Pilots Writers' Challenge. Here are the details.
Medical

BasicMed: a cruel hoax?

Was 05/01/2017 a day that changed the life of a lot of pilots or was it just another Monday down on the farm? The first attempt to do away with aeromedical certification for pilots started about 70 years ago and the beginning of BasicMed on 05/01 seems to be all the progress that was possible on this sticky subject over all these many years.

Friday Photo: Amsterdam canals

Flying over Amsterdam isn't easy, but Gerhard van Roon says he wouldn't trade it for anything: "once over the target and the safety pilot has taken the yoke with me hanging with my cameras out of the window, I am sure that there isn't a job in the world as beautiful and satisfying as mine!" As this week's Friday photo shows, he does have quite the view.
Uber concept for VTOL

Silicon Valley discovers aviation – but for how long?

You have to pay close attention these days to keep up with all the breathless news about "flying cars" and "disruptive aerial vehicles." The great and the good from the technology world have fallen in love with aviation lately, and their various startup companies have been launching aviation projects at an unprecedented rate in 2017. Do any of them have a chance? Does it matter?
Super Cub

Are you ready? Flying the Alaska bush

I’m going to fly along with you as you take your Cessna 206 Stationair II for a flight to pick up a client out in the flat country beyond the Alaska Range. Your client lives in a log cabin along the Kuskokwim River, downstream from the village of Aniak. You’ve made sure to have the necessary flight charts with you.
Piper L-4

Flying to Oshkosh low and slow

Like many pilots, flying my plane to Oshkosh was on my bucket list, but work, cost, and time always seemed to say “not this year.” So, in 2012 when the Cub Club announced the “Cubs To Oshkosh” in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Cub, that was it. I had to be part of that history. This is my story of that trip.

Friday Photo: Mt. Shasta off the wing

Mount Shasta is a stunning sight from any altitude, but when it's passing off the right wing the towering peak looks particularly good. That's exactly the picture Dale Morris captured from his RV-6A on a sightseeing flight with his wife.
Cade by airplane

My first flight – as told by my grandpa

Saturday October 16, 2010. Mom and I were at a craft show when Grandpa called to see if I could go fly with him today. He tried to take me before but something always came up, like I hadn’t had my nap. When you're four years old everybody knows no nap and flying aren’t a good mix. Today was my lucky day.
Maple Airport Park

Ghosts in the hangar: a true aviation short story

The place as it stands today bears no resemblance to the airport tucked away in my thoughts. Every pilot has melancholy memories of favourite places because flying sears powerful images and feelings they long for. The airfield that comes to mind is where I learned to fly. Introductory flights were $10 back then.

Quiz: IFR holding procedures

Most pilots don't fly holds too often these days, but that doesn't mean you can ignore them. Whether it's a hold on an instrument approach or knowing when not to hold, there is a lot to know. Take our 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of IFR holding procedures and see if you're still current.
Crosswind landing A380

Turbulent flying lessons: windy tales

The potential for turbulence should be an integral part of pre- and in-flight weather study. And I found over the years that experience is the best teacher because with turbulence what you feel is what you get. If flying IFR in clouds, the fact that turbulence there makes many riders uneasy and uncomfortable has to be acknowledged, and even some pilots riding as passengers get antsy in bumpy clouds.