Cuba map

Will the Cuban Skyway come to life once again?

Not too long after the birth of aviation itself, a surging community was forming in Cuba. It was a community that dominated the tropical skies. And that congregated at airstrips scattered amongst the sugarcane and tobacco fields. Can it come back?
Mountains from Cessna

Friday Photo: Swiss Alps rise above the fog

Swiss pilot Tobias Goller says "Moments like this always make it clear to me that I'm very fortunate in so many ways... Everyone has his one big love story. I do have three: My wife, my daughter - and being able to fly. All the sorrows you may have on the ground are forgotten once airborne."
Cal Rodgers

The inside scoop on aging airplanes, new engines and pilot skills

This article is the latest in an occasional series where we talk to interesting pilots from across the aviation industry. Here we pose 12 questions to Matt Thurber, an experienced pilot, A&P and aviation journalist who knows aviation from the inside and outside. He previously worked for FLYING magazine, and now covers safety and technology for Aviation International News and Business Jet Traveler magazine.

Are doctors bad pilots?

As the adage goes, the superior pilot will avoid demonstration of superior skills through superior judgment. The pilot who is extremely nervous before every flight may have a genuine concern for their ability, but a pilot without any self-questions or ongoing self-assessment may be supremely confident, yet much more dangerous. The best pilot is somewhere in between.
Airport

(Air)field of dreams

The Oxford dictionary defines an airfield as “a place where aircraft operate.” I define an airfield as a place where people come to dream. Think about it. You’re a student pilot and you drive out to the airfield where you take lessons that will enable you to master that cantankerous old 150 and make it stay in the air just where you put it.
Sun over clouds

Friday photo: marine layer

Our latest stunning cockpit photo is a good reminder why an instrument rating is handy in California. Jim Yares was flying his son home from a hockey tournament in San Diego when he popped above the marine layer and saw this gorgeous sunset.

Long range weather planning tools – 4 favorites

All of us spend a lot of time poring over radar images, METARs and TAFs. But the focus is almost always on the short term weather products: can I fly right now? However, with some upgraded apps and websites becoming publicly available, there are more options than ever for long range weather planning. Here are four favorites.
Turn from cockpit

If you lose control, it’ll ruin your whole day

Loss of control has been the number one cause of fatal private aviation accidents since the beginning of flying time. The phenomenon is actually one of the things that prompted my father to start Air Facts in 1938 and we have been talking about it here since that beginning. Rather than rehash all the information that has been cranked out by the government and the associations, let’s just have a discussion of the problem and how to avoid it.
Merrill Pass

Really low on fuel in a thirsty Super Cub

The days are short, and quickly getting shorter, in Alaska’s September, and it was nearly dark as I readied my Super Cub for the return flight. I took from the guide’s avgas cache only what was necessary to make the safe flight back to Merrill Field that night. I carried no reserve fuel. I didn’t like to do that, but sometimes we found it necessary in bush operations.

Friday Photo: desert sunrise

We just happened to be in the right position as the sun burst through the clouds, not only illuminating the sky but also painting a brilliant yellow strip on the underside of our wing. Just as quickly, the sun was again obscured but we had a great beginning to our day. It’s been referenced before but on most days the view from a pilot’s office just can’t be matched.
T-34

Out of CG, overweight, at night and in turbulence

For the first time in my flying life, I could feel the blood drain from my face and be nearly consumed by pure fear – because as I pulled the throttle back the nosed pitched up. As I tried to slow down, even with the stick nearly pushed all the way forward against the stop, the nose would start pitch up. And when it did, you could feel the onset of the stall start. There was no mistaking it and I knew that a stall would be unrecoverable.
Cirrus crash scene

Accident report – what would you do differently?

This article is the first in a regular series where we will examine accident reports. But we hope to do something different here at Air Facts. Instead of just proclaiming Pilot Error and assuming "it couldn't happen to me," we hope to use the NTSB reports to become safer pilots. The question we'll pose each time is: "what will I change about my flying after reading this report?"

Friday Photo: Glacier Peaks from a Luscombe

I was just starting flying lessons when the opportunity to go on this flight came up. I had not done any cross country flights before, and this was a great one to start out with. Dead reckoning, stopping at small airports across the US, and great scenery the whole way. Since this flight, I have finished my flight training and I now fly a 1947 Luscombe 8E.
pilot passed out

An unconscious pilot – and it’s a good thing

I was flying as well as I ever had, and even though fatigue was at work I was happy. Then the unexpected happened. After fitting into a four-plane pattern at home base, on short final I realized the pilot was unconscious! Relax. I was perfectly alert and awake. My loss of consciousness might even have been a good thing. Allow me to explain.
Pilot in cockpit with instructor

An accident waiting to happen – when should you speak up?

I didn’t want to speak up right away (I didn’t want to undermine the instructor, or speak up before my buddy did), but finally the worsening weather became too much of a concern to keep quiet. I told them that the weather was clearly deteriorating. The next day at work, some of the employees seemed to think that I should have just kept my mouth shut.

Global attacks on general aviation: freedom in retreat?

When I thought about why GA is distributed so unevenly across the world, and why it is so heavily assaulted by governments at all levels, I wondered if there is something about GA in particular that worries governments. Then it hit me: they don’t like the freedom that flying gives to their citizens.

Friday Photo: sunrise from an AWACS

This week's Friday Photo is a gorgeous picture of sunrise over Oklahoma, with thunderstorm clouds in the foreground. What makes the picture even more interesting is the photo platform: an Air Force E-3B Sentry AWACS airplane.
Wichita airport

The vanishing airplane – in the pattern with me

I tried looking forward on the downwind leg, high and low, right and left and back along the leg, high and low, right and left and saw no other airplane. I called and declared my intention to turn downwind, and the tower acknowledged my transmission, so I did. The other pilot called and said she was on downwind – my attitude changed to near panic.
Cirrus

Automation, technology and flying light aircraft

Sorry, the buck stops here with us pilots. Technology doesn't make us do anything, or enslave us. When we sign up to be aircraft pilots in command, we elect to use technology. We become solely responsible for flying the airplane, and for the safety of the flights that we conduct.

Friday Photo: Mt. Rainier in a frame

Mt. Rainier is a stunning sight for anyone, especially from the cockpit. But of all the in-flight mountain shots we've seen at Air Facts, this one may be the most interesting. Ethan Levi shares this great shot from his Mooney M20K on the way to Portland.