Friday Photo: Mt. Cook in New Zealand

Mt. Cook is one of the most beautiful places on earth and a must-fly place for every pilot. What an adventure flying through the valleys of this mesmerizing scenery of glades, glaciers, fjords, off shore islands and mountains. Combine beautiful scenery and wonderfully warm, friendly, people and you have my most memorable flight experience in 39 years.
Tesla autopilot

Are car autopilots the equivalent of airplane autopilots?

A fairly basic autopilot with an altitude hold function allows a pilot to focus elsewhere safely for long stretches, especially if en route under IFR rules, with ATC providing traffic separation. Even so, that isn’t an invitation to watch a Harry Potter movie, as the Tesla driver is alleged to have been doing.
New Hampshire mountains

I survived an airplane crash – here’s what I learned

I attempted a turn away from the ridge, probably induced an accelerated stall at some point, and we hit the trees. We spent about 43 hours in the woods on the side of Johnson Mountain. My friend passed away sometime during that period. I had no survival gear whatsoever. I had no flight plan. No one knew where I was. I did have an ELT, and it saved my life.
Unalakleet, Alaska

Catch a falling star

Even though it was only three o’clock in the late autumn afternoon, the last gray light of day would fade fast before too long, as the sun was blocked by multiple cloud layers. I heard Martin Olson’s voice coming through my headphones calling Nome Radio on 122.2. However, there was something… I don’t know. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something didn’t sound quite right.

Friday Photo: Hudson River SFRA

It's still one of the best flights a pilot can make: flying up the Hudson River past New York City at low altitude. Pilot John Phillips did it recently with some flying club friends in a Cessna 172, and he shares a spectacular picture of the Freedom Tower in Manhattan. It's this week's Friday Photo.
Cherokee on ramp

A long cross country (and a thunderstorm) teach some valuable lessons

New pilots: do you want to know how to learn a lot about flying in a short period of time? Plan a long cross country flight… I mean, a really long one. When I decided to fly my “new” ‘63 Cherokee 180 most of the way across the U.S. to my summer vacation destination, at first I didn’t realize how valuable the lessons learned along the way would be.
Prog chart

10 ways to get a good weather briefing in a world of information overload

Technology has taken a lot of the mystery out of weather forecasting, filling in the gaps with more precise, more accurate and more comprehensive information. Given this embarrassment of riches, it's tempting to simply consume weather reports without thinking about them: "the TAF says it'll be good, so we're going!" That's a dangerous mindset.
Citabria in roll

What are aerobatics, and when do I need a parachute?

A recent magazine article on the subject of aerobatic flight got me to thinking about what the regulations actually say. While looking for information, I ran across a recent (2012) legal opinion from an FAA counsel that left me more confused than enlightened.

Friday Photo: a trip over the Alps

This week's Friday Photo comes from French pilot Georges Casanova, who took this beautiful shot while crossing the Alps in a Pipistrel motor glider. The tallest peak in the Alps, Mont Blanc, towers over the building clouds in the valley. A memorable sight for made so much more impressive when seen from the cockpit of a small airplane.
Papua mountains from air

Helicopter flying in the jungle – lessons learned

Piloting an aircraft requires certain skills. It also requires certain amounts of discipline, situational and self-awareness. Piloting a helicopter requires even more of each of them, mostly because a rotary wing aircraft is flying in an unstable manner, as opposed to the stable flight characteristics of most civil airplanes.
EZ over mountains

Down the rabbit hole – scud running through Central Oregon

I then made a really bad decision. I climbed quickly to 8500, dodging scud patches here and there with minor course changes. Visibility worsened further over the next five minutes or so, dropping to 1-3 miles, with 50% ground contact, but hazy blue sky above. At this point in the flight, everything being reported seemed way too optimistic.
V35 crash

Airframe failure: not just V-tails

A recent accident involving a vacuum failure in a V35B Bonanza and subsequent loss of control and airframe failure made me recall that this was a really substantial problem in the 1980s and early 90s. It also made me recall one of the better private flying war stories – from a pilot who survived an airframe failure.

Friday Photo: an airport wakes up

After a near-record setting blizzard the weekend before, the Trenton airport was covered in two feet of snow. After digging out, pilot Greg John headed out for an early morning training flight. The sun rose in the east, painting the high overcast in beautiful shades of orange, yellow and purple. Another beautiful Friday Photo.
Canyons of Arizona

Business or pleasure – why choose?

The 10-day weather forecast looked amazingly good for January, so rather than go home on the weekend between two events, I concocted a scheme to do some sailplane flying at Estrella on the weekend, including the use of Estrella’s lodging facility - fabulously cheap bunk beds only soaring aficionados could love. I was saving the company money!
Piper Warrior

Being neighborly – an aerial introduction

The sky was clear and conditions appeared very good. We got into the Warrior and I had him strap in. After the runup, I tuned in to the latest ATIS, then contacted Ground, and started to the active. As we moved along the taxiway, Paul remarked to me, “This the first time in my life I’ve ever been in an airplane.”
Lenticular cloud

I never should have left the ground

I felt I needed to expedite, because there was another Southwest 737 eyeballing me from across the runway, also holding short, and waiting for the little puddle jumper to get out of his way, so they could depart. I rolled out on the runway, and went to full throttle... and with a lot of right aileron and rudder. We lifted off and WHAM, we were 30 degrees to the runway. Yeah, I'd say there was a bit of wind shift!

Friday Photo: Owens Valley solo flight

Tyler Core snapped this beautiful picture on a solo flight to practice maneuvers. The view is of the imposing Mt. Tom, rising nearly 10,000 ft. over the Owens Valley in the foreground. As Tyler says, "the Owens Valley is one of the most beautiful valleys to live in and the outstanding views coupled with the minimal air traffic around KBIH makes this a unique place to learn."
182 in climb

Dangerous technology – and not for the reason you think

All went well until about 100 feet above the runway on takeoff when I wanted to drop the nose a little. The airplane wanted to continue to climb as if it were approaching a power-on stall and I could not get the nose down. Terrible things could have easily happened if I would not have kept my wits about me.
72B on turnpike

Almost toll-free on the turnpike

As usual, I’d been running 30 minutes out of each tank when, about an hour and a half into the flight—you guessed it—the engine quit. Same drill with fuel selector, carb heat and mixture and, again, it started right up. What in the hell was going on this time? Both wing root fuel gauges were pegged at more than three quarters full… but they were even and they weren’t bouncing and I’d learned that was ominous.
Mobile airport

The education of a young professional

I kept the flashlight dancing around the panel… attitude, direction, attitude, altimeter, attitude, airspeed and repeat… with an occasional sweep of the left wing leading edge checking for ice. It was dark and the air was rough inside the cloud. I was in a tough spot this time for sure.