Go or No Go: is there any way through this line?

Your 1981 Piper Aztec and you have been through a lot in 10 years and 3000 hours, including plenty of single pilot IFR trips. But today is going to be a test for both of you - your proposed trip home from Shreveport, Louisiana to Amarillo, Texas is filled with rain, low ceilings and some convective activity.

Home is where the hangar is

Every pilot has more than one home. There's the place where we sleep, eat, and get our mail (at least most of the time). Then there is another place where we have our being and that's the airport. In my case, for 17 years, it was Hangar 2 at Fitchburg Municipal Airport.

How to land an airliner with only 7 runway lights

Pilots are taught to use their initiative and to expect surprises. There was certainly a surprise in store for me one dark and stormy night a little over 35 years ago, but the use of initiative came in a most unorthodox way ― and not from the crew on the aircraft, but from a quick-acting van driver.

Suicide by airplane: a dark subject indeed

Inevitably, the tragedy of the airline pilot killing himself, the rest of the crew, and the passengers, prompted articles in the general media about suicides using private aircraft. There is actually no similarity because one is a murder/suicide, which usually has a motive, and the other is a matter of a person taking his own life. Still, the question was raised and to be honest I wasn’t too sure I wanted to explore this dark subject.

Electric airplanes – is the tipping point upon us?

Just like a Chicago Cubs appearance in the World Series, predictions about the coming electric aircraft boom seem to pop up every year, only to be crushed by reality. But four recent developments should be intriguing, if not revolutionary, for general aviation pilots.

What you can’t see can’t touch you

I was flying the daily mail run in a saddle-worn Cessna 402 out of Abingdon, Virginia, on a very cloudy, turbulent, rainy, miserable night in mid-March. We had just leveled out at 5000 feet when the radar approach controller in Roanoke called to inform me that I appeared to be turning toward the north.
AOA

From the archives: Leighton Collins on angle of attack, 1965

This article, originally published in the May 1965 issue of Air Facts, is a companion to Richard Collins's recent article on "The three keys to flying safely." Here, Richard's father considers the history of angle of attack as both a concept and an instrument, which offers important lessons for pilots of any airplane. This is not a new debate.
Turn from cockpit

The three keys to flying safely

In this important new article, Richard Collins sums up over 50 years of aviation safety writing with three key concepts - "the things that a pilot really needs to know to stay alive." It turns out safe flying has a lot more to do with mindset than fancy maneuvers.

All runways are the same (sort of)

The biggest problem I used to have as a pilot was landing at different airports. I used to say, “I hate this airport; the runways are different…” Strange but I never have problems parking my car in a different lot, with spaces that face a different direction than my normal office lot. I still have to put the car in the middle and pointed straight!

The most important person at your airport

No, it's not the control tower operator, it's not the person who mows the grass, and it's not the person who plows the snow - it's an AOG (aircraft on the ground) transient. Sporty's Founder Hal Shevers explains why.

Debate: do electronic stability systems improve safety?

More and more airplanes are being equipped with Electronic Stability systems, which monitor the pilot's performance at all times and gently nudge the controls back towards stable flight. Will such systems improve safety, or are they merely the latest gadget?
Cessna 170 in the field

Why off-field landing #61 was different from the other 60

We decided to explore, so Christian aimed the bird north, easing in the power to climb above the wave’s rotor. And then the world came unglued! The engine burst into roaring chaos, with hideous vibration, which had the shock mounted instrument panel in a blur.

“Never bank over 30 degrees in the pattern,” and other lessons

The crosswind blew me a little past the runway line as I came around on final and I banked it left and added a bit of power to get lined up. Things suddenly got quiet and I had an epiphany! For the first time I really understood why my instructors had said never bank over 30 degrees in the pattern.

My Adventure: circumnavigating the Sierra-Nevada Mountain Range

Sometimes life lets you make the most of an opportunity. With my friend's new house near Chino Airport, I could offer this trip in about two and half hours total travel time, with two of those hours in the air in a Piper Arrow II. There was the opportunity: a trip made-to-order for a VFR pilot.

The day the dream flew away

On a rainy August morning, the people who bought my airplane came to Washington to fly it home to Northern California. I was numb during the exchange of money and completion of documents because it marked the end of 38 years of flying/caring for that airplane.
Thunderstorm from airplane

Is “hard IFR” a myth? 5 things to keep it from being that way

I never knew what people really meant when they talked about flying “hard” IFR. The implication is that there is also “easy” IFR but nobody seemed to know the exact difference between the two. The most logical thing we can do is examine things we can do to keep instrument flying from becoming “hard” IFR.

The kid glove treatment – why airline passengers need to behave

In the airline industry it is usually the cabin crew who come face to face with the loud mouths, the drunks, the ungrateful, and sometimes the dangerous. One written complaint and invariably the flight attendant will find his or her job on the line. Occasionally a nasty passenger will get just deserts.

Why do pilots hate recurrent training?

Regular training increases safety and confidence. It's good for you, right up there with eating more vegetables and exercising daily. But while all pilots know these facts, very few of us practice what we preach. Instead, we treat proficiency flights like a trip to the dentist: something we do only as often as we're required to, and even then we dread it.

Hungry Pilot: Piccadilly Lilly Airport Diner

Our latest stop in the search for the perfect $100 hamburger takes us to Wisconsin. The Piccadilly Lilly claims it offers home cooking and "the best biscuits and gravy around." The airport is also close to an interesting architectural landmark, making it a fun excursion for pilots.

How do we encourage new aviators?

We proclaim the future of aviation lies in the hands of the youth, and we must give them opportunities to become pilots. We argue that flight training needs to be cheaper and we need to create more aviation programs so it is easier for them to succeed. We need scholarships and free flight training. But what kind of solution is moving the finish line closer to the start?