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Sporty’s Academy Blog

Friday Photo: forest fire off the wing

New Cessna 172

So maybe there was a real purpose in flying that day

Mechanic helping kid

Passing the torch

SGS 1-26

Soaring and the Aviation Safety Reporting System

Your passengers may not always enjoy flying

Windsock

Managing the wind

cuban eight

Friday photo: half cuban eight

V-tail Bonanza

Burning Man for Builders

Challenges in Vietnam

Airplane off runway

Survival gear after the crash…hmm

Citabria on grass runway

The time when I almost landed short

Our Overton Window

steep turn

Friday photo: knocking off the rust in the practice area

Choosing the best IFR route — Advanced IFR, by PilotWorkshops

PC-12 crash track

Ignore the YouTube crash detectives—it’s usually pilot error

A Newbie CFI, Disco Fever, and My Inner Voice

cowling

How stress and anxiety affect pilots

Legend Cub

The Last Pilot

Friday photo: Niagara Falls for the solar eclipse

dc 10

Uncle Joe’s Last Flight

mooney

Let George do it!

Living the dream

c-47

A pilot’s path begins with a father’s influence

waco

A Long Buried Story Resurfaces

two boeings

Friday photo: two Boeings

aero commander

From the archive: round trip to Europe in an Aero Commander

diamond da40

It’s Time To Get High

airplane in grass

Centerline, centerline, centerline

A dead stick landing and a chance encouter with Hal Shevers

md-11

One of the last in the air on 9/11

piper arrow

Friday photo: When I grow up, I want to be…

Flight instruction

Why learning to fly can be good for your mental health

The “C” in PIC

approach fog

Danger lurks in circling approaches

Glider tow

Glider Towing – How do I get out of This Mess

152 landing

She’s Down – Helping a Cessna in Distress

otto pilot

Friday photo: DC-6 “autopilot”

Smith

Learning to fly after 55

mooney on ramp

My Near Death Experience

approach fog

IFR challenge from Pilot Workshops: What would you do?

What was one of the scariest moments in your life?

Air Force Museum

General Aviation Accessible Aviation Museum Directory

tyndal glacier

Friday photo: flying up the Tyndall Glacier

death valley

Flying Out of Death Valley Alive

Airline pilot hiring by month

What a difference a decade makes: the GA boom in statistics

airplane engine

Aviation shop rat

cessna cardinal

Rubber bands – the reason I quit

Cub nose in sand

Quick land to Quicksand

ships

Friday photo: herding checks in southeast Asia

My First Oshkosh

super cub

Blister Flight – Six Pilots and an Angel

Pilot in Cessna 182

The Zen of IFR

Low approach

Diversity: The Double-Edged Sword of General Aviation

C-123 landing

Drop missions: aerial delivery

ocean city beach

Friday photo: Ocean City, Maryland in the winter

Air Facts video classic: mountain flying

puget sound

SoCal to Alaska – Flying beyond the Comfort Zone

Glacier

Aviate. Navigate. Simulate.

Dassault-Breguet Br.1150 ‘Atlantique’

A hard day’s flight

pilots on flight deck

Cheetah running across Canada

Friday photo: Islands in the Sky

North to Alaska

Pilot logbook

Remembering what flying was like fifty years ago

Take a step back

Becoming an Aviation “YouTuber” Has Made Me a Better Pilot

The art of instrument approaches – 7 tips for proficient flying

Friday photo: Flying north over Puget Sound

Cirrus

From the archives: The real value of an instrument rating

Route overview

Go or No Go: Gulf Coast rain showers

mooney m20

Lessons learned from a sloppy IFR/VFR approach

IFR Challenge – RNAV approach at Tillamook

Glider on tow

As far as the stick would go

Friday photo: The Silver Hawk – 1981 Cessna 172P

Upset

Interactive exercise: Unusual attitude recovery procedures

It’s Not That Complex

Pilot flying in clouds

What matters for IFR proficiency? The answer is quite simple.

Cirrus CFI

Tips for retread pilots

Watch out for TFRs

Friday photo (video): Corsair startup and wing unfold

High Jackers

Best FBOs and my personal minimums

Angle of attack graphic

Angle of attack for dummies

Richard L. Collins

Announcing the 2024 Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots

The Flagship Phantom

Challenging runway flying the C-123 in Vietnam

Friday photo: Dollywood Theme Park, Pigeon Forge, TN

Instructional Inheritance; An Examination of the DNA of Your CFI

Cessna with snow

Air Facts video classic: operating in winter conditions

A soaring surprise for my birthday

Flying Functional Check Flights (FCFs)

Pilot’s Discretion Podcast with John Zimmerman – top 10 episodes of 2023

Favorite Friday photos of 2023

Meigs airport

Air Facts top 10 articles of 2023

First Time in Real IMC; A Memorable Flight with Lessons Learned

Runway

GA Airports Suffer from Costly Mismanagement

An accident in my Taylorcraft

Weather overview

Go or No Go: ice before snow

Friday photo: Departure from Gastons Airport (3M0), Lakeview, Arkansas

F-4 Phantom

What it’s like not being home for Christmas

What it takes to catapult off an aircraft carrier

Airplane out side window

From the archives: Richard Collins on collision avoidance

O-2 Skymaster

What Christmas was like far away from family

Always a student—some advice for aspiring professional pilots

Friday photo: Breaking out from a low IFR departure

Two in a row – a chain of mistakes and lessons

airplanes converging

My self-taught Immelmann for collision avoidance

Mooney M20E

Unfamiliarity and distractions nearly result in a gear up

Cessna 150

My first flight 50 years ago

Low approach

Pilots need to be generalists, not specialists

Friday photo: Arrowhead Lake in northern Laos

CFI with student

How That Proverbial Hamburger Could Save You $100, and a Lot More

descent into clouds

As flight instructors we must continue to innovate

Aeronca

Flying during the pandemic and my approach to LAX

Meigs airport

I was at Meigs Field

Taxiing vs. Flying—Which is Harder?

Friday photo: Approach into York, PA (KTHV) Runway 35

An action packed day on the Boeing 727

The friends I do not know

Caught above an overcast layer results in first encounter with IMC

From the archives: Patrolling the Chesapeake Bay by seaplane

Cross-country to T25 in my Sonex

Friday photo: B17 over the Boeing plant

iPad in cockpit

Webinar video: Flying with Datalink Weather

Thunderstorm

Flirting with the tropopause

Lost Over the Mediterranean: A Pilot’s Tale of Lessons Learned

FCM to ABR

Go or No Go: windy weekend escape

The Silent Treatment: Techniques in Learning

Friday photo: flying over the southern Nevada and California border

Never a dull moment at a flight school

A Bad Plan is Better Than No Plan At All

Aviation is the universal language

Bird strikes

The new Helio Courier pilot

Friday photo: fishing from the wing of a Maule

My lake rescue in northern Ontario

Video: flying an instrument approach with synthetic vision on the iPad

VNY

From a rusty pilot: it’s not quite like riding a bicycle

HRRR

TAFs are so last century—here are four new tools to try

Cherokee

A rusty pilot takes to the skies again

Expectation bias and distractions lead to near disaster

The European “28 Day Holiday License”

Friday photo: Middle Lake and Mount Susitna

Mooney

To abort the takeoff or fly

Making peace with a very bad day

Flying the central coast of California

Never again – too much trust in the weather forecast

The Skipper, the eagle, and the really bad decision

Friday photo: Red Rocks of Sedona

Close calls in training prepared me for Gulf War combat

The straight tale of buying my first airplane

Landing gear lights

Landing gear malfunction over the desert offers lesson in resource management

VL-3 airplane

Five changes the new MOSAIC rule could bring to aviation

Friday photo: pyrocumulus cloud in Australia

Route overview

Go or No Go: never judge a forecast by its radar image

Swift

Is your airplane maintenance legal, safe, or neither?

Cessna on final

Hard lessons learned

Runway lights

A night flight I’ll never forget

One hour closer to your first accident

Friday photo: deviating around a thunderstorm

FOD

FAA Foreign Object Debris Program

Witnessing a horrific accident forges a pilot’s journey

Landing gear lights

A Precautionary Landing and The Human Body’s Reaction to Fear

Citation on ramp

Better ramp etiquette is needed

From my love of aviation comes the Freedom Aviation Network

Friday photo: Hollywood sign

Video: Patty Wagstaff on flying aerobatics

Airline takeoff

A runway incident that continues to haunt

Microsoft copilot

What pilots can teach the world about AI

Instrument approach from cockpit

Video: what really matters to ATC in an IFR flight plan

Cub in the grass

My secret forced landing

Friday photo: Dutch flower fields…spring in the Netherlands

Memories of flying the L-1011

Cessna 172

Strong crosswinds offer a lesson in risk management

From the archives: Richard Collins on general aviation safety

Radar map

Go Or No Go: skirting a low

My first solo flights

Friday photo: Lake Tyrrell in northwestern Victoria, Australia

The mishaps that never happened and valuable words of wisdom

My checkout in the Waco

IFR holding pattern interactive scenarios

Upset

My near miss and partial panel recovery

Cessna stall

How Not to Lose Control: What We Can Learn from Colgan 3407

Friday photo: early morning over Sedona, AZ

Reflections from a backseat glider pilot

172 on short final

Don’t damage the pilot brand

Gray clouds

Surviving my solo cross-country flight in South Korea

The U.S. Forest Service Beaver Program in Ely, Minnesota

Cirrus in flight

Cirrus and Bonanzas dominated their eras

Friday photo: The Las Vegas Strip

Pilots are not smarter, they are just better prepared

Pilot in cockpit with instructor

The truth about learning to fly

Airline pilots

What it means to fly like a pro: 12 habits

Wiegman and son in airplane

A mother overcomes her rusty pilot fears to share the joy of flying

Friday photo: Boeing 737 shadow

crashed airplane in grass

Multiple mistakes were too much to overcome

The hidden benefits of learning to fly

Grass runway

Engine Failure Over Kentucky

Mooney M20E

Making a difference – speaking up when it mattered

The Chart Supplement and “Deer, coyotes, and birds on and invof arpt”

Friday photo: turning on a tail

A pilot’s views on 360 photography

Preflight with CFI

Are Your Preflight Inspections Becoming Routine?

The safety window – Raytheon Premier accident analysis

ForeFlight radar map

Go or No Go: spring cold front

Sleeping on the job – a lesson in staying alert

Friday photo: last of the frontier DC-3s

Young and reckless

Beginner’s Luck: Winning my first aerobatics competition

Hand-Flying a Category IIIA approach and landing with almost no visibility

Cold weather clarity – staying calm in an emergency

Returning to the air after a suspended medical

Friday photo: Oahu at night from FL380

Fate was on my side – a lesson in scud running

Bell 47 helicopter

Tail rotor failure in the Grand Canyon

Protecting the Pitot-Static System … by making Safety a Habit

From the archives: What it takes to fly the President

Garmin GFC 500 autopilot

Autopilots are underrated

Friday photo: Generations of air travel

Super Cub landing

Which controls which? Throttle/elevator and airspeed/altitude

Idaho backcountry adventure – expectation and the reality

J-3 Cub on floats

No good reason to fly, but this is why I do

Airplane out side window

First solo out of the pattern: an unexpected adventure in risk management

Jumpseat

Press on and get the job done: the aroma of deference

Friday photo: Grand Canyon wrapped in a blanket

Cessna 150

“I’m going to crash!” -helping a pilot in distress

My near fuel emergency

Cirrus in flight

Older and Rusty-er

Mismanaging hands can lead to disaster

Mooney

Descending onto a twin – surviving a near miss

Friday photo: 5,500′ over the mountains north of Asheville

Working down the bucket list: float plane rating—check!

When an Uneventful Flight Turns Eventful

Memories of flights to the הארץ המובטחת (Promised Land)

Pilot in Cessna 182

The joy of IFR

Freak School: learning to fly at OAK in the 1970s

Friday photo: The Guitar Tree

Route overview

Go or no go: Appalachian IFR

An airplane that no longer wanted to fly

Cherokee 140

Reflections and predictions

North to Alaska—a journey to remember

Going down

“Energy Management”—Cliché or Exactitude?

Bahamas water

Friday Photo: beautiful Bahamas water

Loss of control: turning over a new leaf

Maui coast

Flying in paradise: a vacation flight lesson in Maui

Deice pad

Behind the scenes of an airline meltdown

Wing rib damage

Accident report: losing control at 43,000 feet

Friday Photo: shooting the gap

Top 10 articles of 2022 on Air Facts

Bruce Landsberg

Podcast: trends in GA safety, with the NTSB’s Bruce Landsberg

OV-10

Christmas as a forward air controller over Laos

Cherokee takeoff

To flap… or not to flap?

Cessna on grass

The great intermission: a renaissance in general aviation?

Friday Photo: smoke on

Florida beaches

Flying over water, from Nebraska to the Florida Keys

Two kids by Champ

Two teenagers, a 60-hp Champ, and a 2100-mile journey

Boeing 747 takeoff

Memories of flying the whale—Boeing 747

Thunderstorm at night

Flying in night skies

Cessna 172

Unstable (Final) Approaches – History, Fiction, and Fact

R44 view

Friday Photo: New York helicopter views

P-47 Thunderbolt

Old men: from Lindbergh’s flight to the horrors of World War II

Wind on water

Ya gotta be able to see the air

Boeing wing

Fly-by-wire for beginners

A-1

Nose art, among other things

G100UL vs avgas

Lead-free avgas STC—a historical preview?

Sunset wing

Friday Photo: sunset over South Carolina

Texas Raiders

Wings Over Dallas airshow tragedy: an eyewitness account from a pilot

Middlesboro, Ky

An accident waiting to happen?

Four Winds

The Four Winds: Spain’s record-setting flight to Cuba in 1933

Plane in field

Engine failure: how to predict it and how to react

Chicago

A North American flying adventure with my son

Ercoupe takeoff

Friday Photo: Miss Piggy and me

Eastern 727

Memories of flying the Boeing 727 “three holer”

Corsair V8

The $20/hour Cessna 172 experiment—Update

F-16

Another tale from the doc side

Quantico

When means, motive, and opportunity come together

Cirrus in flight

A safe pilot is a humble pilot—lessons from the Cirrus community

MTN airport

Friday Photo: waterfront runway

Dakota

Flying my Canadian airplane in Trinidad

BAC 1-11 on ramp

A different kind of concrete jungle

Diamond DA-42

“Geneva Tower, I have to go back”

An-2 airplane

Flying a Russian biplane through Alaska

Cessna 172

Safe landings are no accident

Friday Photo: peeking into North Vietnam from Laos, 1972

Go or No Go: hurricane evacuation

Preflight Bonanza

Engine trouble over Lake Michigan

F-4

A surprise sunrise in an F-4 Phantom

Skydivers in air

Never a dull moment as a skydive pilot

Super Cub

A simple oversight almost ruins a bucket list trip

Cirrus over mountains

Friday Photo: Appalachian Spring

Flight engineer

The not-so-glamourous life of a flight engineer

Convair in flight

Memories of flying the Convair 880

B-17 crew in front of airplane

Flying a B-17 over Germany, April 1944

Panel with devices

When does technology become a dangerous distraction?

Airplane off runway

What does “loss of control” mean? Probably not what you think

Sunset DTW

Friday Photo: Detroit sunset

Bell 206

Good old boys and helicopters

Takeoff from runway

Are “impossible turns” worth all the attention?

Casey with father

Passing the torch from father to son

John Bone with medic packs

Flying for Ukraine Air Rescue—small planes, big mission

Friday Photo: landing on the centerline

Closed runway

The hex of the X

Preflight planning

Long range learning: what do we bring from the flight school?

Airphibian

From the archives: The Airphibian

TWA 707

Around the world in the “seven oh seven”

Is Top Gun: Maverick based on the Bob Hoover story?

Stearman

Friday Photo: a Stearman patiently waits

F-100D

Herding cattle with a century-series fighter

Smoke from OV-10

Every pilot a tiger

Hole in 150

A 12-minute flight and a serious in-flight fire

Super Cub

Special VFR—sometimes it’s the best option

IAD

When things went wrong in a good way

Buffalo

Friday Photo: Buffalo at night

B-17

You’ll get in trouble sonny

XB-70 takeoff

A close call for the XB-70 at Edwards AFB

Radar overview

Go or no go: desert storms

Cessna 182

Weight and balance “get-there-itis” traps

AS365

A tail rotor failure at night in Saudi Arabia

Sunset with airplane

Friday Photo: sunset departure

Constellation cockpit

Where have all the pilots gone?

Stearman

California to Oshkosh in a 1941 Stearman

Garmin traffic

What a difference ADS-B In makes—or does it?

F-4E

One green light, and a near disaster

Pilot in airplane

How to improve your aviation decisions

Cessna 206

Friday Photo: Cessna 206 ready to fly

Autonomous ucar

Who is in charge of your safety?

TWA DC-9 on ramp

Flying the “little” DC-9

MacDill

SOF in the hot seat

Cirrus

Home from the game

Boeing cockpit

From Private to ATP—the closing of a cycle

Sunset Warrior

Friday Photo: flying into the sunset

Turning left

Crosswinds and emergencies—lessons from the simulator

172 landing approach

On landing well: 9 steps for success

Facebook group

How the web and social media have encouraged aviators

UH-1H

Flight test engineering at Edwards AFB in the 1960s

Birdwatching from above

C-47 view

Friday Photo: C-47 wing view

Shelter Island airport

An island farm is a good place to land

Afterburner

Flying the night shift: a Memorial Day remembrance

Mountains

Turbulence education

Flap lever

Insidious failures: don’t trust, verify

Waco

A father and son non-Oshkosh adventure

Friday Photo: Sunset over Syracuse

T-38 in flight

A rushed preflight leads to a terrifying discovery

Home simulator

Simulators: focus on saving time, not logging time

AVX

The problem with emergencies is they are difficult to schedule

B-47

Runways anchor our life—an airline pilot reflects

Trevor Jacob jump

YouTube, Top Gun, and aviation culture

Sun under wing

Friday Photo: fire and ice

Buffalo

Time management, buffaloes, and airplanes

Flight simulator

Building a frugal flight simulator

OV-10

Smile: you’re on (aviation) candid camera

Podcast: aviation safety and airmanship

Flight bag loaded

Requiem for a flight bag

Route map

Old and bold—not

Friday Photo: Bahama blue

767 sim

A pilot fresh from the sim gets a real world test

Cape Breton view

How does an engine “know” when to scare a pilot?

Pilot by airplane

My not quite rusty return to flight

Cessna 180

Test pilot: two lessons learned in Cessnas

A history of aviation gasoline

Moon

Friday Photo: 737 moonshot

Shasta off wing

Bringing the Comanche home—Apple Valley to Auburn

G1000 cockpit

Safety, philosophy, and the glass cockpit

Route

Go or no go: how much ice is too much?

Pilatus PC-12

What’s wrong with Pilatus PC-12 pilots?

First solo

Fright or flight: a first solo with an unexpected passenger

Understanding responsibility: my first flight with a passenger

Friday Photo: sunrise through a tilt-rotor

Khe Sanh takeoff

The siege of Khe Sanh

Tower BW

From the archives: Richard Bach on the pilot brotherhood

G1000 display

Weight and performance—there is a tradeoff

Thermometer at 100 degrees

Low, hot, and humid

GTN screens

What Nexrad can—and can’t—tell pilots

Friday Photo: snowy mountain peaks

Father and son

Kids in the cockpit: be sterile and not heard?

T-37

How I became friends with ATC

flight surgeon

Tales from the doc side

clouds at night with moon

What are the odds? An electrical failure at night

CFI with student

Why you should think like a pilot

Friday Photo: a lonely airplane in the desert

STOL Drag

What STOL everybody’s attention?

Cedar Rapids

A minor emergency, but only in hindsight

Waco

Maiden Mooney trip: lessons learned but fun too

Stearman

You wanna land where?!

Savannah

Who’s pilot in command? A faulty assumption leads to an accident

Friday Photo: Virga over the Adirondacks

Being sick never felt so good—a whimsical tale of a Viking owner

Scud from Cessna

A severe, multi-day case of “get-there-itis”

Podcast: Max Trescott on technology, pilot training, and Cirrus

Len Morgan by airplane

Tips from the Ancient Pelicans

Aviation’s roaring ’20s? A case for GA growth

Friday Photo: Baron sunset

Citabria parked

A little (local) knowledge is (not) a dangerous thing

Altimeter

An altimeter tried to kill me

A-6 Intruder

One in a million: a chance aerial encounter in Laos

AirCam with kids

An astronaut, an AirCam, and some kids

Scott and Dave

Full circle: two brothers and the joy of flying

Friday Photo: Oregon wildfires

C-130H

Open ocean, no instruments

DC-6

Flying a DC-6 to the edge of Alaska

Stewart Mountain Dam, AZ

Breaking news—and breaking the rules

Richard Collins

Announcement: 2022 Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots

Night Cessna

Friday Photo: night on the flightline

Smiles

First flights, for young and old

ForeFlight filing

Filing, dialing, and smiling—and a touch of humility

Runway 29 approach

A spur of the moment decision, and a missed NOTAM

Telluride

Objective area analysis for GA pilots

Friday Photo: beached ship

Top 10 articles of 2021 on Air Facts

C-130

Why did I do that? Fate follows a C-130 pilot in Vietnam

Smith

Learning to fly after 55

Carb heat

My first cross country—uneventful until…

Friday Photo: cloud-to-ground rainbow

F-105

An F-105 pilot creates his own fireworks show

Bonanza

Learning the hard way

Bob Barth

Words to live by, learned from a master

172 panel

An IFR currency adventure

Friday Photo: fall in Oregon

OV-10

Close encounters of the worst kind

Gray clouds

Rollicking in the clouds

Go with the flow—a day trip to Mackinac Island with a minor hiccup

Garmin Pilot weather screen

The datalink weather revolution: safer and less stressful flights

Friday Photo: a patchwork quilt

Turn from cockpit

Dad, can I fly the plane?

Super Cub landing

Stabilized approaches: the last six inches is all that counts

ForeFlight overview

Go or No Go: VFR ahead of a cold front

Logbook entries

The only flight time that counts

Friday Photo: Pacer parked at 8432 ft. MSL

N14745

Owning and flying Bellanca Vikings over the years

Max Conrad by airplane

From the archives: long distance pilot Max Conrad

HUD

Flying perpetual VFR—PFDs, HUDs, and conformal displays

Friday Photo: balloons at 9 o’clock

W&B form

Flying loaded: what could possibly go wrong?

Map of route

Airplane vs. automobile: commuting to work by air

Handshake

Finding our fathers

Reno airplanes

Friday Photo: lenticular clouds at Reno

HUD labels

When the magic dies: flying with and without HUDs

F-14 catapult

Learn to love stalls

F-105 Thud

Dumb games with very fast airplanes

From Venezuela to Alaska and back

Friday Photo: Sound Sunset

Blimp

Close call with a blimp

Seadog

Seaplane hijinks on the Connecticut River

Boeing 787

The Boeing 787’s ten years of service—a pilot perspective

RHP

It’s time to reform Obstacle Departure Procedures

Friday Photo: Denali

Towbar

There’s a reason we use checklists

172 landing

The (unofficial) rules of flying

Stretch the glide

Don’t stretch the glide—easier said than done

Over Greenland

Flying a Cirrus VFR across Russia

Friday Photo: the king is ready

Jumping from 123

Paratroopers of the 1950s: in the trees, at night

C-123 in flight

Flying (improvised) IFR in Vietnam

On ground

When hypoxia becomes real

P-51D in flight

Mustang musings: what it’s like to fly the legendary P-51

Friday Photo: pyramids of Giza from a 787

Mac McClellan

Podcast: GA trends and urban air mobility hype, with Mac McClellan

Gear up

Harmony and distractions

97Q

Confessions of a seaplane charter pilot

Cockpit view

Get-home-itis: be on the lookout

Shelf cloud at airport

Friday Photo: fog rolls in

Callsign

What’s in a (fighter pilot’s) name?

Go or No Go: cut-off low conundrum

En route

Proficiency test—a father-daughter cross-country to remember

Takeoff

A landing and a one-wheel takeoff on Interstate 25

Friday Photo: Sedona sunset

Pan Am 707

The big surprise: an unexpected fly-by

SportStar-ing it around Australia

The art of staying at home—a letter from a monk to pilots

General aviation trends in charts—2021 update

Friday Photo: Le Bourget Lake

Readers

Little details are important

Aeronca 7AC

The rising cost of membership in club general aviation

SR-71 cockpit

How I got to fly the SR-71 simulator for NASA

Maule

A close call on the water in the Bahamas

Friday Photo: deviating around a forest fire

Bob Hoover

How a local airshow thrives and dies

Cessna 152

Base turn over the trees

airline pilots

The art of being a co-pilot

Aztec

Managing engine failures on takeoff: a new approach

Friday Photo: Mt. Rainier on Victor 4

Cherokee 180

A rusty pilot returns

When aviation comes to your front yard

Pilot's view

Things that go bump in the dark

GTN screens

The greatest aviation safety improvement is…

Air traffic

9/11/01 — One pilot’s experience

Friday Photo: New Mexico view

William Piper

From the archives: Bob Buck on William T. Piper

Duckbutt C-130

Flying a Duckbutt for POTUS

MSN airport

Making a big mistake on my solo cross-country

Decathlon takeoff

Crosswind operations—no drama, please

Friday Photo: shadow vs. Cessna

Grumman parts

For sale: Grumman Traveler (some assembly required)

Things that go bump

Priest pilots

Three brothers, all priests and pilots

Early flight sim

A personal progression through flight sims

Friday Photo: Salinas sunset

F-4

It wasn’t a fly-by

Buyer in airplane

Selling my airplane after 40 years

Go or No Go: Cirrus vs. southern storms

Crash scene

Witness to an airplane crash

Friday Photo: a perfect picture over Nebraska

Stearman

An overconfident ferry pilot flies a Stearman to Oshkosh

Light rain

The right pilot mindset: realistic, not conservative

SeaRey cockpit

Life in an airplane, on and off the water

Sunset

Approach, I need the nearest airport

Friday Photo: granddaughter’s first flight

Snow on runway

A thirty year mystery solved—icy runways and crosswinds

Islander

An Easter miracle in the Canadian Arctic

DC-3 engine

Diagnosing an engine failure by sound

Cessna flare

Smooth operator: sometimes you can go too far

Friday Photo: Texas sunset

Mountains

Breaking my own “rules to fly by”

T-33

Hang on young man: fighting an invisible enemy in a T-33

Rope

The day my glider checkride almost went bad

Checklist

Checklist vs. memory items

Friday Photo: storm over Tangier Island

Turbo on Cessna 206

Suddenly the engine went quiet

F-4Ds

The hardest thing I’ve ever done in an aircraft

Inverted

Beyond the $100 Hamburger: how aerobatics can expand your horizon

Turn on short final

Reducing loss of control accidents in five minutes

Friday Photo: rise and shine

Ramp at SPA

An intro flight takes an unexpected turn

Bald spot

Who’s landing this airplane?

Indian Harvard

Fire, fire, fire

Easier than they say: flying a Cub from Idaho to Baja Mexico

Friday Photo: a sunlit thunderstorm

Zahn's

The startle response

Hand flying across Canada

G1000 NXi

The magenta line children and buttonology

Kid in Cessna

The long way back to the cockpit

Friday Photo: Texas smoke

Auster

Aerobatics in a 1946 Auster—and a lesson learned

172

An unexpected cross country challenge

Go or No Go: summertime in Florida

Challenger

There was no checklist for this one…

Friday Photo: feet wet

Indo-Pakistani war

Flying helicopters in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Sustainable fuel

Sustainable aviation and the trouble with high performance airplanes

CFI

Coming Full Circle—Finding Your True Calling

Great expectations: ADS-B traffic uplink

Friday Photo: thunderstorms over Cambodia

Seaplane

Searching my past while flying over Moosehead Lake

RV-14A on ramp

Sunrise to sunset: never stop learning

C-5A Galaxy

Two churnin’ and two burnin’ – who’s the PIC?

Chart on iPad

Are IFR Approach Charts Obsolete?

Friday Photo: Santa Paula

VariEze

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a VariEze!

C-123 landing

Really short and really soft fields—flying C-123s in Vietnam

BO105

Helicopter escapades in the Arctic

Oshkosh overhead

NotKosh—a year without AirVenture

Friday Photo: CJ sunset

Husky

My pal Joe, ornery to the very end

Cessna

My personal Guinness Book of Records

Cockpit simulator

Desktop Flight Simulation and COVID: how it helps, how it hinders

EICN

Runways, large and small

Friday Photo: Gulfstream HUD

Stinson

A beautiful early May Day might have become a mayday

Apache

When a simulated emergency becomes all too real

Aztec

Lost in the Canadian Arctic

FACs piston

Come fly with me: life as a Forward Air Controller in Vietnam

Friday Photo: Meridian sunrise

P-40

Full of life

206

Flying bananas with an unexpected passenger

Shark

Rethinking light airplane limits

Airplane in sun

Preventable rendezvous: avoiding a mid-air collision

Friday Photo: sunrise on a grass strip

152 in a spin

Overconfident and under-coordinated

Mooney

Forced to land in Waco

Go or No Go: ice and storms over Montana

Garmin Autonomi

How much should the autopilot fly?

Friday Photo: sunset under the clouds

Cessna 310

Do you hear that?

Jump plane

Fun and games at 14,000 feet: reflections of a jump pilot

Engine failure

Familiarity breeds? Engine failures, real and imagined

Chile coast from air

Witnessing an earthquake from the air

Friday Photo: something looks wrong

DC-3

DC-3 vs. blizzard—and that’s just the beginning

Across the Canadian Arctic – Dawson to Churchill

AF cover, 8-70

Wolfgang Langewiesche on pilot proficiency

DC-6 Pan Am

Into the muck

Friday Photo: Bronco at daybreak

Mountains

The joy in flying

Thermometer at 100 degrees

Density altitude: the calculation you cannot ignore

Alameda

Negative transfer: a military pilot learns a hard lesson

Twin Otter

Overweight in a Twin Otter—but how?

Wing view

Friday photo: a freight pilot’s view

Cosentino

My first combat mission in an F-4 Phantom

FAR/AIM

The best regulations

DA42

A gear problem?

Windsock

Peer pressure among pilots

Friday Photo: Miami Beach

Sunset

Three minutes before the fan turns off

Medical X

An FAA medical story with a happy ending

Go or no go: how bad is the turbulence?

Crosswind landing airliner

Landings at the crosswind limit

Friday Photo: landing at 9000 feet

747

The mystery of a very heavy 747

Joby

What if flying cars are just a bad idea?

Pathfinder

Orders from heaven

Reading chart

Are pilots still navigating?

Friday Photo: Archer sunrise

Chinook landing

Helicopter rescue on Mount Rainier

Rockies

Grayout at 17,000 feet

An American pilot flies a Chinese-owned Citation through Russia

Sitting in Cub

The wrong stuff

Friday Photo: Colombian rainbow

Grand Canyon

The first time I ever saw the Grand Canyon

logbooks

The logbook: a generational connection

LTFH

An intro flight and shattered dreams

Mountains

Preparing for the trip of a lifetime to Alaska

Friday Photo: sunrise over the St. John’s River

182

Bam!

Aeronca finished

Civilian Pilot Training in a pre-war Aeronca Chief

Muncho Lake

An Alaska Highway flight gone wrong

Collins

Ten years of Air Facts

Friday Photo: golf and flying

Harriet Quimby

Overlooked pioneers in women’s aviation

Beech 23

Engine hiccups: third time is the charm?

Go or No Go: home before the rain?

Together in cockpit

Hangar flying: you are qualified to fly like this

Friday Photo: the fog rolls into Chicago

Pratt engine

“We was on fire; I could see the flames!”

Stalag Luft IV

The story of a winged boot, and the men who wore it

G1000 MFD with weather

A day in the life of a fledgling instructor

Cub on grass runway

Almost a ground loop

Friday Photo: logging some actual

Boring is the new black

ZUG on ramp

A flying gig in New Zealand

DC-3 Spooky

The day I really graduated to airline pilot

Jet engine fire

Mayday, mayday, mayday!

Sunset

Friday Photo: Sunset takeoff

180 on floats

Thirty years of floatplane flying in Canada

Queen Air

A Queen Air sheds a propeller

Cessna with trucks

If it can fail, it will (and anything can fail)

Cirrus EIS

Fuel Reserve Requirements—the FARs Aren’t Much Help

Friday Photo: sunset from FL 380

On the ground at Wales

Utqiagvik to Anchorage—Three Amazing Days in the Air

Runway

Two exciting landings in 21 years of flying

Air Force One

Read the NOTAM—my conflict with Air Force One

Swift

I could never be so lucky again

Friday Photo: over the moon

Jetwing on ramp

From jars to jets: the forgotten story of the Jetwing

Wright memorial

Wish fulfilled: flying to Kitty Hawk

Landing on ice

Runways optional: Twin Otter tales from the Arctic

Cirrus

Do we want flying to be hard or easy?

Friday Photo: sunrise at Monument Valley

Grumman

One in a million solo

Garmin engine gauges

Why it quits—and what to do about it

Go or No Go: over the ice at night?

LBB track

Know your limitations

Friday Photo: a Smoky Sunset

Tow bar

Flirting with real (and financial) disaster

DC-3

If something goes wrong, undo what you last did

Bonanza

Flying old school

Low approach

How low can your autopilot go?

Friday Photo: Alaska seaplane sunset

Crew car

How I almost got shot over a courtesy car

Richard L. Collins

Announcing the third annual Richard L. Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots

Owens Valley

VFR to IFR in a flash on a solo cross-country

By 150

Finally… back in the left seat again

Friday Photo: Pure Michigan sunset

Sleeping grandkid

My rules for flying the grandkids

Stoney Creek Gap

When VFR is the only option, fly to the blue sky

Lenticular clouds

Wave soaring Warrior

Flight planning

Let’s put the do back in due diligence

Friday Photo: a foggy sunrise at the airport

Top 10 articles of 2020 on Air Facts

Ibu with 140

A Cessna 140’s story, from Wichita to Panama

Provost

Ride of a lifetime

Flight stats

What I learned about flying in 2020

Friday photo: above the thermal layer

Fog over land

A Christmas gift to myself

Donut Dollies

The day it snowed in Vietnam: a true story

Steep turn

An engineering approach to the impossible turn

Point Barrow

Journey to the End of the Earth

Friday Photo: Dominican Republic from a TBM

Flaires

Pitch black landing in Vietnam

AIRMET turb

Bratburger-itis: a memorable trip

Go or No Go: above or below the clouds?

Wing with snow

Is that airframe icing or snow?

Friday photo: Airbus X3

Cessna 411

Always bring a flashlight

PIREP turbulence

Understanding Vb: turbulence penetration speed

Gulfstream

A lucky pilot: flying celebrities around the world in a Gulfstream

Malik in sim

Flying with Malik: why the newest generation of pilots will be great

Pipstrel in flight

Friday Photo: storm over the Everglades

Glider on tow

Engine failure at 150 feet, with a glider in tow

In 172

Back in the Saddle on a Very Different Horse

Campfire

From FUBAR to fabulous: landing at 200 strips in three months

Pilatus ice

Ice bridging: the myth that won’t die

Friday Photo: somewhere over the rainbow

Smoke in cockpit

A checkride turns smoky

New engine

The $20 an hour Cessna 172 experiment

Electra

Three out of four ain’t bad—unless you’re in a Lockheed Electra

Friday Photo: the sun sets on a rewarding flight

VFR on top

VFR over the top: legal, but not clever

Husky coming out of water

My cold water splash: an airline pilot learns a painful lesson

Flight instructor

Flying with good and bad pilots—what I’ve learned as a new CFI

Foggy runway

Low Visibility Takeoffs: How Low Is Too Low?

Friday Photo: one last flight

Cessna 310

Some passengers you never forget

Crew by Huey

One medevac mission turns into two

Ag Cat

Airport stories: I don’t know but I’ve been told

Thule

Top of the world landing

Friday Photo: Southern Utah paradise

Old hangar

One last visit to a dying airport

Turbulent microlight

An airline pilot gets reacquainted with piston engines—and engine failures

Spitfire

From the archives: Checkout in a Spitfire

Puget Sound

An island oasis—flying around Puget Sound

Friday Photo: Resting

Hot air ballooning—a new experience

KLM 747

Hours of boredom, followed by…

Startle: what it is and how it affects your performance

GA safety trends: what should we worry about?

Friday Photo: under the bridge

Curtiss Falcon

Charles Lindbergh flies virus serum to Quebec

Dave Earle solo

What I did today—first solo at 60 years old

Derecho

Racing to Columbus

Flying Cirrus Jet

Leaving Las Vegas with Cirrus Jet time in the logbook

Friday Photo: morning over the Cascades

CF-104

Now do it backwards

Schleicher K 8

Flying away—two experiences flying outside the US

Go or No Go: above the bumps, below the ice?

Ice on King Air

Icing diversions—an overlooked threat

Friday Photo: sunrise over Virginia

G1000 panel

Assumptions can be dangerous in the air

iPad traffic

Does ATC care if you see traffic on your iPad?

Wooten flight crew

The Return of a Rusty Pilot, Just in Time for a Global Pandemic

Kid in Cessna

Should you take your grandchildren flying?

Friday Photo: Florida Keys

Crash sequence

They’re worried, will you search?

Not exactly an F-14, but that’s OK

Pterodactyl

High wing or low wing? Ask Mother Nature

Mayumi Nakano

Learning to fly high after loss

Friday Photo: Florida sunset

Young Eagles

Aviation Education to the Masses: How do we do it?

VH-PUL

Ferrying a 1946 Auster J2 through Australia

Wing view

A student pilot learns an important lesson

G1000

Stepping down in automation—the real lesson for children of the magenta line

Friday Photo: Puget Sound fun

Turning final

High energy approaches: student edition

Chief on floats

A less-than-graceful arrival

Go or No Go: smoky San Carlos

172 on short final

Stop calling it the impossible turn

Friday Photo: thunderstorm at sunset

Flight in L-39

How the Reno Air Races saved me

Kayla by airplane

Horses and airplanes: another rewarding Young Eagle flight

Goodyear blimp

Go Goodyear—mixing it up with the blimps

Oceano County Airport

A great day of flying—solo to Santa Barbara

Friday Photo: safe from the storm

If we were all airplanes

Airplane engine and prop

It’s annual time! Here’s what you should know

Phillips with father

A daughter teaches her dad how to fly

Cascade lake

Youthful exuberance

Friday Photo: sunrise over Georgia

Low clouds

Adding to the judgment bucket—a flight that never should have happened

CFI with student in Cessna

Student pilot nerves and the fear of flying

Boeing taxi simulator

The strangest 45 minutes in my logbook

Gulfstream takeoff

What’s different about flying jets

Friday Photo: a busy rain cloud

Lear on ramp

From Learjet to Cessna 150 in the same day

Quan Loi

Scud running in Vietnam

Go or No Go: another summer day in the Southeast

787 cockpit

On automation and airmanship

Friday Photo: Indonesian island off the wing

Wing

The clean wing—not just a concern in winter

first flight with dad

One plane and one girl’s dream

Leonardo sketches

The famous quote that da Vinci never said

Rough River

Are pilots rediscovering how to travel by light airplane?

Friday Photo: an advancing storm

On final

Unstable approaches in a pandemic world

Cirrus SR22

A young pilot’s plan to eliminate get-there-itis

Fog on runway

Approach to oblivion

Cirrus autopilot

Recovery from spirals with the LVL button

Friday Photo: Father’s Day Flying Fun Times Two

Twin Otter

Smoke in the cockpit—and stuck in the clouds

Paper headline

Ditching a Cherokee off Hawaii

Frazer River Canyon

The forever weekend: flying my Cheetah to Canada

Corporate Flying During the Pandemic

Friday Photo: dodging storms in an R44 helicopter

Aeronca

Engine failure as a student pilot

Over Canberra

Flight of a lifetime—my 8,000-mile trip around Australia

Medical

The route to a special issuance medical

Global Hawk

Autonomous control systems—what does it really mean for aviation?

Friday Photo: tilt-rotor formation

Sun over clouds

The pandemic reset

Flying 3500 miles in five days—and enjoying every minute of it

Go or No Go: dodging storms in the Southeast

Palmer Lear 24

Arnold Palmer Talks Flying: A Baker’s Dozen with the Legendary Golfer

Friday Photo: vuelos divertidos

Guam airport

A brief stop in Manila? An airline flight goes awry

Mist in valley

Night, mist, haze, and all that jazz

Video: what’s the real IFR alternate?

Cessna 172

Five airplanes every pilot should fly

Friday Photo: New Mexico badlands

C-130

An unwelcome attitude adjustment

On final

Pilot-induced oscillations: are you a sinner or a victim?

Tomahawk

Goal fixation: when ingenuity overrides common sense

Airbus A330 sim

Train like you fly—not really

Friday Photo: a close encounter

B-1B

Flying 1,500 miles with fumes in the cockpit

180 on floats

Adventures of a Canadian bush pilot

On top of clouds

A few of my favorite things from last summer’s trip around the US

Tunisia

Err on the side of safety: how I relearned this lesson

Friday Photo: lunch at the Tin Goose Diner

Scott Crossfield

The 180-degree turn: a life-saving maneuver for all pilots (even test pilots)

Night over city

Cleared for the visual—really?

Cessna in water

Implausible, providential, or dumb luck?

A-10 with pilot

Sometimes you have to break the rules

Friday Photo: Chicago on a clear day

Twin Beech

Twin Beech omelettes: learning the ropes from a freight dog

Checklist use

What pilots can teach the world about managing risk

Go or No Go: heading to the beach?

Flying with the famous and infamous

Friday Photo: P-38 Lightning

Camping

On the shoulders of giants

Sunset

Why is it so dark? An important lesson learned

On final

That radio is there for communication: a close call

Mooney 201

The magical Mooney

Friday Photo: early evening in a Cub

Walking to airplane

Flying out of the pandemic

18X on ramp

Beast on Paris Mountain: racing a thunderstorm

Cirrus jet

Threat and Error Management for the GA Pilot

Friday Photo: Lake Champlain

Autothrottle

Automated flight—are you ready?

Crash

If only… The friends I’ve lost in airplane accidents

Video: instrument approach lighting systems

Flooding

When absolutely, positively nobody believes you

Friday Photo: Cheyenne Bottoms

windosck

A satisfying long cross country, with one flaw

B-17 EAA

Once was enough—riding the Aluminum Overcast

Go or No Go: low IFR in a Baron

DWC airport

Flying in the coronavirus sky—a freight pilot’s perspective

Friday Photo: IFR between layers

Christmas card

A tribute to an aviation supermom

King Air on snow

A medevac tale of two cities

Bahamas

A long ferry flight: the Bermuda Triangle, icing, and more

172 on final approach

What to practice with limited flying time

Friday Photo: waiting to land

C-123

A minor electrical problem in Vietnam becomes a major problem

Is traditional proficiency enough?

Instrument approach G1000

Dealing with distractions

An airplane unlike any I’ve ever seen before – flying the AN-2

Friday Photo: Monterey Bay

Gray clouds

Your eyes have the deciding vote—my thunderstorm encounter

George AFB

It was a dark and stormy night…

Chinook crash

I survived the deadliest helicopter crash in European history

Cub

What will general aviation look like after COVID-19?

Friday Photo: USNS Comfort in New York

Mooney in hangar

Dreams may fade, but they don’t have to die

UH-1H

From Vietnam to Kobe Bryant—the long history of flying helicopters in fog

Go or No Go: a windy trip

Remembering my brother, who taught me to fly

Friday Photo: anticipating flight

Frasca sim

Flight simulators, safety, and the power of AI

Stellar Airpark

Don’t take things for granted

Glider flying

From glider to hang glider to jet glider

Cessna stall

Be afraid of stalls

Friday Photo: a quiet Dulles Airport

F-4 Phantom

Fighter pilot skills every aviator needs to fly safe

River valley

Landing below sea level—my bucket list flight

ICAO – more than just a flight plan format

Pan Am gliding

Towing at the Pan Am Gliding Championships

Friday Photo: a road in the clouds

Chandler and dad

Pilot in command

Flight simulator system

Flying my simulator during quarantine

Aircraft building—a journey

Dad

The joy of a flying dad

Friday Photo: the White Mountains are white

Patient transport flights: big airport experience and VIP service

Berlin airport

Did I really hear that?

Go or No Go: California convection?

Pilatus Porter

Flying for Air America—where the cargo was always interesting

Friday Photo: Philadelphia at dusk

Kid at airport fence

Training logistics—the forgotten problem with learning to fly

T-6

My first T-6 landing

Flying in the Iditarod Air Force

Airspeed indicator

Say your airspeed—which one?

Friday Photo: shiny shoes

South of Farmington

Seek out the small stories with your airplane

Cessna 310

I seem to have misplaced planet Earth

Collecting sunsets

A340 cockpit

Is software enough to keep pilots safe?

Friday Photo: formation flight on Remembrance Day

ADS-B hockey puck

The illusion of see and avoid

Between layers

Hot chicken, icy wings

Alaska: if I can do it…

Tecnam

Light Sport Aircraft aren’t selling well, but the LSA rule has still worked

Friday Photo: the Rio Grande

Seneca

A long cross country and a lesson learned

Cessna 150

The little airplane that could… and still does!

Go or No Go: VFR ahead of the front

Centerline

The promise of proficiency

Friday Photo: airplanes, large and small

Sarah

How to reassure hesitant airplane passengers

Sun

A day in the traffic pattern brings unexpected joy

Rusty hangar

There’s room for improvement at GA airports

Garmin autopilot

When to disengage the autopilot

Friday Photo: chasing the shadow

B-24

A ride to remember

Cub

Nodding off at 10 feet above the waves

Cessna 172 external

No stall, no spin: why angle of attack is essential

Oshkosh

Does flying into big fly-ins make us better pilots?

Friday Photo: Moscow under a HUD

Drone

Drones: a clear and present danger?

Route

Low on fuel: how I almost become that guy (or gal)!

V-tail parked

Canceling IFR for the last time

Demon

Hot cat pilot

Friday Photo: Georgia sunset

ILS approach at night

A night landing leads to serious target fixation

View over water

Learning to fly the wrong way—and loving every minute of it

LOGG

A lesson for life

Friday Photo: two unique airplanes in one shot

Richard L. Collins

The second annual Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots

Spitfire in flight

Flying the Spitfire—a real bucket list experience

A personal Go or No Go scenario – grade my decision

Upset

Why upset training just doesn’t work

Friday Photo: a Diamond over Detroit

DC-3 landing

The Ace Team: having a little fun in a DC-3

Spitfire

Even Routine Flights Can Have Surprises in Store

Video tip: flying procedure turns

Canyon

How to safely reduce the radius of your turn—in case you need to

Friday Photo: sunset over a tip tank

Zaragoza Airport

All’s well that ends well… right?

Crew on wing

Another day in the life of an air commando

JetStar

Habit patterns don’t always transfer

Friday Photo: Wichita fog

ISZ

More than an FBO

Editor’s choice: our top 10 articles from 2019

B-47E

A bomber crew Christmas

Telluride

Friday Photo: on final for Telluride

Sectional

Learning Morse code in the 21st century

Soft field landing

Doing soft field landings for real

Venice

More travel, less tourism – how aviation can take us beyond the guidebook

Citation in fog

My life as a new corporate pilot

Friday Photo: Isla Culebrita

The green book and the NOTAMs – go beyond just departure and destination

Always watching: why I wasn’t really alone on my first local solo flight

Go or No: staying out of the ice

Sectional charts

Who Needs Charts? Under the Rules You Probably Don’t

Friday Photo: Mt. Hood reflections

Pietenpol

A funny thing happened on the way to nowhere

Sikorsky helicopter

Heroic rescue at Fremont

Checkride

Discovery flight at 16, Private Pilot at 17

Engine failure

Engine out: the essential steps to a safe outcome

Friday Photo: closing in on Telluride

Pat Luebke at Oshkosh

Remembering Pat Luebke, Long-time Air Facts Managing Editor

Airline delays – sometimes you just can’t win

After paint

A year of stewardship – managing a flying club airplane

L-39 cockpit

Blue camouflage rocket ride – my flight in an L-39

Friday Photo: Chipmunk at rest

Snow and fog

Escape from the jaws of IMC

Ten things I know about flying in Massachusetts

Cessna 150

First and last solo

Baby Ace

Bringing home the Baby Ace

Friday Photo: Melbourne from a helicopter

Cessna 120

Summers long ago: a 1500-mile trip in a Cessna 120

Phil in glider

Letting go: my first cross-country flight without an engine

Go or No Go: rain over Florida

Are single pilot risks real?

Columbia Mountains

Friday Photo: Sunset over the Columbia Mountains

Clouds over mountains

That other ice

Nine things I know about flying in Iowa

Cloud map

From the archives: Langewiesche on the weather revolution that mostly happened

Mojave boneyard

My visit to an aircraft boneyard

Friday Photo: Monument Valley

Sailboat

Towing a Beaver under sail

Clouds off wing

The discipline to say no

Flight instruction

Fly like a professional? Yes, we can and should!

Friday Photo: a great-looking panel

Nine things I know about flying in Wisconsin

Reader question: in what year did you first solo and what was the airplane?

Mooney

How many second chances do you get?

Friday Photo: Rocky Mountain National Park

Route to Russia

VFR to Russia? No problem!

Griswold Airport

Read those NOTAMs!

Pilot in Cessna

Volare: the family circle of fliers

Friday Photo: Isla Palomino

airline pilots

When pilots have too much experience

Cessna 210

Omaha to Tel Aviv in a Cessna 210

Go or No Go: heading home on Friday afternoon

787 cockpit

Manual override and Occam’s razor

Friday Photo: sharing the sky

Pan Am 747

Jumpseating to Europe… maybe

Eight things I know about flying in Arizona

Video tip: IFR departure considerations

210 oil

What’s a real emergency?

Friday Photo: a Cub at rest

Bonanza bent metal

I damaged my airplane. Now what?

Piper Cub

My first flying lesson

Storm

“In this business we play for keeps”

Cranberry harvest

Friday Photo: cranberry harvest

B-17 on ramp

History moving forward – my flight in a B-17

Eight things I know about flying in Georgia

Route BIL BOI

Go or No Go: IFR over the mountains

Conquest

Accident report roundup: time in type

Twelve Apostles

Friday Photo: the Twelve Apostles

Connie

Memories of flying the Connie

737s parked

The perfect pilot myth is finished

Grass runway

From the archives: Wolfgang Langewiesche on airports in every town

Mooney door

I didn’t look in the right place

Friday Photo: chasing the rainbow

Airline cockpit at night

Night, over water

Nine things I know about flying in Maryland

Rain shower

My “pucker factor” story

Friday Photo: Indonesia airstrip

Ercoupe takeoff

My excellent Ercoupe adventure

Whitted Airport

A fifty-fifty decision in Florida

question mark

Reader question: what do non-pilots ask when they learn you fly?

OSU airport

Rod Stewart and my first solo

172 over Argentina

Friday Photo: a GoPro view of Argentina

Feeling helpless on my second solo cross-country

Seven things I know about flying in California

Video tip: circle-to-land instrument approaches

Snow below

Denver to Norway in a Pilatus PC-12

Friday Photo: the plains of New Mexico

Island Beach State Park

A pilot struggles with bladder control

American airlines airplane

Pilots make a deal with the devil

Go or No Go: home from Michigan?

Citabria on grass runway

Always read the fine print

Friday Photo: sunset over a grass strip

ADS-B deviation

Thunderstorms and ATC – how to get from A to B when direct isn’t an option

Six things I know about flying in New York

Incursion

Two on the runway – what would you do?

Friday Photo: pancake ice formation

Tampa chart

Snakebite and other associated conditions

Air Force One

Cub Crafters Sport Cub vs. Air Force One

Pilot in cockpit with instructor

From the archives: how valuable are check rides?

A4 Skyhawk

Night flight in an A4B Skyhawk

Friday Photo: Badlands off the wingtip

Shirt tail cutting

First solo on my 16th birthday (and why aviation is amazing)

Seven things I know about flying in Illinois

Memory flights – sometimes you just know

Friday Photo: solar eclipse over Chile

Sun n fun tent

Aviation nirvana – my trip to Sun ‘n Fun

San Francisco view

A memorable seaplane flight on San Francisco Bay

Catalina Airport

Reader question: what is the best and worst airport you’ve visited?

Flight instructor

So what’s the rush?

Friday Photo: Gold Coast, Australia

AirPat2

Aerial patrol – spotting sharks

Ohio postcard

Nine things I know about flying in Ohio

Biplane crash

A biplane engine failure, and the start of a new business

Friday Photo: Laurel Lake

Frank Thomas

Five dollar Frank and the poor man’s flying school

Reading Air Show

From the archives: the 1968 Reading Show

Thunderstorm cloud

Piecing it together after a flight goes awry

Friday Photo: snowy French Alps

Postcard

Nine things I know for sure about flying in Michigan

Inside Passage

White knuckle scud running

Go or No Go: summertime storms in Mississippi

Lowake sign

The Lucky Lubbock Lads at Lowake and Lessons Learned Therein

Friday Photo: California sunset

SFO 1952

Full circle: learning to fly and retiring at SFO

Passenger throwing up

“I’m just trying to keep my lunch down”

Aviation books

Reader question: how do you know you’re an aviation nerd?

DC-3 HFS

Like overtaking on a blind corner and hoping nothing is coming the other way

Friday Photo: dreaming of flights to come

Two Z's

The unspoken words between fathers and sons in the cockpit

Crystal and father

The day my dad taught me the lesson of a lifetime

Dad, Paul and author

Round engines and tailwheels: a tribute to my dad, Joe Santana

Shane and son

Two memorable days of flying with my son

Friday Photo: early morning lava

Fuel truck

I almost ran the tanks dry

Ben Siepser

Into the fog: a kid’s view of IFR flying

Radar scope 1968

From the archives: Richard Collins goes behind the scenes at Center

Airport road

I just wanted to fly the little airplanes at the little airport

Friday Photo: turns around Padres Butte

FAA inspector

Bunch of arrogant bastards

Grandpa's logbook

Chasing my shadow

John Wise CFI

Lessons from a later bloomer CFI – and why you should be one too

Friday Photo: New York City at night

Glider flying

A glider with no tail? I flew one

Vinton Land with Rain Main

Visiting the Mooney family

Go or No Go: beating the storms?

Cessna 210 in flight

Why I love it, why I hate it: Cessna 210

Friday Photo: snowy Teton

Lake at sunset

Fifteen minutes at dusk

Hackneys

On becoming an old, new pilot

Elvis airplane

Reader question: have you ever met a celebrity through aviation?

Snowy field

Whiteout in a Cub

Friday Photo: wilderness camping

Lakes by Grove

Medical crisis on a solo cross-country

Scott Crossfield picture

Erasing four decades of regret, and remembering a friend

Video tip: introduction to the G1000 PFD

F-117s at Holloman

Battling G forces at Holloman Air Force Base

Friday Photo: Ohio sunset from a 172

Layers

Icing lessons learned over the Montana Continental Divide

Static cone 737

What is that dragging behind the Boeing 737 MAX in TV news video?

Richard Collins’s 10 most popular articles on Air Facts

Richard L. Collins

What I learned from Richard Collins

Friday Photo: frontal passage

B-52 bomber

Near miss with a BUFF

Boeing 727

How to unload a Boeing – by hand

From the archives: Wolfgang Langewiesche on mountain flying

Lancair

Low and fast – a bad combination

Friday Photo: California poppy bloom

Cherokee takeoff

Early flight adventures – and errors

Valley in CO

High mountain flying course: it takes more than a pilot license and a plane

Go or No Go: flying to The Masters

Sukhoi 26

Lost over Russia in an aerobatic airplane

Friday Photo: sun painting the clouds

Lake Amphib

The water is up close and personal in a Lake Amphibian

Triple Tree fly-in

5 good things about general aviation in 2019

737 MAX

737 MAX crashes raise questions about design, testing, certification – and training

Friday Photo: sunset over Istanbul

Meditation

From anxiety to mindfulness meditation – a pilot’s journey to wellbeing

Companions in airplane

Winning over a reluctant passenger

Sun over clouds

Reader question: have you ever experienced aviation nirvana?

F-16 in flight

Military flybys: rules and mistakes

Friday Photo: Boulder from a 172

Hutchinson grandfather by Cirrus

The old man in the plane

Airplane for sale

From renting to owning – and reluctantly back to renting

Windsock

I can’t believe I did that… and that… and that

Friday Photo: Angel Flight passenger

Aeroflex-Andover airport

Student flight control jam

Wingtip damage

One of those days I should have stayed home

From the archives: Bob Buck on low approaches

Instrument flight

Do we need a basic instrument rating?

Friday Photo: sunset in Denmark

Cessna 340

My favorite feature – a relief tube

Go or No Go: Rocky Mountain mess

Boeing 737 MAX

Can Boeing trust pilots?

Jones Beach

It just wasn’t my turn

Friday Photo: Chicago lights

iPad in cockpit

Bridging the gap – why we need to teach pilots how to use electronic flight bags

Dakota

A stupid decision: ignoring the oil pressure gauge

John Glenn and Kent Ewing in Baron

Reader question: what pilot, past or present, would you most like to fly right seat with?

Beech Lightning

What doomed the Beech Lightning?

Friday Photo: an ocean of clouds

Surprise at 11,000 feet

Route to Chicago

Flying 275 miles so I could run 26.2 miles

Cessna 150

One last airplane ride for Dad

Friday Photo: Swiss peaks on a solo cross-country

Fuel truck

The teacher becomes the student

Gear handle

From now on, I’ll always…

Langewiesche by Cub

From the archives: Wolfgang Langewiesche on quiet airplanes

Arrow IV

A trip to Mexico in the best of the worst airplanes ends in a costly fiasco

Friday Photo: FL430 from a Lear 45XR

747 takeoff

Dear NASA: learning from my mistakes

Freeway at night

My night engine-out emergency

Go or No Go: winter warm front

Tri Pacer

A Tri Pacer is not an Alaska bush plane

Sunset

Friday Photo: Chicago sunset

Piper Comanche

An interrupted checklist leads to some excitement

Archerfield airport

Near miss in the pattern

Crash

Reader question: what is your aviation nightmare?

Making flight fun from the right seat

Friday Photo: T-34 formation

172 on short final

Landing energy management – the key to smooth touchdowns

T-39 Air Force

Flying Air Force officers around in Sabreliners

Power lines

Accident report roundup: controlled flight into wires

Trueblood in airplane

What draws us skyward?

Friday Photo: Australian lake

CDI flags

What is your technology telling you?

Trophy by Mooney

Going Mach 0.3 with your hair on fire

Video tip: flying IFR with glass cockpits

Neil Armstrong in glider

Neil Armstrong was my co-pilot

Friday Photo: Cincinnati from a Caravan

Purvis helicopter

The forgotten story of the first helicopter patent ever issued

The most important bags aren’t suitcases

R44 hovering

What’s wrong with Robinson R44 pilots?

Friday Photo: steam gauges or glass?

Jumpseat

What are the chances? Jumpseating to get married

Thunderstorm cloud

“No complaints” – how I stumbled into a thunderstorm

Go or No Go: how do you define scud running?

Bryce Canyon Airport

Hope is a bad plan in an airplane

Friday Photo: on top in a Cirrus

SkyMax airplane

A new aircraft – and a new dimension to air travel

Clipped wing Cub

The day my life changed – my first flight

Air Traffic Control

Flying into Y2K

Friday Photo: a wingtip rainbow in Colombia

Reader question: what’s your 2019 flying resolution?

Braniff Convair

From the archives: Len Morgan on the personal stories a pilot sees

Friday Photo: Merry Christmas from a floatplane

Cessna 150

Elevator failure at 4500 feet in a Cessna 150

The crash site

Remembering a Christmas tragedy 50 years later

Surgeons

From zero to hero – every professional was once an amateur

Friday Photo: a French chateau from the air

Grumman Cheetah

When a practice emergency becomes the real thing

Radar map

The two rules of weather flying

Airport with planes

A fly-in movie night in the mountains of Australia

Friday Photo: the Swiss Alps

Cuba

We flew a Mooney to Cuba for the weekend!

A Christmas book list for pilots: 18 top picks

Santa Clara River

Stuck on a riverbed in a Champ

Friday Photo: rainbow off the left wing

View from Cessna

The tricky triangle – my ill-fated solo cross country

Waiz with kid

A brief history of single-engine solo circumnavigation flights

Braniff 727

Dreaming of jets while flying a DC-3

Friday Photo: Music City at sunset

Cessna 150

My first in-flight emergency

Connie

From the archives: Bob Buck on radar

Swift Fuels

The unleaded fuel disaster – what it means for pilots

Friday Photo: leaving storms on the other side of the mountains

Ammeter

The pre-preflight inspection: know your plane’s history

Captain

10 ways to know you’re ready to be an airline captain

Video tip: seven bad radio habits

Clouds from Cessna

A 1200 nm VFR workout

Friday Photo: Mt. Ida, British Columbia

B-25

Warbirds: a living tribute

500mb chart

How dynamics and thermodynamics create weather

The Richard Collins Writing Prize for Young Pilots

Double decker airplane

How one pilot’s story saved my life

Friday Photo: above the clouds in Argentina

RAAF Sabre

Not your typical bombing run

The cellphone 27 approach into Helena

US airspace

Who controls the navigable airspace?

Friday Photo: backcountry flying in a Super Cub

Hurricane damage

It was a smooth day until that one big bounce

Collins family

I’ve got connections

T-28 on carrier

Doing it the old school way: carrier qualification in the 1950s and 60s

Friday Photo: sunrise over a Cirrus wing

Matanuska River

Poor planning, poor choices, and poor airmanship

F-15

Fighting the war on drugs in the Air Force

Runway lights at night

How spatial disorientation can trap pilots

Friday Photo: Phoenix sunset

Cherokee 140

The day I almost didn’t take off

Cirrus SR22T

Flying is no joke

Tower controller

The case against practicing in the pattern

Friday Photo: Colorado mountains

Lake Placid

Lake Placid: anything but

Engine stopped in a Cessna

The bad news and good news about engine failures

Video tip: IFR flight plans, fact and fiction

Cruise ship

Why airline pilot schedules and cruises don’t mix

Friday Photo: a not-so-dry lake in Australia

Veteran by airplane

Changing perspectives, one flight at a time

Hot airport ramp

When breaking the rules is the safest thing to do

Navigator on C-130

From C-130 navigator to drone pilot to CFI – my atypical journey

Friday Photo: an Austrian castle

Cessna on runway

The other 4 C’s of aviation

A flight of firsts doesn’t quite go according to plan

Piper takeoff

Growth over comfort – true for airplanes and kids

Friday Photo: a rainy sunset

Crow FBO ramp

Compound emergency – a line boy learns a lesson

De Havilland Beaver on floats

Fear the reader – my first charter seaplane flight

Kid in airplane

“Is it always like this?”

Friday Photo: snowy mountain peaks

First solo shirt tail

Aviation addiction syndrome – it could happen to you

BRS handle

For want of a nail…

A pilot’s dilemma: inoperative instruments or equipment

Friday Photo: San Juan Islands

4R9

The emergency that wasn’t

Low approach in Pilatus

Avionics transitions – ain’t nothing like the real thing

Video tip: talking with air traffic controllers

172RG on runway gear up

My intentional gear-up landing

Friday Photo: Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

How to use a Skew-T Log-P diagram

OSH18

Adventure at AirVenture – the experience of flying to Oshkosh

Friday Photo: Angel Falls, Venezuela

How to safely solo a student in minimum time

Piper Seneca

A multi-engine rating in a weekend

DC-4

A long and noisy flight during the “good old days” of airline travel

Friday Photo: The Tetons

Miriam Seymour

Guy garbage: a woman learns to fly in the 1950s

Airline pilots

Chasing the rabbit

Threats: can they keep us safe?

Friday Photo: Western Australia from a 172

Luscombe

My greatest misadventure

Columbia River

The incident that caused me to walk away from flying for two years

Stearmin

Fitting in flying around a busy life – and learning a lesson

Friday Photo: Santa Barbara smoke

Bucket list flight to the Wright Brothers Memorial – check!

King Air 350

5 events that shaped my flying life

Bonanza crash site

Accident notification and reporting – the details matter

Friday Photo: Oshkosh!

California coast

Plan to fly, fly the plan

Cessna Skyhawk

Never fly in New Jersey

Tom Neil, One of Two Living WWII RAF Aces, Flies West

Friday Photo: bridge across Sarasota Bay

Kid at airport fence

Reader question: when did you know you had the aviation bug?

Citation X

Congratulations, you’re a captain now

Radar map

Don’t ruin a flying vacation with weather worries

Friday Photo: The Hague from a Cessna 172

My first solo IFR cross-country

F-4 Phantom

Delivering F-4s to Iran

Clouds in mountains

An aeronautical decision that changed my life

Friday Photo: Trimotor view

Fairey airplane

Everyone wanted to be the first to fly across the pond

IND

The first (real) cross-country

Bahamas

What are your favorite airports?

Friday Photo: sharing a sunset

Cirrus wreckage IL

Accident report roundup: three Cirrus stall scenarios offer important lessons

A bad case of get-there-itis

Airplane out side window

Surviving the merge: how to avoid a mid-air collision

Friday Photo: Sportstar sunrise

My adventures in the right seat

Bush pilot landing

The old, bold pilots of Alaska

Accident site

You did everything absolutely right, and you could have been absolutely dead

Friday Photo: Misty Mountain Hop

A kinder, gentler FAA

The GPS revolution at 20 – how aviation has changed

Night flight

Why night flying is special

Friday Photo: sunset over the Chesapeake

No place to hide – a flight instructor slips up

Emergency landing vs. crashing

Landing gear up – how the unthinkable happened to me

Friday Photo: Arizona canyons

Bahamas

The relaxed life as a charter pilot in the Bahamas

An airline pilot gets his general aviation fix

Back to basics: flying 727 LaGuardia shuttles

Friday Photo: sunset in the rain

Go or No Go: finding a gap

Flying a Pitts Special over the Amazon

Silent night over the Appalachian Mountains

Friday Photo: Chicago fly-by

Putting on a good show in Chile with F-15s

First solo

That magical age: a pilot’s 40-year journey from Cessna to Airbus

Friday Photo: Richard Collins with Concorde

Richard Collins' Cessna P210

Learning from the master

The best in the world, and a truly good man

Meeting him was like meeting God

Cessna P210

Personal flying’s greatest champion

Richard Collins

Working with an icon for over 40 years

Aviation’s everyman hero

Friday Photo: commuting home at sunrise

Cessna 150 panel

My first flight in actual IMC as an instrument student

Beech X700: The Starship that could have been

Caption Contest #10

Student with CFI

If you want to be a pilot, you better believe!

Friday Photo: touch the sky

Know when to fold em: how to avoid tunnel vision in the cockpit

Airline pilots

Flight directors – a fatal attraction

Purchase your training aircraft prior to your first flight lesson

Friday photo: skimming the clouds at sunset

My (memorable) first flying lesson

First flying lesson

Treating my fear of flying with… flying!

Friday Photo: Yosemite waterfalls

Thunderstorm at night

What are we deviating for?

Robbing two pieces of luck from my box of experience

View from 182

The after symphony

Friday photo: fog and a full moon

Never stop listening – why it pays to be paranoid in the cockpit

Food fight in the flight levels

Great free resources for learning and practicing communications skills

Friday Photo: a bright spot

CFI with student in Cessna

Teaching flying over the years, part two: dealing with the students

A frozen brake slide

No way to become an ace

Friday Photo: Cub on final at sunset

Rusty pilot

Confessions of a rusty pilot

Glass cockpits – don’t make it harder than it really is

Rain on ramp

Demystifying Special VFR

Friday Photo: Sedona, Arizona

Saying no as a pilot

Formation over Alps

Mornings in Mont Blanc

Video tip: staying cool under fire

Flying W building

From the archives: Flying W Ranch

Friday Photo: beautiful grass strip

Father and son in airplane

Two procrastinators in a plane – a father/son story

Flight instruction

Teaching flying over the years

Archie Trammell

Archie Trammell, the man who set airplane standards

Friday Photo: in formation over Indianapolis

F-16 over Pentagon

Washington fly-by: just another day on the staff

Landing the rockets

Flying to watch SpaceX launch the Falcon Heavy

A drone pilot becomes an airplane pilot

Friday Photo: Mount St. Helens

Sleeping pilots

Asleep at the controls

Dark clouds

Caught in a thunderstorm

C-123 in flight

Shooting an ADF approach – with no ADF

Friday Photo: Three photos from an airline career

Cessna IFR

Seven things you should probably know before flying IFR in Canada

SureFly prototype

The next Cirrus? SureFly tries to reinvent the helicopter

Volunteers at airport

Smoke gets in your eyes

Friday Photo: bucket list flight

Air Facts turns 80: some things have changed, some have not

JAC airport

Learning the hard way (almost) at Jackson

F-16 over New York

What were you doing on September 11?

Friday Photo: High above it all

Flight planning computer

Why I’m a flight planning geek

Runway lights

And then the lights didn’t go on

Pilot in G1000 cockpit

O Airplane! My Airplane! Let’s talk

Friday Photo: Orlando sunset

Citabria fuel gauge

The simple reason I ran out of gas

Airbus A330 sim

How I crashed the sim from the instructor station

Undercast

Caught on top, Moses on board

Pilot in left seat

Flying solo – why everything is different when you’re alone

Squall line cloud

Who’s in command?

Piper takeoff

Reuniting with a special airplane, 46 years later

Friday Photo: Santiago, Chile

Cessna 206 on dirt

Don’t EVER do that again

Beech Starship

Why the Starship was such a disaster

Clouds in sky

What it takes to be one sharp pilot: pragmatic

Friday Photo: the view is worth it

mountains

Tricycle to taildragger: a 2,000-mile cross country odyssey

Taxi diagram

How to nail taxi instructions every time

Friday Photo: San Francisco Christmas flight

Helicopter Christmas Vietnam

Christmas dinner in Vietnam

Passengers by gate

Breaking the rules on Christmas Eve

Fighter in hangar

Silent night at the air base

American 707 freighter

I’ll be home for Christmas – an airline pilot’s story

C-123

Airlift to appreciation: spreading a little Christmas cheer in Vietnam

Friday Photo: a pink King Air wing

Super Petrel on beach

A $100 hamburger, the Brazilian way

Cessna 402B

I never considered canceling

TBM 900

What’s wrong with single-engine turboprop pilots?

Friday Photo: Catalina pokes above the fog

Cessna takeoff

Solo in every sense of the word

Mount Robson

Rocky Mountain rescue

Airplane by hay

The engine just plain quit – my hayfield landing

Friday Photo: Sunset over Puget Sound

Glider ride

How to upset a passenger without really trying

PA-23

A bad way to learn about aerodynamics

Stearman Red Baron

Vipers at 12 o’clock

Friday Photo: overhead Amsterdam airport

Go or no go: Thanksgiving trip across Florida

Aeronca

The loss of an old friend

Friday Photo: Ayers Rock, Australia

Lower Russian Lake

Making an air drop from a Champ on floats – only in Alaska

Smiles in cockpit

Flying with a young child – is it possible?

Night flying

Spooked about night flying in singles?

Friday Photo: Manhattan over the nose

172 landing

Don’t turn a practice emergency into a real emergency

Washington airspace

Death, taxes, and airspace

Cirrus jet

Video tip: Instrument approaches

Piper on runway

The runway behind you…

Friday Photo: Wichita sunset

Yellowstone spring

Smoke on the water: a long, summer cross country

70 years ago: a first lesson and a first article

Caption contest #9

Sunset from Cessna

The dream that is personal aviation

Friday Photo: Capitol emerges from the fog

Air Canada 727

15 minutes to disaster – and I never knew it

SR-71 on runway

An SR-71 Blackbird goes AOG – now what?

Cessna on final

Basic math for pilots: does it still matter?

Friday Photo: rough country

Airplane out side window

Keep your eyes outside

Lear Jet 24

From the archives: Leighton Collins flies a Lear 24

The disappearance of two Congressmen in Alaska

Friday Photo: beach campfire by a seaplane

Autogyro on ramp

Whirlygig: the troubled life of the J-2 autogyro

RV-7 in flight

What’s wrong with experimental pilots?

Super Cub

One chance to get it right: inadvertent IFR flying

Friday Photo: putting the plane away

ADS-B radar

How to interpret radar in the cockpit

Video tip: avoiding turbulence

Thunderstorms

I was a “weather coward,” and I made the right decision

Friday Photo: Sydney Harbour from an Archer

Crew in Alaska

North to Alaska

DC-3 with engine cowl off

Drop everything to fly a DC-3? Absolutely

Citabria

An awful sensation – lost above Brazil with no alternator

Friday Photo: Smoky Mountain Rainbow

New York at night

It was more than adventure

Luscombe parked on grass

Out of control – flying a vintage airplane in Ireland

Quiz: sectional charts

PC-6 takeoff

Ferrying the “Pokey Porter” 13,000 miles

Friday Photo: Golden Gate Bridge

Cirrus SR22

What it takes to be one sharp pilot, part four: realistic

Panama river

My introduction to bush flying in Panama

PA-11 on grass

Growing up near a grass strip

Friday Photo: Twin Bonanza sunset

Glider wing walker

Just like a fly on the windshield

General aviation trends in 12 charts

Bill David by airplane

Learning to fly before I can drive

Friday Photo: the floating city of Venice

Mulhearn by floatplane

What I did on my summer vacation (hint: seaplanes)

Sugarbush airport

Flying on edge – getting down to the nitty-gritty

Video tip: get the big weather picture

CYTZ ramp

My first flight to Canada – surprisingly easy and fun

Friday Photo: Cessna over the Alps

Blizzard

A weekend on the beach – this time in a Super Cub during a blizzard

Pilot sleeping

Dozing for dollars at 39,000 feet

Go or No Go: flying the front

Flight instructor in cockpit

Talking at non-towered airports

Friday Photo: Fresno sunset

James Goodson

Two aviators find closure after 40 years

Banning Pass

A turbulent, rolling boil in Banning Pass

Caption Contest #8

Montana big sky

The opposite of get-home-itis

Friday Photo: early morning fog

Smoke in cockpit

Mayday! What is an emergency?

Liftoff of Cessna

I had the sky to myself: my first solo at 16

San Juan Islands

My Bonanza is a time and dimension machine

Friday Photo: Boston reflection

Pennington on Huey

That gut feeling might save your life

Clouds from cockpit

We all need to be weather geeks now

Class B airspace

What is a Class B airspace excursion?

Friday Photo: California sunset

Cessna 150

A stuck valve leads to an impromptu skydiving flight

Kids at airport

Aviation’s future: a young pilot’s perspective

Thunderstorm buildup

Thunderstorms and airplanes and pilots: they don’t go together

Friday Photo: Lake Powell

Aldrin on moon

Full circle: from watching Buzz Aldrin to flying him

To Oshkosh and back – 5,500 miles at 100mph

Quiz: IFR departure procedures

TFR map at FAA site

Going flying? Be sure to check FSS for TFRs

Friday Photo: land on the orange dot

DC-3 on ramp

Six Degrees of Separation: A Young Pilot Meets a DC-3

Cessna in hangar

More comfortable in the air: an Adirondack odyssey

Florida at night

A lasting impression: the power of spatial disorientation

Friday Photo: Partial Panel ILS

SGS 1-26

A glider encounter with a wind shear and gradient

Thunderstorm cloud

Is pilot interest in weather waning?

Wright monument

Planes, puns, and politics – who has a right to the Wrights?

Friday Photo: Statue of Liberty tour

GFA cloud top map

The area forecast is going away – here’s why that’s bad news

Community at the airport

General aviation isn’t a hobby, it’s a family

Air Traffic Controllers don't all sleep

What to do when the panel goes dark

Friday Photo: Blue Ridge Mountain sunrise

Mort Mason 206

Saying goodbye to a beloved airplane

Runway lights

The hunter and the door

ADDS icing report

Ice, acorns and blind hogs

Friday Photo: downwind for Sedona Airport

ADS-B radar

When the margins get thin

PATCO strike

8-3-1981: the day the FAA disappeared

Jackson Hole

Old Navigators Never Die, But They Do Fade Away

Friday Photo: sunset over Grand Lake, Oklahoma

CB panel in Cessna

Should I touch that circuit breaker?

Solo picture

Learning to fly: a serendipitous journey

Caption contest #7

Bush pilot Alaska

Bush flying at its worst: a Super Cub caught in a storm

Friday Photo: Alaska solo cross-country

Prop strike Sonex

A prop strike, a little adventure and some lessons learned

Fog around approach lights

Deep dark weather secrets about fog are really no mystery

Clouds above airport tower

Stumbling into IMC without a plan

Friday Photo: grass strip fun

CFI with student in Cessna

What I learned about instructors during private pilot training

Turbulence map

3 questions to ask about weather reports

Oil on airplane cowl

A sticky situation: flying blind in a vintage airplane

Friday Photo: Florida Keys sunset

Author with grandfather

Flying my grandfather for his 90th birthday

Comanche 260

3 flying mistakes – and the lessons I learned

Video tip: your deceptive flying mind

Go or No Go: a gap in the weather?

Friday Photo: Manhattan from a Cessna

Cessna control check

The devil is in the deadly details

AT-401 airplane

Ferrying a crop duster to South America

Scud over airport

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

Friday Photo: Beaver sunset

Arnie with instructor

A city boy learns to fly in the country

Surface analysis chart

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

Announcing the Young Pilots Writers’ Challenge

Medical

BasicMed: a cruel hoax?

Friday Photo: Amsterdam canals

Uber concept for VTOL

Silicon Valley discovers aviation – but for how long?

Super Cub

Are you ready? Flying the Alaska bush

Piper L-4

Flying to Oshkosh low and slow

Friday Photo: Mt. Shasta off the wing

Cade by airplane

My first flight – as told by my grandpa

Maple Airport Park

Ghosts in the hangar: a true aviation short story

Quiz: IFR holding procedures

Crosswind landing A380

Turbulent flying lessons: windy tales

Friday Photo: Helgeland coast in Norway

Barb standing by airplane

A date with aviation

Garmin G5 panel

The death knell for the vacuum pump?

Denali from airplane

Double sunsets: falling in love with aviation and Alaska

Friday Photo: stunning Arizona sunset

Final flight with parents

Final flight

152 in a spin

A humbling solo flight

Where is the upwind leg?

Friday Photo: sunshine over a Baron wing

Annunciator panel lit up

A bad day in the cockpit

Parachute

Skydiving: like jumping off a foot locker

Caption contest #6

F6F Hellcat

The least bad option: dead-stick landing in a Hellcat

Friday Photo: snow showers in California

Aztec on one engine

What’s wrong with piston twin pilots?

South Africa to England in a Bonanza

Cessna 150

Tomorrow’s good enough for me

Friday Photo: Isabella Lake

Top 10 articles of all time on Air Facts

Captain in DC-8

My flight level epiphany

Video Tip: Behind the scenes at Air Traffic Control

Instrument scan

The scan: why instrument flying is an art, not a science

Friday Photo: Cessna 180 in Alaska

T-1

Two times I didn’t die in an airplane – but came close

Pilot in cockpit with instructor

My first passenger flight – and why I never fly alone

What about those spins?

Friday Photo: Great Sand Dunes National Park

Building a Sonex

Building a Sonex: what it’s really like

Airplane on final

Near the end of the accident chain – 4 lessons learned

TWA 767 airplane

Engine shutdown over the Atlantic – why training pays off

Friday Photo: Grand Island Mansion

Dan and grandfather

Dad, I really have to go!

Altimeter

From high to low, look out below

Sunset from cockpit

An ode to flying – and why it’s different from piloting

Friday Photo: Glass House Mountains, Australia

Cessna crash

Was it really pilot error – or was it something else?

Gulfstream in flight

Eight life lessons you learn as a pilot

Video tip: angle of attack

F-4C Phantom on ramp

Shot down over North Vietnam

Friday Photo: sunset on a first flight

747 cockpit

Two airplane rides I’ll never have again

DC-3 on ramp

The test: when things go wrong in a DC-3

Caption contest #5

RVs on ramp

The RV-12 fraternity in action

Friday Photo: solo cross country view

Spitfire with pilots

I have slipped the surly bonds – in a Spitfire

Sal with father

Four flights and a lifetime of memories

Quiz: instrument approach plate challenge

Instrument approach from cockpit

The complex art of finding the IFR Sweet Spot

Friday Photo: San Juan Mountains

DC-8 with engine missing

Mountain wave: an invisible threat

TrasAsia

No fast hands in the cockpit – why patience is a virtue

On top in Cessna

Two men, a tropical storm and a hurricane fly into the sunshine state

Friday Photo: mountain sunset over Vancouver

Luscombe

Miracle at Mojave: surviving an airplane crash

Line boy filling 172

Confessions of a former line boy

approach fog

Video Tip: IFR approaches and fog

DC-3 red and white

Flying beyond a doubt: an epic DC-3 journey

Friday Photo: Colors of Denmark

Spin from cockpit

An intro ride becomes a thrill ride

New York airports map

An incredibly short-haul airline flight

G1000 MFD with weather

2017 Air Facts reader survey

Caption Contest #4

Michael Huerta

Two cheers for the FAA: why recent reforms should be welcomed

Friday Photo: Lessons from Dad

Glider on tow

My accidental warbird flight

Gorge

Why even the best pilots need to know their limitations

cockpit shot of Malibu

Arriving at the VFR sweet spot – without colliding or spinning in

Friday Photo: attic insulation in the sky

TWA 707 ad

From the archives: Bob Buck gets a Boeing 707 check out

Friday Photo: nature’s beauty and danger

Martha Lunken on flying home for Christmas

Route out west

Flying is great, but family is better – a Christmas story

clouds

We didn’t make it to Grandma’s, but we had a Merry Christmas

Belize beach

Christmas in Central America

ILS approach at night

The best Christmas lights I’ve ever seen

Friday Photo: First Flight Airport

ACK runways

An ideal flight: helping a stranger on Christmas

Wall map

The enlightenment: how flying has made it all my hometown

John Glenn and Kent Ewing in Baron

I was John Glenn’s flight instructor

Friday Photo: sunrise over Kansas City

Chakachamna lake

A white knuckle flight – even for an Alaska bush pilot

Four course range map

They didn’t follow the magenta line in 1942

Video tip: understanding IFR clearances

Airsick

Overcoming airsickness to earn my wings

Friday Photo: Mt. Adams pokes through the clouds

Upset prevention training

Searching for a miracle cure to loss of control accidents

C-47 sunset

I have chosen my place well

Skyhawk panel

One heck of a checkride

Friday Photo: Scottsdale takeoff

Beach on Guadeloupe

Flying 400 miles to find a hotel room in the Caribbean

Video Tip: LPV approaches

Route 2

My 100th Angel Flight: memorable for a lot of reasons

Friday Photo: Seaplane in Australia

Ice on wing of turboprop

In-flight icing’s hidden threat: the landing flare

Medical

Grounded at 37,000 feet

Caption contest #3

Bonanza 36

Crash history: Cessna 182 and Bonanza 36

Friday Photo: Colorado colors

Yuneec drone

Debate: are drones good or bad for general aviation?

Fuel gauges getting low

It can happen to you – a low fuel confession

172 on landing flare

Practicing “incorrectly” is good practice

J3 Cub ride

Friday Photo: a memorable first flight in a Cub

Aeronca 7AC

Don’t let a forced landing get you down

Risk management: it’s a personal thing

Cessna 310

A light of salvation: flying freight in a Cessna 310

Friday Photo: fall colors in the UP

Bob Hoover by P-51

Bob Hoover: the one and only

VFR on top of clouds

VFR on top… for a long time

Video Tip: weather radar 101

ALIAS program

What the artificial intelligence boom means for aviation

Friday Photo: God’s light in East Tennessee

Grumman Tiger canopy open

Get me out of here

Famous last words… or thoughts

Caption Contest #2

TWA 727 landing

Making babies puke in a 727

Friday Photo: Grand Teton from a Comanche

On top of the clouds in a Citabria

Real emergency management: a friend saves the day

St. Barts runway final

Surviving one of the “world’s most dangerous airports”

Fantasy of Flight Stearman

A real flying machine – logging some Stearman time

Friday Photo: threading the needle

ADF in airplane

Top 10 activities for a cross country flight

Vinton Land with Cessna 150

Mid-air at 1,500 feet

Air Facts video tip: understanding airframe ice

Baron on ramp

Lucky or good? Flying through Turkey and Iran in 1977

Friday photo: Cincinnati river view

Glider

What all pilots can learn from glider flying

Sectional charts

The end of FAA charts as we know them?

Clouds with sun

Let it be

Friday Photo: Grand Canyon from a Cherokee

Vampire jet fighter

The day I learned I’d never be a fighter pilot

Oil on windshield

Ice, turbulence and oil – oh my!

Eye exam

Seeing and flying: how good is good enough?

Friday Photo: Pueblo Bonito

RVs in formation

Learning formation flying – hard work, but worth it

Platteville airport

My first IFR approach to minimums happened in clear skies

Introducing the Air Facts Caption Contest

Tom Hanks as Sully

Sully and the impossible turn

Friday Photo: Tennessee sunset

iPad in cockpit

What controversy? 5 debates new pilots don’t understand

Thunderstorm at night

Quality miles: the best route isn’t always the shortest

Boeing 727

Why a 10 mile flight in a 727 took 30 minutes – or 4

Friday Photo: storm over the Everglades

Meigs airport

Meigs saves the day: flying to my wedding during the blizzard of 1967

Aztec on one engine

Double trouble: have twins suddenly turned deadly?

ILS approach at night

Head games: getting IFR current with a big trip

Friday Photo: Monday over the rainbow

Stayin alive – 16 favorite aviation quotes

Go or No Go: afternoon buildups

Instrument approach from cockpit

Confessions of a timid pilot

Friday Photo: Blue Cut Fire

Entebbe Airport

A really quick turn: a DC-8 evacuation from Uganda

Scud left

How to fly safely when you’re low and slow

P-51

Merlin’s magic: unintended fireworks from a P-51

Friday Photo: Diamond Twinstar on top

Friday Photo: Monument Valley Stone Statue

Friday Photo: sun peeks out behind a storm

Friday Photo: Tomahawk over Lake Erie

Friday Photo: Mooney over Mexico

Friday Photo: Table Rock, South Africa

Tower destroyed

Using my Cessna to support earthquake victims in Ecuador

Skylane at OSH

An Oshkosh rookie no more

Cirrus SR22

What’s right with Cirrus pilots?

Friday Photo: the mighty Mississippi

Robin crash scene

A relaxing Saturday becomes a mayday

Aeronca Champ

Pilots really are made, not born… I’m proof

Searey

Getting my sea wings in a Searey

Friday Photo: El Paso sunrise

Intentionally crashing a Boeing – what did we learn?

Fuel selector in Bonanza

It’s the little things that get you

Author in airplane with grandson

Aviation’s next generation – be the spark

Friday Photo: Mount Rushmore from a Bonanza

St. George airport

Farewell to an old friend – another airport fades away

Indy 500 race

Flying dad to the Indy 500 – with a few stops

Cessna 172

What’s wrong with Cessna 172 pilots?

Friday Photo: marine layer over San Francisco

Monroe airport

My dubious start to a flying career: anatomy of a checkride bust

Instrument approach G1000

Masters of the magenta – the real story

Short final at JFK

Visual or instrument approach? This one is both

Friday Photo: Mt. Cook in New Zealand

Tesla autopilot

Are car autopilots the equivalent of airplane autopilots?

New Hampshire mountains

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

Unalakleet, Alaska

Catch a falling star

Friday Photo: Hudson River SFRA

Cherokee on ramp

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

Prog chart

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

Citabria in roll

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

Friday Photo: a trip over the Alps

Papua mountains from air

Helicopter flying in the jungle – lessons learned

EZ over mountains

Down the rabbit hole – scud running through Central Oregon

V35 crash

Airframe failure: not just V-tails

Friday Photo: an airport wakes up

Canyons of Arizona

Business or pleasure – why choose?

Piper Warrior

Being neighborly – an aerial introduction

Lenticular cloud

I never should have left the ground

Friday Photo: Owens Valley solo flight

182 in climb

Dangerous technology – and not for the reason you think

72B on turnpike

Almost toll-free on the turnpike

Mobile airport

The education of a young professional

Friday Photo: sunshine after the cold front

O-2 Skymaster

Put down the Budweiser – a Vietnam flying story

Doolittle crew by airplane

The pilot brotherhood – only as good as your next action

A pilot in command abdication

Friday Photo: how many souls on board?

Glider in field

A glider flyer named Skysailor finds the earth

Memorial Day cemetery

A Memorial Day salute – please join in

Viscount

Emergency formation flying with a Viscount

Friday Photo: sunset on a first flight lesson

What every VFR pilot needs to know about arriving IFR traffic

Pilot talking on radio in Cessna

5 things every VFR pilot should say

Takeoff by Cessna

Takeoff: the riskiest three minutes

Friday Photo: San Francisco moonrise

Cub on floats

My floatplane rating – not easy, but worth it

decision right and wrong

To go or not to go? That is the (wrong) question

David Flynn by Cessna

Where is the “airport community?”

Friday Photo: blue Bahamas water

Certifying pilots: the new Airman Certification Standards

Breezy in flight

A new kind of open cockpit – first flight in a Breezy

Helipad in rain forest

Helicopter techniques – (not) for dummies

Friday Photo: Mt. Bachelor, Oregon

Arkansas River

Cross-country at 75mph – a Champ earns her name

Quail Commander

Dead reckon: Georgia to Ecuador in a crop duster

Aero Friedrichshafen show

General aviation in Europe is both inspiring and frightening

Friday Photo: Sierra Nevada mountains at sunrise

Citation factory line

Airplane certification: be careful what you wish for…

Confidence thermometer

Why CFIs need to think about confidence more

First trip to SUN ‘n FUN

Friday Photo: why we love flying

Area Forecast replacement – what does it really say?

Scud running

The most inherently dangerous of all flying techniques

Light gun in tower

Flying it home for the first time

Friday Photo: small New Jersey airport

Twin throttle quadrant

Will I ever be ready for the checkride?

Runway lights at night

How safe are you?

5 things every IFR pilot needs to say

Friday Photo: Ercoupe sunset

Debate: what’s going on at ICON?

T-37 in flight

How do you report something that’s physically impossible?

Flight Design C4

Why you should care about the new Part 23 proposal

Friday Photo: Stearman over the Salton Sea

Flying to Chicago for an important mission

What it takes to be one sharp pilot, part three: coordination

CFI in cockpit

How to do the world’s worst intro flight

Marine layer

Friday photo: marine layer at night

Diamond DA-40

My first real emergency

Air Facts turns five!

Ice on King Air

Icing: the cold, hard (air) facts

Friday Photo: Lexington sunset

Vickers Viscount

The little Viscount that coulda, woulda, shoulda – but didn’t?

We’re thinking about electric airplanes all wrong

Clouds over ocean

The weather is what it is – all alone in a Cherokee Six

Friday Photo: snow-covered Utah mountains

Thermometer 50 below zero

An upside down landing on a remote Alaska strip

Facebook flying posts

Facebook is bad for general aviation

Stabilized approach

The changing myths of aviation

Friday Photo: Toronto skyline aglow

Preflight with CFI

Not all preflights are created equal – 4 different approaches

Passenger in RV-12

An unforgettable passenger shows the power of sharing a flight

PSP airport with mountains

Baptism by air

Friday Photo: sunset over a composite wing

Go or No Go: coastal California flight

Checkride complete

Staying alive: the merits of multi-state training

Yellow jacket

A different kind of buzz job

Friday Photo: glacier in France

Wildfire smoke

Flying through fire and ice

Route 66 with Cub shadow

Transcendental reactions – how aviation and photography work together

Alec Helmke with grandfather

Joining the brotherhood – a student pilot’s first cross country

Friday Photo: highest mountain in the lower 48

S-Tec 55X autopilot

The case for automation

Dogfighting with ADS-B traffic over Pennsylvania

Forced landings: is getting your shoes muddy the biggest risk?

Friday Photo: Alaska sunset

Full cockpit of aviation authors

10 pilots in a 4-seat Cessna

Foggy runway

IFR departures: the forgotten procedure

Boeing wing iced over

Airplanes vs. blizzards: a few war stories

Friday Photo: runway in Sweden

Piper Cub

Old men and old airplanes

Cherokee after mid-air

Surviving a mid-air

Brenham, TX airport

Borrowing from the bag of luck

My first time as an aviation mentor – what do I do?

Friday Photo: dog rescue flight

Lake Hood

An unusual first solo, Alaska-style

Pietenpol Air Camper

How flying saved my life

Friday Photo: One World Trade Center

Debate: a kinder, gentler FAA?

Mechanic helping kid

The real incentives young aviators need

Baron

Cutting corners as a freight pilot – and regretting it

Friday photo: twilight over Rotterdam

Top 10 articles of 2015 at Air Facts

Busy family

Out of touch with modern life – lessons from golf’s decline

Reiner by 707 in China

Flying an old Boeing to China for Christmas

Cirrus autopilot

Killer autopilots? It is all in the eye of the beholder

Friday Photo: Toronto at night

Glasair

There I was: my near midair at Shelton, Washington

Steam fog

Thanks, Mom! Winter flying around Chicago

Cuba map

Will the Cuban Skyway come to life once again?

Mountains from Cessna

Friday Photo: Swiss Alps rise above the fog

Cal Rodgers

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

Are doctors bad pilots?

Airport

(Air)field of dreams

Sun over clouds

Friday photo: marine layer

Long range weather planning tools – 4 favorites

Turn from cockpit

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

Merrill Pass

Really low on fuel in a thirsty Super Cub

Friday Photo: desert sunrise

T-34

Out of CG, overweight, at night and in turbulence

Cirrus crash scene

Accident report – what would you do differently?

Friday Photo: Glacier Peaks from a Luscombe

pilot passed out

An unconscious pilot – and it’s a good thing

Pilot in cockpit with instructor

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

Global attacks on general aviation: freedom in retreat?

Friday Photo: sunrise from an AWACS

Wichita airport

The vanishing airplane – in the pattern with me

Cirrus

Automation, technology and flying light aircraft

Friday Photo: Mt. Rainier in a frame

Debate: is registering drones a good idea?

iPad in cockpit

More than just a gadget – how the iPad is making flying safer

Sabre hard left turn

Losing a wingman: the price we pay

Friday Photo: astronaut runway

T-33 in flight

Ten-hut: military flying excitement

Low clouds

Don’t be afraid to be afraid – a VFR into IMC story

Friday Photo: sunset over Long Island

Cavalier wing view

Continental drifter – why cross country flying is the best

D-HAMR helicopter

Mistaken identity – mike romeo times two

Circling chart

New circling approaches – what’s changed and what hasn’t

Friday Photo: Chinese Wall, Montana

7 ways to scare yourself in an airplane

Boeing 727 Pan Am

Troublesome trips over the pond – North Atlantic crossings the old fashioned way

The lessons of the lake – a young pilot’s experience

Friday Photo: Boston civil twilight

Medical

Debate: do you support the revised Third Class Medical proposal?

Barf: a short and sometimes personal dissertation on airsickness

Go or No Go: battling a Nor’easter?

Friday Photo: Sydney Harbour view

The people you meet in aviation – some good, some bad

The world needs aviation – how flying keeps us grounded

Friday photo: Glacier Park, Montana

DC-3 crash

Crashes: then and now

Grumman

It wasn’t my fault – an unusual Alaska accident

Aircraft ownership – taking the plunge

Friday photo: Burning Man 2015

HPN: a bird’s eye view, past and present

Defensive glider flying – remember the big picture

The curtain call – seeing the Northern Lights from the cockpit

Friday photo: Mt. Rainier from a Flybaby

Santa Ana winds

The helicopter does not know the wind is blowing!

Stop the drone panic – pilots should take their own advice

Friday photo: a 6-year old’s first air-to-air shot

Hurricane

Into the eye of the storm

Gear down… or is it?

Safety crisis – what’s going on?

Friday photo: Montana mountains

Practical tips for family flying – how to keep everyone happy

It’s all about the journey – a father/son flight for the ages

Cessna 152

Business or pleasure – does one attract more pilots than the other?

Friday photo: Chicago skyline

Pilot error

Pilot error or fumble?

Look beyond the hype – ICON just might help aviation

“What’s this button do?” Why you need to watch your passengers

Friday Photo: Denali from an Aerostar

The in-flight emergency nobody prepared me for

Earning my “barnstormer rating” in a Beech 18

Friday photo: Manhattan skyline

The day I became a “pro” pilot and knew it all…

Joseph Kirwan watching son land

My best hour – and I wasn’t even flying!

From the archives: Leighton Collins flies a 747 to Paris

Out of control on short final – a freight dog learns a lesson

Smoke and flames report – is the GA safety picture changing?

Flaps down on Cessna

For want of a spring an airplane was (almost) lost

Cherokee 235

Flying for fun, and flying with a mission

Professor Armstrong – learning from an airplane geek and astronaut

At home in the night sky – the most honest place I know

Letter to myself as a young student pilot

Cessna 150 N704RY

Mission accomplished – getting the job done in a Cessna 150

Nauru Island runway

On your own – airline flying in the South Pacific before GPS

Flying on the ground – 7 tips on staying current

Fireworks

The rockets’ red glare: a July 4th landing to remember

Comparing your dreams – why owning an airplane is worth it

My first (intentional) spin

My encounter with a thunder cloud

The false choice between technology and flying skills

Control checks – not normally an airborne requirement

Thunderstorm

5 key flying lessons – some things that had to be learned the hard way

747 in fog

Is that legal? Clearing a path through the fog

10 tips for prospective businessmen (or businesswomen) pilots

The Last Flight of Viscount CF-THS Air Canada 637

How airplanes can bridge the gap between fathers and sons

Cessna during the glory days – a test pilot’s daughter remembers

The Cessna Fanjet 310 – a half century ahead of its time, sort of…

Real world missed approaches – 6 tips for staying safe

A Luscombe without wings – taming the Stearman

Why I’m giving up flying – life as an “ex-pilot”

Flying with no “out” – between a rock and a hard place

Debate: when are you “established” in the hold?

The best hour in my logbook: why some flights are unforgettable

Simulator

Could you land a 737? I had to find out

A good idea at the time: scud running in the mountains of Papua New Guinea

Ammeter

Electrical failure: time to improvise, adapt and overcome

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

Home is where the hangar is

How to land an airliner with only 7 runway lights

Suicide by airplane: a dark subject indeed

Electric airplanes – is the tipping point upon us?

What you can’t see can’t touch you

AOA

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

Turn from cockpit

The three keys to flying safely

All runways are the same (sort of)

The most important person at your airport

Debate: do electronic stability systems improve safety?

Cessna 170 in the field

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

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

My Adventure: circumnavigating the Sierra-Nevada Mountain Range

The day the dream flew away

Thunderstorm from airplane

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

The kid glove treatment – why airline passengers need to behave

Why do pilots hate recurrent training?

Hungry Pilot: Piccadilly Lilly Airport Diner

How do we encourage new aviators?

Airspeed vs. angle of attack – what pilots don’t understand

A harrowing tale(wheel)

In the middle of a Cold War, Russians fish in the North Sea

Aviation mentors: getting by (and thriving) with a little help from your friends

Is coordinating the use of gizmos to control stick, rudder, pitch and power really flying?

Cub with pilots

Solo today – ha!

Fog over mountains

The taste of humble pie – admitting the “old-timers” were right

Ice on the wings – would you tell the pilot?

Destination flying – Outer Banks of North Carolina

Air Facts turns 4 (or 77) – what we’ve learned about pilots

Now that was real flying – stick and rudder in a 737

One (interesting) day in the life of a corporate pilot

The low wing Cessna 170 – a great idea that didn’t fly

Learning to fly – is it worth it?

America’s best airport: DCA

Finishing what you start – even after an accident

Go or No Go: VFR under the ice?

Playing politics at 27,000 feet – a story from the South Pacific

Cirrus fatal crash vs CAPS events

Fatal Cirrus crashes are way down – thank the parachute

Fueling a Cessna 172

Treat the airplane like it’s yours, even when it isn’t

A second officer’s tale

11 questions for John Laming

Accident report: aviate, navigate, communicate

What it takes to be one sharp pilot, part two: intelligence

Stopped engine

Stop the prop – not a smart idea?

There’s no place like home

What I learned from my father about flying – and life

Debate: are single engine airplanes safe at night?

How I came to be an ag pilot

Coming down with the aviation bug: why me?

Aviation’s doomsday preppers

My Cub journey

Orion begins – a father/son trip to the Space Coast

Thanks for the landing

What it takes to be one sharp pilot – start with awareness

New millennium – new family flying tradition

New year’s adventure: clearing a runway with one snowshoe

From the archives: to Hong Kong in a 707

Top 10 articles of 2014

Flying is not an extreme sport – time to get serious about safety

My tailwheel transition story, so far

Where is your checklist? Make your own

Phenom jet v. house – everyone loses in terrible tragedy

10 questions for AOPA’s George Perry

Those photo missions – smile!

Night flight

Using historical weather data to learn

Shifting snow and the point of no return

The trip to Dong Den Mountain

An evening alone

A Thanksgiving cross-country adventure

Is the ADS-B glass half full?

Four Merlins to Momote

Why I bought a Pig!

Don’t take anything for granted!

From the archives: Dick Collins on airline vs. GA flying

Welcome to the war

Those pilot reports – of the magazine variety

No time for prayer: surviving catastrophic engine failure

Hungry Pilot: the Hangar Hotel Airport Diner

Why I wear a ball cap when I fly

Old pilots never die – they can stick around for years

2500 miles of value-added flying

Go or No Go: fall cold front

Sticky fingers

It sure is quiet at my airport

Part of the team – what it means to be a pilot

Cow pasture pilot

Retractable singles: the good, the fad and the ugly

Profiling works in solving airplane problems–usually

Time to fly

Debate: zero-zero takeoffs?

It was a dark and stormy night when I took my old Aeronca Chief to West Virginia

This is why you became a pilot

Sextant in airplane

Navigating in the old days

Why I love the NOBBI arrival

The most fun I have ever had in an airplane

Redemption – convincing my wife to fly again

TFR

Security theater – 5 things pilots shouldn’t have to live with

Fog makes a flight to remember

From the archives: Bob Buck flies a Connie from LA to London

Logbooks: a long and wonderful flight, with beginning turbulence…

Coast to coast adventure: Virginia Beach to Catalina

Accident report: failure to climb

I knew they were going to die that day

The folks down the back

Debate: do we still need DUAT(S)?

My adventure: a long day of flying in a 172

The saddest flight I ever made

I Can’t Believe I Did That – Angel knows best

Remote ATC towers – coming to an airport near you?

The descent: enjoying the ride down

Back to Africa

What? Me panic?

Logbooks: Concorde adventures

Timing is everything – a Grand Canyon adventure

Remembering Saint-Ex.

Tragedy on the beach at Venice – what would you do?

60 seconds with the FAA administrator: what would you say?

A Mustang memory

A sentimental journey

Mecca

Lesson learned at Oshkosh: eyes opened

Go or No Go: a legal alternate?

8 engines, coming at us

Flight to the Repose

autopilot screen

The emergency procedure nobody practices

My adventure – over Africa

Piper landing on Staten Island

Same time next year – another New York miracle?

My adventure – 1700 miles, 15 hours and 5 destinations in 7 days

Cessna landing

Debate: full flap landings?

Cessna 152

License to learn

Trapped in Alaskan soup (sprinkled with rock)

Wind shear: a danger vanquished, or, one waiting in the wings?

USA Today, with help from trial lawyers, gets it exactly wrong

Anabare Bay

The ace of Anabare Bay

Serendipity – and a great day of flying

Getting past the ABCs

Dad is my copilot – Father’s Day flying thoughts

Father’s Flying Day

Deadsticking a T-bird

Hungry Pilot: Half Moon Bay, California

Go or no go: NORDO?

sectional colorado

Accident report: learning to say no

From the archives: Len Morgan on airline flying

Fool’s errand: a Mooney flight to remember

A break in the chain

10 things “real pilots” do

Close encounters

76-year crash course: is only the good news fit to print?

“Well, you are one!”

R22 autorotation

So, there we were…

Debate: has the iPad made pilots safer?

Managing risk in flying: cognitive traps!

Just one of those days

Go or No Go: Texas storms

AvGeek is the worst buzzword ever and is damaging aviation

Cessna Skycatcher

The Skycatcher’s death proves the LSA rule is a failure

Enter nausea – a Pitts introduction

Searching… for a lost airliner and others

I have my license – now what?

RCAF T-33

Heroes and goats

Cessna 150 flying

Some things are better done without an audience

A family affair… finally

We did something to the altitude

The error chain in action: Pilatus crash at Butte

Recollections of EAA Founder Paul Poberezny

Colgan crash

A double tragedy: Colgan Air Flight 3407

Flaps anyone? Strange things can happen

1958 Skylane

From the archives: Journey to Wichita

Malaysia 370 is not the first: Flying Tigers 739 was

Building a career by believing in your dream

Practice makes perfect–sometimes

Debate: is there a pilot brotherhood?

The hungry pilot: flying with Subway

60 seconds airborne: the end of Sabre 26710

Competition in a man’s sport: top six women in early US flight

Mooney landing

What’s wrong with Mooney pilots?

Wirraway

Thrills awaiting a flight instructor

Some thoughts on landings

The approach plate olympics – more crazy charts

The flight of a lifetime

Richard Back

Richard Bach and Air Facts: long time ago…

Night flying: out of our element

Going solo: a eureka moment

Airport at PA88

The Hungry Pilot: Nemacolin Resort, PA

Wright Flyer turning

Warp speed: birth of an aileron

Risk dice

The risky moments: when decisions go bad

Fuel gauges low

Knowing your true airspeed for fuel management

Go or no go – en route decision

CFI pointing to panel

Thoughts on training vs. education

Like son, like father?

Six pack instruments

Weird winds or something more serious?

Have we won the safety battle?

What has the FAA done for (to) you?

Two very different types of flying

Lost pilot on frequency

How hard is it to fly an airplane? It’s simple…

In the dark – how ignorance can dampen your day

Avionics: advancing or retreating?

Over the river and the wood

Supercell

A flight to remember – Angel Flight for Sarah

Icing map

Ice: gotcha… Where is the ice?

A Big Apple adventure

Accident? No, it’s a screw-up!

Top 10 articles of 2013

Devil Canyon Christmas

In the air, trust is all we have

Ice on wing

Ice: gotcha… in a heartbeat

Disappearance in an Alaskan valley

Debate: do you have to be an enthusiast to be a good pilot?

One pilot’s Christmas wish list

How I got involved in aviation – and why

First flight – memorable for the wrong reason

The Hungry Pilot: Rough River Dam State Resort Park

Love that eggbeater – taming the helicopter

The art of flying on silent wings

To grandmother’s house we go or no go?

Veteran’s Story: many ways to die in WWII

Mission possible: flying starfish

New FAA medical policy – fixing a problem that doesn’t exist

Are slow airplanes practical transportation?

Veteran’s Story: Vietnam photo ops

Learning panes – who you are in the cockpit is who you really are

Proposal for a new IFR certification

You don’t remember, as I do

Weather Flying, fifth edition – the legendary book flies on

This time, it’s cucumbers from the Bahamas

Always trust the GPS?

Have pilots lost their sense of adventure?

11 questions for Alaska bush pilot Mort Mason

Gatineau Airport

A trip (up) north

11 keys to safer instrument flights

The first US Air Meet, 1910

An old story that happened yesterday

Brighter days ahead? Depends on how bright you want it…

Continental Motors – betting big on diesel

ForeFlight’s CEO on iPad and aviation

Van’s Aircraft – how to keep the water flowing

Flying clubs, old and new

A customer-centric approach to pilot training

Looking for sunshine – general aviation’s future

Cessna 140

From the archives: Wolfgang Langewiesche flies across Africa

Real Life Go/No Go: Air Facts reader shares his decision

7 instrument approaches you have to see to believe

Ercoupe flipped over

Hands off another pilot’s airplane: always the case?

The Hungry Pilot: Annie Okie’s Runway Cafe

Renie – and the Block Island Wedding

10 questions for new AOPA President Mark Baker

Crash of the B-23 Dragon Bomber

Hudson River flight

The moment I felt like a pilot: the Hudson River exclusion

The Great Debate: do you have to have an instrument rating to travel by GA?

Oshkosh Odyssey – a 950 mile pilgrimage via seaplane

Thunderstorm flying in the age of datalink weather

Go or No Go: storms in the panhandle?

One dream, one goal

The Hungry Pilot: Skyline Diner, Salem Airpark

Crash course: lessons to be learned

What did you sign up for?

President Paul – 1921 to 2013

Connie flight from Paris to Cairo, 1951

I Can’t Believe I Did That #10

My first emergency landing

Drones: the good, the bad and the ugly

From the ashes: a flight instructor returns to flying

Goodbye PTS, hello ACS?

Nose or tail? Wheel that is

Why you must fly a taildragger

Angle of Attack isn’t a miracle cure

Sky Galley

The Hungry Pilot: Sky Galley, Cincinnati

Will the real Harold Neff please stand up?

The Great Debate: are air shows dying?

Farhad Kashani

I Can’t Believe I Did That #9

License to Learn, part 3: forty hours and final

Wrecks and recession: is there a connection?

DC-6, N6103C

Eggs to Caracas, Venezuela

Two pilots in the cockit

Split decision

The best perspective is from above

Asiana 214 crash image

The Asiana crash: rampant speculation?

Air Traffic Control

Trust but verify: ATC can’t fly the airplane for you

FlightAware map with weather

A recent trip South

Rotor cloud

I Can’t Believe I Did That #8

Not so bienvenido

9 questions for Harry Clements

Are you a plain cheesecake pilot?

cockpit shot of Malibu

A flight well flown: you be the judge

High Jackers

The Hungry Pilot: High Jackers, Palm Coast, FL

Plane crash

Why do we stink at being safe?

The Caribou Mountain incident

The reason I never fly alone

Spin from cockpit

I Can’t Believe I Did That #7

DHS team with guns

FAA wants your data – will you give it to them?

When to ditch training

LTC Tom Sabiston and Hugh Wheelless

Flying clubs, then and now – different?

License to Learn, Part Two: aviate, navigate, communicate

Summer Writing Challenge

The Great Debate: are diesel engines the future?

The new “killer items” for IFR pilots

DC-3 in flight

From Africa to America in a DC-3

7-day VFR cross country weather planning

The Altar of Safety: does the FAA know it all or does it know anything?

My 2013 Sun ‘n Fun adventure

Go or No Go: home from the Bahamas

Stearman Field Bar and Grill

The Hungry Pilot: Stearman Field Bar & Grill

The weight – and the balance

5 things general aviation needs right now

I Can’t Believe I Did That #6

From the archives: Molt Taylor on flying cars

License to Learn: ground to solo

Eclipse 500

The dream v. the reality: it’s a tough world

Top tip: get a “big picture” weather briefing

A revolution in remanufactured airplanes

ADS-B system diagram

The Great Debate: is ADS-B good or bad?

Urbana

The Hungry Pilot: Airport Cafe, Urbana, Ohio

I Can’t Believe I Did That #5

Fly safely – think like a golfer

Make a case for your airplane

The Cessna OE-2: a mishmash military model

N40RC

The perfect copilot–of many years

Accentuate the positive!

NTSB shouts – will anyone listen?

The $2,400 pair of sunglasses

I Can’t Believe I Did That #4

The day Lindbergh got lost

Forest fires vs. VFR flying

Go or No Go: marginal VFR?

Malibu crash newscast

Malibu down

What’s in a name?

Safety: our greatest challenge

Medical X

The Great Debate: should the 3rd class medical be eliminated?

Leighton Collins on flight training, 1944

Mississippi River bluffs

I Can’t Believe I Did That #3

Weather.aero website

Weather.aero – a valuable new aviation weather website

King autopilot

Move the wheel and wiggle the pedals

F-104 fighter

Leading edge aeronautical research on the plains

Bahamas flying memories

Aerial encounters

Michael Huerta

Washington Report: sequestration and the FAA

Why do we still run out of gas?

Tachometer

I Can’t Believe I Did That #2

A dream of the 1970s: the Bede-5

Fire

Fire!

Abandoned airfields: history in our midst

Go or No Go: game time

LP approaches – coming soon to a GPS near you

clouds at night with moon

I Can’t Believe I Did That #1

flying club sign

The Great Debate: are flying clubs the answer?

Changes at Air Facts: the torch is passed

Cirrus crash

Tale of a winter month: a look at February accidents

ADS-B system diagram

ADS-B 101: what it is and why you should care

Washington Report: don’t forget to fly the airplane

A memorable flight

Personal or business: is one riskier than the other?

Pioneer aviator Foster Lane

Airline pilots in uniform

The Great Debate: pilot shortage?

7 good things about general aviation

TWA 707 with Leighton Collins

Time Capsule: Leighton Collins flies an early 707 to Europe

Top 12 articles of 2012

Go or no go: heading north

Check rides: I have known and loved

Cessna 310 prototype

I held three jobs on one flight

Washington Report: changes in stall training

Fuel gauges getting low

8 SOPs for instrument flying

Dearborn airport

Fields of vision: carving hills into airports

The great debate: the “spouse factor”

Pilots asleep

The silent killer

Cessna's XT-37 jet

The production T-37 “Tweet” serves up an enduring mystery

cockpit shot of Malibu

The sorry state of weather training

Go or No Go: home for the holidays

Jerrie Mock and the Spirit of Columbus

Geraldine Mock and the Spirit of Columbus

Citation Mustang

Washington Report: FAR Part 23 rewrite

Flight Reviews: is there a better way?

aviation mentors

Aviation mentorship

Airline pilots on strike

Losing pilots

Hurricane Sandy satellite

Lighten up, Sandy baby…

CWSU chart

10 great online weather tools you may not know about

The Great Debate: are straight-in approaches OK?

Cub love: is simpler really better?

Threat and Error Management: a primer

Site radar

Go or No Go: Florida build-ups

Trans-Texas DC-3

A DC-3 dream: fleeting as it was

ATC radar scope

ATC: friend or foe?

The Cessna 310

Defining the Cessna 310

$100 bills

The big bucks: a reason for the declining pilot population?

Letters on the pilot population

Your comments on the declining pilot population

piston aircraft deliveries chart

The world has changed–we haven’t

Flying club

Trouble in Paradise?

The declining pilot population–is there really a problem?

Ground school

From frustration to aspiration

Graph of private pilots

Mayday! The declining pilot population

C-54 approaching Templehof Airport

The chocolate bomber

New Speed Record: George Nelson

Crash site

Autopsy of an accident and a confession

Fred Darragh

Super long flights

Route of flight

Go or No Go: Northeast freight run

Pittstown Point Airport, Bahamas

Flying the logbook: my best flights

Wind tunnel test

Assessing necessity – wind tunnels at Cessna

Nicos and the author after solo

My first solo — Cyprus style

iPad chart app

Washington Report: digital charts no longer free?

Christmas Island

6000 Miles Across the Pacific in a Duchess

Watson airport

Saying goodbye to an airport

Ford Tri-Motor

Two Ford Tri-motor flights – 75 years apart

Richard Collins' Cessna P210

Make the case for your airplane

Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong: the ultimate aviator

Flying route on ForeFlight

Go or No Go: get to the beach

Airport fence no trespassing

Our airports look like prisons

Derecho radar

A what? An exciting bit of weather action

sectional chart for northeast coast

Island flying, Northeast-style

valley fog

Breakfast flying 101

The ramp at Fargo Jet Center, busy as always.

A day in the life of the line

Garmin G5000 panel

The IFR conundrum: is it as it appears?

Classic Cessna 180

Designing the Cessna 180

Cessna Skycatcher

The Great Debate: is the LSA rule a failure?

Little John

Spelling relief

Speed record track

Bittersweet victory: breaking Dad’s speed record

Avgas

Washington report: the future of 100LL

Grand Canyon

Westward Ho

DC-7

Fire horse

Oshkosh tower

Go or No Go: Oshkosh!

Aviation books

12 aviation books I like

Washington Report: written testing changes proposed

Towering thunderstorm

4 or 6 or 8 things to think about for summertime flying

Flight instruction

It isn’t always the instructor’s fault

Greenland from air

Trans-Atlantic in a Mooney 231

8 things I love about Oshkosh

NEXRAD image on iPad

Is the NTSB stupid or do they just not pay attention?

Flight instructor

Bad instructors

Me262

WWII Watson’s Whizzers

Pilatus crash plane

The ultimate responsibility: thoughts on family flying

Logbook

The coming currency crisis

Anyone for a Speed Record?

Beech Bonanza model 35

What was wrong with V-tail Bonanza pilots?

The Great Debate: the worst FAA regulation is…

Brazil

To South America in a Piper Arrow

What’s an LP approach?

Colored Air Circus sign

Blackbirds and the Colored Air Circus of 1931

Cirrus crash

Is flying safe? Wrong question.

Hawker jet

Mission trip

NEXRAD radar

Go or No Go: a tough flight home

William Piper

Happy 75th birthday, Piper

50s Cessna 172

Tracking the conception, birth and life of the 172

Predator drone

The Great Debate: are UAVs a threat?

Hal Shevers

11 questions for Hal Shevers

Cirrus with airframe parachute

What’s wrong with Cirrus pilots?

airliner go-around

Go-arounds: what’s the big deal?

G1000 MFD with weather

Go or no go: down the front

I really felt like a pilot when…

The Great Debate: pilots are just backup

G1000 MFD with weather

Weather Geek: rules to fly by

Arkansas satellite

Go or no go: how strong is the front?

iPad in helicopter

Breaking in my iPad on a helo ferry

Tenzing-Hillary Airport

Crappy runways

Low clouds

Mr. Invincible

Thunderstorm from airplane

Do you cancel too many flights?

172 on landing flare

Touchdown: squeak squeak every time…

Aztec on one engine

Considering a twin

Bob Hoover and I share a secret

Cessna 620

Cessna’s 620 – the stillborn prodigy

On final approach

Dick’s blog: there are only good questions

Top Gun

The Great Debate: dangerous pilots

California radar image

Go or no go: California IFR trip

Flight instruction

Want to fix flight training? Have some fun.

RedBird FMX

Taking chances – the safe way

Buffalo crash

Dick’s blog: right seat upgrade?

Recent letters

User fee sign

The Great Debate: user fee questions

runway lights at night

Magic moments

Morning fog

Moments of sheer terror

13 questions for Mac McClellan

Surface analysis

Go or no go? Marginal VFR to New Hampshire

Clouds

Grand Plan smashed: terrified passengers

Richard L. Collins

13 questions for Richard Collins

G1000 MFD with weather

Are we our brother’s keeper?

Alaska highway

Ohio to Alaska by Swift

Airplane in scrap yard

The Great Debate: too old to fly

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh

11 things you must do with your pilot’s license

Route radar

Go or No Go: winter 182 trip

Air sickness bag

Why do we do it?

Engine stopped in a Cessna

Mnemonic Devices: words to fly by

WASP pilots of WWII

The Great Debate: boy v. girl pilots

My night from hell

The Great Debate: are glass cockpits better?

Flight track of Texas plane track

John’s blog: holiday accidents have a lesson

American Airlines 737 off the runway in Jamaica.

Technique Geek: tailwind landings

Charles Lindbergh

The Great Debate: are great pilots born or made?

Top 12 iPad tips for pilots

Occluded front radar image

The Weather Geek: occlusions, a bad time to fly

Going out on top

Flight Risk Assessment Tool

John’s blog: risk management is a sham

Cessna 310

50 years ago in Air Facts: Double Trouble?

Cessna 150 Checklist

Is your checklist really necessary?

Crosswind landing

Technique Geek: crosswind landings

Island of Nauru

Boeing 737 vs. Honda Goldwing: who wins?

Sheriff with pilot

The Great Debate: an accident waiting to happen

John’s blog: where have you gone, piston twin?

Snowstorm damage in New York

The Weather Geek: hello low

Piper's Comanche 400

When was general aviation’s golden age?

Nauru airport

Hindsight is wonderful

Crashed airplane

The Great Debate: can we “make” flying safer?

182 down

Landing on I-80

Palacios Airport

My time machine: a trip to a WWII training ground

Columbia Glacier in Alaska

Land of the midnight sun

Aeronca Champ 7AC

Dick’s blog: a solo or a new beginning

John’s blog: does anyone understand NextGen?

Radar map of the Northeast

Destination AOPA Summit

Older pilots are safe pilots

Lincoln crew including George

My friend George, the Stuka pilot

Cirrus SR22

Dick’s blog: is any airplane “safe?”

The Great Debate: do pilots lie on medicals?

Air Traffic Control

Control freaks

Flight instruction

Dick’s blog: teachin’ or learnin’

The truth about the iPad

P-51 crash at Reno

Dick’s blog: spotlight on air racing

Hurricane

A date with Juliet

Los Angeles Flight Watch

John’s blog: who needs Flight Service?

Garmin G1000

A tale of two panels

Camp David airspace

Dick’s blog: F-15 v. Cherokee

A380 cockpit

The Great Debate: autopilot addiction?

Stall training

The Great Debate: stall training

On top of the clouds in a Citabria

Cross country at 26,000 ft. and 500 ft.

The smog of LA

Lost in the smog

Night flying

Opinion: NTSB’s ten most wanted list

Hurricane

Hurricane, inside

RNAV (GPS) approach at Mount Snow

Skunked at Mount Snow–again

Sopwith Camel

Power to the people

Leaving a legacy that changes lives

Gust front

Storm flying

The 7EC Champion

A student’s cross country tale

Beech Baron

Father’s Day trip for Mom

210 in the field

No Damage, No Injuries

Short final in a Cessna

My most important checkride

G1000 MFD with weather

Wanted: Basic Flying Skills

Controller

Opinion: Making the Headlines

Piper Aerostar

When the automation heads out to lunch

First time for everything

A trip to Sun ‘n Fun

TWA DC-4

Osmosis aviation

Bless the jets

Preflights and distractions

The Six Pack instruments

50 years ago in Air Facts

Hal Shevers

Too bad you’ll never be a pilot

N40RC

Range: it’s not all about miles…

G1000 MFD with weather

Speaking our language

G1000 MFD with weather

Opinion: Coping with the Winds of Change

G1000 MFD with weather

Feature: Personal Air Transportation in the Good Old Days

G1000 MFD with weather

Lettuce and cucumbers