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Dreams Forgotten

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If aviation has become more routine than wonder, maybe it's time to go looking for those dreams again. Find a quiet place at home, a park bench, or maybe the picnic table outside your local airport. Take yourself back to the time when you looked skyward and imagined soaring like a bird. Try to remember the day before your first flight. Somewhere, there's probably a dream—or a promise—you once made to yourself.

Why Do We Still Need Five Tools to Plan One Flight?

I spent nine years planning flights in executive aviation. Sitting at a desk with three monitors, four browser tabs, two phone lines, and a stack of permit documents while a Global Express or Gulfstream IV waited on the ramp for a briefing package. My job was simple in theory: get all the information a crew needs before they push back for a twelve-hour international leg.

Committed to Land: The Hidden Risks of Single-Engine Operations in Light Twins

In addition to teaching our students to respect the POH procedures and performance numbers, we should also teach them the operational realities of everyday flying, where the perfection represented in the POH is unattainable and blind faith in the published numbers can become a trap.

TFRs Suck!

If you aren’t familiar with the Bedminster TFR, it’s a Presidential one, well actually, not one but a set of them, well, a set of NOTAMs really, and those NOTAMs consist of several rings of restricted airspace, well actually, there are two rings, well, maybe more, but anyway, there’s one you can fly in and one you can play Top Gun in.

Celebrating the Frontier of Flight

As the 20th century dawned, America’s pioneering aviators discovered another frontier on the sands of Kitty Hawk—one above our heads and more endless than any ocean or continent. And many of us would follow. The frontier of air and space called forth our best.

It’s All Relative

Pick any airport in America. Draw circles with 110-, 220-, and 330-mile radii—one, two, and three hours in a Cessna 172. Within those rings are countless parks, beaches, small towns, and memories waiting to be made. For roughly $170, $340, or $510—and half that if you share costs—you can explore a world that's invisible from the ground.

The Deadly Gap Between Vmc and Blue Line

Before the next multi-engine takeoff, brief more than the speeds. Brief the gaps between them. Understanding how much margin exists above Vmc at liftoff and how far remains to blue line may provide a clearer picture of what your airplane is likely to demand from you during the most vulnerable moments of the flight.

Talking to Yourself

A veteran CFI, Tom Slavonik, reflects on the power of self-talk in aviation training—and why speaking your thoughts aloud is a critical skill for student pilots, instructors, and experienced aviators alike.

A Lesson on Being the Pilot In Command

Joel Turpin, a former airline captain, recounts a simulator emergency that reinforces a critical truth about being Pilot in Command: in an emergency, the PIC has both the authority and responsibility to act decisively, even when it means deviating from standard procedures.

The Hard Yards

Even the Blue Angels make it look easy—but only because they’ve mastered the hard parts. Matt Johnson's routine IFR practice flight turns into a reminder that the real work happens in the moments that challenge you.

Are We Still Learning…?

From a child’s innocent question aboard an airliner to real-world lessons about checklist discipline, Dr. Parvez Dara reflects on the humility, patience, and continual learning required to fly safely.

Aviation Mentors: My Journey as a Pilot

A pilot reflects on the flight instructors and mentors who shaped his aviation journey—from a crusty former airline captain to tailwheel training in an Aeronca Champ—and the lessons that continue to guide him in the cockpit.

What Hal Shevers Taught Me About Aviation—and People

By now, many pilots likely have read the official announcement regarding the passing of Sporty’s founder Hal Shevers—a fitting summary of a remarkable aviation career that spanned more than six decades. But like many larger-than-life figures in aviation, Hal’s public accomplishments tell only part of the story.

Thirty Minutes

You can pack a lot into a 30–45 minute flight. I can do a full stall series, slow flight, and twenty or more aerobatic maneuvers. I’ll also have time to repeat a few maneuvers I wasn’t happy with. Sometimes I’ll add an extra maneuver or two just for fun. Snap roll or tail slide, anyone? The point is that a lot of practice and work toward precision can take place in a relatively short amount of Hobbs time.

Flying for Life

What starts as a quiet morning quickly turns into a mission with real consequences. In this firsthand account, a volunteer pilot answers the call to deliver lifesaving blood across Arizona—proving that general aviation can make a difference when every minute counts.

Whose Freedom To Fly Is It Anyway?

If you have been reading the news of late, AOPA has been getting a lot of negative press these days from what appears to be a perceived disconnect between its current Board and the GA community at large. Be that as it may, I think this presents a golden opportunity for all of us to step back and ask what does the word “general” in GA even mean and how should it be represented?

I’m an Air Racer?!

In terms of piloting skills, you need three things: currency, proficiency, and a willingness to learn the rules to make a safe cross-country “race.” In fact, a newly minted private pilot, within weeks of receiving their initial ticket, has successfully completed the AVC. Again, the AVC is not a close-formation, closed-course race around pylons. It is a cross-country race over the beautiful Wisconsin countryside.

Flying For a Living

Most of us learned to fly because we love learning new concepts and improving skills. And there’s a lot to learn— aerodynamics, engineering, rules and regulations. That stuff is like catnip to a certain kind of person. And then there’s the payoff. There is so much you can do with an airplane. It truly is magical.

Sharing Safety Guidance on Stabilized Approaches

Runway excursions remain one of aviation’s most stubborn accident categories, despite years of emphasis on stabilized approaches, defined gates, and widespread encouragement of go-arounds. Most pilots understand the criteria. Far fewer consistently act on them. That gap—between knowing what to do and actually doing it—is the focus of this guidance document from WYVERN.

My Most Dangerous Flight

“What’s the most dangerous flight you’ve made?” Non-pilots often expect tales of death-defying aerobatics or wild weather—but for me, danger can be surprisingly subtle. In this story, I share a flight in my Cub over the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex at just 1,000 feet AGL, constantly scanning for safe landing spots and dodging traffic alerts. It wasn’t reckless—it was sightseeing low and slow, where the beauty of the country comes with small, inherent risks. A tale of vigilance, preparation, and the quiet thrills of general aviation.
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