Efficient in quickly developing pilots, traditional aviation training nonetheless leaves significant knowledge gaps that contribute to the vast…
I was in the right, front seat of a 1999 A36 Bonanza as we launched on an IFR…
An instructor friend of mine wrote: You mentioned in a recent presentation that the only things that are…
For several months we’ve been looking at the pandemic Landing Gear-Related Mishap (LGRM) rate in certified, piston-engine, retractable…
Nearly half of all reported mishaps in retractable-gear airplanes are related to the landing gear system. The vast…
Gear-up and gear-collapse accidents (what I call collectively 'Landing Gear-Related Mishaps,' or LGRMs) account for nearly half of…
Landing gear-related mishaps (LGRMs) account for nearly half of all reported accidents involving certified, piston-engine retractable gear aircraft.…
It can happen to anyone. And it does with alarming regularity. At minimum, nearly half of all mishaps…
A friend of mine has a turbocharged, single-engine airplane. Part of the appeal of the turbo is the…
Propellers on most multiengine airplanes, and even some singles, have an unique capability to feather, to be brought…
Move up from most training airplanes into high performance aircraft and you’ll confront a number of new gauges…
The engine failure didn’t happen suddenly.... I was flying a Mooney M20C in clear, cool air, 7500 feet…
Much has been written about Diamond Aircraft’s spectacular DA40-180 Diamondstar. Almost all the recent press has surrounded the…
Much has been written about Diamond Aircraft’s spectacular DA40-180 Diamondstar.Almost all the recent press has surrounded the Diamondstar…
Recently we looked at engine-failure case studies of aircraft that are close to identical in design and performance…
In a single-engine airplane engine failure introduces relatively few decision steps. The airplane's tendency during the emergency is…
It’s hard to argue the 'single vs. twin' debate ... especially with someone who had just put a…
Once a year, aircraft owners lay their airplane bare while an expert methodically checks and prods it for…
It's nearing midnight. A damp fog rolls lazily off the Gulf of Mexico, thick clouds blurring the lines…
Airplane engines suck. Pistons move up and down (or in horizontally opposed engines, in and out) and create…
Last time we talked about the avionics revolution, the introduction of Primary Flight Display (PFD) and Multifunction Display…
Cirrus Design may have fired the first shot in the personal aviation revolution -- integrating airline-style, CRT flat-screen…
Airplane owners know the dread -- that Number 10 envelope in the mail from the Federal Aviation Administration.…
Sometimes it's hard for experienced pilots to remember what it was like to be wide-eyed with the newness…
The average age of the U.S. general aviation fleet is already past 30 years, according to the Federal…
Let's say right now you're in your 20s, and you want to learn to fly. Unless you're among…
When I was a kid I was always looking to the skies. One of my earliest memories is…
Maybe one of the best "flying lessons" I ever got took place 60 feet below ground level! Back…
Success! After years of experimentation, building on the work of countless others yet furthering the science of aeronautics…
We all know the story of how two bicycle-shop brothers from Ohio built and flew the first successful…
We all know the story of the two bicycle-shop brothers from Ohio who built and flew the first…
This Centennial of Flight finds me grateful to the Wrights for their ability to attack dangerous trial-and-error with…
All pilots share a common trait. Is it money? Background? Education? Daring, or caution? No, pilots come from…
Most aircraft engines are limited by the structure of the atmosphere -- the higher you go, the less…
Some years ago I was deposed as an expert witness in the case of an aircraft accident. The…
Joe Marsh was the airport manager at Sedalia, Missouri, when I first began giving flight instruction 15 years…
I leveled at 11,000 feet as Santa Fe slid beneath the left wing. Turning southeast onto the airway…
As far as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is concerned, there are only two ways for a civilian…
My MD-88 flight from Atlanta rocketed down final approach at the Class C primary airport in Florida this…
An airplane is a terrible classroom. It's noisy. It's cramped. It's hot -- or it's cold. It can…
Sometimes, the choice to abort is complicated by other possibilities -- the unpleasant things that will likely happen…
Aborting a takeoff can be as uneventful as simply reducing power and rolling to a stop. It may…
Rosanne Roseannidanna warned us years ago: "It's always something." As pilot-in-command you may have meticulously planned your takeoff,…
The pilot stated that he set 10 degrees of flaps for takeoff from the relatively short runway. The…
Remember when airspace rules were about avoiding collisions with other airplanes? Return with me now to those days…
Which is safer: a well-used rental airplane flown by dozens of pilots, from students to high-timers; or a…
I was in the right, front seat of a new Beech Baron. My student, owner of the factory-fresh…
Recently this column focused on the collision between a Cessna 172 and a Piper Cheyenne just west of…