FAA practical exams are stressful. Of the 11 I’ve taken as a candidate, I was nervous on, well, all 11 of them. And it stands to reason since, after months of preparation, so much hinges on just a few hours with an examiner. As candidates we stress over nailing that steep turn, performing a stall with minimal altitude loss or planting the mains right on the 1,000-foot markers during a short-field landing.
Your pilot logbook is your aviation résumé. It documents your education, skills, certifications, and work experience. And, like a résumé, you will need to present your logbook(s) at every pilot job interview for the rest of your career.
On a hot, cloudless June day in California, two U.S. Navy fighters launched for air combat training—unaware that civilians were also converging on the same military operations area.
When the days get longer and the outdoor temperatures rise, the only ice we think about is the cubed kind, floating in our beverage of choice. Or, paired with “cream” and a favorite flavor, in a cone.
It began with a discovery flight. Jess Ellwanger’s interest in aviation blossomed when his father sent him aloft as a gift for his fourteenth birthday. From there he continued training through high school, passed his checkride at 18, and moved on to instrument and commercial ratings. It was not until he became a CFI in 2020, though, that came to appreciate the importance of pairing compatible students and instructors.
Aviation has been in the news for too many of the wrong reasons of late. I happened to be flying in April when the first radar and radio outage made waves.
On a recent flight with an instructor, operating a new-to-me aircraft type, I was once again reminded that mistakes happen, even to the best pilots, and also to the best air traffic controllers.
It was about 1981 or ’82, and I had owned my 1964 Mooney for a couple of years. Keen for any excuse to fly, I volunteered to pick up a couple of workmates at Norfolk International Airport (ORF) and ferry them back for a business meeting in Richmond.
Over the past couple years, there have been several high-profile midair collisions. An airshow accident in Dallas, a traffic pattern crash in Denver, a collision in Arizona, and a Blackhawk and CRJ collision in Washington, D.C., among others. While the average number of these accidents per year hasn’t gone up despite how it may seem, this heightened awareness of midairs is an opportunity to examine how we can avoid them.
A series of runway excursion accidents involving HondaJets has stirred criticism of the aircraft’s design. What is different following incidents in Oregon and Florida in April—the latest of more than two dozen similar events—is the response from owners and pilots, who say the accidents are the result of improper landing technique. They are also working on a potential cure.
Every year, thousands of pilots face a hazard they usually never saw coming: a bird that decided to occupy the same airspace as they did. The consequence of such an impromptu and unintentional meeting in the air can range from a minor inconvenience all the way to a life-threatening emergency.
In primary training, go-arounds are practiced routinely to ensure student pilots are comfortable aborting a landing if, for any number of reasons, the pilot deems it unsafe to continue. But what about aborting a takeoff?
Whether you're contemplating a first attempt at the Fisk Arrival or only the latest of many flights to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in July, there's no time like the present to begin preparing for the busiest airspace in the world.
A Cessna T207 Turbo Stationair was destroyed April 28 attempting to land at Nanwalek Airport in Alaska, and the NTSB preliminary report includes details that point to loss of control during a go-around attempt.
A Beechcraft Baron never climbed more than 300 feet above the ground after departing Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Colorado on May 17, crashing just over a mile from the runway after reporting an open door during takeoff.
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Get instant access to Flight Training's special issue titled You Can Fly: Your Path to Become a Pilot. This beginning pilots' resource guide explains what you can expect from your introductory flight through initial training—and how to turn your dream of flying into reality. Simply enter your name and email address.