Category: Uncategorized
Listen Up ATC
While returning from Sun and fun in Lakeland Florida last month on an IFR flight plan, I was disappointed to hear several lectures from the ATC controllers to the enroute pilots. Yes, it was extra busy as it was Sunday the last day of the show and there were lots of planes out there trying […]
VSI – Use a fortune teller to improve your flying
Most of our instruments tell us where we are – not where we are going to be. For example, the altimeter tells us we are at 7000 feet or the airspeed indicator tells us we are at 120 knots. However, one of our instruments can see into the future. No, this is not a fancy […]
Stall Training
There has been a lot of talk recently about stalls. For example, the recent reports about the Airbus A-330 that crashed in the Atlantic between Brazil and Paris. Here apparently we had an airplane inadvertently flown into a deep stall by the pilot and for whatever reason he continued nose up inputs until the airplane […]
Air Force One Go Around!
As my good friend Bob Martens is fond of saying, the Go Around is the least practiced maneuver in Aviation. During initial training as student pilots, the instructor teaches us the Go Around. The Practical Test Standards (PTS) require us to demonstrate the Go Around/Rejected Landing maneuver. The FAA objective for the task is “Makes […]
Airplane Taxi Tips
The recent taxi accident between an Airbus A-380 and a regional jet at JFK serves as a reminder that taxiing our aircraft can be a dangerous endeavor. Just think about the potential of all that fuel in the wing of the A-380 had it been ruptured. Now I don’t know where the A-380 was in […]
App Review: Notify NTSB for NTSB Part 830
NTSB Part 830 regulations cover reporting requirements for aircraft accidents and incidents. Every pilot has had to answer a few questions on a FAA written test about the various requirements and time frames. Studying these regulations can cause the same glassing over of the eyes as ADF relative bearings or calculating time to station by […]
Let’s fly like the Professionals
It is no secret that the airlines, corporate and military aviation have a much better safety record than general aviation. And it is also no secret how they do that. They fly by the book, use standard procedures, do gobs of training and have flight dispatchers to provide planning and enroute support. That’s great you […]
Bring Back FAM Trips 2
Last time, I talked about the FAA program that allowed Controllers to ride in cockpit jumpseats for Familiarization Flights – FAM Flights. Each airline had its own procedures and customs for access to the jump seat. Generally, all one had to do was present yourself in dispatch with an FAA ID and a form signed […]
FAM trips – Bring them back!
Many years ago when I first started with the FAA, one of the benefits that I had heard from the older Controllers was the legendary FAM Trip. For those of you not familiar with the term, this FAA program allowed Controllers to ride in the cockpit jump seat on airliners. The program was conceived as […]
Photo Pilot Certificate Proposal
A lot of pilots I talked to recently seem excited to hear that they will soon get a pilot certificate that has their picture on it. I am sorry to hear this as getting a new pilot certificate with my picture on it is somewhere around the last thing I need. My certificate already has […]
Aviation Check List
GUMPS is not enough! Yesterday, I read about another general aviation inadvertent gear up landing. I wonder if the pilot used a written check list for landing? While doing flight tests or training in complex aircraft, I often see the pilot use the printed check list religiously for pre flight, starting and run up. Then […]