Passenger airsickness is an annoyance that almost every pilot has had to deal with at one time or another. Landing ASAP is the rule, but VFR above the clouds complicates the execution. The passenger might not be the only problem as well. Maybe you shouldn’t have ordered the fish.
Flight following should make your journey safer and easier. If not, participation is voluntary so you can always simply opt out, right? The truth is it’s not always that simple. An ATC instruction can create a conflict that’s not so easy to solve.
A pre-takeoff briefing exists to remove hesitation and doubt from split-second emergency decisions after takeoff. The problem is that most real-world departures present several opportunities to go off script. Some of those improvisations could turn an off-field crash into an uneventful runway landing—or a disaster.
The saying is that when in doubt, you should go around. Does that include after the airplane is on the runway? What about when the runway is a sheet of ice, with the airplane sliding sideways towards a snowbank and nearly certain damage?
Flight planning is a fine balance between thinking through every possibility and going with the flow. When a fuel stop reveals the fuel isn’t flowing at the pump, will you backtrack with a tailwind or press on with a “creative solution”? Or is it time to exercise Plan C?
After an unplanned overnight at a small Nebraska airport, you start a takeoff run for the remaining trip in clear skies and cold air. The airplane doesn’t seem to have its normal vigor at rotation speed and wallows into the air. Then it climbs normally—while the airspeed goes to zero. Is this a big deal […]
The weather is perfect and the flight is just a quick hop to pick up a friend. However, the destination airport is virtually surrounded by a fortress of Class C and D airspace. The communications and coordination could be a nightmare with two radios—and you only have one. Is there a simple and safe solution?
It’s another installment of “You are the controller.” In today’s episode, you’re the lifeline for a VFR pilot who is stuck in IMC. Do you provide guidance the pilot requested—direct to the nearest airport—when you’re certain that’s not the best solution? And if not, what will you offer to a pilot who’s barely holding it […]
You and a friend have made it nearly across the country in a recently purchased Tomahawk. Now scattered thunderstorms complicate the last leg home—where your friend needs to be by sundown. Is there a route that allows enough flexibility to weave your way home safely or should your friend find a rental car?
It’s on almost every pilot’s bucket list: Airventure at Oshkosh. Before you can land on the dot, however, you’ll have to fly a complex arrival procedure and avoid all the other aircraft doing the same. What will you do when the procedure says one thing but safety might dictate something else?
Your dreams of airplane ownership are about to come true. The only catch was that the machine is on the other side of the U.S., and you answered that challenge by planning a “true cross country” with a high-time instructor. Now that plan is kaput. Will you still do the coast-to-coast flight?
You want to practice crosswind takeoffs and landings and one of Belen’s runways is perfectly across the wind. However, two other pilots are set on landing into the wind on the crossing runway. Is there a safe way to fly cross-purposes, or must you simply go with the flow?
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