Many training programs for on-the-road vehicles focus on defensive driving techniques as a safety strategy. They include key points, such as avoiding distractions, trying to predict risks ahead, not assuming others will do what you would in a particular situation, being...
“Know your limitations and don’t exceed them” is common advice for aviators. That statement is all well and good, so far as it goes. It generally encourages you, as the pilot, to do a good job of preparing for each flight...
If you’re like me, at some point in your pilot career, you may have asked yourself this: “Do I really need a weather briefing? The TAFs look like things will probably be fine. I’m not going that far. I’ll just get...
Last March, a Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC was in cruise flight at 15,000 feet on the way to the annual aviation celebration known as Sun ’n Fun in Lakeland, Florida, when the pilot noticed the engine power had dropped and the airplane...
When we talk about flying solo, we’re usually speaking of doing so as the only occupant of an aircraft. And when we talk in a capitalized quote of “My First Solo,” we generally mean the first time we were ever aloft...
The silence was deafening. On April 26, 2022, at approximately 11:12 a.m. ET, while in level VFR flight at 2,000 agl and cruising over the nondescript Ohio landscape, 2,000-hour-plus pilot Marc Epner experienced the unthinkable in his Cirrus SR22, N973SD—a total...
Etiquette is defined as a “customary code of polite behavior among members of a particular profession or group.” Pilots understand that adherence to professional standards is nowhere more critical than during approach to the airport and landing. Fighter pilots instinctively understand...
It is rumored that the town of Telluride, Colorado, got its name in the 1800s from the phrase “to hell you ride,” alluding to the treacherous journey required to reach the remote mountain destination by horseback. When flying into this high-altitude...
Bad decisions are part of life. In every field, many have made some excruciatingly poor decisions. Our regrets to the publishers who turned down the Harry Potter franchise. And how about the actors that had a chance to be in one...
The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report earlier this week on the midflight door plug separation on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, and I am sure I’m not alone in wondering if there are some proverbial screws loose between point...
