Reckless Flying With all the emphasis on GA’s accident record, especially the experimental segment, I wanted to discuss “reckless” flying – I put reckless in quotes because it means different things to different people. Merriam-Webster defines reckless as: marked by a lack of proper caution : careless of consequences. In my opinion, that definition appropriately…
Flying Wild Alaska Saved My Marriage Ok, just kidding! It didn’t save my marriage, but it may have the potential to significantly enhanced it. Let me explain. My wife is deathly afraid to fly, when I first met her she had to be medicated to go on an airliner. She has gotten better over the…
Computer ATC Police: TARP and Pilot Deviations The FAA has a program called Traffic Analysis Review Program (TARP), which relies on an automatic system that monitors pre-established separation parameters and generates alerts when an aircraft approaches the limits of these parameters. Each TARP alert creates an Electronic Occurrence Report (EOR) that is forwarded to an…
I shot this video in 2011 during the 40 hour test phase of my RV-8. The music is totally cheesy and way over done, but at the time it seemed appropriate. I didn’t have a lot of time on the aircraft at this point so the aerobatics aren’t perfect by any stretch – still…
Lean times I have been trying to come to grips with proper leaning of my Lycoming IO-360-A1A. It has the stock Bendix injection system and 10:1 pistons so it’s not a standard setup (due to the high compressions pistons). Unlike many of you, I have only recently learned that I should be aggressively leaning on…
Risk vs Reward: GO/NO GO decision-making Every single flight you take is laden with decisions. Most of them are accounted for in regulatory guidance, operating procedures, training, or just common sense. One decision that makes the rest of these decisions go away and stops the error chain is one of the hardest to make –…
What would I buy….Globe Swift This is the third installment in a series of articles based on a hypothetical set of airplane ownership criteria. Note: This information is strictly the opinion of the author. Your mileage may vary. Our previous installments where on LSA category aircraft: #1 here and #2 here for $10,000 and $20,000 respectively. The goal…
Test Flying: Operational Check Flight (OCF) In related articles we talked about test flying your homebuilt aircraft on its first flight. In this post we’ll discuss flight test of certified aircraft, both from a regulatory and a practical standpoint. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin The Regulations 91.407 (b) —…
Fall Flight: A short video I shot this video back in October during the height of fall foliage season in Ohio. It’s short and not too dramatic, but I thought I would share it now that we are in the throes of winter and the flying up here is scarce. The video was shot with…
Getting an Instrument Rating: Perspective One of the guys asked about getting his instrument rating recently, so I provided some guidance that I thought I would share with the rest of you. This is not an all-encompassing treatise on getting your instrument ticket, but it does include some things to think about before embarking on…