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October 13, 2012

My Friend Tom Webster Goes West

Last week a good friend, Tom Webster, passed away. Tom was 76 and lived in Columbus, OH most of his life. He was an avid aviator and built an RV-7A that he flew right up to the end. He passed peacefully in his sleep. As you would imagine, he was a great family man and…

October 11, 2012

NTSB Press Release on G650 Crash

Today the NTSB issued a press release on the G-650 test flight crash that killed 4 crewmembers and destroyed the aircraft.  The short version is that Gulfstream was too aggressive in trying to get the airplane certified and to the market. Go here to see the complete press release: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2012/121010.html -Brent

October 10, 2012

Obama Critical of Corporate Aviation: Again!

I will steer clear of politics on this blog, but no matter your political affiliation, this kind of rhetoric is damaging to aviation as a whole. Below from AvWeb: In last week’s presidential debate, President Obama said people who operate business jets shouldn’t be entitled to an accelerated-depreciation tax break. “My attitude is, if you…

October 10, 2012

Professional Flying: Is the romance gone?

Editorial Is the romance gone from professional flying? Why do most of these pilots choose golf, boating, hunting, ad nauseam over a pleasure flying on their days off? (For our purposes, professional flying refers to the airline, charter, or corporate pilot.) I am going to throw out some harsh estimates; these are not based on any…

October 9, 2012

Flying in High School

Flying In High School There are not enough high school students learning to fly these days. I was lucky enough to get my private license my senior year and it really framed the rest of my life. Here is that story: The urge to fly didn’t begin for me as flying exactly; it started with…

October 9, 2012

Embry-Riddle: Climbing out despite turbulent times

You might wonder how a big aviation university is doing during the recession. After all, airline flying is not the glamorous, big money career it used to be. What’s a college to do? At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, change is the order of the day.

October 8, 2012

Aerobatics: A Primer

Arizona Aerobatics Reprinted article by George Norris The sky is a deep Arizona blue and the hint of wind that sneaks around the windscreen in the open cockpit has a nice early morning chill. You quickly check your airspeed and altitude and then start a 40 degree dive for the desert floor 2500 feet below….

October 8, 2012

SpaceX Makes History – Again!

SpaceX Makes History – Again! I normally won’t be discussing space too much on this blog, but last night I watched the SpaceX CRS-1 Rocket launch into orbit with a NASA payload bound for the International Space Station and it totally geek’d me out and I had to mention it here. This is the first…

October 7, 2012

Flight Stimulation: A Week In the Life of Recurrent Training

This week I get the privilege of repeating a tradition that has gone on for the last 16 years -recurrent simulator training. I don’t know of many professions where you literally put your career on the line twice a year in exchange for keeping the right to practice your craft for-hire.  Take a high-level journey…

October 6, 2012

Mid-Air Collision: Disaster Averted

On Friday, October 5th, two Piper aircraft collided in the skies over Arizona. At least one of the aircraft was on an IFR training flight. As you view the pictures you’ll realize how miraculous it was that no one was injured. One aircraft made it into Gila River airport and the other landed on a…