You’ve lost your engine, now what? What to do in the case of an engine failure? As aviators we know our airplanes are very capable of flying with an engine failure. You will obviously be descending, some airplanes faster than others, but it still flies just fine. What will you do if this fateful day…

Teaching myself aerobatics: Don’t try this at home! Disclaimer: this post is for entertainment only. I do not recommend anyone using the concepts or techniques employed here by the author. Dateline 1992. I was a starving flight instructor flogging my way to a logbook full of flight time in hopes of moving on to the…

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…

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 –…

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) —…

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…

Self-Appointed Airport Police In my hometown we had a gentleman who took on the self-appointed role of airport police. He was actually a nice guy and he meant well, but boy if he thought you were doing something unsafe, he was in your face. We’ll call our man, John, for this discussion. He was in…

  Pattern Work: Touch-and-goes for increased proficiency In my days as an instructor I spent a lot of time in the traffic pattern doing dozens of touch-and-goes. Today, I still feel like this is one of the best places to refine our craft and maintain proficiency – notice I didn’t say currency, but that’s a…

Spartan Days I was a student at Spartan School of Aeronautics (their new name is Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology) back in 1990. At the time Spartan had a boom of pilots coming through with dreams of airline cockpits in their heads. First, I want to say that Spartan is a great school steeped…

The Instrument rating demystified The instrument rating is really a graduate level course that many undergrads quiver at the thought of undergoing. Lets examine it in detail and discover some common mistakes and misconceptions. What is an instrument rating? We should all understand the basic idea behind being instrument rated, but you might be surprised…