Thanks to guest poster Sam Stoddart for this excellent writeup and video sharing the flight of the Spitfires – great history with a great artist! ——————— On the 18th of August, thousands of spectators gathered at Biggin Hall to watch the World War 2 Spitfires take flight once more to commemorate the 75th anniversary of…
A Guy I Know Better Than Myself. After switching frequencies, I heard a new voice come across my headset. “Four Uniform Foxtrot. Your are number two behind a Citation Sovereign on short final. Cleared for the option” We had just hit our Comm Transfer button, changing our radio from Chicago Approach to Tower at Chicago…
Let’s be honest, cost is the single most prohibitive attribute of becoming a pilot. Sure there are other reasons like fear, air sickness, and lack of interest, but for the vast majority of people I talk to, cost is the biggest issue, me included. So how on earth can we make flying cheaper? It is…
I once heard my airline mechanic father say, “All pilots are good for is see light, push button, and get banana”. It was funny but he may have had a point. I remember when glass cockpits were brand new. I once heard the nickname of the “new” Boeing 757 was the Atari Ferrari. For those…
Hi Everyone! As previously mentioned, iFLYblog.com is EXPANDING with NEW CONTRIBUTORS! Joining us today is David Lynn, a C-130H Navigator and blogger. You can read his about page by clicking his name in the ABOUT menu on the iFLYblog.com homepage! Now without further lies and stories, please enjoy this post from contributor David Lynn …
Knowing how and when to unload the wing can save your hide. You can stop reading there. The remainder of this post will only seek to emphasize that not-so-subtle point. If you are confused or curious keep reading. Airplanes are fantastically designed machines. They seek equilibrium in virtually all states, alter their…
I recently had an opportunity to go through a upset recovery course and while I learned a lot that I’ll be sharing, one of the the things that strikes me is how many folks don’t know the fundamental difference between a slip and a skid. I admit that my own perfunctory knowledge was just…
by Chris Oquist So you’ve finally done, you decided to buckle down and make your dream of flying a plane a reality. Now what? Well, you are going to need a few things before taking flight. Some items on this list may seem like little things, but they can make a big difference. An important aspect of being…
The question of what we can do personally to be better at our craft is something that I don’t feel we ask often enough. For me, it usually takes a couple of well placed screw-ups to rattle my cage and make me think introspectively about my flying. These weren’t metal-bending events, but rather instances where…
This post may sound like it is targeted at folks in training, but it really applies to all of us. It assumes that we are all “students” in some form or fashion. Let me explain. You see it doesn’t matter if you are a 787 driver with decades of experience and you flew F-15s prior…