Are non-towered airports really like the wild, wild west? And should there be more laws governing them?
flying
Fighting PTSD with flying and fellowship
A grassroots effort to help veterans dealing with PTSD by combining flying in a general aviation aircraft and fellowship afterwards led by a counselor has proven so successful that it’s been expanded to help kids dealing with drug and alcohol addiction.
New study: Pilots downplay the impact of stress on flight safety
“The pilots’ reasoning for their decisions suggests that although they were aware of the risks of flying while ill or tired, the pilots considered flight to be a stress relieving activity, and so they were less likely to cancel a flight based on being under stress. This is despite guidance from aviation regulatory bodies such as the FAA indicating that stress can potentially compromise flight performance.
The simple success of the Old Farts Flying Club
The Old Farts Flying Club is very informal and simple: There are no dues, initiation, requirements, or vetting. Just an email list informing pilots where the next gathering will be. Events range from meeting for the mythical $100 hamburger to hangar flying to tours of the Piper factory and NOAA hangar at KLAL.
Video: Angle of Attack Awareness in 57 Seconds
“A lack of awareness, with respect to angle of attack (AOA), has resulted in the loss of aircraft control and contributed to fatal GA accidents,” FAA officials note in the video’s introduction. “Increasing a pilot’s awareness of the aerodynamic effects of AOA and available technology will help general aviation pilots avoid an inadvertent loss of control.”
One Pilot’s View: The best place to make tough decisions
As pilots, we have a special place we can go to be alone and work on our most serious issues — the solitude of our airplanes.
Celebrating 97 years since historic around-the-world flight
April 6, 2021, marked the 97th anniversary of the official start of the Douglas World Cruiser’s historic flight around the world. To mark the occasion, the Seattle World Cruiser Team put together a video that highlights events from that 1924 flight, as well as some milestone events from the project’s timeline.
FAA video series gives GA pilots a preview of airports before they arrive
The FAA has produced a series of short videos — four to five minutes long — of actual approach, landing, and runway taxi scenarios at small and medium-size airports using Go-Pro cameras in a Cessna to create the GA pilot viewpoint. Graphics, animation, and runway diagrams have been added, along with a voice-over, to fully describe and educate about runway and intersection “hot spots” at specific airports across the United States.
If only…
Get-home-itis was the biggest link to the faulty judgment in this tragedy. It is a powerful force, so powerful that both men aboard were willing to risk single-engine flying over unlit mountainous terrain. In the middle of the night. Without an instrument rating. In smoke, clouds, and turbulence. With the moon adding all sorts of visual illusions — and with embedded thunderstorms along their route.