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Tag Archives: professional pilots
It Seems As If Only Yesterday
It is the start of the new term. It is difficult to believe it is the Spring 2018 term. As part of the introduction to my classes, I used a scene from the movie, “The Dead Poets Society.” It was … Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged A-7E Corsair, airplanes, Carpe diem, discipline, extraordinary learning, flight training, flying airplanes, grades, inexperienced pilots, It Seems As If Only Yesterday, judgment, learning to fly, memories, military service, Navy, pilots, professional pilots, reading, Robin Williams, student pilots, studying, The Dead Poets Society, the key to learning, the Perseid meteor showers, the Spring 2018 term, “cramming”
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Sitting Around Waiting
We’re sitting in a waiting room while waiting. After all, that is what you do in a waiting room. We sit watching television news about tornadoes and flooding in Tampa. As I watch the satellite and radar images of the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, discipline, Florida, flying, fog, inexperienced pilots, instrument flying, judgment, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, temperature-dewpoint spread, training aircraft, “reading” the weather
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Big Field, No Sweat
Okay, it happened again. Another pilot decided to try landing his crippled airplane on a road. Follow this link to view dramatic law enforcement dashcam video of a Cessna 150 trying to turn a road into an emergency runway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkriThuaaB0 … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cessnas, crashing, discipline, Emergency Landings, flight training, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing on roads, learning to fly, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, training aircraft
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Another Terrible Week
Again, it was another terrible week. This time, rather than a collision at sea, it was a tanker aircraft falling from the sky in the middle of America. A dozen and a half fatalities so far, according to the initial … Continue reading →
Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged air refueling tanker, flying, KC-130, Marines, media, military service, professional pilots, talking heads
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Gladys Ingle
There was once a time when flying airplanes was really fun and truly free – free in the sense of a lack of regulations. This period was short-lived, lasting less than a decade. During the time from the end of … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying
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Tagged 13 Black Cats, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, an afternoon air show, barnstormers, Flying Circuses, Gladys Ingles, iron nerves, JN-4D Jennies, judgment, memories, open cockpit biplanes, over there, OX-5 engines, parachute, pilots, pluck, professional pilots, taildraggers, the 1920s, World War I
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6 Comments
Lost Logbooks
This past week, one of my students, Jo, asked about the problem. After I told her the solution, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell the class?” I usually do, but at the point in the course when I usually talk … Continue reading →
Posted in Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged flight training, flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, logbooks, lost logbooks, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots
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Amazing Transportation
It is difficult to believe that 87 years ago today, pilots finally broke through the weather barrier and perfected instrument flying. I wrote about it before on October 31, 2010, describing the event that allows our airliners and other aircraft … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying
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Tagged airline passengers, airline pilots, airmail pilots, Amazing Transportation, blind flying, discipline, flying, flying into clouds, flying through poor weather, judgment, professional pilots, the flying public, the weather barrier
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Revisiting Eastern Airlines Flight 1320
In writing this blog, I have had some great experiences. As I have mentioned before, I have had the chance to make friends throughout the world. Between the blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, the ability to connect with almost anyone … Continue reading →
Understanding the Wing
Wings are very cool things. Many pilots like wings; they fly wings and most know the working speeds of wings (if only by rote). The question is, though, exactly how does a wing work? Keep in mind that designing an … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged "know the numbers", aerodynamics, airplanes, AR=b/c, aspect ratio (AR), Cessna 172, Cessnas, chord, flight training, flying characteristics, math, mission, P-51, pilots, Pitts Special, power to weight ratio, professional pilots, Reno race pilots, S = b x c, straight and level, student pilots, trailing edge, transport airplanes, unaccelerated flight, wing area, wing span, wings, working speeds
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A Dozen Rules to Spin a Prop
I looked at my Facebook page yesterday and found a photo of a pilot who lost the tip of a finger while hand propping his ultralight airplane. Pretty gruesome stuff. I often tell my students that hand propping an airplane … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged aerobatic, Aeroncas, airplanes, Cessnas, Champs, Continental A-65, Cubs, flight training, hand propping, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, Light Sport Aircraft (LSA), Luscombes, pilots, professional pilots, Rotax, student pilots, Subaru, taildraggers, the "Armstrong" technique, training aircraft, ultralight, VW
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