We’re good pilots—by and large. Getting our certificates and ratings wasn’t easy. Face it, we sweat blood training to master the skills, knowledge and judgment needed to cause an inanimate object to rise into an often unforgiving sky and return to the planet not only safely, but with some degree of panache. In the process […]
As aviators, we see no irony in being sustained aloft by an ongoing series of violent explosions of a volatile chemical mixture generating a hearing-damaging roar that calms us to the point of somnolence. Yet when that soothing roar ceases, without our command, and the resulting silence brings us to a level of terrified hypervigilance […]
Multi-engine airplanes offer more speed, more payload, more sophistication, and to many, a perceived increase in safety. Face it: In a single, if you lose an engine your options are limited to a forced landing. In a piston twin, that second engine typically won’t give you much (or any) climb and might not even be […]
Venture on an aircraft refurbishment project—large or small—and there’s a good chance you’ll be replacing plastic parts. This is an important market because the majority of aging aircraft are decked out in old, faded, cracked and brittle plastic. Sun, vibration, temperature fluctuations and general wear and tear quickly take a toll on plastic components. The […]
A pilot involved in an aircraft accident must immediately notify the NTSB. By statute, the NTSB is required to investigate all aircraft accidents. No big deal, we learned that in private pilot ground school. However, there is a question that has to be answered: Is the event really an accident? If it’s not, there’s no […]
Despite our determination to do better, we pilots are human. Frustratingly, because of that we make mistakes. Fortunately, most of those mistakes damage only our self-image as steely-eyed superior beings although from time to time they result in damage to our airplanes. We’ve been trained to keep an aircraft right side up and on the […]
It’s a sometimes painful truth of aviation: If you want something done right you need to go to an expert. That goes for finding the right technician for the type of airplane you own, getting flight instruction in backcountry flying or buying life insurance. For pilots seeking life insurance the scenario is a familiar one—you […]
Ready to go shopping for a pre-owned taildragger? Our advice hasn’t changed. Before buying anything, have a real conversation with your insurance broker to identify potential deal breakers and what an insurer will demand for training. Think practically. Insurers tell us that complex, high-horsepower machines in the hands of newly endorsed pilots (older ones, too) […]
The ongoing allure of tailwheel airplanes for pilots seeking backcountry adventure, flying aerobatics or simply owning one because it has a tailwheel means that we’re always getting questions from prospective owners about whether they can insure their purchase. Our definitive answer is: probably. But it might be expensive. And your age is going to be […]
They have a cool factor that entices and can utterly disable the ability to make a rational purchase decision. More than a few pilots you hang with claim that you’re not a real pilot until you fly tailwheel. Plus, watching one slip down final to a deliciously soft touchdown on a grass runway just plain […]
We started to learn about the rapid deterioration of instrument skills and knowledge as we worked on the rating. If we laid off from training for more than a week, we found that we had to do more than a little review during the next lesson to unfog our brains on procedures and focus extra […]
Whether it’s a wing-mounted pod or the nose cone on a twin, radomes take a beating. They smash bugs, collect ice and bear the abuse of prop-slinging stones on rough pavement. Inevitably, the radome will need to be reworked—a worthy investment if you want to squeeze every bit of performance from a radar, old or […]
