Bell 47 Do you remember your first flight? I know I do. That image of a 12-year-old me climbing into the right seat of an old Bell 47 helicopter at Greater Rockford Airport in 1963 is indelibly etched into my brain. I even remember the pilot’s name, Rick. Actually, he called himself Captain Rick. The other night on the Airplane Geeks podcast I listened as my co-host and master storyteller Micah Engber told us about his first trip aloft, as only Micah can. He said he was 13 at the time. Micah shared his story in two forms. Read the copy below or click on the podcast player above to listen to t ..read more

Remembering My First Flight Originally February 2013, Episode 238 Revised August 2024 As we record today, on August 26, 2024, it’s the 55th anniversary of my first flight ever. Now back in 2013 on Episode 238, this story was the very first piece I ever submitted to the Airplane Geeks, but based on this emerald anniversary, I thought it might be time for a retelling, live this time, and with a few updates and revisions based on a little research I’ve been able to do over the 11 years since its first airing. So here it is, warts and all. But before we go any further, I need to tell you a little ..read more

In the left seat of the Citation III Confessions of a New Corporate Pilot Life would be sweet, I thought, now that I’d successfully passed my Cessna Citation III (CE-650) type rating check ride (this was a few years back). It meant I’d be flying my first swept-wing jet. Surprisingly, my first day at the new job at Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) would also be the first time I’d been up close to a real Citation III since all the training and even my check ride happened in FlightSafety’s full-motion simulator. From my research, though, I knew the 650’s cabin was roomy enough for eight, and its r ..read more

(Reposted by request) Each time I stand near my desk, my eyes naturally focus on the framed cover of the August 1983 Flying magazine. Below it is page 100, the “I Learned About Flying from That” (ILAFFT), where my first column appeared. On it, the author of Bax Seat, scrawled in brown ink, “To my friend Rob Mark. His story, my push. Gordon Baxter, August 5, 1983.” Many months before, Gordon Baxter had given me the Flying editor’s phone number. When I rang with my brief pitch, all I heard was “yes.” I suddenly had an assignment for my first column. That 1983 issue was the first, but not t ..read more

Note: This story was corrected on August 10th at 10:23 am, thanks to the help of a sharp-eyed reader. Making an ATR-72 Spin I wasn’t in Brazil on Friday afternoon, but I saw the post on Twitter or X (or whatever you call it) showing a Brazil ATR-72, Voepass Airlines flight 2283, rotating in a spin as it plunged to the ground near Sao Paulo from its 17,000-foot cruising altitude. All 61 people aboard perished in the ensuing crash and fire. A timeline from FlightRadar 24 indicates that the fall only lasted about a minute, so the aircraft was clearly out of control. Industry research shows Loss ..read more

Making an ATR-72 Spin I wasn’t in Brazil on Friday afternoon, but I saw the post on Twitter or X (or whatever you call it) showing Voepass Airlines flight 2283, an ATR-72, rotating as it plunged to the ground near Sao Paulo from its 17,000-foot cruising altitude. All 61 people aboard perished in the ensuing crash and fire. A timeline from FlightRadar 24 indicates that the fall only lasted about a minute, so the aircraft was clearly out of control. Industry research shows Loss of Control in Flight (LOCI) continues to be responsible for more fatalities worldwide than any other kind of aircraft a ..read more

Each time I stand near my office desk, my eyes naturally stop at a framed magazine cover that includes a column from the August 1983 edition of Flying magazine. That column was originally page 100 of that issue where my “I Learned About Flying from That” (ILAFFT) column first appeared. Scrawled in brown ink are the words, “To my friend Rob Mark. His story, my push. Gordon Baxter, August 5, 1983.” Many months before, Bax had given me the Flying editor’s phone number. When I rang with my brief pitch, all I heard was yes. I suddenly had an assignment for my first column. That 1983 issue was ..read more

Making a pragmatic go/no-go decision is the goal of preflight preparation. Regardless the destination or activity one must weigh all the participating variables. These can change because life is dynamic and our goals, priorities, and individual capabilities transform with time. Preparing my inaugural journey to Oshkosh in 1978, my primary preflight variables were getting time off work and/or school to make the weekend speedrun from Illinois or Missouri. The weather seasoned the road trip and cow pasture camping accommodations. In 1989, Oshkosh was a weeklong business trip, and my variables bec ..read more

Continuing my curiosity quest inspired by Can GPS Spoofing Fool a Flight Navigator?, it seems that the US Air Force and Navy are the only reliable sources of air navigator training available today. But in either case, it is not a dedicated aviation occupation, as it once was during World War II, for example. In 2009, the Air Force merged its three Undergraduate Navigator Training tracks—navigator, weapon systems officer (WSO), and electronic warfare officer (EWO)—into a single training program. The resulting combat systems officer (CSO) training produces aviators who can readily adapt to missi ..read more

Decades ago, when I learned to fly, it was well-known that a commercial co-pilot/first officer was allowed to occupy the right seat of a transport airplane only if they’d proven themselves subservient enough to understand that the guy in the left seat was perfectly capable of handling the airplane all by himself. Captains believed the FO was only there to check a regulatory box. If the co-pilot was lucky, the captain might let them work the radios and help with a few navigational duties, but the phrase “Gear up and Shut up” was considered a normal cockpit environment. Questions, opinions, or i ..read more