I’m always puzzled by the awe with which so many people — some of them pilots themselves — regard those of us who regularly fly to other continents. From Day One, there was clearly nothing superhuman to me about the feat, especially given the incredible capability and redundancy of the equipment we operate. Modern business jets are as well equipped as any airliner. Sometimes better, in fact. There are backups for everything, and then backups for the backups, and procedures for dealing with even those systems, should they go south. All this on an aircraft where a failure of any consequential it ..read more

I’m often asked: why pursue a career in business aviation? Most professional pilots measure their career with two metrics: compensation and quality-of-life. If scheduled airlines provide more of one or both of these, why would any right-thinking pilot consider private, charter or corporate flying as anything other than a stepping stone to a 121 gig? It’s a good question. I suppose each of us who work in this corner of general aviation have our own reasons. From where I sit, business flying offers aviators a much richer arena of jobs, destinations, lifestyles, insights, technologies, and so on ..read more

There’s a school of thought out there which tells us that the Non-Directional Beacon and it’s cockpit counterpart, the ADF, are things of the past with nothing to offer today’s pilot. With all due respect, this is demonstrably false. I still teach instrument flying and find that while NDBs are becoming rare, the bearing pointer skills used to fly them are extraordinarily useful, both as a mental exercise and in practical 21st century IFR operation. Too many instructors, seeing NDBs largely decommissioned in the United States, have stopped teaching the associated bearing pointer lessons — a big ..read more

Normally, paranoia is considered unhealthy. As it pertains to flying, however, in my experience a moderate dose can keep the doctor away much like the proverbial apple. It’ll keep the FAA, NTSB, and unemployment line at arm’s length as well. There are so many things to be concerned with when aviating that I find great benefit in prioritizing them all by asking: can this kill me? The answer will vary with the kind of airplane I’m flying, of course. This is where a regular reading of safety and accident reports can pay dividends. In an aerobatic airplane, the number one killer is the pilot himse ..read more

The latest post from Airscape Magazine landed on my computer screen this morning. Always a welcome respite from the flood of Monday morning email, this one was a loving tribute to a Lockheed Constellation operated on the Australian air show circuit by the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society. What caught my attention, though, was the last section of the article. David writes about a 1966 replica of the Bleriot XI that Clyde Cessna used to teach himself to fly in 1911, and how fitting it is to see that airplane in the same hangar with other pioneering aircraft. It’s amazing to see the simple ..read more

When it comes to the ease and freedom of flight, it’s hard to beat the United States. We can obtain an IFR clearance moments after filing a flight plan and operate pretty much anywhere at anytime without extensive paperwork or asking anyone’s permission. If you’re flying VFR, life is even simpler. One of the first lessons an aviator learns when journeying abroad is that there are 195 countries out there with 195 contrasting sets of rules, and almost all of them are more complex than what we’re used to at home. And the flying and customs and immigration procedures can change without notice. The ..read more

It’s long been known that flight at high altitudes exposes flight crew and passengers alike to greater levels of radiation than they normally experience on the surface, but a recent Harvard study on the prevalence of cancers among flight attendants has brought the subject into the spotlight once more. It’s been picked up by a wide variety of publications from outside the aviation world. To be honest, I’m a little surprised at their interest in the health of flight crew members. If you’re flying a real (aka light GA) airplane rather than a modern, automated turbojet, you might not have given th ..read more

It seems to me we’re at a bit of a tipping point with the GA ecosystem. There simply aren’t enough instructors around to solve the pilot shortage. And without enough pilots, we certainly won’t have a sufficient supply of instructors. I know of a half dozen people just at my local FBO — mainly line service, flight attendants, and office personnel — who already work in the aviation sector, see the shortage, and want to be part of the solution. But they can’t, because they go through instructors like a mouse through cheese. Every time I talk to one of them, my queries about how their training is ..read more

A friend was searching far and wide for a first officer to fly an exquisite Falcon 2000EX EASy, but couldn’t fill the position despite the six-figure starting salary accompanying it. The company had advertised, offered hefty referral fees, upped the salary and benefits package—and still came up empty-handed. I’d sent him pilots for other jobs in the past, but by this time my own cupboard was bare. Everyone I knew who was even remotely qualified for this kind of gig was already fully employed. How We Got Here This conundrum started many years ago. Sometimes it feels like it was in a galaxy far, far away ..read more

I’m often surprised at the widely varying quality of domestic Standard Terminal Arrival procedures. The name makes for a good acronym (“STAR”), but from an aviator’s perspective there’s precious little about them which is standard. Some are simple and pilot-friendly, whereas others can be downright awful. There are reasons why each STAR is set up the way it is. These procedures must interface with both the enroute structure (aka airways) and the terminal environment while respecting terrain, airspace, and other such limitations. And you’d think between satellite navigation and modern avionics ..read more