Remarks

Last month we published an excellent article by Lee Smith, "Danger Below MDA." In it, Lee points out that for many non-precision approaches you...

There are only four reasons for pilots: military, function, transportation and fun. The military is largely independent, so we can ignore them. Function might include taking tourists up for a great view or it could mean flying miles of pipeline looking for oily, wet spots. Transportation is obvious: people and stuff need to get from all the Points A to all the Points B. Finally, fun is the reason were willing to spend thousands a year to go out to the airport on a nice Saturday and spend a couple hundred more to fly somewhere for a bad hamburger.

The FAA announced theyre gonna prune the umptyzillion instrument approaches maintained in the US. Its about time. After all, when was the last time you flew an NDB approach? In fact, when was the last time you flew an airplane with a working ADF that even could fly an NDB approach?

An examiner I once had put it this way: When giving a private checkride he was evaluating if hed be comfortable as a passenger with the prospective pilot. He equated giving an instrument checkride to deciding if hed be comfortable letting his wife and kids be the passengers. A good lesson, that. It helps me remember that my first responsibility is to my passengers.

Few metaphors have such tangible meaning as taking a few turns around the pattern and thinking, We see so far because we stand on the shoulders of giants. Its easy to tip my mental hat to the Wrights, Curtis or Whittle. But we each have inspired instructors or mechanics who found the burned valve before it failed. What about the oil-field hands whose labor we burn at high expense to practice flying in circles? Most of…

If by now you havent seen the YouTube posting of a Stinson 108 crash and aftermath, you should (http://snipurl.com/24p7gfc). If you did (or do), youll probably ask yourself the same question I and so many other pilots did: Why didnt this pilot abort the takeoff?

One of the beautiful things about Oshkosh is the self-deception: Stand in the middle of the crowded grounds, teaming with people and aircraft, and you can enjoy the momentary illusion that aviation is actually a popular, well-attended activity.

Theres only one newsprint periodical I still read on real newsprint: The Funny Times. Its mostly a mix of satiric essays and left-leaning political cartoons, but my favorite section is the News of the Weird page. These are real-world news stories collected under sub-headings like Government Inaction and Couldnt Possibly Be True.

One of the beautiful things about Oshkosh is the self-deception: Stand in the middle of the crowded grounds, teaming with people and aircraft, and you can enjoy the momentary illusion that aviation is actually a popular, well-attended activity.

Years ago I was briefly involved in motorcycle road racing. T-shirts with the slogan, Crashing Sucks and a suitable graphic were quite popular. Even then, I thought how appropriate that slogan also was for aviation. Now we find ourselves with back-to-back airliner crashes while landing in visual conditions and Im reminded of just how appropriate that slogan is to aviation. Crashing sucks for all the obvious reasons, but we must also remember that aviation is a…

At my day job flying airliners, I encounter many pilots for whom flying has sadly become a tedious demand, necessary to put bread on...

I just attended the insurance-mandated recurrent training for my C340A that I haven't flown in years. I made my share of mistakes, most of...