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Altitude Preselect

Of all the features of the modern Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS), perhaps the most useful is altitude preselect. It improves safety by reducing...

Special VFR

Special VFR (SVFR) is a clearance that pilots can use to fly VFR into an airspace reporting below VMC. SVFR allows pilots to operate...

ATC Saves the Day

The National Air Traffic Controller Association annually presents safety awards to members who have saved pilots’ lives through teamwork, skill, and persistence. Rather than...

ATC Zero

While most ATC facilities are open most of the day if not 24 hours, there are times when the physical building must be evacuated...

Circling Revisited

Turning in the opposite direction of the regulatory traffic pattern during a circling approach is an almost constant topic of discussion in instrument pilot...

See the Big Picture

Earlier this year, there were a number of near misses during airport operations. These included one aircraft nearly landing on top of another that...

Towerless Tribulations

Recently in my duties as an air traffic controller, I’ve noticed a trend: more than a few pilots struggle with non-towered airport procedures. Unfortunately,...

Altitude Discretion

Altitude is aviation. From a simple paper airplane to the recently launched Artemis, anything that is above ground and moving has altitude and is...

These Three Approaches

In “Which Three Approaches?” (September 2022 IFR) we discussed the FAA Chief Counsel’s abandonment of earlier restrictive interpretations of the dual cross-country prerequisite for...

BasicMed Safety Pilots

The article, “Safety Pilot Rules” (March 2020 IFR), talked about the ins and outs of safety pilot roles, qualifications, responsibilities, and logging. Under 14...

Stacking ‘Em

Ever seen those videos of a retail store opening on Black Friday? The doors crack open. A tumbling mass of humanity spews in. Fights...

GPS Nav Problems

These pages often contain encouragement to pilots not to become so completely reliant on GPS that its loss constitutes no less than an emergency....