Runway Incursions
During a heated conversation have you even crossed the line? Have you been told you did? Assuming so, unpleasant things happen after crossing that...
Infamous Aspen
Aspen is home to the rich and famous—senators, movie stars, and industry titans all have second homes here. Aspen is the home of the...
Build Your Own Sim
Assume you want to buy an airplane. You wouldn’t just go with your buddy’s suggestion to get a Cloudpuncher simply because he said it’s...
Going Below Minimums
Operations below minimums on an instrument approach can be quite simple if the ceilings and visibilities are significantly above minimums. But when the chips...
Questions Answered
Just like pilots, controllers get plenty of questions, comments, concerns, and sometimes complaints. Bonus: Writing these articles gives me an opportunity to address some...
Staying Engaged
Recently I attended a Rusty Pilot session and learned (or re-learned as the case may be) several aspects of our aviating world that laid...
Legal isn’t Always Safe
Sitting in seat 34F of a 737 MAX-9, I’m leafing through the dog-eared inflight magazine. It makes a big fuss about the airline’s offerings....
Minimum Altitudes
Instrument training is littered with acronyms and abbreviations. Altitudes like MEA, MCA, MOCA, OROCA can end up being the bane of students. And that’s...
Changing of the Guard
You’re flying along, listening to a controller issue instructions to many aircraft. From one second to the next, you suddenly start hearing a different...
Who’s On First?
It was an IMC day with plenty of arrivals and departures taxing out. For a VFR tower like ours, IMC days are the easiest...
First Come, First Served
Most pilots have heard at some point that ATC separates aircraft on a first come, first served (FCFS) basis, but have experienced the opposite....
Your Instructor Lied
Whether it’s a result of faulty instruction or an accumulation of bad habits over time, I often see pilots who come in for a...