Pilot Stories

Finding a pair of Stinson
10As offers a chance for another restoration occupation.

It appears the pilots simply weren’t prepared despite warning signs.

More and more pilots show up on the AME’s doorstep armed with the wrong or not enough paperwork to pass an FAA medical exam.

“Rick,” I said, “you need to clean up this place!” The hangar floor was littered with blown-in grass clippings and dust bunnies, along with some well-soaked kitty litter accumulated under the airplane’s oily belly. “If you drop a screw, you’ll never find it until it’s embedded in a tire.”  “Yeah, [I] need to take a […]

It’s not just me. Many of the pilot population in my circle confess to having the same difficulty: understanding what the heck ATC is saying, and what they want us to do. Controllers seem to talk faster, using lots of words. We hate to ask them over, but we also don’t want to misunderstand and […]

By Wayne Pinger I dipped the fuel tanks with my home-calibrated doweling, a dipstick gas gauge I made and strategically notched at 9 and 18 gallons, or average one and two hours of flight. I cross-drilled it and glued a smaller dowel through to form a T to avoid dropping it in the tank. Still, […]

Forty years ago, we would have never thought about the day when a desktop computer flight simulator would be used in a serious manner to train, maintain, and foster enthusiasm for being a pilot. Now we have so much to be grateful for, as the level of fidelity and graphical realism is mind-boggling. As a […]

When are pilots the most dangerous? This is a topic of discussion at many flight schools and anytime you get a group of seasoned CFIs together. Based on anecdotal evidence, there appear to be a few times in their aviation careers where pilots might get a little too complacent, or too cocky and overconfident, resulting […]

The flight instructor is the first gatekeeper when it comes to aviation safety. It is incumbent on the CFI to teach and model good habits for mitigating risk—and you can’t do that without understanding where the risk is coming from, and when and where during the flight training process we are at a higher risk […]

Spring is the most fickle season when it comes to weather in the Pacific Northwest. One day it is unseasonably warm, with temps in the 80s, ,and people are wearing short pants and polo shirts. The next day the temperature is in the 30s, and light snow is falling or there is a hail shower. […]