Opinion

Should the FAA have regulatory authority over model airplanes? It’s a more complicated debate than many people realize. The drone debate has been back and forth and back again, with the FAA stressing that it wants to have the authority to regulate even recreational drones. The agency, you might remember, established rules last year requiring […]

The NTSB came out last week with an interesting press release reminding pilots that they should always take off using all available runway. We found the opinion odd for several reasons. Intersection takeoffs are often used by ATC to smooth the flow of traffic. If I, in my Skylane, have 7,000 feet of runway for […]

Those of us who’ve been immersed in aviation for any length of time know what it is to lose someone you know to an airplane crash. It sucks, and there’s no getting around it. The thought that they died doing what they loved to do is little consolation, especially since it’s not true. Flying is […]

We pilots know that our airplanes are an integral part of our lives in ways large and small. The events of a few months ago highlighted the role that our airplanes play in our lives, when many pilots used them for two very different purposes. The first was to fly in late August to the […]

After a fatal crash of a company airplane earlier this year, the manufacturer does an apparent 180 on low-level maneuvering. After the crash of one its A5 light sport amphibious planes, Icon Aircraft has established a set of criteria for customers to consider before they begin to flirt with the terrain. The letter from company […]

It was a show unlike any other, in ways both bad and good. Despite the sad context, there was a lot of important conversation and some big announcements. 7. Tragedy: It’s sad but undeniable that the number one story on everyone’s mind was the mass shooting that preceded the event by a week. The murderous […]

How does a large aviation convention get to business in the same town where only days before the largest mass shooting in United States history took place? As I prepared to leave for the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention, I was asking myself this very question. It seemed surreal and made me sad to […]

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention in Las Vegas is fast approaching—“fast” being the operative term in all things related to the activity. While business aviation has been dominated by turbine-powered equipment for decades now, that wasn’t always the case. The first business aircraft, dating back more than 70 years now, were piston-powered personal […]

The collision between a United States Army Blackhawk UH-60 and a civilian drone over Staten Island, New York, last week was the first instance of a civilian drone hitting an aircraft operating in the National Airspace System. The Black Hawk reportedly suffered a small dent in the left side of its fuselage and a dented […]

There are five reasons only because I ran out of room for the other 95. As many of you know, I own an old plane. A senior citizen. A bucket of bolts. A golden oldie. The flying jalopy in question is a 1964 Cessna Skylane, which I bought last February. It’s 53 years old, which […]