GA

Welcome to a new era for the general aviation stories you love.

If you’re like me, at some point in your pilot career, you may have asked yourself this: “Do I really need a weather briefing? The TAFs look like things will probably be fine. I’m not going that far. I’ll just get while the gettin’ is good, and I’ll be there before any bad weather moves […]

I never understood aviation until the day I lost it. In the span of two weeks, I failed a flight physical with my increasingly weakened eyesight and found a tumor that was removed the following day. In that moment, as I lay on my bed pondering the potential loss of my entire professional life up […]

Of all the challenging tasks confronting newcomers to aviation, perhaps the least-appreciated and most difficult to overcome is learning to speak the language of aviation. Our lingua aerial is full of strange new terms unrelated to those of other activities that may have been encountered heretofore. “What’s a ‘pitot tube’ or ‘VOR?’” beginners will ask. […]

Pilots who own or operate an aircraft under Part 91 of the FARs are allowed to perform various preventive maintenance tasks. For the pilot comfortable with basic mechanical tasks and aware of the rules and regulations, this can save time and money. Beyond that, performing basic tasks helps us learn what makes these little birds […]

The history of general aviation will be on public display overhead in Washington, D.C., on May 11 as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) hosts a “parade of airplanes” over the National Mall. In 1939, Franklin Roosevelt was the first sitting president to recognize GA, according to AOPA president Mark Baker. This year also […]

No one likes flying in turbulent air. It’s an annoyance to the pilot, requiring constant attention at the controls, and a concern for passengers, tossing to and fro in their strapped-in seats and beginning to debate the wisdom of air travel. As much as possible, avoidance of turbulence should be the goal, rather than stoic […]

In the early 1960s, I was on the ramp at Rosecrans Memorial Airport (KSTJ) in St. Joseph, Missouri, when I observed a massive Boeing 707 in TWA colors swoop down onto Runway 36, emit blue smoke from the main gear tires, and roar away into the air instead of braking to a stop. Making a […]

During any gathering of older pilots, often including a few non-practicing certified flight instructors, the current state of pilot training frequently comes up. “Them kids teaching students today don’t know sheep from shingles. Why, they were students themselves a couple of years ago. All they know is to follow a pink line on the screen.” […]

Pilots who have attended the Aero Friedrichshafen show in Germany may have spotted Pegaso since it was first exhibited in 2018. Six years later, the model lacks American representation, so ‘Yankee’ pilots generally don’t know this flying machine. This is Pegaso, a European ultralight that expresses a beautiful style we expect from Italy. Promecc is […]