System

An increasing amount of instrument flying is done using technologically advanced airplanes and sophisticated avionics. Correct use of automation improves safety immensely by giving...

Back in February we took a look at the PUFFR ONE arrival into Denver Centennial and highlighted how a "descend via" arrival clearance with...

Imagine a Piper J3 Cub parked beside a mighty double-decker Airbus A380. The two airplanes couldn't be more different, yet both function on the...

As a technician, I think of EFIS in terms of failures. While most pilots don't need to dig deep into system schematics, a little...

If the international aviation bureaucracy were ever mated with a one-size-fits-all computer program, the progeny might well be the ICAO International Flight Plan. Everything anyone might wish to know has a place on this form. But, in case theres an obscure bit of trivia without a special code or box in which to put it, theres a way to handle that. If Wilbur and Orville had been faced with anything like this, wed still be…

Instrument training is naturally geared towards technology-heavy procedures like ILS, VOR and RNAV approaches. In poor weather these instrument procedures are the only way to land, but when the weathers good, theres another option.

Many of us would rather fly an approach to minimums in harsh conditions than depart in the same weather. Perhaps one of the reasons...

If youre still using an iPad in the cockpit, youre about to be so 15 minutes ago. Well, maybe. As we go to press this month, Apple has been pumping the new iPad mini into the market for about two weeks and after a couple of flight trials, we like what we see.

The primary purpose of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is to provide the FAA with the next generation of ATC surveillance capability at lower cost. ADS-B can be more accurate while simultaneously reducing the installation and maintenance costs of existing radar systems. It permits greater coverage where radar isnt practical, such as in mountainous areas and over the Gulf of Mexico. With ADS-B, ATC expects to safely handle more traffic in the same airspace. Much of the cost justification is based on the elimination of about half of the current radar installations. But dont plan on tossing your transponder yet. Radar will still be used as backup to the ADS-B system and for TCAS.

Fly IFR in busy airspace and eventually youll have one of those much ado about nothing experiences. It starts with a clearance you dutifully put in your navigator-and then repeatedly change or completely ignore until you get a clearance to resume the plan you were given at the start.

Its the summer of 2020, and youre tooling along in your G10,000-equipped bugsmasher, dutifully tracking that magenta line direct to your destination because NextGen allows free flight RNAV-direct navigation. Weve come so far from the days of A/N ranges and dead reckoning.

Judgment is the cornerstone of the air traffic control profession. This basic trait, common among thousands of successful air traffic controllers worldwide, allows controllers to face a variety of situations-including unusual pilot requests-and act appropriately.