Training & Sims

Airlines, large corporate flight departments and the FAA all have a sufficiently vested interest in keeping aviation safe that they dump money into safety research. Because pilot error is one of the leading killers, it stands to reason that the biggest opportunity for improving safety comes from reducing pilot errors.

Paul Smith was boring through the dark of night in a Cessna 182, heading in to Shelton, Wash. He kept fumbling with his red-lensed flashlight to read his charts or write something on his kneeboard and, in that great entrepreneurial spirit, thought, There has to be a better way.

Ive got a Cessna 172 rolling out on the runway, an American Eagle Embraer 145 on two-mile final, a Beechcraft Bonanza in the downwind with a pair of V-22 Osprey tiltrotors inbound to follow, a Lifeflight medical helicopter departing a hospital next door, and a pair of Navy T-45 Goshawk jet trainers calling me, ready at the hold short line.

Our CRJ-200 was sliding down through an overcast layer, following the glideslope to Runway 28 at Chicago OHare. Everything was normal, just like it always is. My airline job means I make this approach a couple of times a week.

Maximizing DatalinkThere's plenty more to using datalink weather than, "Don't fly through the red stuff." By layering information, you can build a more complete...

Its probably happened to you: Something en route made you consider not continuing to your intended destination. Now youre faced with the myriad choices of why, when, where and how to divert.

Every pilot is inspired to fly for different reasons—personal and technical challenge, freedom and new perspectives, civilian or military professional career paths.My flight school...

The successful completion of an Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) combines the knowledge and personality traits of both the instructor and pilot.As we intercepted the...

A flying friend of mine likes to say that you know you're into something interesting when you have to sign a waiver beforehand. In...

Concerns about pilot aging are just as important for the younger pilot as for the more silver-haired among us. The US population is getting...

When we think of GPS-based instrument approaches, we usually lump all the approach minima into a single "GPS approach" bucket. We tend to mentally...

Most of us learned to fly when the most advanced thing on our panels was a NAV/COM. Perhaps you entered the scene a bit...