Last week a number of sources, including the Nashua Telegraph, reported that Daniel Webster College was phasing out its professional pilot training program. It’s not the first flight training program to close, nor will it be the last, but that it is an accredited collegiate degree program is significant.  It means that the evolution professional [...]

Wandering through the Sunday paper a 200-word AP news item, datelined Williston,  caught my eye: 3 Die After Planes Collide Over Florida. Three people died when a Piper and homebuilt airplane met in a clear, sunny Saturday sky over central Florida. Reading further, the who, what, when, and where confirmed the suspicion of the typical [...]

OK, I have to admit that occasionally Scott and I say a few things that upset folks, but only to pilots and air traffic controllers. Almost everyone else is safe … for now. But along with the ability to lob criticism on people and topics that we believe sometimes need a good swift kick in [...]

Reaction to the AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s Nall Report on the safety record of amateur-built experimental aircraft, and comments about my recent post on this subject (The Internet & Homebuilt Aircraft Accidents), led to the somber reflection that is the headline above. There are three undeniable, fundamental truths in every human endeavor. First, we make [...]

Ed Note: My friend Marc Epner and I often discuss why people always seem so focused on how much it costs to win a private pilot certificate. Obviously, there is much more fun to be had after passing that first checkride. BTW, Marc orginally called this piece, “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?” [...]

Sunny and 42 degrees, the saturated blue sky is the first crack in the Wisconsin winter. Planted in the driveway like a human heliotrope I turned and opened my eyes in search of honking geese and squawking sandhill cranes, pathfinders for northbound flocks. A more mechanical buzz drew my eyes eastward to the effulgent Cessna [...]

When I saw the caller ID this morning with CNN’s address I figured something awful was up. Usually is. “Can you talk about the Kennedy incident,” the producer asked me? Didn’t sound like she wanted me to talk about the impending runway closure. The young lady wanted my opinion on the kid controlling traffic at [...]