Blog Posts

Flying an airplane smoothly demands dozens of subtle, often repetitive movements, like adjusting engine power each time the aircraft’s pitch attitude changes. Any repetitive process is, of course, perfect for some form of automation. Leonard Greene …

By Paula Williams In the 1990s, when I studied journalism at the University of Utah, my heroes were Edward R. Murrow, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein. I believed firmly in the importance of the Fourth Estate—journa…

“Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell, from his novel, 1984 The name Enola Gay may mean nothing to quite a few people these days. That’s OK. While I never met Enola Gay, I’ll betcha …

Capt. Beatty A disinformation campaign falsely links “DEI” to airline accidents – let’s check the facts. By Capt. Jenny Beatty There is no extant literature examining this question, so I accessed various sources to compile available data. I research…

Ed note: With all the 2025 chaos in Washington focused on saving money and streamlining ATC, let’s see if anyone at DOGE again notices this time that the FAA completely blew past an opportunity to engage some new technology while saving millions by …

February 11, 2025 by Robert Mark Leave a Comment The online magazine AvWeb published a poll on Monday asking readers whether “armchair accident analysis” has gotten out of hand. With slightly more than 600 people responding, readers said it absol…

Ed note: While this story is a bit dated, the winter-flying lessons are not. Inexperience, stupidity, get-home-itis — take your pick. Any of them applied to me one late November evening as I cruised Just east of Chicago’s Loop with an electric night…

By Brian T. Coleman An Aero ERJ prepared for departure For discerning travelers seeking to bypass the hassles of commercial air travel, Aero offers first-class seating on private jets. The luxury airline, based at Van Nuys airport in Southern Califo…

While wandering around online the other day, I ran across Jenny Beatty’s post, which offered practical advice following the Azerbaijan Airlines E-190 and a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 airline crashes. The guidelines are simple but are well worth rememb…

The trip was going to be simple, I thought. My friend Steve would give me a ride from Pal-Waukee Airport PWK (now Chicago Executive) and drop me off at a short grass strip near Rockford (RFD), some 50 miles west, where I’d grab another Cessna 150 an…

In the Beginning It was the afternoon of November 2, 1929, when a group of women pilots first gathered at Curtiss Field in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York. That meeting became the impetus for what became known as the Ninety-Nines, Inc., the Int…

Heaven knows journalists, me included, have spent an enormous amount of time pillorying Boeing and its CEOs over the past decade. It’s tough not to when this giant American corporation continuously offers so much ammunition. But I’m also old enough …

Safe Initial Climbs Can Mean Tradeoffs A pilot’s first takeoff in a jet airplane is a true rite of passage, almost as eye opening as a first solo. Push those power levers forward, and a pilot’s body is soon pressed back against the seat. That feedba…

In Episode #355 of Aviation News Talk, Max Trescott and I discussed pilot decision-making behind the wrong runway landing of an American Eagle Embraer 170 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in late September. A few extenuating circumst…

The past decade has not been kind to Boeing. 737 MAX 8 Until 2018, America’s premier aircraft builder appeared extremely successful if money was the only assessment. Boeing also had a solid defense business with billions in military contracts in add…

Have you or someone you know ever considered becoming an air traffic controller for the FAA? I spent nearly 10 years of my aviation career working for the agency, and I loved the work. Coincidentally, the FAA just announced its latest recruiting dri…

Bell 47 Do you remember your first flight? I know I do. That image of a 12-year-old me climbing into the right seat of an old Bell 47 helicopter at Greater Rockford Airport in 1963 is indelibly etched into my brain. I even remember the pi…

In the Citation III Confessions of a New Corporate Pilot Life would be sweet, I thought, now that I’d successfully passed my Cessna Citation III (CE-650) type rating check ride (this was a few years back). It meant I’d be flying my first swept-wing …

(Reposted by request) Each time I stand near my desk, my eyes naturally focus on the framed cover of the August 1983 Flying magazine. Below it is page 100, the “I Learned About Flying from That” (ILAFFT), where my first column appeared. On i…

Note: This story was corrected on August 10th at 10:23 am, thanks to the help of a sharp-eyed reader. Making an ATR-72 Spin I wasn’t in Brazil on Friday afternoon, but I saw the post on Twitter or X (or whatever you call it) showing a Brazil ATR-72…

Making a pragmatic go/no-go decision is the goal of preflight preparation. Regardless the destination or activity one must weigh all the participating variables. These can change because life is dynamic and our goals, priorities, and individual capa…

Continuing my curiosity quest inspired by Can GPS Spoofing Fool a Flight Navigator?, it seems that the US Air Force and Navy are the only reliable sources of air navigator training available today. But in either case, it is not a dedicated aviation …

Decades ago, when I learned to fly, it was well-known that a commercial co-pilot/first officer was allowed to occupy the right seat of a transport airplane only if they’d proven themselves subservient enough to understand that the guy in the left se…

Pursuing my schooling on computer-aided flight plans, usually generated by an electronic flight bag (EFB—see Are You Current with the New Airman Certification Standards? for my ACS motivation), has led me to an FAA advisory circular, Use of Flight D…