There were times during my training in the Twinstar that I thought it would be worth renting the plane I was training in and doing a longer trip, up to the Bay area at least, to see what it would be like. I never did. They rent for hundreds of dollars per hour, which made sense when I would spend...

During my hardest IFR flight last summer, I looked at the backup attitude indicator quite often. Possibly because our only real equipment failure in the plane was the alternator, resulting in all of the smoke and mirrors going south at the same time, I like having that backup when I am in the...

"Did you see us waving?" Truthfully, I was totally focused on the centerline, my airspeed, and getting down fully in control through a twenty knot headwind that turned into 9 knots on the ground. I love Abel saying, "He landed safely!" Ah, the confidence of young aviation critics.

When you are learning to fly your instructor will go over what to do when you are lost: climb, conserve, confess and comply. You should initiate a climb because getting a better view is often helpful in your navigation. Once up a ways, pull back the power and conserve fuel; if you don't know where...

The fellow that dropped off the plane, Dick Filbey, had two good pieces of advice. Actually, he had more than that, but I am cataloging them slowly. Both can be used by other pilots, so they should be documented here. The first is that among the field of circuit breakers there is one that you are...

One of the keys to safety in aviation is situation awareness. It is sort of a catchall for describing the environment, aircraft, and the human factors that affect a flight. Most importantly, the risks associated with the flight or the threats to the safety of the flight. A lot of the awareness...

The plane arrived with these custom decals. While waiting for a passenger on Wednesday I started picking at on that was on the rudder trim panel. That was a small piece, about half an inch wide and twelve inches high. It felt similar to picking at a cuticle, and also sort of dangerous, because...

I remember a few years ago reading a news story that reported that India was raising taxes on fuel substantially to pay for environmental compliance and to address global warming. Amidst protests, they subsequently dropped the additional tax in kerosene, saying that fuel grade would be left alone...

As I see it, the important thing with flying is to stay current. That means you can do a lot of the flying with the part of your brain that keeps the bicycle upright, or the part that keeps the car in the lane on the freeway. If you brain is tasked when you are doing those things then if something...

What is the purpose of the landing gear hydraulic accumulator? Such a good question. Really, in some ways, a meta-question. I stare at it on the pink 3x5 flash card I have made and search my mind for the answer. Long time readers of blog may recognize this image, which I took as Dexter and I...